In March 2024, St. Nina Mission–a chaplaincy mission of St. Athanasius Orthodox Church in Nicholalsville–secured a semi-permanent space in Berea, KY for our mission family to take root! Our new location is 213 Pauline Drive #5, Berea, KY. Starting immediately, we plan to meet each Tuesday at 630pm for an evening service (like Vespers) and a time for fellowship and learning, afterwards. We plan to develop our own website soon AND we invite you to get regular updates on our mission’s life and expansion via our St. Nina Facebook Page. We also have a presence on Instagram. Remember, you can also reach out to our priest-in-charge, Fr. Justin Patterson, at fr.justin@bluegrassorthodox.org. Fr. David Thatcher also is assisting regularly and can be reached at fr.david@bluegrassorthodox.org
For many years, St. Athanasius Orthodox Church in Nicholasville has maintained an active outreach to students at Berea College–which itself has always welcomed many students from historically-Orthodox nations like Greece, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Ethiopia. In recent years, the St. Athanasius community has experienced growth along the I-75 Kentucky corridor, from London and Corbin in the south, to Berea and Richmond, further north. We also have a small Orthodox community in Somerset and in other areas across Southern Kentucky. With the blessing of Archbishop Alexander of Dallas and with much prayer, we have launched a Mission Station for this I-75 corridor in a central location, Berea. In September of 2021, Archbishop Alexander has given our new community our holy mother among the saints, Nina (Nino) of Georgia, to be our patron saint. Our hope is to gather the many families and persons in this area, building on the youthful community we already have among Orthodox Fellowship at Berea College. With God’s help, we hope to see St. Nina Mission Station grow into a full-fledged Orthodox parish in due time–and to serve as a foundation for establishing Orthodox missions towards both the east and the south. We are pleased to welcome Orthodox Christians from all backgrounds–and particularly to be a place where local people (who are not yet Orthodox) might encounter the living apostolic Orthodox Christian Faith! Below are some photos of events held in Berea prior to our acquiring our chapel space in March 2024.
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