Father Leo's Journey to Orthodoxy
By The Very Reverend Father Leo Arrowsmith, Archpriest
05/07/2001
 

The Society of Jesus was my spiritual home for 24 years. 13 of those years were as a Jesuit missionary in Japan. Only after returning to the US and leaving the Jesuits to marry Denise Mason did I finally come into contact with Orthodoxy. It all started in my prayer closet in 1983 where it seemed the Holy Spirit put the word "Orthodoxy" into my consciousness. So, I started looking around for Orthodoxy, knowing very little about it at the time. Very soon I discovered the Evangelical Orthodox Church in Ben Lomond, California--Saints Peter & Paul. I pulled up stakes in Berkeley and in 1984 became part of an extraordinary movement - the EOC, along with Fr. Peter Gilquist and many others. I was received into the Antiochian Archdiocese by Metropolitan PHILIP and ordained priest on the Feast of St. Leo the Great (February 18, 1987). I took Pope St. Leo's name at Ordination hoping to be some sort of bridge between East and West. On Father's Day (June 16th, 1996) I was appointed Acting Rector of the St. Innocent of Alaska Orthodox Church.

St. Innocent is a mission parish of the Orthodox Church in America. Our presiding hierarch is His Beatitude Metropolitan HERMAN. Our diocesan hierarch is His Grace TIKHON, Bishop of San Francisco and the West. The OCA has been autocephalous in the US for several decades now. Our parish, about 50 families, is composed of almost every major ethnic group in Orthodoxy. At one time, our Parish Council included two Greeks, two Russians, one Lebanese and one Ethiopian. We are multi-cultured, indeed. The only common language is English so all our services are in English. Since we are in "Silicon Valley" one hour from San Francisco, new inquirers find us on the internet. More than half of our membership is involved with the world of the computer.

My own forbears are from Wales. A Blessed Edmund Arrowsmith (a Jesuit priest) was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1628 for the crime of being a "Massing Priest". Hopefully, I will be treated better when I visit England as a "Liturgizing Priest".

Note:

In April 2002, Father Leo was elevated to the rank of Archpriest.  God Grant You Many Years!

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contact Father Leo at: 925-449-4965 or fr.leo@comcast.net