Brief History and Mission of Our Former Parish
All Saints of North America is an Orthodox Church in Middlebrook, Virginia, serving the Staunton, Waynesboro, and Harrisonburg areas. (We also have parishioners who come from Charlottesville, Roanoke, Salem, and Richmond!) We are a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, but we come from many different ethnic and national backgrounds. Some of us are "cradle Orthodox," and many of us are converts to the Faith. We are a traditional Orthodox Christian body, following the Old Calendar (Julian) and other traditional practices such as head coverings for women, modest dress, confession before taking Communion, standing for the services, and the chanting of the Liturgy without instruments.. We are located in the heart of Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley, where both of our priests and many of us in the parish were born and raised. All services are conducted in English.
Our Priests
Archpriest John Moses
Our Rector, Archpriest Father John Moses, was born and raised here in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley. He had been a Methodist minister and with his wife struggled to serve God in that Church for nearly 20 years. They encountered the Orthodox Faith while he was on a leave of absence doing graduate study in England. By the grace of God, and warm and sacrificial support from Orthodox clergy he met in the years after his return to the US, he converted to the Orthodox Faith, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1996.
As this parish has grown over the years, Father John's responsibilities have grown as well. Father John is the founder of the Volunteers in Mission (VIM) program of the Diocese. He has served on the Diocesan Council, and has served the Diocesan Administration as the assistant secretary and Southern liaison.
Father John's blog is available on this site. We invite you to peruse what he calls, "Ramblings of a Redneck Priest."
Priest Gabriel Weller
Father Gabriel Weller is our Assistant Priest (and also pastor of Holy Myrrhbearers Mission, ordained by Bishop GEORGE, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan HILARION. Father Gabriel, with Father John's support, is serving the Holy Myrrhbearers mission in addition to All Saints of North America. Like Father John, Father Gabriel was born and raised here in the Shenandoah Valley. He had been a church leader in the Methodist Church since his twenties, later spent some time in the United Church of Christ, serving in many capacties including Deacon, Elder, Church President, and filled the pulpit when the pastor was out of town. He returned to the Methodist Church and served as Certified Lay Speaker, Choir Member and Youth Leader. He attended Seminary at Eastern Mennonite University, but before completing his studies became frustrated with a growing perception of liberalism and other issues in the Protestant Churches he had known. He had been friends with Father John, then met, courted and eventually married his sister, and he encountered Orthodox Christianity through them. He has served in the Altar continuously since his baptism, and was the Warden of the Parish for two years. He was ordained to the Diaconate by Bishop Gabriel in 2007, and he was ordained to the Priesthood in 2009.