Fr. Gregory Horton

Fr. Gregory (Francis Patrick) Horton was born in Newark, New Jersey. Born into a Roman Catholic family, he attended parochial schools throughout elementary and into high school, before transferring to a public high school for his last three years. From the time that he was a boy of seven or eight, he remembers a strong desire to enter the priesthood once he grew up. In fact, whenever the Maryknoll Missionaries would visit the school that he attended, he could always be found on the floor next to the speaker during the missionary presentation and dreaming of life in exotic places. One of his favorite books as a boy was the life and adventures of St. Francis de Sales, a Roman Catholic missionary who traveled to the Far East in order to spread the Gospel. So he planned on entering a Roman Catholic college and seminary in order to realize his long held dream. Francis (also known as Frank or Pepe at the time) entered St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA in the fall of 1978 as a music education major (tuba player). A large monastery and Roman Catholic seminary were attached to the college and Frank began experiencing a bit of the community life by attending vespers in the evening and becoming friends with some of the monks. During this time, however, serious questions began arising in his heart. These were questions concerning some of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as what he was experiencing in the community life. For a time, he was able to throw himself into his music studies and not pay too much attention to the inevitable struggle that lay before him.

But alas, the struggle presented itself on his doorstep at the beginning of his third year at college. For it was during that year that he met the future Khouria Cindy. She was also a music major and a member of the Roman Catholic Church. She was as shy as he was boisterous… a winning combination indeed! In fact, she relates how she would avoid him during her entire first year at school… often leaving the room as quickly as she could when she saw (or heard) him coming. So it wasn’t until her second year (he was a year ahead of her) that they noticed one another and began spending some time together. Well, before too long they were in love and Frank had a dilemma on his hands. Anyone familiar with the Roman Catholic Church knows that in order to become a priest, a man must remain celibate for his entire life. So this new romance presented yet another question in his mind and yet another challenge to his long held vision for the future. He finally told her about everything after they had been together for ABOUT THREE MONTHS! Cindy was devastated… how could she compete with God? This was not simply another woman that she needed to consider, but God Himself. Thus began three years of tumult and heartbreak for both of them. Frank would vacillate between marriage and the priesthood on almost a weekly basis. The questions were now not only theological and pastoral, they were painful and practical! What would he do? The torture in having to choose between his long held conviction that he was called to be a priest and his devotion for his beloved Cynthia was simply too much to bear. So upon graduating from college in 1982, he entered the United States Air Force Band to distance himself from the intensity of the situation. Just as many men entered the French Foreign Legion… “Some joined to remember, some joined to forget”… Frank needed time and distance in order to sort out this enormous difficulty.

While serving in the military, Airman Horton came to the decision that would change his life forever. He realized that God had placed this woman in his life for a reason and that by turning his back on her, he would be turning his back on God. It was a painful conclusion and caused him anguish in that he would not be able to serve the church as he had intended. So he left the military after only six months of misery in order to return to announce his decision. (It was only much later that he was informed by his wife that she was giving him until her graduation date from college. If he had not made up his mind by then, she would simply get on with her life. She tells a beautiful story at this point of an evening spent in anguish at the college chapel. She is certain that her guardian angel visited her that evening and calmed her spirit for whatever would happen in the relationship and in her life). Frank decided to surprise his future wife and set the date just in time, and on May 7, 1983 Cindy graduated from college in the morning and was married to Francis Horton in the afternoon… What a day!

Both of them had music education degrees, but neither wished to teach. Cindy, however, had spent several summers working at a resort hotel in Michigan, so they sent their resumes to resorts around the country to see what would happen. They were contacted by the Schwartz Resort Hotel in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. They hired Frank as a bartender and Cindy as a waitress, with the understanding that they would both play in the house band for the evening shows. When they arrived, however, Frank was told that he was going to be a BUSBOY (some working honeymoon this was going to be)!  After some fussing, and his wife warning him not to lose this job for them, they set to work. It was Memorial Day weekend and Frank was pouring water and joking and generally acting rather “goofy”. But at the end of the weekend, he was promoted to waiter. This was an acceptable position to him. About two weeks later he was serving the owner of the hotel and forgot to bring out the salad course. Instead of panicking, he simply served the salad after the dessert, announcing that this is how it is done in Europe. The next morning he was called to the office by the owner and everyone (including his wife) thought that he was going to be fired. He came back to the dining room with a solemn face. After keeping everyone in suspense for what seemed an eternity, he finally announced that he was now the head waiter and Cindy could not believe it! By the end of the summer he was the maitre d’hotel and enjoying every minute of it. During this time, they tried attending Mass at the local Roman Catholic Church, but something was missing for Frank. The fact that the priest never preached because the people were on vacation (a new batch of folks attended every week) did not inspire them to attend regularly either. Their slide into faithlessness had begun. They spent that summer far away from any church… relaxing, having fun, and attending the night club every night.

