The Rev. Christopher Harner leads his first service Sunday as pastor of Holy Trinity and St. John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church in Jackson. In the coming years, the congregation plans to relocate to Lakeland Drive in Rankin County.
The Rev. Christopher Harner is welcomed by Cherylynn Horvath (right) and her son Elgin Horvath during a reception Sunday at Holy Trinity and St. John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church in Jackson. Orthodoxy is on the rise in the South.About Orthodoxy
Origin: The Orthodox Church has existed in the Middle East and Greece from the time of the apostles. It is the majority Christian faith in the Middle East, Greece, Romania, Serbia and Russia.
Worship: Called the Divine Liturgy, Orthodox worship expresses the Christian faith in a continuous song of praise and prayer to God.The entire service (except for the sermon) is sung, mostly to chants and melodies. No instruments are used. The words are all from Scripture or ancient Christian texts.
Icons: Icons are paintings of Christ and the saints that have been painted according to a strict tradition because they are a means of passing on the faith. Icons and crosses are venerated, but not worshipped, as a sign of the belief that in Christ God took a physical body and became part of the physical world so we could know him. Other human beings who unite themselves with Christ become holy and the image of God becomes visible in them, so their icons are honored as well.
Prayers and hymns: Standard prayers and hymns are used rather than extemporaneous or modern ones because they contain the accumulated insights of many centuries of Christians. Most are packed with biblical quotations. They are chanted or sung rather than spoken so worshippers are less conscious of the personality of the individual reader.
Source: Holy Resurrection Church, Clinton.
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Jean Gordon • jmgordon@clarionledger.com • June 7, 2008
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Jackson's only Greek Orthodox church got its start in the 1950s when local Greek immigrants raised money to buy property on West Capitol Street and recruited a priest from Greece to lead the congregation.
A half century later, the church is welcoming a new priest and is planning a move that may raise the profile of Orthodox Christians in the region.
"Our current bishop has the goal of evangelizing the Southeast," said the Rev. Christopher Harner, who met his new flock at Holy Trinity and St. John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church Sunday. "He feels that Jackson is an area that could have a lot of evangelism for the Orthodox church."
An Ohio native, Harner, 45, is taking the helm of the historic church as it moves toward the suburbs. Within three years, the congregation plans to build a new house of worship on land it owns on Lakeland Drive in Rankin County.
The church bought the property more than a decade ago with plans to someday relocate outside downtown Jackson.
"We really didn't know it was going to get that popular," parish council president Theo Mavridoglou said about the burgeoning development along Lakeland Drive. "Everything is moving in that direction."
Part of the reason for the church's move is that the 1950s-era building is aging and it sustained damage in 2005 from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Mavridoglou said.
Another reason has to do with changing demographics. Not only is the congregation no longer predominantly Greek, most members don't live near the church.
Church membership peaked in the 1960s with some 200 families. Today, 85 families belong to the church, Mavridoglou said, including a sizable number of converts as well as people from such places as Romania and Ethiopia.
"We have more converts than we have Greeks," he said. "The reason people convert is they see the traditional aspect of the Orthodox church."
Orthodox Christians trace their roots directly to the church founded by Jesus' apostles.
Orthodoxy has three main branches in the United States, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the Orthodox Church of America and the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. The church bodies are not administratively linked, but most churches are in communion with one another.
Though Orthodoxy encompasses a variety of cultural distinctions - including Greek, Ukrainian, Russian and Romanian - its fundamental beliefs are the same.
Orthodox churches are often known for their icons, which are ornate paintings of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the saints. When Holy Trinity and St. John the Theologian moves to its new location, it will take along all of its paintings and its altar.
"Everything inside the church will go with us," said Sharon Mavridoglou, who's an active parishioner and is married to Theo Mavridoglou. "All the icons and the whole iconostasis."
Mavridoglou said she's excited about her new priest because he's young, enthusiastic - and like many in his new flock - he's a convert.
He's also a career-changer.
Harner worked for more than 16 years as a fire protection consultant before heeding his spiritual call.
The married father of four joined the seminary when his youngest child reached school age.
"I was able to pursue the call to the priesthood that I knew was always there but I kept wanting to put off," he said.
Harner's move toward the priesthood came about 10 years after his conversion to Orthodoxy from the Presbyterian church.
He said he felt led to the Orthodox church when he started to ask questions about church doctrine and tradition.
"It took me several years of arguing with myself saying, 'Is it that important to jump?' " he said about converting. "Once I determined that really the Orthodox church was the church that kept its apostolic succession, that taught the same things that were taught in the apostolic age ... yes, it was significant enough for me to jump."
Finding the Orthodox church in Ohio wasn't difficult, Harner said, as Orthodoxy is more prevalent there than in Mississippi. Though Orthodox Christians remain a minority in the state, their presence is growing. In 2005 there were six Orthodox churches or missions in Mississippi. Today there are eight throughout the state.
That growth reflects a trend around the South and West.
Over the last 30 years, Orthodox churches in the southern United States have multiplied from a handful of congregations mainly in Florida and Texas to more than 60 churches and missions stretching from Virginia to New Mexico.
Along with reaching out to new members, Harner hopes to strengthen Orthodoxy within his own congregation with programs such as adult education classes and more effective youth ministries.
"My expectation is I will help the people of the parish grow closer to God," he said. "I want to make certain that folks understand what it means to be an Orthodox Christian."
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