St. Nicholas Mission
Murphy, North Carolina
About The Mission
With the blessing of His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas,
then-Deacon James Blomeley began work on establishing a mission in Murphy,
North Carolina, in the spring of 2009.
It seemed an unlikely proposition.
There is not an Orthodox parish within two hours of Murphy in any
direction, and there was no readily identifiable base of Orthodox Christians in
the area. Nonetheless, His Eminence
allowed work to go forward. Over a
period of several months, a location was rented, preliminary contacts in the
community were made, and a press release was published in most of the local
newspapers. Our first Divine Liturgy,
celebrated by the newly ordained Fr. James, was held on August 2, 2009, with 18
people from the local area present. St. Nicholas
is now the spiritual home to several Orthodox families, all of whom previously
thought they were the only Orthodox in the local area. On most Sundays services are also attended by
people who are curious about Orthodoxy, and wish to find out more about the
Orthodox Church.
St. Nicholas mission was formed with the idea of bringing
Orthodoxy to an area where the Faith was largely unknown. That remains our mission, and it is one that
we are very excited about. In addition
to Divine Liturgy every Sunday, we have Inquirers classes every Thursday
evening, Vespers every Saturday evening, and appropriate services for each
major feast.
Mission Needs
St. Nicholas mission has benefitted greatly from the
generosity and prayers of a great many people throughout the Diocese. Still, we do have some needs:
1. Prayers, and yet more prayers!
2. A
diskos. We have one measuring six inches
across, which is somewhat small for our needs.
A slightly larger one, perhaps eight inches in diameter, would be very
helpful.
3. A
Gospel stand.
4. A
reader's stand.
5. Litya
tray
6. Holy
water sprinkler
7. Dalmatics
for altar boys
8. Chalice
and diskos covers, and altar clothes in all colors except gold.
9. Festal
icons of all kinds. In addition, we want
as many icons as possible in our worship area.
While we have a number of icons of Our Lord and of the Theotokos, icons
of individual saints or groups of saints would be very welcome. Ideally, we will end up with groupings of
saints that reflect the origins of all of our members: Carpatho-Russian, Greek, Serbian, Russian
and, of course, Saints of North America.
Contact Information
For more information about St. Nicholas Orthodox Mission,
you can reach Fr. James at 828-361-1464, by e-mail at FrJames@stnicholasorthodoxnc.org,
or by mail at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, 3711 US 64 E Alternate, Unit 6,
Murphy, NC 28906. Our website will always have an up to date
schedule of services at www.stnicholasorthodoxnc.org.
