About St. Andrew Orthodox Church

Each year since around 1989, St. Andrew has opened our doors to welcome our neighbors near and far to celebrate with us as we share our parish community’s rich and widely varied cultural heritage.

While originating in Antioch, the Antiochian tradition is also a “pan-orthodox” tradition, reflecting many different people, languages and cultures. We have parishioners from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Romania, Russia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Columbia, Argentina, Serbia, and—you guessed it—from Kentucky (and all over the US).

We fire up the grills, fry the falafel and crank up the music. The entertainment ranges from Syrian, Palestinian and Serbian folk dancing, to Irish step dancing and Bluegrass (Kentucky!).

The menus vary from year to year, but you’ll almost always find falafel and kibbeh, gyros and dolmas, pierogi and cabbage rolls, Russian tea cakes and baklava. (Such great baklava!) And so much, much more.

Each festival also includes tours of the church which are not to be missed: St. Andrew is home to one of the greatest bodies of iconography in North America.

Come for the Falafel, stay for the Faith

More important than our food and music is the faith that underpins it all. We encourage you to “Come and See”—step inside the church and learn about this faith we share that has been largely unchanged for over 2000 years.

We hope as you hear the music and see the icons and learn about our tradition, you’ll experience a glimpse of our love of God, and feel welcome to return to discover more, or to come and worship with us.

This year’s festival is September 12 from 12-7 PM and September 13 from 12-5 PM. See you there!

In 1978,as part of its convention theme of that year, the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America published a list of six cities with mission potential. Lexington, Kentucky was on that list, and two years later, six local families with Orthodox backgrounds accepted the challenge and formed St. Andrew Mission Parish. The six families–Farha, Krieger, Lengal, Mann, Metry and Skaff–began with little more than a strong commitment to Orthodoxy. These pioneering families celebrated the first Liturgies in their homes, and occasionally in rented rooms, with the generous support of visiting priests from St. George Church in Charleston, West Virginia; Holy Spirit Church in Huntington, West Virginia; and St. Michael the Archangel Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

In April 1981, the tiny mission was assigned its first pastor, Father George York. The Episcopal Seminary on Sayre Avenue allowed the mission to use a small chapel on its Lexington campus. During this time, the community began to attract many local Orthodox families and a steady stream of converts. In 1984 it became necessary to leave the Seminary location, and a new pastor, Father Barnabas Van Alstine, was assigned to the Parish. Then began a period of wandering from one facility to another. For a time St. Andrew Mission rented hotel space for liturgies. Then it became a “storefront church” in a shopping center. Eventually, the congregation settled in a building that had once been a dance studio and was owned by a parishioner, who generously allowed its use. By 1985, the Lexington faithful had raised sufficient funds to purchase land in southwest Lexington.

In the spring of 1987, Father Basil Essey was assigned as Interim Pastor. Under his guidance, the Parish broke ground and planted the Cross on the Higbee Mill Road property. In the summer of 1987, Father Denis Lajoie was assigned to St. Andrew Orthodox Church. By winter 1987, the Parish erected a two-story structure on the two-and-half acre plot and the parish began meeting in the Church Hall on the ground floor. In December of 1987, His Grace, Bishop Antoun presided over the dedication blessing of the new facility.

In August of 1988, Father Thomas Gallaway was assigned as pastor of St. Andrew’s. Father Thomas has overseen the completion and beautification of the church interior. The twelve-foot iconostasis made of solid mahogany was completed in 1993 and icons, hand painted in egg-tempera by the famous Russian iconographer, Xenia Pokrovsky, were fully installed by the Feast of Nativity that same year. On the Feast of Pentecost, 1995, former pastor of St. Andrew Church, now His Grace, Bishop Basil Essey, returned to St. Andrew Orthodox Church to consecrate the completed church and to ordain Benjamin Mann to the Holy Deaconate. On March 17, 1996, His Grace Bishop Demitri elevated Fr. Thomas to the dignity of Archpriest.. St. Andrew Orthodox Church completely retired its mortgage in the early 2000s, and is now pursuing plans for expansion to accommodate a rapidly growing congregation.