Metropolitan Jonah visits Oregon parish, delivers public lecture at Oregon State U
At the invitation of His Grace, Bishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the West, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah visited Saint Anne Church here on the occasion of the parish’s 20th anniversary Saturday and Sunday, November 13-14, 2010.
On Saturday evening, Metropolitan Jonah presided at the celebration of the All-Night Vigil. Earlier that day, he delivered a public lecture on the topic, “Ancient Christianity in Post-Modern America,” at Oregon State University.
The following morning, Metropolitan Jonah and Bishop Benjamin concelebrated the anniversary Divine Liturgy with Archpriest Stephen E. Soot, rector, and guest clergy, after which the parish hosted a grand banquet.
According to Father Stephen, Saint Anne’s is located in a region in which “Orthodoxy was virtually unknown outside of the urban Portland or Eugene areas.”
In 1990, an Orthodox Christian couple moved to the Albany, OR area, which had no Orthodox presence. They soon discovered that travelling to Portland for services severely limited their ability to lead an active Church life. With the blessing of His Grace, Bishop Tikhon of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the West, a mission station was established. Six people attended the first Reader Service, which was held in the facilities of a local Presbyterian congregation.
Over the next two years, the mission relocated two more times—to the basement of a Catholic Church, and then to a rented room in an Episcopal Church. The mission experienced steady growth and soon grew to 20 souls.
In July 1992, Father Stephen was ordained to serve the mission, which was named in honor of Saint Anne, the mother of the Theotokos. Four years later, the community purchased property in North Albany that included a small house, which was used for worship for several years. Finally, in early 2003, the mission purchased the historic Lewisburg Grange Hall and converted the upstairs into a suitable temple. The first level contains a large commercial kitchen and a large dining and meeting room.
Today, Saint Anne’s counts over 110 members, the majority of whom embraced the Orthodox Christian Faith at Saint Anne’s.
A photo gallery of the anniversary weekend may be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28284&id=105632889475356.