Near the end of the summer, Frank was approached by the head chef at the hotel who asked what the couple’s plans were after the summer. THEY HAD NO IDEA WHAT THEY WERE GOING TO DO! So he offered them a job for the winter season as waiter and waitress at the Royal Palm Hotel, a kosher Jewish hotel on Miami Beach, Florida. They had nothing to lose so off they went. Here they worked seven days a week, two meals each day. They never attended church and never discussed it. Their whole life consisted of working, making money, visiting area attractions and paying off student loans. The low point came on Christmas of 1983 when Cindy attended Mass but Frank was home sick with food poisoning (there is a very funny story to be told at this point, but only with permission from Khouria Cindy… so you may ask, but there is no guarantee that it will be allowed). Cindy came home in tears after having cried during the entire service and announced that their lack of a spiritual life could go on no longer. Slamming her hand on the table, she announced that she had had it. They needed to find a church to attend together. Frank agreed but stated that their renewed spiritual journey would need to be outside of and apart from the Roman Catholic Church. After a night of soul searching and getting to the core of everything, their joint search for a new church began.

Possessing a logical and scientific approach to life, Cindy suggested that they go to the library and research various churches. (Of course, where else would one go to look for a church in order to discover the long sought after spiritual life other than a library?) Nor did she wish to look at any church propaganda, but insisted that the search be confined to the Encyclopedia of Religion. So they perused many religious systems as well as the various Protestant churches but nothing seemed to connect. Then, finally, they stumbled across the Eastern Orthodox Church and asked themselves if this was not what they already believed anyway! In fact, they learned more about Roman Catholicism at that point than they had ever known while actively living as Roman Catholics! So there, in the South Miami Library, in the pages of the Encyclopedia of Religion, they discovered their new home… the Holy Orthodox Church.

Of course, finding one’s new home in a book and finding it in a community are two different things entirely. Frank and Cindy knew that they would need to find a local parish if this was going to work. But first, they had to deal with all of those nagging questions… how could they leave the church of their youth and turn their back on everything they had ever known? What would their families say? As a result of such questions, they tried to make one last ditch effort to compromise by contacting the local Byzantine Catholic Church. Frank had known of the existence of this church and thought that it might meet their needs and allow them to stay connected to the church of their youth. The Byzantine Catholic priest told them to come over and gave them directions to the church. They jumped into the car and followed the directions… but ended up in front of an empty lot. Thinking that they had made a mistake, they drove home and called again to go over the directions. Once again they drove to the same empty lot. This happened three times and after the third try, standing in front of that empty lot, they suddenly realized that this was not what God intended for them. There was probably a church standing right there in front of them but their eyes were veiled and they could not see it. They believe, to this day, that it was not meant for them to connect with the Byzantine Catholic Church. They resolved to contact a local Orthodox Church and begin the process of learning, experiencing, and entering.

Frank then telephoned the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Miami and spoke with the priest about his situation. The priest, not able to understand what Frank was saying (he spoke very little English and it is certain that Frank was speaking way too fast), hung up the telephone. The couple was now confused, thinking that maybe one must be Greek or Russian to be members of the Orthodox Church. But they did not give up. They searched the yellow pages and found an excellent ad for an Orthodox Church that said: “Serving all national backgrounds.” They fit that profile! So they telephoned Christ the Savior Cathedral in Miami, Florida (OCA) and were invited over to meet Fr. George Gladky (of blessed memory). He received them as catechumens and loaded them down with books from the overstocked bookstore on the premises. They attended every service that was offered and were very excited about their new faith and their new community. They were eventually received into the Orthodox Church at that parish with the names Gregory and Elizabeth.

