Memory Eternal to the Founders of St. Elias the Prophet. Your dream carries us forward into the 21st century.
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This past Wednesday, I had the honor of being a facilitator at Inclusive Dubuque’s Community Conversation. The event’s goal was to bring people together, not as people with this interest or that affiliation, but as Dubuquers. Sam Giere, a literal neighbor of St. Elias, opened the event with America’s motto: e pluribus unum, out of many one.
And in fact, this motto applies just as well to the St. Elias Community. Though St. Elias was originally founded by Greek immigrants, the legacy they leave behind is a church rooted in the Orthodox faith that welcomes not only a 6th generation Iowan priest with a Western European, Scandinavian, and Irish heritage, but also welcomes families with backgrounds from Greece, Russia, Syria, Romania, England, Poland, and elsewhere.
The little Greek Orthodox Church they founded in 1956 has come to live out the words of St. Paul,
“…for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. …There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female” (Galatians 3:26, 28).
St. Elias the Prophet has become a beacon of Orthodoxy for all Orthodox Christians for nearly 100 miles in every direction.
The beginnings of St. Elias go back to the early 1930s when our Founders rented the 2nd floor of a brick building on 7th and Main streets. By the 1950s, they realized the need for a permanent home. Their hard work, dedication, and foresight became a reality: a community under the patronage of the Prophet Elias (Elijah) the Tishbite.
For nearly 60 years, the community made its home on Rockdale Road. Memories from Greek festivals, basketball competitions, Paschal celebrations, weddings, funerals, and other important events will always remain with us. But most importantly, their desire for a healthy Orthodox Church remains. The Founders’ vision now leads us to a new home on Grandview Avenue and their legacy continues.
The unfortunate collapse of our building’s roof trusses and the resulting structural damage that was beyond repair is a death on the one hand, but also a rebirth on the other. It’s the death of a building – bricks and mortar – but a rebirth of our Founders’ dream for a community of Orthodox Christians living out their faith.
This rebirth, like Christ rising from the dead, gives us the opportunity to continue to be a part of a larger Dubuque community. It allows us to revitalize a historical church that’s a part of our city’s heritage. It allows us to extend our ministries to our neighbors in new and exciting ways. And, most importantly, it allows us to live out the vision of our Founders: to provide a home to all Orthodox Christians in the area.
Now coming together as one, we all pray: may our Founders’ memories be eternal!
