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Our History

Affluent, eclectic, artsy, —"spirit rocks", houseboats, upscale shoppes, peacock feathers, and hot tubs. It's all here in Marin County, CA — but there's also much more. In addition to old-growth redwood stands, open space, and miles of national seashore, there are also three Orthodox communities in this New Age bastion, an area where statistics claim that only 3% of the population are practicing Christians. In pastoral (pardon the pun) West Marin there is the diocesan Monastery of St. John of San Francisco. In Novato there is the vibrant Greek Orthodox parish of the Nativity of Christ. And in Ross Valley, in the town of San Anselmo, there is the oldest Orthodox parish in this neck of the (red)woods, St. Nicholas Church.

The first chapter of the parish's history is pretty much like that of most Russian Churches in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its founders were among the thousands of Russians displaced by the Bolshevik Revolution who had fled eastward through Siberia to Manchuria and China before coming to America. Many of these new Californians, having earlier made their home in the Russian enclave of Harbin, formed a colony in San Francisco, where Holy Trinity Cathedral had already been in existence since 1868. When the Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937, many refugees now fled the fog and moved across the Golden Gate into sunny Marin. By the early 1950's. a movement began to establish a satellite community in the San Rafael area. In 1956, Archbishop John (Shahovskoy) blessed the permanent home of St. Nicholas parish in San Anselmo and assigned Fr. Boris Symeonoff as the first pastor.

The next stage of the parish life also was typical of most emigre communities. Under the capable spiritual leadership of Fr. Boris and with the cooperation of a zealous flock, the numbers slowly grew and a new temple was constructed. After thirty years of dedicated ministry, Batiushka retired and Fr. Michael Prokurat was assigned as rector. Faced with an aging flock, and the semi-churched and sometimes totally unchurched children and grandchildren of the founders, a different pastoral medicine needed to be applied. Fr. Michael had the Orthodox theological foundation andvision, his own life experience as an Orthodox American parenting his own children, and the courage to teach the unchanging Tradition of the faith in these special circumstances. By the grace of God, a new era had begun.

Today, as St. Nicholas parish celebrates its fortieth anniversary, we are faced with entirely new options and challenges. Many have noticed that Marin County — once the center of the "post-Christian" movements of the sixties and seventies, is now entering a "post post-Christian" era. Some of the children of those who long abandoned Judaeo-Christian structures of American "secular" religious cultures are now seeking to discover the real roots of those traditions. Hardly a week goes by without the presence of a new "seeker". The possibilities for mission are immense! This wonderful opportunity, however, presents its unique challenges. The community is no longer culturally or socially homogeneous as in the post-Harbin days. There is still a tiny remnant of those with childhood memories of church life in Pre-Revolutionary Russia. There is yet a strong presence of the "second wave" of Russians who came via Western Europe as well as the Far East. Their children and grandchildren with their unique mixed cultural experience make up a significant part of the community. Then, of course, there are the "transplants" from "Back East" with their own memories of "Metropolia" church upbringing. Over the years, many committed Christians of various non-Orthodox denominations have embraced the fullness ofthe Orthodox Faith and are among the most active members of the parish. Then there are those with no previous religious formation, including a number of recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

The challenge to St. Nicholas parish today is the same challenge offered to any parish. Every local church is called to be Orthodox in faith and truly "Catholic" in the sense of being capable of embracing everyone who seeks Christ. In San Anselmo that means to be faithful to the Tradition, and visible and open to the community around us. In addition to a relatively full liturgical life and educational program, a few attempts are being made to reach out beyond the walls of the temple. For several years we have opened our facilities to Twelve Step meetings. The "rent" received goes directly to support Marin food kitchens and homeless shelters. Yes, there are homeless in Marin (especially with the cost of real estate around here)! There is an ongoing food basket collection sponsored by the Sisterhood. On the Feast of Theophany, the entire parish processed from the temple throughout the downtown area to San Anselmo Creek for the Great Blessing of Water. Leaflets explaining the service as well as a brief introduction to the Orthodox faith were distributed along the way. On the evening after the Feast of the Transfiguration, the community, with Cross, banners, and icons, climbed to the summit of adjacent Bald Mountain overlooking West Marin, Ross Valley, Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco. Thus, during the celebration of the parish's fortieth year, as the faithful stood at the threshold of the next era of Orthodox Christianity in Marin County, the Festal Troparion, Gospel, and the Akathist "Glory to God for All Things" was proclaimed throughout the hills of the North Bay, reminding those present of the Great Commission to preach the Good News to all people.