Until April 2023, I had been working bi-vocationally for the last 6 years. I was working full-time (40hrs) as a social worker and also working 20-30 hours as a mission priest at Saint Anthony’s. I worked so much to get my wife through her nurse practitioner program as well as to make sure that our family could maintain our very basic needs. Now that my wife has completed her program, she is a nurse practitioner at a federally qualified health center. The pay is not at all on par with practicing in a for-profit facility. She is also working in a state that is ranked as the worst state in which to be a nurse practitioner. Her remuneration reflects all that.
Although our mission has strived to continue to make gains in my compensation, it is difficult because we have simple folks who already struggle to live in our very, very expensive area. Currently, I am compensated less than 50% of our Diocese’s standard rate of salary for a priest.
Our mission has come a long way from a difficult beginning. We started the mission with nothing but a Gospel and an antimension. But we had faithful people, hope, and God on our side, and so our growing mission has continued to persevere by God’s mercy and grace.
We do not have a parsonage. For my first 2 years as a priest, I received no compensation. By the mercy of God, we have food on the table and a quaint, safe home for our family. In April 2023, my wife and I made the difficult and risky decision for me to leave my full-time secular work. The needs of our parish have continuously grown, and the people needed their priest more.
Working two full-time jobs was also taking its toll on me physically. Sadly, the burden of working full-time hours has merely been passed to my wife, who routinely works 60 hours a week. Currently, in conjunction with my parish compensation, I teach as an adjunct faculty online to earn a little additional income. My wife and I have decided to live a very simple life. The financial burden is our podvig for this season of life. I could easily request a transfer to a different, more financially supportive parish. But I won’t. Even with all the financial risks that come along with our arrangement, we love our mission parish and serving our community too much to leave. We know that God wants us here.
Currently, our mission parish is exploring a better building arrangement for church. We average 40 at Divine Liturgy, including 15 kids (4 babies). Our Church space is a rented store front of about 800 sq feet. We need to find a bigger space so our church can grow. This is a difficult task because in our area commercial space is incredibly expensive. With God’s grace, we will find what we need.
The assistance of Share the Faith, made possible by generous donors, has been a major blessing for us. I have been able to focus more on the mission parish, while reducing some of the burden on my wife. Thank you to all who make Share the Faith possible.
To support mission priests such as Fr. Photios, please donate to Share the Faith!
Just a $100 donation (more if you can) will provide needed support for Orthodox mission priests and mission parishes throughout the United States. Never has our nation needed the True Faith of Jesus Christ more than now, and it is up to us to bring it to them through local missions.
Ancient Faith Radio gave Share the Faith Director, Fr Evangelos Pepps, an opportunity to discuss Orthodox mission work in the US. How can we share the faith effectively and establish more Orthodox missions? 
