The Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church is a

western rite Orthodox Western Rite Orthodoxy, also called Western Orthodoxy or the Orthodox Western Rite, are congregations within the Eastern Orthodox tradition which perform their liturgy in Western forms. Besides altered versions of the Tridentine Mass, congreg ...

parish, located in

Mountain Home, Arkansas Mountain Home is a city in, and the county seat of, Baxter County, Arkansas, United States, in the southern Ozark Mountains near the northern state border with Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 12,448. A total of 41 ...

. Since February 2017 the parish is affiliated with the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...

History

Founding

The church was founded on August 8, 2004 and became a parish in the

United Episcopal Church of North America The United Episcopal Church of North America (UECNA) is a church in the Anglican tradition and is part of the Continuing Anglican movement. It is not part of the Anglican Communion. The UECNA describes itself as "embracing the broad base of cer ...

, which is a jurisdiction of the

Continuing Anglican movement The Continuing Anglican Movement, also known as the Anglican Continuum, encompasses a number of Christian churches, principally based in North America, that have an Anglican identity and tradition but are not part of the Anglican Communion. The ...

, but later voted to align with the

Reformed Episcopal Church The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) is an Anglican church of evangelical Episcopalian heritage. It was founded in 1873 in New York City by George David Cummins, a former bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The REC is a founding member o ...

in 2009. In the same year, with the

Anglican realignment The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States ...

movement, in which the REC took part, the church joined the

Anglican Church in North America The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cu ...

. The church's current building was finished in late 2007 and early 2008. The parish became Orthodox in 2015. In August of 2019, on the feast day of Holy Transfiguration, Saint Thomas Orthodox Church was elevated by his Eminence Metropolitan

Hilarion Kapral Metropolitan Hilarion (born Igor Alexeyevich Kapral, russian: Игорь Алексеевич Капра́л; 6 January 1948 – 16 May 2022) was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), Metropolitan of Eastern America a ...

to be renamed to Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church.

REC

In March 2009 three parishes, a bishop and archdeacon departed from the UECNA. Approximately one month later, on April 19, 2009, St. Thomas Anglican Church's congregation voted to align with the

, who would be a founding jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America. Seamans was accepted by the REC and continues to serve at his church in Mountain Home.

Affiliation

On November 22, 2015 in a Parish Meeting, St. Thomas voted to leave the Anglican Church in North America and the REC and voted to become a Western Rite Parish of the

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOCANA), often referred to in North America as simply the Antiochian Archdiocese, is the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in the United States and Canada. Origin ...

. In February 2017 the parish voted to affiliate with the

(ROCOR).

References

External links

Saint Thomas Orthodox Mission
- official site {{coord, 36.3572, N, 92.3341, W, source:wikidata, display=title Antiochian Orthodox Church in the United States Buildings and structures in Baxter County, Arkansas Churches in Arkansas Mountain Home, Arkansas Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia 2004 establishments in Arkansas Former Reformed Episcopal church buildings