Our Mission
The Purpose of the Orthodox Church
is to be the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit (Romans
12:5; I Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 3:6; 4:12). She is the place in
which Christ reveals Himself and confers upon mankind the sanctifying
power of His death and resurrection through the grace of the Holy Spirit
(Romans 6:15; Ephesians 1:22; 5:24; Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:18).
Thus, in the Church, we “become partakers of the divine nature” (II
Peter 1:4) of the Father through the Son in the Spirit. The Church calls
sinful human beings into membership. To those who answer that call she
communicates the means of salvation through her sacramental life,
traditional teaching, and spiritual discipline.
The Purpose of All Saints parish is to be a local
community of the Orthodox Christian Church, fulfilling in this city the
purposes of the Church as a whole. The parish’s mission is to draw
those around her into her membership, both those already Orthodox and
converts from among the non-Orthodox, and to make of all who respond
true Orthodox Christians, i.e., right-believing, right-worshipping followers of Christ.
To accomplish her purpose All Saints offers the elements of a fully-rounded parish life.
Parish life centers on the Holy Mysteries and communal worship. It
extends into the lives of the parish’s families and individual members
through philanthropy, instruction in the teachings of the Orthodox
Faith, evangelization and outreach, and fellowship.
Our Worship Schedule
Great Vespers every Saturday 6:00 pm.
Divine Liturgy every Sunday 10:00am followed by After Service Fellowship at 11:30am.
Daily Vespers every Wednesday 7:00 p.m.
Holy Day services as announced
Our church is located at 8394 Nursery Drive, Victoria, Texas (under the water tower).
Our Priest
Father Dimitri Cozby studied at
Holy Cross Orthodox Theological Seminary, received his PhD. from Duke
University and has done a considerable amount of study in the field of
Eschatology. In addition he has been a parish priest in the Diocese of
the South, Orthodox Church in America, for three decades, preaching the
Gospel and writing extensively on matters related to the Christian
Faith.
Our History
All Saints Orthodox Mission
was organized in June 2006. For the first 3 1/2 years, we held services
in a waiting room at Victoria Eye Center. We moved into our new church
building in December 2009. Our principle activity is worship Currently
we have regular services only on weekends. However, with a resident
pastor, we will have more weekday and Holy day services and weekday
Bible study and discussion classes. We are the only Eastern Orthodox
Christian congregation within a 100-mile radius.The Orthodox Church
maintains the teaching and life of Christ’s Gospel unchanged since the
time of the Apostles. We hope to manifest that teaching and life in our
community. Visitors and inquirers are always welcome. You will find a
spiritually-rewarding and transforming experience.
More Information
Orthodox churches traditionally are extensively painted with wall
frescoes of scenes of the life of Christ, other scenes from the
Scriptures, and icons of saints. Because it is so new, our church, as of
yet, lacks the traditional iconography. We hope soon to commission an
iconographer to begin completing our place of worship.One of our young
parishioners, as his Eagle Scout project, has planted 100 olive trees
on the church grounds.They are doing quite well in our South Texas
environment. He hopes that eventually they will produce olives for
commercial sale, with the profits going to the church and to charities.
