West St. Paul, Minnesota, July 21, 2022
Photo: antiochian.org One of the most beloved Orthodox clerics in America reposed in the Lord on Wednesday.
Archimandrite Duane Pederson is known as the father of Orthodox prison ministry in America and is remembered for his sacrificial love for the prisoners under his care. He reposed in the Lord on Wednesday at the age of 83.
“He was known as a gentle, compassionate man who brought Jesus Christ to many prisoners and homeless people, and taught Orthodox Christians to understand that ministry to them was ministry to our Lord,” writes Subdn. Peter Samore in a memorial published by the Antiochian Archdiocese.
“He was the friend of all, and he never had any agenda,” His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph told the ongoing Clergy Symposium about Fr. Duane. He continued:
If you didn’t know Fr. Duane, you wouldn’t know the meaning of the priesthood. He may not have known most of the services, but he became like the prisoners he served. He served them and loved them to the best of his ability.
Fr. Duane never complained about their behavior. He would say that these are good souls who want to be better people and to be saved. He prayed for them and cried for them. He adopted many of them as his spiritual children.
Fr. Duane loved the prisoners. If you as priests don’t love your people, then you will not do well in your parishes. Fr. Duane spent countless years to minister to them to heal them.
As a leader of the Jesus People Movement in the 60s and 70s before he became Orthodox, Fr. Duane ministered to the needy through his Hollywood street ministry, including many who were in and out of prison.
He eventually converted to holy Orthodoxy, and in 1991, he was ordained to the priesthood. He was elevated to the rank of archimandrite in 1999.
In 1993, His Eminence Metropolitan Philip asked him to create a national prison ministry, which he ran for more than a decade. In 2005, this ministry was accepted as a pan-Orthodox agency under SCOBA (the predecessor of the current Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America) and renamed the Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM).
In 2012, Fr. Duane was given the Matthew 25:36 Award for his lifetime achievement in prison ministry.
OCPM writes in its tribute:
Many, many men and women in prison or on the street were touched by Father Duane. It is sometimes said that a parent is best known through the acts of his or her children. Father Duane did not have any biological children, so his children became the scores of men whom he served on the street and in prison, whom he affectionately called his “sons.” Many of these men were forgotten, with no earthly family to love them, seen as the refuse of our society. But Father Duane sought these men out. He loved them, not merely through his words, but through his actions, building relationships with them that lasted many years. He showed them that they were valuable and that God values them.
Father Duane’s “sons” have since gone in many directions: some have families and live fairly normal lives, while some will die in prison or still struggle with their personal demons. One of Father Duane’s “sons” now works for OCPM, continuing his legacy. What all these men have in common is that they experienced to some degree the love of their Heavenly Father through the love of their adopted earthly father, Father Duane, who did whatever he could to be with them.
Fr. Duane also assisted three churches in California until his retirement to his home state of Minnesota, where he served at the Church of St. George in West St. Paul. He was awarded the Archdiocese’s Silver Order of St. Raphael of Brooklyn in 2016.
His Grace Bishop Anthony of Toledo and the Midwest will preside at the funeral services for Fr. Duane.
May his memory be eternal!
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