Clergy & Parish History

Archpriest Lawrence R. Farley

Father Lawrence, born in 1954, completed his M. Div. at Wycliffe College, Toronto School of Theology in 1979. After 6 years in pastoral ministry with the Anglican Church of Canada, he entered the Orthodox Church and completed a Certificate program at St. Tikhon’s Seminary in Pennsylvania and was ordained to the priesthood in 1986. Since 1987 he has served as the pastor St. Herman of Alaska Church in Langley BC, a missionary parish of the OCA (Archdiocese of Canada) founded by local laity, which has since grown to attain regular parish status and purchased its own building. Several priests, deacons, and lay members of new missions have emerged from the membership of St. Herman’s. Fr. Lawrence is the author of the Orthodox Bible Study Companion Series from Conciliar Press, and of a number of other books and articles, and appears in regular weekday podcasts on Ancient Faith Radio. He lives in Surrey B.C. with his family.

Deacon Kurt Edward Jordan

Deacon Kurt was born in 1973 and converted to Christ in 1991 in the evangelical protestant faith. In 1992 he married, and together with his wife and children, converted to Orthodoxy, being baptized at St. Herman’s in 1996. Deacon Kurt has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and biology, and received his theological training through the St. Stephen’s and St. Arseny’s extension courses. He was ordained deacon in 2007. As well as serving at St. Herman’s, Deacon Kurt is studying medicine at the University of British Columbia.

Priest John Bingham

Fr. John was born in 1950 and converted to Christ in the evangelical protestant churches. He and his wife converted to Orthodoxy in 1998, and he was ordained priest in 2005.

Deacon Gregory Wright

Deacon Gregory was born was born in Vancouver in 1975 of Russian Orthodox parents. He married in 1995. After studying theology through the St. Arseny extension course, he was ordained deacon in 2009. He and his wife live in Langley with their two children.

 

Parish History

The present parish of St. Herman of Alaska, Langley, B.C., began in 1975, when a group of parishioners from the predominately Russian Holy Resurrection parish in Vancouver decided to start an English mission in the lower mainland. These few faithful, led by Dr. Edward and Mrs. Vivian Hartley of Surrey, with the bishop’s blessing, began to hold Reader’s services in their private back-yard chapel. The mission was served through the years by a succession of clergy, some resident, some visiting. By 1986, they were again without a priest. After a year of holding Reader’s services in the back-yard chapel, through the arranging of (then bishop-elect) Fr. Seraphim Storheim, they learned that a seminarian of St. Tikhon’s Seminary in Pennsylvania, soon to graduate, was interested in coming to Canada to do English-language mission work. This priest, Fr. Lawrence Farley, came to the parish in 1987 as their assigned priest, in which capacity he has served until the present time.

Fr. Lawrence worked at a number of secular jobs until the parish could grow and offer full-time support. As the parish grew, it moved from its original back-yard location to rent a number of church facilities in Surrey and Langley. Eventually it was able to purchase property at its present location in Langley. A number of B.C. clergy trace their beginnings to St. Herman’s parish. Priests and deacons from All Saints Church in Victoria, St. Barnabas Church in Comox, St. John’s Church in Vancouver and St. Aidan’s Church in Cranbrook all were baptized at St. Herman’s. St. Herman’s Church consists largely of converts to the Orthodox Faith. It is served by Fr. Lawrence, assisted by Fr. John Bingham and Deacons Kurt Jordan and Gregory Wright. All its services are in English.