www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Arson fire at Roswell, GA BCC - neighbors offer help

An arson fire severely damaged Epiphany Byzantine Catholic Church in Roswell, GA north of Atlanta this morning. A suspect has been apprehended.
http://m.ajc.com/news/news/church-fire-in-roswell-under-investigation-man-arr/njSCm/

Let Bishop George or Met. Hilarion find out and heads will roll. They are both hateful men of any non-Orthodox. This will probably raise the ire of some here but it's true. I do not say that based on rumor or hearsay. I have interacted with both men, especially Bishop George, on numerous occasions and have heard the things they have to say about the "heterodox". I'm glad some ROCOR clergy aren't like their Bishops but many are and are you sure it's not the Malankara Orthodox? I know there is a ROCOR parish in Roswell but there is a Malankara parish in Roswell as well and I believe they are more inclined to help than ROCOR.

I just looked it up it's the Malankara Orthodox, they are on the same street.

Yeah - it's Malankara Orthodox. They bought an old protestant church that adjoined the property. They recently renovated it and "easternized" it and their patriarch came and blessed the building back in September.

There are a minimum of three St Mary's orthodox churches in atlanta.

Two are are dedicated to St Mary of Egypt - one ROCOR and one OCA.

The Malankara church is dedicated to St Mary, Mother of God.

Hey everyone,

I'm a member of the parish council at Epiphany. I want to clarify a few things that the media reports haven't exactly gotten right (though their treatment of our story has been very respectful):

- As far as my last 'official' update was concerned, the fire hasn't been officially ruled arson (but will be), and was intentionally started by an individual who visited the parish last week. We have no idea as to their motive, and we're all pretty dumbfounded that this individual would carry out these actions.

- While most of the perpetrator's efforts were thankfully thwarted by the Roswell fire department, it was clear from the damage that he was trying to torch the entire property. Despite the fire damage to the church building being fairly isolated, smoke and water damage is extensive, and may require a complete rehabilitation of the nave, iconostasis, sanctuary, and sacristy. We'll know more about how much work we're really facing as soon as the insurance company concludes their report.

- The outpouring of support from neighboring churches has been very encouraging. There are a total of FOUR Orthodox Churches in the Atlanta area dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt: Coptic, ROCOR, OCA, and Malankara. The Malankara parish is directly adjacent to ours (literally right in front of our property). Their property sustained some fire damage in the attack - a wooded area that was lit separates our properties. Their parish building was not damaged.

- We have received invitations to utilize the space of the Malankara parish, as well as our dear friends at St. Elizabeth's Orthodox Church (ACROD) in Woodstock, but no final decisions have been made (despite news reports to the contrary). We want to make as little impact on whatever space we occupy, and considerations are being made as to location & availability.

Your prayers are all needed and appreciated. We have a long way to go before our parish will be in suitable condition for worship once again. This has honestly been a frustrating and traumatic ordeal for us, but we are very grateful that our priest, Father Philip Scott was not injured and that we will be able to carry forward. The individual responsible is also in need of many prayers, as he faces a long and difficult road ahead...

Prayers for your congregation and for the individual. Kyrie Eleison!

Amen.

My apologies for the misinformation regarding the ROCOR which came off an early news report.

Lord have mercy!

Wasn't the fire at St. Elias in Brampton just around this season last year?

I hope the congregation is able to hold their Nativity Liturgies without any problem. God bless the Malankara Orthodox parish.

Michael_Thoma - St Elias was burned down this year - during Great and Holy Week if my memory serves me correctly .

Prayers for all those in Roswell - I can't imagine how devastating something like this must be

Yes, St Elias is Fr. Roman Galadza's parish (his brother is married to my cousin) and it was a terrible tragedy (they are holding services elsewhere until they rebuild).

The fire engulfed the wooden Church very quickly and the spectacle could be seen for miles around (even my Anglican employer awoke to the smell of flames at quite a distance from him).

Parishioners interviewed on radio and TV were beside themselves and it was so heart-breaking to see teenaged youths shedding tears and crying out, "What are we going to do . . .?"

Even in their moment of tragedy, these young people witnessed to how central the parish liturgical life was and is to their lives.

Alex

Am not familiar with Bishop George, but am with Metropolitan Hilarion who is indeed a hateful, prejudiced, judgmental person. He had the gaul to attack the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church while a guest of the Vatican and frequently demonstrates ignorance and lack of Christian charity. May God enlighten him.

Different Metropolitan Hilarion...I think he is referring to the First Hierarch of the ROCOR residing at Jordanville, not the Met. Hilarion from Russia....

Yes, I was referring to Hilarion of ROCOR not Hilarion of the MP, although it's true of both of them.

As I've said before, there are *a lot* of good, kind, and loving people in the Russian Church (both ROCOR and MP) but they aren't in the Episcopacy (at least in ROCOR) and very few of them are priests or Deacons. The other Orthodox jurisdictions, however, are much more open and loving and really express brotherly Christian love. That has been my honest experience in my seven years that I was an Orthodox Christian.

It is sort of nice we have a straw man to dump on, isn't it, especially when they have nothing to do with this crime.
BTW, when the Orthodox episcopacy expresses on opinion about Greek Catholics, they are no different from the apologetically inclined Roman episcopacy making similar statements about Anglicanism.