At St. Joseph of Optina our church services are conducted in a combination of English and Church Slavonic, with some of the readings done in Russian. Although we are the Russian Orthodox Church, we are a multi-ethnic parish with members who are from not only Russia, but many Eastern European countries, and a number of converts to the faith who are right here from the “deep south" and from other parts of the country. We are Hampton Road's SE Virginia only traditional Orthodox Christian community celebrating according the Old (Julian) Calendar and following the traditional practices of the Russian Orthodox Church. Our Mission is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Orthodox Catholic Christians to our neighbors and community.