EASTERN AMERICAN DIOCESE
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
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"A Unique Russian Church," or "The Miami where Orthodoxy speaks Spanish"

The Gateway to Latin America

Whatever else can be said, Orthodox life in America differs greatly from that in Russia. And it differs more so in Miami, the fourth most populated city in the USA after New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, where there are two Russian churches, a Greek, an Antiochian, and a Serbian church and, as of two years ago, a Spanish-speaking Orthodox mission arrived. It was from the spouse of local cleric, Archpriest Peter Jackson, Matushka Styliana, that I heard Miami referred to as the capital of Latin America. I would have nevertheless describe it thusly: the Gateway to Latin America, and Spanish is the most prevailing language in the city. If one were to look at the racial composition of the populace, then Latin Americans make up 71% of the population of Miami. Especially numerous here are immigrants from Cuba: 52% of the overall inhabitants of Latin American extraction. Then, with far smaller percentages, come Nicaragua, Honduras, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Mexico. Recently a stream has flooded forth from Venezuela, stemming from the 2015 crisis, which teetered on the brink of famine and saw constant disorder rocking the country.

Miami officially received the status of city on July 28, 1896. At that time, a little over 300 people lived there; but now, counting its greater metropolitan area, the population stands at over five million.

In the western part of the city, a region known as Little Havana can be found, where 90% of the local population comprises immigrants from Cuba, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The architecture does not betray the ethnic heritage of the region’s inhabitants. And yet, on every last Friday of the month, one can revel in the abundant ethnic celebrations with traditional Latin American cuisine, partake in aromatic coffee, and attain hand-rolled cigars.

The Cuban Diaspora is the largest in Miami. Interestingly, the "dry feet" policy exists to this day (its full designation being the "wet foot, dry foot" policy). Essentially, this policy states that if a Cuban who was trying to illegally enter the USA, or specifically into Florida, is caught on land, then he is given the chance to settle legally in America, but if he is caught in at sea, where he has not yet stepped on American soil, then he is sent back. This policy was set after the Cuban Revolution in 1959 to spite the leader of the revolution, Fidel Castro.

After the Cuban Revolution, many inhabitants of Cuba’s middle class began immigrating to Miami. In 1959, the Spanish-speaking population grew to 150 thousand, and by the end of the 1960s, there were over 400 thousand Cuban refugees in the city and its suburbs.

As was the case with the waves of the Russian immigration, the second wave of the Cuban immigration and intelligentsia of the first wave of Cuban immigration were on unpleasant terms. They especially did not appreciate being confused for one another. In the beginning of the 1980s, almost 125 thousand more Cuban immigrants resettled into the city.

On NE 23rd Street in Miami is the magnificent Apostolic Mission of Christ, under the protection of the Holy Apostles (Misión Apostólica de Cristo), a contemporary of the city. It was a Catholic basilica for over one hundred years; for the past two years, a Spanish-language mission has been found here.

Its development is thanks to the efforts of the daughter of the building’s owners: Dr. Paola Weber, founder and director of Paideia Orthodox Christian Classical Academy, and Pamela Latham, director of a local immigration firm. Two years ago, they appealed to the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America & New York, with a petition to send a priest who would tend to the Spanish-speaking Orthodox residents. And so, Priest (now Archpriest) Peter Jackson was sent to Miami.

The Jackson Family’s Personal Pentecost

Before his baptism, Fr. Peter was called Robert, or simply Bob, and Matushka Styliana, Sharon; both were born in America to Protestant families.

"In 1969, when Matushka was five years old, her parents, who were Protestant missionaries, took her to Colombia," Fr. Peter explains, "She grew up there surrounded by the members of the Kogi tribe, the most primitive of the 90 Indian tribes of Colombia.

"When I was 13, the youth pastor told us that we should pray for our future to know God’s will and what we should do with our lives. I began to pray, and a few days later, a family from Colombia came to us, which also did missionary work together with the parents of my future matushka. It was they who told us about how they were translating the Holy Scriptures into the Kogi language.

"I thought, Should I become a translator when I grow up? I entered college, began to learn foreign languages, and took on missionary work in Dallas, where I later met my future wife. We were married and left for Colombia to help her parents in their missionary endeavors."

In Colombia, the Jacksons had two sons. Robert learned Spanish and various native languages, and began to translate the Holy Scriptures from the Greek into the languages of the Indian tribes himself.

"While I translated texts directly from the original Greek, I noticed that, in Greek, the Gospel sounds and is understood differently than in English: you notice more nuances, you comprehend the full context," says Fr. Peter.

To better understand and more accurately translate the essence of the sacred texts, Robert began to read and study the Ancient Fathers of the Church, began to take interest in why there are so many Christian denominations in the world; he questioned the claim of Protestantism, that, supposedly, "there is no true Church and no Church holds the fullness of Truth, but only part of it."

"And then I thought, where is the True Church?" continues Fr. Peter. "I noticed that the writings of the Holy Fathers fully correspond with Holy Scripture; that the understanding of the Gospel, the perception of God and the Faith, the teaching of Sts. Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and Irenaeus of Lyons differ from what Western theologians taught.

