Our beginnings to today
Around 1981, Fr. George DeTrana began traveling to Roanoke from Richmond to start the St. Ambrose Mission. He continued commuting between the two cities until severe health issues prevented him from continuing his ministry around the year 2000. He then passed away and St. Ambrose Mission was forced to close her doors.
In early 2017, the Roanoke Mission was revived! The Dean of the Appalachian Deanery (Fr. David Arnold) wanted to see Fr. George’s original vision come to fruition. He offered Fr. Sam Gantt – who was retired at this point – the opportunity to revive the old Roanoke Mission. Fr. Sam graciously accepted the challenge and began holding weekly services.
St. Ambrose held services at a Lutheran church on Fridays and Saturdays until moving to the Roanoke Council of Garden Club’s meeting room, which allowed us to hold the usual Saturday Vespers and Sunday Liturgy services. We rented the space Saturday evenings through Sunday mornings, which meant setting up and taking down everything every weekend. Those were good but challenging years.
In May of 2022, Fr. Jeremy McKemy was assigned from St. Cyprian of Carthage in Midlothian to St. Ambrose. We began to grow quickly, and in September of 2023, we entered our current location which is a storefront in Salem. This new place of worship has allowed us room for growth, the ability to beautify our space, and we now hold many more services on weekdays and feast days.
Local Clergy
Fr. Jeremy McKemy is the priest-in-charge at St. Ambrose Orthodox Mission. He is from western North Carolina. He worked as a home inspector and claims adjuster for a decade before responding to the call of God to ministry. As a parish priest, he feels he has found his calling. He owns and maintains the website OrthodoxRoad and enjoys helping people learn more about Orthodoxy and diving deeper into their faith.
He graduated from St. Tikhon’s Seminary with honors in May of 2021 and was ordained to the priesthood the following month by Bp. Gerasim of Ft. Worth. He began serving part time in Roanoke December 2021, and was assigned to St. Ambrose May 1, 2022.
On May 1, 2022, Fr. Sam Gantt retired. Fr. Sam played an instrumental role in reviving the St. Ambrose Mission from 2017 until 2022. We are exceedingly grateful for his time, love, and effort and wish him a happy and peaceful retirement!
Fr. David Arnold is the dean of the Appalachian Deanery and also played an important role in the revitalization of the Roanoke Mission.
We are a member of the Orthodox Church in America, whose mission is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition throughout the American land. Our primate is Metropolitan Tikhon. His Eminence Archbishop Alexander presides over the Diocese of the South. Additionally, Bishop Gerasim is an auxiliary bishop to Abp. Alexander.