Orthodox Mission opens in San Carlos Park

Father Hans Jacobse welcomes all to his startup church, St. Peter Orthodox Mission, in San Carlos Park.

“Our vision is just to reach out to anybody who is interested in Orthodox Christianity,” he said. “We’re reaching out to Christians who want a more substantial and deeper faith.”

Jacobse gave the first service in mid-May. About 50 to 60 parishioners meet at 9:30 every Sunday morning at the Holiday Inn at Alico Road and Interstate 75.

He chose the central location to draw people from all over Lee County.

Orthodox Christianity dates back to the first century. It is the original church, the church that Jesus Christ’s apostles founded. It had five centers: Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria and Constantinople. The Roman church split from it in 1054 and became the Catholic church, and in the 1500s, Protestant churches began forming.

Orthodox Christians in the United States have primarily identified themselves by their ethnicity, including Greek, Russian and Middle Eastern, although they all belong to the same church.

Jacobse seeks to unite Orthodox Christians.

St. Peter is the second Antiochian Orthodox church in Southwest Florida. The first, St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Naples, was founded a decade ago.

St. Peter and St. Paul, whose feasts are celebrated June 29, established the church in the ancient city of Antioch located in modern Turkey near the border with Syria. Today, the seat of the Antiochian Orthodox church is in Damascus, Syria.

“The church of Antioch has always kind of maintained this idea of an inclusive church open to all people,” said Father Joseph Shaheen of St. Paul in Naples, sister church to St. Peter in San Carlos Park.

When he was ordained about 50 years ago, Shaheen said English was already replacing Arabic as the liturgical language at Antiochian Orthodox churches in America.

“What I see is the necessity to reach out more just to American culture,” Jacobse said. “We think that people are ready for an American Orthodox church where the liturgy is in English.”

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