Saint Innocent Orthodox Church

Saint Innocent Orthodox Church Diverse and vibrant community living the expression of the historic and apostolic Orthodox Christian Church in far Northern California We now return to 1850.

It would seem that the Orthodox Christian community in Eureka should and could be the first one in town. Think about it: our temple (place of worship or “church” in common language) on F street is the oldest in Eureka, built in 1883. But Eureka was settled in 1850! So places of worship were built quite a while after settlers arrived from the East (as in East Coast of the USA and Western / Northern

Europe). So let’s start even earlier: 1836. That year, a man sails past Humboldt Bay, on his way from Alaska (called Russian America at the time) to Fort Ross. This man is John Veniaminov, the pastor of the Church of Sitka, Alaska. He will be forever remembered as Saint Innocent of Alaska, the Enlightener and Friend of the Native Tribes of the great Northern. Few people realize that there was an Orthodox Christian community (and Church) on the Northern California Coast, as early as 1823. It was nearby, but it wasn’t quite Eureka. That year, Eureka is settled by new immigrants, mostly coming from Western Europe and Scandinavia. At the same time, the European / Russian settlers are retreating. In 1850, St Innocent – the first bishop of Alaska and the great Pacific Northwest – decides to move his cathedral to Siberia. Eventually, he will be called to become the Metropolitan bishop of Moscow, and died in 1879. Four years later, a church is built in Eureka that will bear his name and remember his amazing missionary work. In fact, the people who came to settle Eureka did not come from historically Orthodox lands. The temple on “F street” was built for the Congregational community, and it was abandoned to be demolished after World War II. But another group (Apostolic Faith) came forward and took over “the first church,” until CalTrans bought to built a highway over it. Yet, that project did not come to pass, and CalTrans put the old church on the market. In the 1990s, there were many Orthodox Christians in town, but no formal parish had been established. By God’s providence, a missionary set things in motion and organized the group; the building was purchased, and a permanent priest was assigned as the Orthodox community became affiliated to the Orthodox Church in America which Saint Innocent had worked so hard to establish. Today, we are a diverse and vibrant community, counting many young families and living the tremendous to be the expression of the historic and apostolic Church in Eureka. As Saint Innocent himself taught and lived, the Orthodox Christian faith is for everyone seeking God, Truth, and the calling of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus. We invite you to join us and learn more about Christianity itself: Orthodox Christianity.

Christ is Risen! Photos from Holy Week and Pascha 2025. The flowers were beautiful. So many people volunteered to get...
04/23/2025

Christ is Risen! Photos from Holy Week and Pascha 2025. The flowers were beautiful. So many people volunteered to get the parish looking beautiful for Holy Week and Pascha. Thank you!

The new kitchen is coming together at the church. Thank you for all the people who came to move stuff, clean and instal...
03/08/2025

The new kitchen is coming together at the church. Thank you for all the people who came to move stuff, clean and install the new stainless steel counters.

The construction for phase 1 and phase 2 of our church updates is coming to a finish today. Thank you for all those who...
03/06/2025

The construction for phase 1 and phase 2 of our church updates is coming to a finish today. Thank you for all those who have worked on this project. If you can please help on Friday 3-6 pm or Saturday 10 am - 1 pm for our workdays.

Big shout out to my newest top fans! 💎Priest Athanasius KoneDrop a comment to welcome them to our community,
02/27/2025

Big shout out to my newest top fans! 💎

Priest Athanasius Kone

Drop a comment to welcome them to our community,

The construction on the kitchen and the choir room is coming to an end. Hopefully both projects will be completed by ne...
02/21/2025

The construction on the kitchen and the choir room is coming to an end. Hopefully both projects will be completed by next week. The new floors look, great. The water intrusion issue in the kitchen seems to be solved, new lights were installed and new outlets were put in. The choir room is getting a fresh coat of paint today and a new heater next week. The before and after pictures show a big change.

God why did you let this happen?Many times, we try to understand why something happens in our lives, usually something t...
02/14/2025

God why did you let this happen?