At one point, Frank met a married priest with many children. The priests at the cathedral were not married and when he met this married priest he realized that there might still be a possibility for him to serve the Church as a clergyman. He asked Fr. George if the Orthodox Church had seminaries in America. “Yes, we have seminaries” was the reply of the smiling pastor. Frank was told that there were two seminaries: St. Vladimir’s in New York and St. Tikhon’s in Pennsylvania. He applied to both seminaries and was accepted at both. For various reasons, not all of them blessed, he decided to try St. Vladimir’s and to forget about St. Tikhon’s (but God sometimes sees things differently).

When Fall arrived, the couple traveled to Crestwood, New York, in order to begin their new seminary career. As soon as they arrived, they were scolded by one of the prominent priests at the seminary for parking in the wrong place. After correcting that situation, they waited for the seminarian couple that was supposed to meet them and get them settled. They waited and waited… well into the night. Finally the couple did arrive and explained that they had forgotten that the Hortons were coming. The events of this first day were simply an indication of what was still to come. During the course of their stay, they were sold a list of rental apartments for $150.00 (housing prices in that area are astronomical). As they worked their way through the list, they found themselves getting farther and farther away from the seminary and closer and closer to poverty ridden neighborhoods in Yonkers and almost as far as The Bronx. The last straw came as they were climbing the stairs to a 10th floor apartment somewhere in Yonkers with a building manager who spoke with a thick accent. The place was filthy, with holes in the walls and they were asking $1000.00/month and this was the mid 1980’s. Finally, after touring the apartment, they all found themselves huddled around the toilet in the bathroom, gazing at the bowl that was missing a cover. It was a moment in time. After a prolonged silence, Frank finally asked, “Where’s the toilet seat?” The manager quickly blurted out (in hard to discern English), “Oh no, that is a personal item.” After contemplating this crazy reality, Frank responded, “You’re right… we left ours in the car.” And with that they raced out to the car, jumped in, proceeded to the seminary, hooked up the trailer with all of their earthly goods, and departed for New Jersey to start a new life near Frank’s family. They had decided that seminary was simply not what God intended for them at this point.

It was now September and the young couple settled down to a new life in Keyport, New Jersey. Frank became a department manager at Bradlees Department Store (like K Mart) and Cindy started training as a manager for Radio Shack. They were both getting deeply involved in their new retail lives when all of a sudden, around November of 1985, a letter arrived from Fr. George in Miami explaining that he did not know what had happened, but that he expected the Hortons to take a nice, quiet drive to St. Tikhon’s. Even though they had forgotten all about St. Tikhon’s and had started down a new path in life, they decided to heed the words of their beloved pastor and drive to Northeast Pennsylvania to visit the seminary during the month of December.

Upon arrival, they were immediately recognized and greeted by name by the bishop and the dean of students (they had remembered Frank from the picture that he had enclosed the previous year with his application). The dean of students told them that he would meet with them after they had a tour and some lunch. When they met, Frank expressed that he was still interested in seminary and that he might reapply to attend in the fall of the following year. The dean of students, in no uncertain terms, told them that they would be attending the next semester, in January! That was actually the very next month. But they both had jobs and did not know where they would live if they came to seminary, etc. Having learned, however, to at least begin trusting God with more of their life, they agreed to explore the possibility of attending seminary in January.

The first test came when Frank approached his boss, the store manager at the store about possibly resigning in order to attend seminary (after only three or four months at the job). It turned out that the store manager’s wife was Greek Orthodox and the boss was delighted to throw a huge going away party and bestow many hundreds of dollars upon the departing worker as a gift. Could this be a sign? Next, Cindy approached her manager with the same possibility but things were a bit more complicated because she requested a transfer to Pennsylvania. She soon discovered that Radio Shack does not grant transfers but requires employees to actually quit and be rehired elsewhere. However, the manager liked Cynthia so much that he made a telephone call to the regional manager in Northeast PA about the situation. The regional manager became very excited because there was a brand new store starting about five miles from the seminary and they were having trouble finding someone qualified to manage that store. Cindy was able to step right into the job and support the family through their seminary years. (Incidentally, after Fr. Gregory graduated from seminary, it was not too long before that particular Radio Shack store was closed. It remained open just long enough to employ Khouria Cindy while the Hortons resided at seminary… another sign?) Finally, there was the question of housing (remember the ordeal that they experienced in New York?). They investigated the bottom floor of a house in Carbondale, PA (about halfway between the seminary and Khouria Cindy’s new job). They arrived at the same time as another couple also looking for an apartment to rent. The monthly rent for the entire first floor was $180.00 including heat. The landlord told both couples that whoever could come up with the money first would move in. Fr. Gregory looked at his wife, reached into his pocket and withdrew the necessary amount, handing it over to their new landlord. He also said to her “It looks like we’re going to seminary”. They moved to Carbondale and started seminary in January of 1985.

