Diocese: Diocese of the South
Deanery: Carolina Deanery
Address
1625 Fort Howard Rd
Rincon, Georgia 31326
Website: stmmoca.org
Office: 912-826-5176
Parish Contacts
Mount Pleasant, SC
Lay Leadership
Savannah, GA 31419
Directions
From I-95
Take I-95 to Georgia exit 109, route 21 north. Take 21 north for 6 and a half miles, to Fort Howard Road. Turn right onto Fort Howard Road, and proceed 2.2 miles, to 1625, which is on the right side.
Schedule of Services
6:00 PM Vespers.
Saturday Evening
Matins 8:15am, the Hours 9:05am, the Divine Liturgy 9:30am, Fellowship approximately 11am.
Sunday Morning
7:00 PM Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.
Wednesday & Friday Evenings During Great Lent
7:00 PM Vigil.
Eves of Great Feasts
Confessions are held before Vespers and by appointment.
Confessions
Please call the Rectory at 912-826-5176 for schedule of other services, or to arrange Baptisms, Marriages, Memorials, Thanksgiving Services, etc.
Parish Background
In early 1988, some Orthodox believers petitioned Metropolitan Theodosius to start a new mission in Savannah, GA. These believers began travelling to St Mary of Egypt Church in Atlanta on a monthly basis as well to the Monastery of Resaca, GA, where they eventually met Mother Terri and Fr Peter Smith. In January 1989 an organizational meeting was held by several Orthodox families in Savannah, and out of this meeting St Mary Magdalene was born.
Deanery clergy visited the Mission twice a month. For a while the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the homes of various parishioners until the community was able to gain use of the Seaman House in Savannah, which is situated on Washington Square in the historic section of downtown Savannah.
In May 1990, St Mary’s moved into a storefront facility attached to a veterinarian’s clinic on Skidway Rd. In June of that same year, the community’s first permanent priest, Fr Adrian Pollard, along with his wife Matushka Xenia and their son Daniel, arrived and began ministering to the community.
From November 1994 until April 1995 the community was without a permanent place of worship, but was finally able to rent a facility on Bay St in Savannah, where they stayed until October 1999. St Mary’s then rented worship space in Temple Baptist Church, also in Savannah.
In October 2001, Fr Adrian left St Mary’s for another assignment, and in March 2002 the community received its second pastor, Hieromonk James (Bohlman).
In May of 2002 the community purchased a 1.82 acre tract of land a little north of Savannah, in the city of Rincon, GA. On June 2, after the Divine Liturgy, the whole community of Orthodox believers of St Mary Magdalene drove to the property for a Cross-planting ceremony, thereby claiming the land for God. On December 14th, 2002, the community moved into their new Residence on the land, and held their first Divine Liturgy in Rincon on Sunday, December 15th.
In February of 2006 the parish community began the building of its new Temple and celebrated the first Divine Liturgy in it on August 13th, 2006.