Our History

St Peter the Aleut Church was established in 1990 with the blessing of His Grace, Seraphim, Bishop of Ottawa, Archdiocese of Canada, OCA. Several families had a strong desire to see an Orthodox parish established in Calgary that used English exclusively as its liturgical language. One of those families was the Deacon Peter Isaac family, a Deacon who had just recently attended St Tikhon’s Seminary and was living with his family in Calgary. Fr Peter was shortly after ordained to the Priesthood.

The parish grew slowly, attracting people from a wide variety of backgrounds: Orthodox who had married English-speaking non-Orthodox who were ready to convert to Orthodoxy, lapsed Orthodox who came back to the faith, Orthodox who wanted to pray and worship in a language that they understood, converts to the Orthodox faith from a variety of backgrounds, as well as recent immigrants from traditional “Orthodox” countries.

After meeting and worshiping in several different places, the parish was able to purchase a building in August, 1997, which was transformed into an Orthodox temple. In 2015, the parish moved to its current location in the former Anglican church of St. Mark & St. Philip where we currently share worship space with that congregation. This temple has been a blessing for us in that it accommodates our current community and the many visitors who have graced us with their presence.

One of the strengths of St. Peter is its diversity of people. Most newcomers feel welcome, no matter what their background. There is a strong commitment to proclaiming the Truth of Orthodox Christianity to the people of Calgary, and to make it possible for persons who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness to be able to participate in the life of the Kingdom of God in the Church.

Persons looking for a place to serve Christ will find many opportunities to do so in this embracing Orthodox family.

More detail: http://orthodoxcanada.ca/Calgary_AB_Holy_Martyr_Peter_the_Aleut_Orthodox_Church_1990