Parish History

ALL SAINTS OF NORTH AMERICA ORTHODOX CHURCH

Parish History

All Saints of North America Orthodox Community was born in 2001 as an informal meeting of several English-speaking Orthodox faithful who assembled for regular Vespers and Typica services with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Seraphim of Ottawa. The community has been blessed to receive many new converts to Orthodoxy over the years. Since May 2003, with the ordination of Father Geoffrey Korz to the priesthood, we have enjoyed regular Liturgies. From September 2003 to December 2005, we moved for Sunday morning Liturgy into the lower level of the St. Stephen's Anglican hall.

In January of 2006, the parish moved to a commercial space above a dental office at 117 Queenston Road in Hamilton. This church location allowed easy access from the local highways, as well as roomy facilities for services, luncheons, and the Desert Wisdom Bookroom, an Orthodox book and supply shop run by the parish. In January of 2009, a new church building was purchased at 397 Melvin Avenue at Woodward Avenue, in the heart of Hamilton's East End. With the help of many donors, friends, volunteers, and an excellent crew, renovations on the new building took many months of careful labour on the former bank building.

The parish moved into the new church in January 2010, now enjoying an accessible building, worthily appointed for the worship of God, with meeting and fellowship space for the faithful. A newly-expanded Desert Wisdom Bookroom opened around Pascha 2010.Our community continues to grow, and we remain deeply convinced of the need for an Orthodox mission in the English language in this hub of the "Golden Horseshoe" region of southern Ontario, and prayerfully look to Our Lord's Holy Mother and all the saints of North America for their prayers to send to us those who are truly willing to labour in this field. All Services are in English. We follow the Julian Calendar.

"Ours must be an orthodoxy of the heart, not just the mind."

-St.Tikhon of Zadonsk