St. Nicholas Orthodox Church is a parish family in Palm Coast, Florida, serving the faithful of Flagler County and the surrounding region. We are part of the Eastern American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), under the omophorion of His Eminence the ruling bishop, and through the diocese, of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad.
The Russian Church Outside Russia
ROCOR was formed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, when bishops, clergy, and laity fleeing Soviet persecution organized in exile to preserve the faith and practice of the pre-revolutionary Russian Church. Authorized by Patriarch Tikhon's Ukaz No. 362 of 1920, which permitted dioceses cut off from central church administration to govern themselves, the exiled bishops gathered at the Karlovci Sobor in Serbia in 1921. From that beginning, ROCOR carried the liturgical, theological, and spiritual heritage of pre-revolutionary Russia into the diaspora — to Western Europe, North and South America, Australia, and across the world.
For more than eighty years, ROCOR existed as an independent jurisdiction, the free voice of the Russian Church outside the reach of the Soviet state. On May 17, 2007, after a long process of dialogue, ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate signed the Act of Canonical Communion, restoring full communion while preserving the Church Abroad's self-governance, its own Synod of Bishops, and its distinctive traditions.
Our liturgical life
Like all of ROCOR, our parish keeps the Julian (Old) calendar for all liturgical purposes. The dates of feasts and fasts are calculated as they have been for centuries — currently thirteen days "behind" the civil calendar — so that the Nativity of Christ is celebrated on January 7th by the civil reckoning, the Theophany on January 19th, and our patron's feast on December 19th. Pascha is observed according to the ancient Paschalion, kept by all Orthodox Christians together.
Our worship follows the traditional Russian Typikon with minimal abbreviation. We sing the Divine Liturgy, Vespers, Matins, molebens, akathists, and panikhidas in their full and traditional forms, in both Church Slavonic and English, drawing on the deep musical heritage of the Russian Church.
Our patron, St. Nicholas
St. Nicholas of Myra (c. 270 – c. 343) was Archbishop of Myra in Lycia (in what is now Turkey) and a participant in the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325. He is honored throughout the Orthodox world as a defender of the faith against the Arian heresy, a generous helper of the poor, and a swift intercessor for those in distress — particularly travelers, sailors, and children. We commemorate him principally on December 6th (Old Style; December 19th civil), and weekly on Thursdays in the cycle of the daily services.