Our History
The history of our parish began in 1954, when the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) opened Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Fort Wayne. Since that time, the parish has experienced long years of growth and happiness and, more recently, long years of struggle and persecution.
Beginning in 2014, our parish was torn by the evil power of schism. We were physically forced out of our building, the holy items and the church savings were taken, and a lawsuit was filed against the parish officers and the diocese. We spent years holding services in our homes, patiently abiding in the hope that God would bring us to a brighter day and taking solace in the words of Holy Scripture:
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them.
-2 Timothy 3:12 - 14
Although our lawsuit is finally completed, we no longer have a building. We graciously thank Vladyka Peter, our guiding bishop, and Father Andre Papkov, our steady parish priest for many years, and our brethren in the Russian Church Outside of Russia for their overwhelming love and support toward us during our hardships. We also humbly thank His Eminence, Archbishop Nicholas of the Romanian Archdiocese of America, Father Ioan Ionita, and the kind and generous people of Saint Mary's Romanian Orthodox Church in Fort Wayne for allowing us to worship in their building and befriend their parish.
In the spirit of renewal and with the blessing of our bishop, our parish has been blessed with a new patron in Saint Paisuis Velichkovsky. This transition not only grants us a new parish name, but also a chance for renewal in our hearts.
Saint Paisuis is a great saint of the Church, having used his God-given talents to renew the monastic spirit in the Moldova and the Russian East. Through his efforts, many of the lost sheep of the Orthodox fold could again find their way by looking toward the ancient Patristic teaching of the Church.
...for Orthodox Christians of the 20th century there is no more important Holy Father of recent times than Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky. This is so not merely because of his holy life; not merely because, like another Saint Gregory Palamas, he defended the hesychast practice of the mental Prayer of Jesus; not only because he, through his many disciples, inspired the great monastic revival of the 19th century which flowered most notably in the holy Elders of Optina Monastery; but most of all because he redirected the attention of Orthodox Christians to the sources of Holy Orthodoxy, which are the only foundation of true Orthodox life and thought whether of the past or of the present, whether of monks or of laymen.
- Blessed Seraphim Rose of Platina
With hope in the prayers of our Holy Father, Saint Paisius, we ask your prayers as well that our parish may blossom with the fruit of spiritual renewal and the grace of God!