I FOUND MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO

Synaxis of the Holy Theotokos Mission in San Francisco
(article written for a diocesan newsletter, February, 2003)

San Francisco is a city on the edge in many ways. It has long been a meeting place between East and West, between the “melting pots” of diverse cultural traditions and technical innovations. It was here that St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow, founded the first Orthodox parish in the lower 48 of the United States (Holy Trinity Cathedral). Russian immigration which gave life to the beginnings of the Orthodox Church in America, continues to bring new people to the San Francisco Bay Area. Many parishes in the Bay Area retain a largely Russian identity, and continue to meet the needs of new immigrants. Other parishes gradually lose their ethnic identities and begin to reflect the diversity of the population around them. Others are new missions, coming into existence as a result of converts who are discovering the Orthodox Church.

One such mission is Synaxis of the Holy Theotokos in the heart of San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood. This mission has an unusual history.

Just a few blocks away from the Duboce Triangle, is the Haight-Ashbury district, famous for being the home of the cultural ferment of the 1960s. Out of that time came various spiritual movements, one of which was a Christian group with an esoteric bent known as the Holy Order of MANS (an acronym reflecting the flavor of the group: Mysterion, Agape, Nous and Sophia, being the respective Greek words for Mystery, Charity, Eye of the Soul and Wisdom). As the ferment of the 1960s died away, such groups either died away or went deeper. The Order tried to go deeper by finding more traditional Christian roots. Having explored many of the writings of Christian history, it was only a matter of time before the Order discovered the Orthodox Church. It took some time to assimilate an understanding of what the Church is, but members of the Order, and communities associated with it, began entering the Church. This step became complete for most former Order people a little over two years ago, when several of the larger communities were received into the Orthodox Church in America (some were also received into the Bulgarian and Serbian Patriarchates in the US).

The current location of the Synaxis of the Holy Theotokos Mission chapel at 20 Steiner street was actually the Order headquarters at one time. Many former Order members lived in the area, and were part of the fledgling parish, but as they grew older and began families, most moved out of the city to find quieter places to live. Fr. Thomas Alessandroni was one who had been with the Order in other parts of the US, but moved back to San Francisco with his family when the transition began to Orthodox Mission, and is now the rector.

Many of the members of the mission are newcomers who were not part of the earlier transitions. The mission has attracted a diverse group of converts from many walks of life, as well as a diverse group of immigrants who feel more comfortable in a “melting pot” parish than one with an ethnic identity.

The mission started an Orthodox bookstore in the Sunset district (Archangel Bookstore), which is currently being managed by members of the mission. Just looking at the bookshelves of the store gives one an idea of the walks of life from which people enter into the life of the mission. On one shelf, a couple of books talk about ancient Orthodox Christianity in Africa, and relate it to the African-American experience. Another book explains Orthodox Christianity in contrast to the experiences found in Eastern religions. A small ‘zine called “Mother Wisdom” sets forth the images of women saints and other righteous women, largely written by an ex-feminist who became an Orthodox nun. And when the “Punk” movement was still visible in San Francisco, there was a ‘zine which gave them an alternative to nihilism called “Death to the World.” One also finds many books about Western saints (even saints of San Francisco and California), as well as Orthodox classics going back through the centuries. The bookstore holds lectures and other events which have been responsible for bringing new people into the mission.

Many of the mission members live and/or work at Raphael House, a facility for helping homeless families, with a notable success rate. Raphael House was also begun in the Order days, but is largely staffed by Orthodox Christians from the mission and from Holy Trinity Cathedral today.

Also among the current mission facilities is St. Paul’s Discipleship House, where members of the mission live in community to support and encourage one another in their growth as Orthodox Christians. The mission holds classes for the larger community in such subjects as liturgical music and iconography.

The growth of the mission is slowly introducing some changes. A wall was recently knocked out from a storage room, which doubled the size of the Chapel, but a mission committee is already engaged in the search for a larger building to serve the worship needs of the mission in the future. Worship is the center of the life of the mission, which inspires all of the other activities. It is worship which allows vibrant outreach to people from diverse backgrounds. It is worship which inspires the people of the Synaxis of the Holy Theotokos mission to learn new ways in which to say to hungering souls:

“O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that hopeth in Him.”