"At that time, I had absolutely no idea of the existence of the Orthodox Church. I thought: so, we translate and give the Holy Scripture to the natives, and then what? Into which church do we lead them? The Protestant philosophy is basically: you give people the Bible and miraculously, God makes it so that they themselves, yet again miraculously, understand what to do next and out of them a new Church is ostensibly formed. But this never happens! And what’s more, the world of the Kogi operates on laws which are unlike the laws of the 21st century.

"According to the local tradition, the natives have multiple wives," clarifies Fr. Peter. "But the Gospel forbids polygamy. I asked my matushka’s father, ‘So we give them the Bible, and if they continue the practice of polygamy, what then?’ and my father-in-law answered, ‘We won’t let them!’

"But who is he? The chief, to tell them how to interpret the Bible? No, he is a simple missionary. In Protestantism, there is no tradition of hierarchical authority: it is pure chaos! We do not just need to give people the Bible, but to also lead them to the True Church. But into what Church are we leading them: Lutheran, Baptist, Catholic? And so I began to study Church history. I found books by Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware), and through them learned of the Orthodox Church, the same one to which the Early Fathers belonged."

Robert and Sharon first entered an Orthodox church in 1995 in the USA. But originally, before their return to America, went to church with the Pentecostals, who supported their Colombian mission.

"And everything in that Protestant church seemed dead to us, so inauthentic and false," Fr. Peter recalls, "They were actually celebrating Pentecost, but the service was not festive, it seemed boring to us: everything was mundane, like an ordinary day.

"But on the Orthodox feast of the Holy Trinity, we ended up in an OCA church in Minneapolis. It was a wonderful day and the service was so joyous: it was our first service in an Orthodox church.

"They were serving in Church Slavonic, we didn’t understand anything, but stood and wept. But they were tears of joy: the Lord gave us a second chance to celebrate Holy Pentecost! On the next Sunday, we went to the Greek church. There they served in English and Greek; now we understood everything and could follow along with the divine services.

"We returned to Colombia and wanted to become Orthodox. At that time, there was only one Greek church in the whole country, but there was no priest. We spoke with the local Orthodox Greeks and they got us in touch with the Greek bishop in Argentina. One month later, the bishop came and baptized our entire family."

In baptism, Robert received the name Peter, and Sharon become Styliana. Peter began writing to the ecclesiastical authorities in the USA to send them a priest. The letter was given to the current First Hierarch of ROCOR, then Bishop Hilarion of Manhattan. He blessed Peter to enter Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, and three years later, in 1998, Metropolitan Laurus ordained him to the priesthood and sent him to serve in Buffalo, NY. In 2014, when Miami was in need of a priest with knowledge of the Spanish language, Fr. Peter was asked to lead the Spanish-language mission parish.

…We arrived at the Apostolic Mission together with the myrrh-streaming icon "Softener of Evil Hearts." They awaited the icon. A week before her visit, Fr. Peter translated the akathist into Spanish, which would be sung before the myrrh-streaming image by a small church choir and the parishioners, most of whom were not yet Orthodox.

"The biggest hardship of our mission is that the majority of the churchgoers are people who have never heard of Orthodoxy, and it is difficult to explain the difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism to most," says Fr. Peter. "So far, the majority comes here just for help in filing immigration paperwork; they enter the church, appeal to God, but do not attempt to understand the differences between Christian confessions. Even the majority of those people whom we have baptized – 12 people over the past two years – works on Sundays and cannot regularly attend the divine services, coming about once every three months. Nevertheless, a great number of new people come in every Sunday."

Father Peter is the only priest of an Orthodox mission in the jurisdiction of the Russian Church Abroad that has traits uncharacteristic of a Russian church. Here, Catholics pray together with Orthodox. Sometimes, the priest must explain to a person wishing to go to confession why he cannot confess or commune them, what they must do if they wish to become Orthodox; and when to come for catechesis.

"Our heterodox ‘parishioners’ pray, sing, venerate the cross, listen to the sermon," Fr. Peter continues. "We even have the sort of people who come every Sunday, know all of the divine services, and understand that they cannot commune. After the Sunday Liturgy, we gather for the traditional luncheon, and they also bring food for the other parishioners. They are glad to take part in general activities, but aren’t all ready to immediately accept the Orthodox Faith, because these people are very tied to familial traditions and to break them is morally complicated. And we don’t rush them."

On weekdays, Fr. Peter, as the majority of clergymen of the Russian Church Abroad, works – in an immigration office located on church property. Every day in the morning, right in the lobby – where clients await their turn – he served a moleben, blesses and prays for those who have come to decide their immigrational affairs.

These people call the city of Miami "the capital of Latin America." Having settled in Miami, they contact their relatives from various Latin American countries, and their influence on the outside world, including their religious influence, is in fact greater than it appears at first glance.

"There are those people among our Orthodox parishioners who with time move to different states of this country and ask me which church it is better for them to attend," Fr. Peter explains. "Miami and our mission is a wonderful place where we have the ability to serve God and the people. The Lord placed us here for this reason."

"We have a very comfortable church building, with a big immigration office next door and benevolent foundation, which helps maintain the large building of the mission and the currently small parish," adds Matushka Styliana, "This is only the beginning," Matushka Styliana believes. "Miami is a city with great potential, great possibilities, a strategic city for missionary work in the Latin American region, the results of which we will one day see."

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"A Unique Russian Church," or "The Miami where Orthodoxy speaks Spanish" - 01/03/17

(19 images)


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Eastern American Diocese | Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia