Georgia Parish Celebrates Patronal Feast of St. Stephen

Parishioners of St. Stephen Antiochian Orthodox Church celebrate their patronal feast. Photo: Philip Wilson

HIRAM — St. Stephen Antiochian Orthodox Church has a unique history as opposed to other Orthodox Churches in America, in that it has its origin in the “Evangelical Orthodox Church” before getting received and gaining canonical status in the Antiochian Orthodox Church. 

For those unfamiliar, the EOC has its origins in the Campus Crusade movement, which consisted of many Evangelical Americans across the United States searching for the “New Testament Church.” Many former leaders of the Campus Crusade, such as Peter Gillquist, Jack Sparks, Gordon Walker, and others, who discovered Orthodoxy, then went on to create their own synthesis of Orthodoxy and Evangelical Protestantism, and on January 14, 1979, proclaimed themselves bishops of what they called the “Evangelical Orthodox Church.” 

This group was made up of thousands of members, and after many talks with different jurisdictions and bishops, on September 8, 1986, the majority were received into the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America under Metropolitan Philip Saliba. Three-fourths of the “bishops” of the EOC accepted the terms laid out by Metropolitan Philip, which included ordaining them as priests instead, resulting in the creation of 17 parishes in total.

Among those received into the Antiochian Archdiocese was Fr. Andrew Moore, and on February 22, 1987, he was ordained by Metropolitan Philip into the priesthood and assigned to St. Stephen Orthodox Church, which moved to its current location in Hiram, Georgia in 1988. In 2020, Fr. Andrew retired, yet still continues to preach and spread Orthodoxy, and he is currently assisting a mission in Blue Ridge, Georgia. In 2021, Fr. Jacob Andoun became the new parish priest of St. Stephen Orthodox Church and has done a phenomenal job of serving his parish and parishioners.

The parish is home to many American families and has always been a convert-heavy parish, even prior to the explosion of Orthodox converts that we see today. Among the parishioners at St. Stephen’s is Ed Setzler, a Georgia State Senator and former Representative of the 35th District of the Georgia House of Representatives. He is an American Orthodox Christian who converted in the early 2010s, and in 2019 was the lead sponsor of Georgia House Bill 481, a six-week abortion ban in Georgia. He was also a strong supporter of the recent Day of Action to raise awareness of the persecution Ukrainian Orthodox Church that took place in Washington D.C., and his son, David Setzler, took part as a Georgia Team Lead, meeting with many Georgia politicians to call for an end to the persecution of the UOC. 

St. Stephen Orthodox Church only continues to grow in numbers with the recent explosion of converts in the United States, and they are constantly receiving new catechumens, molding them in the Faith, and baptizing them. 

A blessed feast to St. Stephen Orthodox Church and may they continue to shine as an example of American Orthodoxy. 

St. Stephen the Protomartyr, pray to God for us!

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