St. Martin of Tours Church has recently become a full-time parish for the faithful in the Montgomery, AL, area after being a mission parish since its founding 10 years ago. Since its founding, the parish has experienced immense growth, with multiple baptisms even taking place on the Sunday prior to the festal Liturgy held on Monday, November 24.

The parish’s patron was chosen by Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral; +2022), who blessed the foundation of the mission in 2015. Since then, the community has moved throughout many different locations and buildings, but is finally firmly established in its new building in Montgomery. 

The Brotherhood of the Holy Elders of Optina from Atlanta took part in the feast, with Archimandrite John (Townsend) celebrating Divine Liturgy. Fr. John is himself the dean of Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, and served the very first Liturgy of St. Martin of Tours Mission.

After Liturgy, he gave a talk emphasizing the importance of how the parish has everything that any of the beautiful cathedrals have in the world, and to not feel as though anything is lacking. "It is really important to realize that, not think somehow that you are any less blessed than the people who are worshipping in that new cathedral [in Romania] or Christ the Savior in Moscow, or Sameba in Tbilisi, or St. Sava’s in Serbia. You have everything and are lacking nothing here." 

He went on to address the importance of the fact that, now that the parish is established, it is time to be like Mary and "sit at the feet of the Lord," and especially to not worry about our petty ideas and opinions. 

After a celebratory festal meal, the accompanying brothers gave some talks to the faithful regarding mission work and how important it is, while also clarifying the situation for Orthodox Christians in the United States and the proper approach to such work. One of the brothers started off his talk by mentioning how Orthodoxy in America has mostly been an immigrant Church, and how many Americans may have been attracted to it due to it appearing as exotic. Today, however, it has become clear that "we have shifted from this period in America where Orthodoxy was the immigrant Church, and now it is native. So now our focus is on evangelization here. It is no longer that we are being fed from the outside." 

After the talks were concluded, parish rector Priest Elias Crowder thanked everyone for attending the patronal feast and encouraged the faithful to follow in the footsteps of their patron. St. Martin of Tours was very well known for his almsgiving, and as a part of the Nativity Fast, the parish has started a bake sale in order to gather up resources to help those in need.

Materials from www.uoj.news.