Our Parish
Our Purpose
The parish strives to be a full Orthodox community with the goal of assisting its members gain eternal salvation through the fullness of the Orthodox Faith, the Life in Christ. All are welcome to visit the Church, and to attend any of the services. Non-parishioners who wish to participate in the sacramental mysteries of the Church must be Orthodox Christians, should be fully prepared, and are asked to contact Fr. Sergii before their visit. The monthly parish calendar, published on this site, provides a complete schedule of church services and activities.
Thank you for your interest in our parish. We hope that you will visit us soon and experience the joy that comes from participating in the Orthodox services held here.
Who We Are
In 2015, God blessed us greatly with the first temple of traditional Slavic design in the region built in over a century! It has also become the only Christian temple for a thousand miles where one may witness the prayerful labor of masterful iconography fresco writing live on a daily basis!
St. Basil’s was founded in March 1985 by a group of Orthodox people from several local Orthodox churches who were looking for a traditional non-ethnic place of worship. Not finding an existing parish, St. Basil’s was founded under the jurisdiction of the Greek Old Calendar Church of North America (GOC). The parish functioned under the GOC until 1992, at which time it requested a canonical release from the GOC and petitioned to be accepted into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR, blessed in 1920 to exist abroad by Patriarch Tikhon before his arrest) under the omophor of Archbishop Alypy of Chicago and Mid-America (†2019).
Not wishing to burden its members with a large debt, the parish remained in its original quarters until 2016 when we moved into our new church building. The parish strives to be a loving, worshiping community, dedicated to helping its members maintain the fullness of their Orthodox faith.
St. Basil’s conducts a full cycle of liturgical services in the Russian tradition on all Sundays, Feast days, and during the period of Great Lent. Frequent confession and communion are the norm. Services are in English with some traditional Church Slavonic. The parish sponsors a Sunday and weekday Law of God school for the children with three instructional levels, as well as pastorally educational programs and both regular and annual social events and activities.
We are blessed to have an always-improving choir long under the direction of one of the premiere orthodox liturgical music experts in the country. A meal and fellowship hour are held after all Divine Liturgies; individualized and online-classroom instruction is provided for those interested to learn more about the Orthodox faith.
The parish is young and vibrant, with members representing a variety of ethnic traditions. Parishioners come from all walks of life, educational levels and employment backgrounds. More than half of the members are converts from Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, about 25% are Russian emigrants, while the remainder represent other nationalities.
Most parishioners live within the St. Louis Metropolitan area. Some, however, come from as far away as Columbia, and Kansas City. The parish also serves the St. Justin of Chilije Mission in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and the Holy Royal Martyrs Mission in Montgomery City, Missouri. St. Basil’s serves as a parish home away from home for Orthodox travelers as well as students attending local area colleges and universities, and also had Vladdy and Barby from the Blues Hockey team as parishioners during their careers in St. Louis!
The Very Reverend Archpriest Martin Swanson
(†2022)
Parish Founding Pastor
Founder of the Diocesan Pastoral School
Our founding pastor, Father Martin (of blessed memory) a convert to Orthodoxy, was originally from Southern California. He lived in St. Louis for over 40 years and was a retired Provost for Health Sciences at St. Louis University.
He was granted the blessing of retirement from his full-time ministry as parish rector by Archbishop Peter in 2020, and was honored by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia with the Synodal Order of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Sign” 3rd Degree. Father is Dean Emeritus for the Diocesan Seminary, and served as a member of the Diocesan Council for the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America of ROCOR, and as Dean for the Mid-South region of the Diocese.
Father held a doctorate from the University of California in Social Psychiatry, and a Diploma in Theological Studies from Northwestern Pennsylvania Theological Academy. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1985, and served as the Rector of St. Basil’s for his entire priestly career until 2020. Father had been a frequent speaker at Orthodox conferences and workshops. He was married to Matushka Katherine who was an active and important part of our parish community. May their memory be eternal!
The Very Reverend Archpriest Sergii Alekseev
Parish Rector
(States of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Illinois (South))
Fr. Sergii Alekseev was elevated to Archpriest and Parish Rector on the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God (Oct. 1/14, 2020) by His Eminence Archbishop Peter. He has served as Associate Rector of St. Basil’s since 2014.
Father was born in 1971 in the town of Konakovo, Tver province, in Russia. In his early 20s, Fr. Sergii was baptised in Resurrection Cathedral in Narva, Estonia, where he had been working as a janitor and later a warden’s assistant. He graduated in 1997 from Narva Teachers Training College. That same year, he met his future matushka, Svetlana. Later they relocated to the US.
With the recommendation from Archpriest Victor Potapov of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington D.C., he entered Christ the Savior Seminary in Johnstown, PA. After completing the course of theological studies, he was ordained priest on the feast of the Ascension in 2001 by Met. Nicholas of Amisos (head of the Carpatho-Russian Diocese of the USA, an autonomous jurisdiction within the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.)
His first assignment was to a small parish in Jenners, PA, then at Hobart, Indiana and finally to his position as rector of the Presentation of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Church in Hollywood, FL. His two previous parishes were English-only communities, while the parish in Florida is comprised of people of mixed origins. Fr. Sergii has experience serving both in English and Slavonic.
He is pictured here being awarded the gold pectoral cross by Archbishop Peter in October 2017 in recognition of his dedicated service of almost 18 years to the church during the Divine Liturgy commemorating the Protection of the Theotokos at the Diocesan Cathedral in Des Plaines, Ill.
Fr. Sergii’s special interest is Russian Church history. His matushka, Svetlana (Photina) holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing at Purdue. Fr. Sergii and Matushka Svetlana have three children, John (Dcn. Ioann), Melania, and Martha, and three grandchildren (Vladimir, Victor, and Vadim).
See the Clergy page for the additional pastors of the parish.