Their first child, Tatiana, was born during their final year at the seminary. Frank was ordained to the Holy Diaconate as Deacon Gregory in December, 1986 (after being told by Bishop HERMAN earlier that month that the bishop would be ordaining him in two weeks). While studying at seminary, Deacon Gregory also pursued a Master Degree in Church Music from Marywood College in Scranton. He graduated from seminary and from graduate school in May of 1987.

The family then returned to Miami to serve the Cathedral that had been their only spiritual home apart from seminary. There, Deacon Gregory learned such important pastoral skills as organizing an enormous international bazaar, cooking pirogues (not his favorite task), running the bookstore, coming to love the liturgical services (especially Pascha), and carefully watching his beloved pastor skillfully guide a busy Miami parish with the ease of a ship captain on a calm day. This was a wonderful and simple year spent under the guidance of Fr. George (as well as Bishop DMITRI who spent every other month in Miami and every other month in Dallas). It was exciting to travel and to serve with the Bishop, but it was becoming apparent that the beautiful stay in Miami would be ending. Their second child, Maximos, was born in Miami, and it was becoming impossible to support the growing family financially. So Deacon Gregory petitioned several OCA bishops for ordination to the Holy Priesthood and Bishop HERMAN of Eastern Pennsylvania offered him a parish in that diocese.

The Hortons moved back to Pennsylvania in August of 1988 and Deacon Gregory was ordained to the Holy Priesthood on August 7th at St. Tikhon’s Monastery Church by Bishop HERMAN. After spending an intense week serving all of the services at the monastery church as a priest (and being scolded and corrected repeatedly for his mistakes… especially by his dear friend, Archimandrite Sebastian, of blessed memory), the family was presented to the parish of Holy Trinity in Catasauqua, PA, by the bishop on the following Sunday. They remained in that parish for seven years, growing in experience and investing in the lives of the people that God had entrusted to their care. Many stories can be told about their time in Catasauqua and many dear relationships were formed, including those that have lasted until the present day.

During those years in Catasauqua, Sebastian and Benjamin were born. In fact, it was the close brush with death that they experienced when Sebastian contracted bacterial meningitis as a young infant that inspired Matushka Cindy (this is the title of the wife of the priest in the OCA and in the Russian Church in general), to go back to school to study the field of medical technology. She was very impressed with the med techs that worked with Sebastian and she attributed his recovery to their quick work and diagnosis. She graduated from Kutztown University a few years later and began working in her new field right away. Finally, Fr. Gregory and Matushka Cindy were ready to launch out into the mission field and help start a new church somewhere… but where?

The answer came as a result of the friendship that had formed between Fr. Gregory and Fr. Peter Gillquist of the Department of Missions of the Antiochian Archdiocese. The process of transferring from one archdiocese (or jurisdiction) to another can be rather complicated and it took Fr. Gregory lots of time and energy working through this process. Fr. Peter eventually had Fr. Gregory visit Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where a small group of faithful Orthodox Christians had gathered and were waiting for a priest to be sent. It turned out to be a match made in heaven and the whole family moved to Idaho in November of 1995. In fact, Khouria Cindy (she quickly became Khouria now that she was an Antiochian priest’s wife) moved to Idaho sight unseen and simply took the word of her husband that she would love it. Her response had been “Just remember, if I don’t like it, you’re the one that has to live with me.” The Hortons, however, never looked back. Idaho became their new home.

