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The following is a reprint from the Saint Joseph's Orthodox Christian Church (Wheaton, IL) bulletin (22 March 1998 – Third Sunday of Great Lent / Holy Cross Sunday)

Father Basil Aden

This morning we gather to celebrate a magnificent and joyous occasion: the Ordination to the Priesthood of the Orthodox Church of a former Lutheran pastor! What led Deacon Basil and Sandra Aden to Orthodoxy?

Giving up the seniority of 25 years in the ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Deacon Basil Aden of De Kalb, Illinois is being ordained a priest of the Orthodox Church in America at our church today by our beloved hierarch, His Grace, Bishop Job of Chicago. The former pastor, educator, and social activist is the latest of a number of Protestant clergy who have found deeper roots for their faith and ministry in the Orthodox Church which adheres to the creeds and Church Fathers of the early centuries of Christianity.

In addition to our own parish clergy — Fathers John Matusiak and John Chudik and Deacons Joseph Kopka and John Coleman — three of Deacon Basil's former Lutheran colleagues who are now Orthodox priests are concelebrating at this morning's Liturgy: Fathers Michael Plekon, Wappingers Falls, NY; Robert McMeekin, St. Croix Falls, WI; and Andrew Brian Jaye, Minneapolis, MN. Also concelebrating this morning are Father Alex Lisenko, Father Vladimir Lecko, Minocqua, WI, former Assistant Pastor of the Minneapolis Cathedral, and Deacon Gregory Madlom of SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, Milwaukee, himself a former Episcopalian priest. Father Peter Gillquist, head of the Missions Department of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, is also serving today.

Acquaintances of Aden are surprised at a change of direction just five years before possible retirement from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Friends of the former Lutheran pastor are not. In his ministry, Aden served five parishes in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan; taught Bible and Church leadership at Carthage College, Kenosha, WI and elsewhere; served as Vice-President of the Board of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago; published theological, stewardship and devotional materials; and was known for his educational, theological and ethical concerns. But all the while, he was also searching, digging into Jungian psychology, Native American spirituality, and Christian mysticism. Ten years ago he toured Russia and the Republic of Georgia and found the firm spiritual foundations that he was looking for in time-tested devotion of the Orthodox people and the timeless beauty of the Orthodox Liturgy.

Returning to his parish, Aden plunged into the works of the Church Fathers of the early centuries of Christianity as well as the works of contomporary Orthodox writers with the guidance of Father John Breck, then New Testament Professor at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, NY. Aden hoped to uncover the mostly hidden and neglected treasures of Orthodoxy not only for himself but for his church.

Having a desire to grow closer to the wealth of the legacy of Church Tradition that he had come across in Orthodoxy, Aden began to move toward the Orthodox Church. After ten years of study and contact, he and his wife Sandra were received into the Orthodox Church at Saint Joseph's in mid-January. On February 1 he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate by Bishop Job at SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, Milwaukee.

Will there be others who, like Father Basil will leave the comfortable expressway of Protestant ministry for the difficult, narrow path of Orthodox priesthood? That, says Father Basil, depends on the Holy Spirit. The priesthood is a calling. You don’t become Orthodox, much less become a priest, to advance your professional career, he asserts.

But Father Basil does feel that a sorting out of members of Protestant churches has begun, a movement of clergy and laity to churches that more closely reflect their beliefs. Father Basil believes that at the moment the Protestant mainline denominations are umbrella organizations for a wide spectrum of beliefs and ethical viewpoints. When members find that their mainline churches are soft on the faith and moral foundations they were taught, he says, then the soul searching begins. And when the soul searching starts, the journey to a deeper faith begins. Father Basil is convinced that those who persist in their search will come, as did he, to the rediscovery of the historic faith of the apostles, saints and Church fathers, that is, to Orthodoxy.

Once again we welcome Father Basil and Sandy to our parish community, and we pray that they will share many years at growth with us and with our missionary efforts.

Note: Father Basil was formerly known as Ross Aden, a name of which I am particularly fond! — trv

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