Welcome to our parish web site! I would like to welcome any and all of you to visit our little mission church if you are ever in Honolulu. Although we are quite small and do not have our own church building, visitors tell us that they feel very 'cozy' and welcome in our church. Our services are mostly in English, but parts of liturgy are in Slavonic.  Of course, special services, like memorial services, are served either in English or Slavonic, depending on what language is requested.

Our church is dedicated to the Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon of Montreal that disappeared after the grisly murder of Brother Jose Munoz in Athens on Halloweeen night ten years ago ... Last year, we were very blessed by having two icons in our parish begin streaming myrrh. One of them was a copy of the Iveron Icon of Montreal, and the other one was an icon of the holy cross that was handwritten by a monk on Mount Athos. The Iveron icon is still streaming myrrh, whereas the cross icon does that only occasionally now. (You can read about these icons in a special section on our web site.)

While he was still alive, Brother Jose often talked with his friends about visiting our missionary parish, but that never came to pass. Perhaps the myrrh-streaming which began last Fall around the 25th anniversary of the myrrh-streaming of Brother Jose's icon is due to his prayers for us in heaven.

Often we get inquiries from people on the Mainland about weddings in Hawaii. Regrettably, in most cases we have to turn down such requests. There are many reasons for this. Our church is small, but as long as there is a church, weddings should be performed in a church and not on a beach, in a hotel, etc., and although our new church is bigger it is still too small to accommodate a sizable wedding party, large flower arrangements and a wedding photographer. We now have a small social hall but it is too small for a  big wedding reception, and our choir consists of working people who are not free to come and sing on working days. Many inquirers also do not realize that they need to obtain permission from their bishop to be married outside of their diocese or outside their own jurisdiction.

I therefore usually advise the prospective couples to get married in their hometown by a priest who knows either the bride or the bridegroom fairly well and then come to Hawaii for their honeymoon. (If they wish, they can have professional photographers take very romantic 'wedding pictures' on the beach, under the swaying palms trees, etc. once they get here.)

Occasionally we also get requests to find a cheap room, other accommodations and even jobs for people who either want to move here permanently or simply cannot afford to rent a hotel room for a short stay. Again, regrettably, we are not in a position to help anyone with such arrangements. We are few and are struggling ourselves to pay the monthly rent on a small room in an office building where we have our church. Cost of living in Hawaii is very high, especially the cost of housing, and the number of parishioners who can support the church financially is very small. Not so long ago we even had a series of monthly deficits which we had to cover by using our meager savings and had to request our diocese to place our church back in the status of a mission.

Now, if some day, with God's help, we build our own church, we will be in a position to accommodate more people who want to be married here, have a place for a Sunday school for our little ones, and maybe even a room where a visitor or two may stay. If you can help us, won't you contribute what you can toward that goal? Any contribution, large or small, will be gratefully accepted. To make a contribution, you may write a check made out to the Russian Orthodox Community of Hawaii and mail it to our current treasurer.  (Under NO circumstances should you send checks made out to me or individual members of our parish.  All such checks will be returned to the sender.)


Mahalo and God bless you!