Fr. Gregory and Kh. Cindy, with four children in tow, soon bought a house in Post Falls near the new church of St. John the Baptist. The parish flourished and grew to the point where people from Washington State that were attending asked about beginning another church on their side of the border. The Hortons began serving Liturgy in the Spokane Senior Center on Saturdays with this faithful group of parishioners. Eventually, a permanent building was purchased and after about a year of serving this group on Saturdays, Fr. Gregory handed the Spokane community over to a new resident priest who came from the Midwest. These were the humble beginnings of Christ the Savior Church in the Spokane Valley. The Hortons were then able to resume their ministry at St. John’s full time and leave Christ the Savior in the capable hands of their new pastor.

After a few more years of steady growth, Fr. Gregory and Kh. Cindy were inspired to begin searching for yet another area to start a mission parish. They had been doing some work in Missoula, Montana, Bonners Ferry, Idaho and even the Moscow/Pullman area. Would one of these areas be an ideal target for a move or perhaps something further afield such as Kalispell, Montana or St. George, Utah? The time for a move became ripe when a priest from the Midwest (not the same one mentioned above) inquired about moving to the Northwest with his wife. This was the moment the Hortons had been awaiting and they turned their attention to a new location. Fr. Gregory suggested Bonners Ferry, Idaho, at the request of the Schrom Family that was living in that area. In fact, it was on a return trip home from Kalispell, Montana, that the Hortons stopped at the Schroms’ for a house blessing. John Schrom posed a simple question during that visit: “Why are you looking so far away at Kalispell? Why not settle right here in Bonners Ferry?” Thus, the seed was planted in the heart of Fr. Gregory and he started considering this as a truly God-given plan.

Kh. Cindy, however, required a bit more convincing. So the Hortons decided to “test the waters” before making a final decision. They would move to the first place where Kh. Cindy could obtain a job in her field of Medical Technology. At that time, she was working for the Rockwood Clinic in Spokane. But when Fr. Gregory suggested that she explore employment at the community hospital in Bonners Ferry, she quickly dismissed the suggestion since Boundary Community Hospital was so small. There could be no possibility of a position being open there. Fr. Gregory insisted that she research it so that they could dismiss this option properly before moving on to another possible location. Well, when Kh. Cindy looked at the job openings in Bonners Ferry there was a medical technology position staring her in the face that had been open for one or two months! Could this be a sign? Fr. Gregory suggested that she send her resume and apply but she was shocked at such a proposal: “What if the people there are weird? I need to investigate the situation for myself,” was her response.

Her next opportunity to investigate the situation came on the next Saturday that Fr. Gregory offered the Divine Liturgy in the little office chapel that had become home to the fledgling Orthodox community in Bonners Ferry. After the Liturgy, Kh. Cindy quietly snuck into the hospital to “check things out”. She was, however, greeted almost immediately by the friendliest nurse who ever lived and who insisted on giving her a tour of the hospital. This tour included a visit to the laboratory where, lo and behold, the manager just happened to be working that weekend. He was delighted to meet his new recruit and Kh. Cindy was convinced that the people were nice and all was well. So, plans were made for the big move to Bonners Ferry.

The move happened in August of 2007. Actually, Kh. Cindy began working and staying with the Schroms in April of that transitional year. When August came, the people of St. John’s in Post Falls held a lovely going away banquet and Fr. Gregory said goodbye to the dear faithful people that he had served for 12 years.

In the meantime, the Hortons found the time to adopt three girls from Guatemala. They brought the girls home on June 1, 2007, just before moving to Bonners Ferry. Since settling in Boundary County, the Hortons have been part of much activity and many developments. These include: the purchase of five acres for a new church; the building of a new church and parish hall on those five acres; the founding of a cemetery on the parish property; the promotion of Kh. Cindy to lab manager at the hospital and her subsequent semi-retirement; the marriage of three of their children and birth of their first nine grandchildren; the celebration of their 38th wedding anniversary and 33th anniversary of Priestly Ordination and the growth of the beautiful parish of Holy Myrrhbearers at the top of Peterson Hill just south of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Over the years, there have been many great joys and a few piercing heartbreaks for the Hortons. When all is said and done, however, they offer every bit of it to the Glory of God, the building up of His Holy Church and the salvation of their souls and the souls entrusted to their care.