Father Ignatius Green

Father Ignatius Green comes from a long line of farmers, teachers, and Presbyterian ministers. Raised to love Christ and the Scriptures, he was hungry to know more and to seek greater depth in his own spiritual life. After traveling to Thailand as a teenager, he became interested in mysticism and spiritual experience, but could never bring himself to seek these things apart from Christ (as St Augustine said of his own journey in his Confessions, “For this name... of my Savior... had my heart drunk in... with my mother’s milk, and whatsoever was without that name, though never so erudite, polished, and truthful, took not complete hold of me”). Because of this, Father was excited to find a deeper spiritual path within the Church when he read The Way of a Pilgrim and the letters of St Joseph the Hesychast in his late teens, but it wasn’t until he went to college that he experienced Orthodoxy in person.

His college OCF (Orthodox Christian Fellowship) invited him to attend liturgy, and he was undone, like St Vladimir’s envoys a thousand years earlier, who said, “We did not know if we were in heaven or on earth. All we know is that there God dwells with men. We cannot forget that beauty.” This experience of the liturgy was then reinforced by further reading and study, especially the letters of St. Ignatius the Godbearer of Antioch (died c. AD 107), which convinced him that the Orthodox Church is the direct continuation of the one true Church founded by Christ in the beginning. He converted soon after, and was active with the OCF at St John’s College in Annapolis, MD. During his time there, he was instrumental in helping Fr. Robert Miclean establish Holy Archangels Mission, which continues to minister to the students of St John’s College and the Naval Academy, as well as the broader community.

Toward the end of his college years, Father Ignatius met a godly young woman named Aimilia, who had been educated and lived for several years at an Orthodox women’s monastery (established by Elder Ephraim, the disciple of St Joseph the Hesychast). Soon after Father finished college they were married, and before long they moved to St. Vladimir’s Seminary, where Fr. Ignatius completed two master’s degrees (M.Div. and Th.M.). During their time in New York they had three children, and after he finished his studies Father stayed on to work at St Vladimir’s Seminary Press. He was ordained to the holy diaconate by Met. Hilarion in the Synodal Cathedral in New York City in the presence of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, and to the priesthood by Met. Jonah in St John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC. He served as the assistant priest at Holy Protection Russian Orthodox Church in Nyack, New York for nearly three years, and then became the interim rector of St Basil the Great Orthodox Church in Belle Vernon, PA.

In addition to his pastoral work, Fr. Ignatius continues to serve as editor and production and rights manager at St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, he is pursuing a Ph.D. that focuses on St. Gregory of Nyssa’s Catechetical Discourse (his translation of the Catechetical Discourse was recently published by SVS Press), and he is a lecturer in comparative theology for the certificate program at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, NY). Father and Matushka Aimilia have been blessed with a broad experience of the Orthodox faith, living and serving parishes and monasteries, in both convert and cradle settings, among Americans, Russians, and Greeks in English, Slavonic, and Greek. Father and Matushka are excited to use the good gifts and experiences that God has given them at Holy Apostles, which they are delighted to now call home. They feel blessed and called to carry on the truly apostolic work of Holy Apostles for years to come.

Father Thomas Moore

The Very Rev. Thomas Moore, Pastor Emeritus, has spent his whole adult life serving Christ. With a BS in Psychology, he has worked in prisons, drug and alcohol rehab, hospitals, a men’s homeless shelter, and spent two years in the Methodist seminary at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He moved to San Francisco where he received his MA in Family Counseling from the University of San Francisco, earned a Professional Counselor License, and for many years was the Social Service Director at Raphael house, a homeless shelter for families.  Fr. Thomas was blessed to discover Orthodoxy in San Francisco, and after an unsuccessful stint at a monastery (The Abbot told him “a sad monk is a sad monk”), God brought a wonderful Orthodox woman into his life and has three wonderful Orthodox children. He was ordained Deacon in 1992 by the ever memorable Archbishop DMITRI, and served at what was then the fledgling Holy Apostle Mission in Columbia, SC. He worked as Clinical Director for an orphanage for five years before moving his family to New York where he earned a Master of Divinity from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary and was ordained Priest in 1997, again by Archbishop DMITRI. 

