KENOSHA, WI [DOM Communications] – On Saturday, February 13, 2021, Archpriest Alexis W. Fedec, retired Rector of Saint Nicholas Church, Kenosha, WI, marked the 55th Anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood.
A native of Philadelphia, PA, Father Alexis graduated from Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH. He attended Christ the Savior Seminary, Johnstown, PA, and Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA, from which he graduated in 1962. He was ordained to the priesthood on Sunday, February 13, 1966 by His Eminence, the late Metropolitan Ireney, at Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral, New York, NY.
In addition to serving Saint Nicholas Church, from which he retired as Pastor Emeritus in 2005, Father Alexis faithfully served the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Church, Madison, IL; Three Saints Church, Ansonia, CT; Saints Peter and Paul Church, Minersville, PA; and Saints Cyril and Methodius Church, Jeannette, PA. He also served as Treasurer of the Chicago Deanery for many years.
Father Alexis and his wife, Matushka Alexandra, have six children and three grandchildren.
Since retiring, he has enjoyed catching up on a large backlog of books on Church history and playing with his grandchildren.
When asked about his ordination to the priesthood in 1966, Father Alexis responded, “Back in those days, you had to go to New York to be ordained by the Metropolitan. It was very rare for a diocesan level bishop to ordain someone to the priesthood.” He further elaborated, “I was ordained before there was an Orthodox Church in America. This was before the Russian Orthodox Church gave the North American Metropolia our Tomos of Autocephaly in 1970. So, it was quite a different world back then.”
“It was also an exciting time after the Tomos was received from the Moscow Patriarchate. The original plan or agreement was for the parishes that were still under Moscow here in the United States and Canada to merge with the OCA, but aside from a few that actually did, it never really happened. Though, we did receive into the OCA parishes of Albanian and Bulgarian backgrounds. That coupled with the OCAs Romanian Episcopate and Archdiocese of Mexico, truly makes us the most multicultural Orthodox Church in our hemisphere. It’s just a shame that we took so long to have conducted our services in English, or mostly English. Only in recent years have we begun to effectively spread the Gospel of our Lord here in North America. And—I hope and pray—that we continue to make even more momentum in this area!”
May God grant Father Alexis many years!
