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The following article is an excerpt from the October 2001 issue of All Saints' Sojourner, a publication of All Saints Orthodox Church, EOC. It summarizes the history of the church and describes the mood of the church as it transitioned into the Orthodox Church in America.

Our Journey

All Saints Orthodox Church, in Woodstock, Georgia, has been a mission of the Evangelical Orthodox Church (EOC), for several years. We have been blessed with two priests, Fr. Photios and Fr. Barnabas, conducting the liturgy.

We have been using the divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, as translated by New Skete Monastery. Our previous bishop, his grace Kenneth SAMUEL, had an agreement with Abba Laurence, the archimandrite of New Skete, that the priests of our diocese would travel to New Skete twice a year for liturgical training. This liturgical training would ensure that all of the missions, along with the cathedral, were using the same services and that we would be united around our bishop. Also, it has always been our heart's desire that at sometime in the future we would become part of a canonical jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church. The liturgical training was to prepare us for that future event.

In the Fall of the year 2000, Abba Laurence retired from being archimandrite of New Skete and our bishop also retired. Both of these actions were sudden and unexpected, and not without consequence.

First, our hopes of receiving liturgical training were dashed, since the two men who had the vision for this training were no longer in the picture. Second, we were unsure of what our direction should be. The presbytery associated with our former bishop and Holy Trinity Church, of Indianapolis, met in Corbin, Kentucky, late in 2000. There, the four mission churches (All Saints of Woodstock, Georgia; Blessed Incarnation of Toccoa, Georgia; Christ the Life-giver of Nicholasville, Kentucky; and St Stephen of Ladoga, Indiana) and Fr. Joseph (the intended successor of the bishop) were in agreement that our journey would ultimately take us into a jurisdiction of the canonical church.

Since this was the case, choosing another bishop to be elevated by the bishops of the EOC seemed to be putting up another hurdle, if not a stumbling-block, in that journey. It seemed good to us to look into speeding up the process of becoming canonical. We agreed at this meeting (1) to ask the bishops of the EOC to appoint a temporary interim bishop for us, to (2) meet again in January, 2001, and (3) to contact one of the canonical jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church.

Since that meeting, and at subsequent meetings of the presbytery, quite a lot has transpired. First, the bishops of the EOC agreed to accept the retirement of his grace, Kenneth SAMUEL and appointed as interim bishop for the diocese, his grace, CHRISTOPHER Murray of Terre Haute. Bp. CHRISTOPHER told us at the first meeting of the presbytery under his oversight that he knew that our journey was into the canonical church and he only intended to help us toward that end.

Second, Fr. Stephen John, of the mission in Toccoa, resigned his priesthood in the EOC, along with his two deacons. The intention was for them to become catechumens in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) under his eminence, Archbishop DMITRI, of the Diocese of the South.

Third, one of the priests at All Saints, Fr. Barnabas Powell, asked for a leave of absence from the priesthood to deal with personal and family issues. This leave was granted by Bp. CHRISTOPHER, and in September, Fr. Barnabas resigned from

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our priesthood.

In August of this year, Stephen John Robbins, Fr. David Isaac Rucker and I traveled to Dallas, Texas, with Fr. Ted Pisarchuk, the Missions Director of the Diocese of the South. There, we met his eminence, Archbishop DMITRI, to discuss our eventual acceptance into the OCA. It was a profitable visit, and his eminence was very gracious and welcoming to us.

Each of the mission churches, as well as our "Mother" church in Indianapolis, has their own schedule for acceptance by a canonical jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church. The church in Toccoa, Georgia, led by Stephen John, with the folks now catechumens in the OCA, has become St Timothy Orthodox Mission of the Diocese of the South, OCA. Fr. David Issac, with the folks of Christ the Life-giver, plans to begin the process of alignment with the OCA in January, 2002.

Our mentors and fathers at Holy Trinity, in Indianapolis, are involved in pursuing a future acceptance into one of the jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church. They hope to have the process complete by Holy Pascha of 2002. Fr. David Maroney, of St Stephen's in Ladoga, is also planning to become part of the canonical Orthodox Church. We pray for them and wish them well, as well as for our sister parishes.

The folks at All Saints, in Woodstock, met with Fr. Peter Smith, dean, of the Diocese of the South, on Saturday, September 29, to discuss becoming an OCA mission. Fr. Peter was very gracious and kind. He spoke to us for about 30 minutes concerning the steps to be received into the OCA. As has been our experience amongst those we have met in other jurisdictions, Fr. Peter was encouraging and warmed our hearts. Then, Fr. Peter asked those of us present what we wanted to do. The vote was unanimous. All present agreed to become an OCA mission of the Diocese of the South.

His grace, Bp. CHRISTOPHER, asked to visit All Saints one last time, as bishop, to receive the resignation of Fr. Photios from the priesthood under his omophorion. Bp. CHRISTOPHER will be with us on Sunday, October 28th, in the liturgy.

At that service, following the Divine Liturgy, Fr. Photios will present his resignation to the bishop. His grace, Bp. CHRISTOPHER will then give his blessing to All Saints parish, and bless our leaving the EOC.

The following Sunday, on November 4th, 2001, we will assemble at St Mary of Egypt in Norcross, Georgia, to become catechumens in the OCA.

[They were received as catechumens as indicated. Fr. Peter Smith, dean of the southeastern deanery for the Diocese of the South, is mentoring the mission in the process of becoming OCA. - Ed]

We humbly ask that all of All Saints parish be present at the Sunday liturgy on October 28.

        Fr. Photios Loudermilk

All Saints' Sojourner is a publication of All Saints Orthodox Church (EOC) Woodstock, Georgia, Bishop CHRISTOPHER Murray, Terre Haute, Indiana.
We meet for the Divine Liturgy each Sunday, at 10 AM at 105-C Hartwood Dr., Woodstock, GA. Priest: Fr. Photius Loudermilk (770) 917-9710