After helping start St. Innocent’s mission in Macon, GA, Fr. Thomas returned to Holy Apostles where he served ever since. Fr. Thomas grew a wonderful, loving community of all ages and backgrounds, and they have managed to build a beautiful temple to give Glory to God.

Fr. Thomas has been very active in local charity work and a few years ago, he and a group of volunteers went to New Orleans to help International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) with the relief effort. He was later invited to be an IOCC Frontliner. As God would have it, after several years of training, there was a massive flood in Columbia, and for the following year the church housed work teams from around the country to help rebuild destroyed homes.

Fr. Thomas was elected to the Metropolitan Council of the OCA and served as Chairman of the Ethics Committee. In addition, he was on the board of the Department of Christian Service and Humanitarian Aid. Fr. Thomas was chosen Dean by the priests in the Carolinas and served in this capacity as the Deanery grew from 5 missions to 14, several of which now have full Parish Status including four with building programs currently underway.

After being nominated, Fr. Thomas was chosen for the Orthodox Christian Network's 2016 OCN Hero award. Fr. Thomas retired at the end of 2021.

Fr. Thomas claims to be a good example of a saying he heard once: “God can carve the rotten wood, and ride the lame horse”. He is an amateur book binder, carpenter, and peripatetic Orthodox Pilgrim. He has visited Churches and monasteries on Mt. Athos, Russia, Romania, Greece, England, and Ireland trying to make sure that what they practice at Holy Apostles is faithful to the Orthodox traditions he has witnessed around the world, of which the greatest of these is charity.

Deacon Nicholas Griswold

Deacon Nicholas was born into a military family and served the country himself as a member of the military for 20 years. He has been all over the world and enjoys meeting people from other cultures and countries. He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 1971 and subsequently entered active duty in the United States Air Force. During his 20 years in the USAF, Dn. Nicholas flew in F-4s and was an Instructor in Flight School. Later in his career, he became a war planner and served two tours in that capacity. He retired from the USAF in November 1991 and went to work in the transportation industry. 

Later Dn. Nicholas felt the Lord’s call and in 2006 enrolled in Seminary. He attended Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, MS, earning a Master of Divinity degree in 2010. During his Seminary years, Dn. Nicholas was appointed as an Associate Pastor in the Church of the Nazarene and served in many ministries. He was active in Pro Life and served as a Prison Chaplain, not just visiting and preaching to the prisoners but also teaching them in GED instruction and providing their mandatory Drug and Alcohol instruction. He also oversaw and participated in the other external ministries of his church.

During Seminary, Dn. Nicholas became aware of Holy Orthodoxy and became friends with a parishioner of a local parish and the priest of that parish. The allure of the Ancient Faith grew on him and in 2011 he made the decision to leave his church, resign as a pastor, and convert to Orthodoxy. He was invited by the priest of an Orthodox Church to come and help plant a church in Pelion, SC. He finished conversion, joined that parish and set to work doing ministry, serving in the church doing evangelism to grow the parish. In February 2011, Dn. Nicholas was tonsured a reader and he was made a Subdeacon in November of 2014. In November 2015, he was ordained a Deacon by Metropolitan Hillarion of ROCOR.

The parish in Pelion ceased to have regular services in the Fall of 2016 when the priest changed jobs and he was often out of town. The decision was made to retire Dn. Nicholas so that he could find another parish outside of ROCOR, as there was no place for him to serve locally. He came to us shortly after that and decided that Holy Apostles was a good place for him to serve. Dn. Nicholas continues to serve as the parish Deacon and is involved in several ministries of our parish. Specifically, he does Pro Life regularly by praying outside the Planned Parenthood facility twice weekly and he does home visits for members of our parish who are home bound. After a life time of moving, Dn. Nicholas has decided that he is ready to stay put, not only in the area but in our parish.  

