A growing leftist ideology in the Episcopal church may be the reason Russian clergymen – former Episcopalians – are expanding their Maine presence.
Two Russian religious leaders in Maine say they left the Episcopal obsession with “LGBTQ+” politics to create their own kind of orthodox worship in Bucksport.
Deacon James Parsons of Bucksport’s St. Innocent of Alaska Mission, and Archpriest Chad Williams, the rector of the faith’s church in Richmond who travels to Bucksport for services, both left the Episcopal faith they were raised in.
Williams, who explained that he left the Episcopal church in the 1980s, said it began focusing on LGBTQ+ marriage, gender-affirming care and female clergy, along with other progressive stances that have caused division among its worldwide leadership.
Williams felt these continual votes changed the church so much from its origins that it began what could be its slow demise.
“Meaning and interpretation had changed from the original,” he said.
The Episcopal church’s ordination of the first openly gay bishop in 2003 sparked a significant schism, with some congregations and dioceses departing to join more conservative Anglican bodies, according to Britannica.
So it’s not surprising that conservative, Eastern European theology is filling the void for traditionalists looking for a faith-driven home.
Williams leads the Alexander Nevsky congregation in Richmond, which drew white Russians fleeing the Bolshevik revolution in their country after 1917 because there land was cheap and the climate not wholly unfamiliar to the one they left.
The Alaska Russian Orthodox Mission has recently found a new home in an old Bucksport church once operating as the North Bucksport United Methodist Church congregation.
The United Methodist group that built the church, part of that town since 1795, voted to disband in 2022 due to declining membership.
St. Innocent of Alaska Mission is a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, itself a part of the universal Orthodox Church.
“The parish cherishes the spiritual and cultural traditions brought by Russian emigres to Maine, while welcoming people of all ethnic backgrounds who want to live by Christianity’s most ancient teachings and sacraments,” according to its website.
