About Us

Icon: Saint Herman of Alaska

Saint Herman of Alaska Eastern Orthodox Church is a parish located in Hudson, Ohio.

We are under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch MAXIM, and the Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia under His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH. Our Church is in full communion with all canonical Orthodox jurisdictions as represented by SCOBA. We are a member of the Akron Orthodox Clergy Association, and the Christian Orthodox Council of Akron.

Our worship is entirely in English, using “contemporary” English wherever possible. We worship under the “New” or Gregorian Calendar.

Although we remain a “mission parish” at this time, we have plans for expanding in the future, and have begun the process of looking for a more permanent home. By the grace of God, we were assigned a full time priest in January of 2005 by His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph to serve the community. Today and our worship includes the full Liturgical cycle of the Orthodox Church.

The mission was established in late 2002 by a group of seven people who lived in the Hudson area, and who were genuinely interested in seeing Orthodoxy brought to northeastern Summit County. Prior to the establishment of the mission, the closest Orthodox parish was a 30 minute drive from the community.

The first service was held on May 18^th, 2003, the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women. The group met for the first year in the Hudson Barlow Community Center. Since that time, the group has grown, needs have expanded, and we have moved to the historic Chapel inside Markillie/Saint Mary’s Cemetery. Within this building we have now worshipped since September of 2004.

Father Basil and Altar Server Brian Lewis at the Great Entrance

(by the way, Brian’s a college freshman now…. And Fr. Basil’s a LOT ‘greyer’)

We welcome all people to “come and see.” We pray that those in northeastern Summit County who find themselves too distant from other Orthodox churches will seek us out (click Directions). In conducting worship in English, we pray that all of any ethnic background will feel comfortable here. Today, our membership includes “cradle Orthodox” from Russian, Czech, Bulgarian, Carpatho-Russian, and Greek backgrounds. Most of our families include members who were originally or are now of non-Orthodox faiths. We also have an active Catechumen program, bringing those from other Christian backgrounds into the Holy Orthodox faith.

And so we welcome any of non-Orthodox backgrounds to also “come and see”, to find the original Church established by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through His Apostles on the very day of Pentecost. While many Christian denominations make claims to “tracing our origins to 33AD,” the Orthodox Faith uniquely declares its Apostolic succession, a chain of authority wherein each priest has been ordained by a bishop, who himself was ordained by a bishop, who in succession was ordained directly by one of the Lord’s Apostles. We “hold fast to the traditions” (2Thes 2:15) handed down to us by His Apostles, and through them to the Holy Fathers of the Church until this very day.