Subdeacon John Aaron Brown

Subdeacon John Aaron Brown was born and raised in South Carolina. As a child, he attended a mix of Christian churches, at first raised in Christian Science and then later attending Lutheran and Baptist churches. During college, Sdn. John learned about Orthodoxy during a Christian theology class and began visiting Holy Apostles. He was quickly convinced of the truth of Orthodox theology and the sincere faith of the Holy Apostles community. He was baptized into the Church in 2006, tonsured as a Reader in 2009, and ordained as a Subdeacon in 2012. Sdn. John is married and his wife and children can regularly be seen at the church services. He serves as a Reader, altar server, and by helping organize and train Readers and servers.

Sdn. John has a Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Studies and a Master’s Degree in Applied Statistics from the University of South Carolina. He currently works at the South Carolina Department of Education, where he enjoys programming with the SAS computer language. He is thankful this job provides enough annual leave that he can often attend weekday services.

Subdeacon Martin Cipolla

Subdeacon Martin was born in Patchogue, NY. His parents divorced when he was 5 years old. His family moved to Paterson, NJ where he grew up and joined the Marine Corps. After the service, he returned home and went to college where he met his wife. They married in St. John The Baptist Russian Orthodox Church in Little Falls, NJ. He was not Orthodox at that time, he grew up Roman Catholic. It was not until they moved to South Carolina that his eyes were opened and he saw the beauty, the richness, the fullness of the Orthodox Church. Sdn. Martin was baptized into the Church in January 2003 by Fr. Thomas Moore at Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in West Columbia, SC. He has been very active in the church since then, learning to serve, and helping to build the Church. He was tonsured a Reader and Subdeacon in June 2019. Sdn. Martin now serves behind the altar every service aiding Fr. Ignatius and Dn. Nicholas, and teaching new servers.  

SUBDEACON JONATHAN VILORD

Subdeacon Jonathan is originally from the Gulf Coast of Florida. He was raised in Port Charlotte, Florida and moved to Camden, South Carolina midway through highschool. Jonathan received his B.A is Psychology (counseling) from Coker University in Hartsville, SC. Jonathan worked for a few years as a clinical case manager with mentally ill adults and later completed a course of training and education to become a Nationally Registered Paramedic.  Jonathan has been a 911 Paramedic for more than a decade and is currently employed as such by the Department of the Army. He and his family currently live in Camden, SC.

Jonathan was raised in the Anglican tradition, his paternal Grandfather being a priest in the Continuing Anglican Movement. While finishing his undergraduate education, Jonathan began to intensely question his existential assumptions and the reality of religious faith at large. Through a labored investigation of Church history, he uncovered the Ancient Orthodox Church. On spring break one year, Jonathan visited an Orthodox monastery. Having a thirst for the silence he witnessed in the Orthodox way of life, Jonathan sought direction from the Abbot and in obedience, began to attend an Orthodox parish in the Columbia area and was baptized a little over one year later. While working as a Paramedic in Columbia, Jonathan began courting his beautiful wife Sabrina. Sabrina was baptized into the Orthodox Church in 2015. Sabrina and Jonathan were married in May of 2017. Shortly after this, Sabrina and Jonathan began to develop and implement a Sunday school program for the children of the parish that has been ongoing to the present time. They also established a chapter of the Fellowship of Saint Moses the Black at Holy Apostles. In 2018, they assisted the parish with hosting the 25th annual national conference of the FSMB. Jonathan and Sabrina were voted to the executive board of the FSMB in 2018 and are still currently serving in this capacity. They were blessed with the birth of their daughter Salome in May of 2019. Jonathan was tonsured a Reader by His Eminence Archbishop Alexander in June of 2019. Jonathan was ordained a Subdeacon by Archbishop Alexander in September of 2021. With the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Alexander, and the encouragement of the parish, Jonathan has received in the process of completing the Catechist and Diaconal educational program of the Bulgarian Diocese (OCA) under the direction of Father Silviu Bunta.

Readers