The journey of Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church has been a very long and arduous one...
The journey of Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church has been a very long and arduous one, beginning with its inception as a mission on Pascha, April 13, 1969, with Father David Buss, Deacon Andrew Kish, a handful of local Tucson Orthodox parishioners, and a contingency from St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Phoenix. Fulfilling the need for an English-speaking Orthodox Church with approximately 75 Orthodox Christians in attendance, the inaugural service was held in the chapel of the Arizona Mortuary at 4601 E. First St.
For the next few months, Deacon Andrew Kish commuted from Glendale, Arizona to help the newly formed mission. In the summer of 1969, the Kish family moved to Tucson and Deacon Andrew was ordained to the Holy Priesthood on July 13, 1969, and was appointed as the first Pastor of Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church. As attendance grew over the next few months, services were moved from the chapel of the Arizona Mortuary to the Parish Hall of Grace Episcopal Church and the search for a more permanent home for the growing community began.
In April of 1970, the mission purchased the former Miracle Mile Baptist Church located at 715 W. Vanover Road. Fr. Andrew Kish worked part-time in the parish while maintaining another job. In addition to his responsibilities as Pastor, he taught at both Glendale Community College and at Pima Community College. Father Andrew’s wife, Dorothy, served as the first choir director until our current director, Mareena Boosamra Ball, took over this role in 1978. Father Andrew was Pastor at Holy Resurrection until 1984, when Father Thomas Ruffin became the first full time Pastor at Holy Resurrection. In 1984, Lawrence Schmale was ordained as a Sub-Deacon, which was the beginning of his many years of service to our parish.
In August of 1985, Father Michael Evans was assigned as pastor of Holy Resurrection and served the parish until being reassigned in 1988, during which time we hosted our first Western Region Parish Life Conference in the summer of 1986. On January 1, 1989, Father David and Kh. Luanne Barr were assigned to our parish and served for 10 years. During this time, our parish grew and flourished, and the land our current parish is located on was purchased and the beginning of the building project for a new church was born. Holy Resurrection was served by several priests from 1999-2001, including Father Elias Issa, Father Justin McFeeters, and Father John Teague. In the summer of 2001, Father Philip and Kh. Theodora Nixon were assigned to Holy Resurrection. During Father Philip’s time as pastor, we saw our church continue to grow in membership and eventually the dream of the new church temple was realized. In February of 2009, our church building on Vanover Rd. was sold to St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church and Holy Resurrection held services at St. Katherine’s Chapel, which is owned by our sister church, St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.
“In February of 2011, on the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, the first service was held at the new Church.”
In February of 2011, on the Feast of the presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, the first service was held at the new church, located at 5910 E. 5th St. To meet the needs of the growing church, our faithful Sub-Deacon Lawrence Schmale was ordained to the Diaconate on January 26, 2014, by His Grace Bishop JOSEPH. Fr. Philip Nixon retired in the summer of 2018, after serving Holy Resurrection for 17 years, and on August 1, 2018, Father Gabriel and Kh. Cindy Bullock began their tenure at Holy Resurrection.
Once envisioned from its inception as a Pan-Orthodox Church (seen as serving Orthodox Christians from many ethnic backgrounds), and over the past 50 years, Holy Resurrection Antiochian Orthodox Church has grown from a mission to a thriving church community! This growth would not have happened without the support and dedication of her many members. Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church continues to be an Orthodox beacon for Tucson and has parishioners from many ethnic Orthodox backgrounds – Ukrainian, Greek, Serbian, Lebanese, Russian, Jordanian, Romanian, Syrian, as well as those who converted to Orthodoxy by choice. Holy Resurrection will continue to grow and will still be here for many years to come, serving the Orthodox community! May God grant Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church many more years of faithful worship and to continue doing God’s will!