Many times, we try to understand why something happens in our lives, usually something that produces a lot of pain. Then we ask the Lord, “Why did you let this happen?” or “Why me?”. Well, the same question was asked once by Saint Antony the Great to our Lord. Specifically, he asked Him. “Lord, why some people die young and others when are very old? Why some people are poor and others rich? Why very sinful people become very rich and people that live their lives close to You are poor?” At that time a voice was heard from above saying: “Antony, you should only worry and care for yourself and be watchful not to fall in sin. What you are asking are God’s judgements and it is not something that will be good for you to learn!”

EVERGETINOS, Proposition 17

The work continues on our work projects at Saint Innocent's. The Kitchen drain is installed. The sump pump was lowered...
02/11/2025

The work continues on our work projects at Saint Innocent's. The Kitchen drain is installed. The sump pump was lowered, and the French Drain connected. The floors in the choir room have been sealed, insulated with foam and ready for self-leveling flooring to be applied today.

The longer one lives the life that the world dictates, the more stress one gains.Only in Christ does one rest, because m...
02/11/2025

The longer one lives the life that the world dictates, the more stress one gains.
Only in Christ does one rest, because man is made for God. The highest joy comes from sacrifice. Only when you sacrifice yourself for others, you become related to Christ, because Christ is sacrifice.

St. Paisios the Hagiorite

The work continues at the Church as we prepare the floors in the choir room, office and hallways for new flooring. Than...
02/07/2025

The work continues at the Church as we prepare the floors in the choir room, office and hallways for new flooring. Thank you to all those who helped with moving all the stuff. Work also continues on the sump pump and kitchen.

“And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”The...
02/05/2025

“And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”

Then as the Gospel passage tells us since the multitude had followed him into the desert for many hours and were hungry, the Lord with five loaves and two fish, having blessed and multiplied them, fed five thousand men with twelve additional baskets taken up. The compassion of Christ is not simply some sentimentality, but is a manifestation of His love toward His creation. God always loves the world, He loves every individual person, but for Him to be moved to compassion and to show it, it is also necessary for a person to be appropriately receptive to it.

It’s not enough to simply do some good works (to pray, to go to church, to study). Whatever we do we are sinners and unworthy of God. Consequently, we are unacceptable. All the same, we need to do these things precisely to show our good disposition, to show that we want to be saved, that we choose God, we seek Him, we love Him. But is not enough for these things to be done only because of habit.

That’s why it is good, wherever we find ourselves, to ask ourselves night and day whether our disposition is such that the Lord is able to be moved to compassion for us. It is not necessary for you to journey along many and distant roads, climbing and descending, in order to achieve this. God is the one who covers the distance that exists between us and Him. All a person needs to do is one little thing, but a little thing which is great and which is everything: to humble himself, to repent, to have the fear of God within him, to not be puffed up, self-inflated, and conceited.

And then O, the wonder! God will be found wherever we are. Then irrespectively of how things arise in our lives, we will feel the compassion of God and see how God will provide all that our souls and bodies need. It is not difficult for God not difficult even for God to heal you from sickness or to put in order other problems and situations in your life. He can take care of everything. But we need to adopt that disposition that will elicit His compassion toward us.

Transcribed talks by Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos

Work continues on our water intrusion and kitchen remodel. Yesterday miraculously we discovered an old French drain alo...
02/04/2025

Work continues on our water intrusion and kitchen remodel. Yesterday miraculously we discovered an old French drain along the side of the building that was clogged with roots. You can see some of the water flow in the attached video. We are hoping to update this old system and water proof our foundation. You can also see where the water has been coming through the foundation once we ground the old paint off the cinder blocks.

Please pray for us to complete this project and help support this work.

Address

939 F Street
Eureka, CA
95501

Opening Hours

Tuesday 5:45pm - 7:30pm
Wednesday 6:15am - 8am
Thursday 5:45pm - 7:30pm
Saturday 5:45pm - 7:30pm
Sunday 9am - 3pm

Telephone

+17074432099

Website

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