Major Fire at St. John of the Ladder Orthodox Church

Dear Brothers and Concelebrants,

All the blessings of the fast!

Sometime around 10:00 pm on Saturday, March 7th, our parish, St. John of the Ladder Orthodox Church, was struck by lightning and caught fire. We have seen tremendous growth the last few years and we are a community that is simply “bursting at the seams.” We had already started hosting services in Spartanburg, SC, (what we call our Spartanburg Chapel) in order to serve our growing flock. We also serve an early morning service in our side chapel in Greenville. With our three services we find ourselves serving well over 500 souls, and the growth continues without any sign of slowing down.

Due to the damage to our temple, we will temporarily be holding services in our Parish Hall. We plan to continue to have Divine Liturgy at 7:00 am and 9:30 am on Sundays, as well as our normal weekday services. We will also continue to hold services at our Spartanburg Chapel, currently hosted at the American Legion.

This unfortunate disaster poses some challenges to serve our people amidst this continued growth. Our use of the Parish Hall simply further limits our capacity. Our beautiful iconography, which is done by Seraphim…