Christ is risen!
Today is Bright Monday, the first day after Pascha (Easter). I figured today was also an appropriate day on which to launch this blog, Red River Orthodox. Red River Orthodox is a blog on behalf of Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, an Orthodox Christian community in Fargo, ND (www.holyresurrectionfargo.org). In addition to the parish website, you may also follow us on Facebook.
I hope this blog proves helpful and informational to residents in Fargo-Moorhead and the larger community of the Red River Valley.
Yours in Christ,
Dellas Oliver (Fr. Oliver) Herbel
+Glory to Jesus Christ !
My thoughts and prayers are with the Holy Resurrection parish and my fellow Orthodox Christians in Minot.
I have a question for you. I was stationed at Grand Forks AFB and was discharged from that base back in 1968. At that time and prior there was a Greek Orthodox mission in Grand Forks. Once a month a celebate Orthodox monk priest would travel by train to celebrate a Divine Liturgy at Annunciation Orthodox mission in Grand Forks. I recall there was a few air force folks, a couple of UND students and local residents that would join in with those Divine Liturgies. One time I remember a few cradle Greek Orthodox actually lived in Biscmark and sadly there was no Orthodox church available so they attended an Episcopal Church.
A fond memory was the fellow air men who joined me in painting the exterior of that small gothic shaped former protestant churh building.
I would have to believe that that GO mission closed after 1968. I see that there is a Orthodox mission church now in Fargo.
If possible, please update me with any future efforts in Grand Forks.
David N.
Founding father of St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church, Woodstock Ga
http://www.stelizabethga.org
Grand Forks did have a parish until the 1970s. Like Minot, it had been founded by Greeks working the railroad. Someday, I hope to write a history of Orthodox Christianity in North Dakota. It is still very much a project on the back burner, but hopefully someday it will be accomplished. There are a few people who drive down from Grand Forks to attend our parish here. Fr. Anastassy spends a fair amount of time in Bismarck, where there are some Orthodox who consider themselves part of his parish (which makes sense since he’s closer by a good hour and has been ministering to them over the years). Once Holy Resurrection is established, I think a mission to Grand Forks would make sense. I also think a parish ought to exist in Bismarck. All in God’s time.