Father Thomas Brown

There are several "sons of the parish" who have gone on to become priests. We heard about Father John Dresko before, and here we will remember Father Thomas Brown. In future posts we will look at the father and son duo of Father Cyril and Father Ken Stavrevsky.

Fr. Thomas was born and raised in the South. As a teenager he moved with his family to Geneva, NY. He graduated from Houghton College and Dallas Theological Seminary  with a Masters in Theology. He became a Baptist minister for a while and then started his search for the “true church”. Eventually he ended up at our parish around the same time in the early 1980s  as some other new members, e.g. Susan Deeb. Experiencing a call to the priesthood he explored this under Father Cyril and then  enrolled at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Our parish helped him with scholarship monies and in May of 1988, he graduated with a MDiv. from St. Vladimir’s. He married Nadine Eskoff in July and on August 7th, he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Boris at our parish of St. John the Baptist in Rochester. On August 28, he was ordained to the holy priesthood by Bishop Boris in Ohio and was assigned pastor of St. Innocent’s Orthodox Mission in Westlake, Ohio. Two years later he was transferred to Protection of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church in Gary, IN. On August 4th, 1991, he collapsed at the end of the Divine Liturgy in the church and passed away in front of his parish. He is buried in the cemetery at St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania. May his memory be eternal.

(In recent years Matushka Nadine, who is Matushka Natalie's sister, has relocated to Rochester and is an active member of our parish, singing in the choir.)