In the summer of 1993, three groups of Early Church seekers came together to begin an Orthodox Christian mission in Solano County. These three groups consisted of (a) Orthodox Christians in the Fairfield area looking for a permanent Church home, (b) Episcopalian converts to Orthodox Christianity looking for an Eastern or Byzantine Rite expression of Orthodoxy, and (c) a Pastor of a Reformed Episcopal Church and several families from his congregation converting to Orthodox Christianity.

Some Orthodox members of the new Mission had been members of an Orthodox Chapel at Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield, and were served by an Air Force Orthodox Christian Military Chaplain. However, with the reassignment of the Military Chaplain, this group of military and non-military Orthodox Christians were seeking a home Church that would not be effected by military assignments.

The timing was right and early in 1994 God acted, bringing together both "cradle" and "convert" Orthodox Christians, as well as those desiring to become Orthodox Christians, to form the St Timothy Orthodox Mission.

The Mission initially met in the California Teachers' Association building on Central Way in Cordelia, and subsequently moved to its present location at 4593 Central Way, initially leasing space and later purchasing the building and land for continued growth and development, thereby establishing a permanent Orthodox Christian presence in Central Solano County.

Members, then and now, drive from the cities of Dixon and Vacaville, Walnut Creek and Antioch, Concord, Hercules, Martinez and Richmond, as well as Fairfield and Suisun City, to form the "family" of St Timothy.

This "family" of new Orthodox Christian converts and "old world" Orthodox Christians whose families have been Christian for centuries -- often referred to as "cradle" Orthodox -- seek to grow in Christ and establish themselves as a traditional Orthodox Christian community, not tied to ethnic or cultural customs or forms of Orthodoxy.

Because English is the common language of the all members of the Parish of St Timothy, as well as being the language of North America and the official language of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, all services are in English with the occasional use of Arabic, Greek, and Church Slavonic. Thereby, as American Orthodox Christians we are reminded of our heritage and "roots" and honor  those Orthodox Christinas who brought Orthodox Christianity to America from Russia, Greece, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, while effectively establishing American Orthodox Christianity in this area of Northern California.

Fr Silas also served as an area director of Prison Fellowship Ministries, serving the California State Prisons at Vacaville, California, as a Volunteer Chaplain, and providing prison ministry training to local religious communities and Protestant Denominations.

After being asked by an elderly Russian inmate the difference "between Orthodoxy and Protestantism," and deciding this aged "pagan" – who "worshipped icons," made the Sign of the Cross, and wrongly worshipped in clouds of incense while surrounded by icons, candles, and clergy in bright vestments – must be "saved," Fr Silas began a period of research and study of Orthodox Christianity so as to demonstrate to this "old man" the errors of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In the process he discovered a worship that is God-centered vs. "me-centered" entertainment, the truth about Icons and the Sign of the Cross, and the God-revealed beauty and necessity of worship that invokes and uses all our God-created senses; sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. He discovered what was, and is, a worship that is a continuation of the worship of God given mankind by God Himself through Moses, and as continued from Tabernacle through Temple to Synagogue and into the Early Church of the Apostles and the Early Fathers of the Christian Church, a worship that was and remains both liturgical and sacramental. He discovered the true meaning of being, "born again."

Fr Silas also discovered the rich history of our Christian "roots" that are rarely discussed or taught in modern American Protestantism – the Councils of the Christian Church that, under the guidance and leadership of the Holy Spirit, gave us the doctrines of the Holy Trinity and the dual Nature of Christ. He also "discovered" the homilies, sermons, and teaching of the Early Fathers who gave us – then and now – clear interpretation and instruction regarding Holy Scripture and the belief and faith of the Christian Church.

While some feared Fr Silas and his family had stepped away from the Church, it was actually a full entry into the Church of Christ and His Apostles. It was an entry into Christ's Church – Eastern Orthodox Christianity – where that given the Church by Christ in and through His Apostles and the Early God-blessed Fathers of Christianity, neither added to nor subtracted from the belief, faith, and practice of the Early Christian Church. In short, it was the continuation of the Church.

In the process of reading and study, Fr Silas also discovered hundreds of other former Protestant ministers and pastors – and their congregations – who had converted to Orthodox Christianity. Ultimately, the "true-Truth" of Orthodox Christianity (as revealed and expressed in her faith, doctrine, practice, worship, etc.) left he and his family no choice but to, "Follow Christ and His Apostles — Into His Church and Their Faith."

Sub-Deacon Timothy (Saleem) Abu-Dawood ~ As his surname suggests, Subdeacon Timothy is Middle-Eastern. He was born in Kuwait and raised in Palestine, growing up in and around areas where the "feet of our Lord" traveled and trod as He walked this earth. The Christianity of Subdeacon Timothy's family goes back centuries before America was "discovered," back to the earliest years of the Christian Church.

After his formative and college years, Saleem migrated to America where he married his wife, Samya Abughazaleh, whose Palestinian family had their roots in Jordan, and whose Christianity also goes back to the earliest years of the Church in the Middle-East. 

Having discovered an Orthodox Parish where there is a focus on traditional expressions of Orthodox Christianity, and where the focus is on growing in the Faith of the Church as opposed to maintaining a cultural and ethnic identity, Saleem became an active and involved member in the Parish, both for himself and his family. They have four children: Ghattas, Margaret, Mary, and John.

In 2004, Saleem Abu-Dawood was tonsured a Sub-Deacon by His Grace Bishop JOSEPH of Los Angeles and the West, and given the name "Timothy."

Reader Matthew Marinos ~ Reader Matthew is a gifted and talented Chanter, and serves as the Psalti (senior chanter) at the Parish of St Timothy, leading the small group of Orthodox Chanters who seek to learn, teach, and thus retain the "art of chant" in the Parish of St Timothy.  While our chanting is in both Byzantine and Slavic (Russian) modes or tones, the goal of our Chanters is to learn and present the beauty of Byzantine hymnody.  Matthew also assists with the college and acolyte ministries of the Parish.

Reader Matthew is a graduate of the University of California Santa Cruz, was tonsored an Orthodox Reader in a Northern California monastery, and now serves Christ and His Church in the Parish of St Timothy.