Orthodox Christian dating in South Carolina
Orthodox dating in South Carolina: Greenville, Rock Hill, Columbia, Charleston and the monastery at Wagener, and how to find a spouse. Free of charge.
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Short answer
South Carolina's Orthodox Church was planted by a diocese that reads a road map. In 2007, the mission in Rock Hill says, there was no Orthodox church between Charlotte and Columbia, two hours or more apart, so the Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of the South chose the midpoint and sent a priest in 2008; in 1982 a priest visited ten faithful in Columbia until a Greek parishioner lent a room in his dental office and a full-time pastor came in 1987; in 1995 five families in Greenville co-signed a loan for a former mill house; and a mission that began in Aiken moved to Augusta and in 2013 bought land at the I-20 and I-520 exits in North Augusta to serve both sides of the Savannah. The Greeks were there first, with Holy Trinity on Race Street in Charleston and St George Cathedral on North Academy Street in Greenville in the Metropolis of Atlanta, and a women's monastery of Sts Mary and Martha, founded in 1989, has stood on sixty acres at Wagener, thirty miles south-west of Columbia, since June 1996.
The site this page belongs to is cana.love: free, made for people who want marriage rather than a match, with a form that asks what the coffee hour on Race Street or on Roper Mountain Road would ask you: which parish, how many Sundays a month, what you do about fasting, which of twelve Orthodox jurisdictions is yours. A Greek from Charleston and a convert from Rock Hill begin from what they keep. A Chilean company runs it; it works in five languages, English first.
It is not an Orthodox-only site; a section below says so plainly.
Orthodox Christians in South Carolina
The Upstate first. St John of the Ladder on Roper Mountain Road Extension in Greenville tells its own start: in 1995 five founding families co-signed for a loan to buy a former mill house that had been converted for church use twenty years before; Fr Marcus Burch was assigned to the young mission in 1999, and by 2001 growth required the former Augusta Road United Methodist church; all its services are in English and visitors, it says, are always welcome. Across town on North Academy Street stands St George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, the Greek cathedral of the Upstate in the Metropolis of Atlanta. East along I-85 and down US-21, St Anthony the Great in Rock Hill is the mission the diocese placed halfway between Charlotte and Columbia in 2008, fully established with weekend services in 2010 under Fr Paul Coates, a graduate of St Vladimir's Seminary, on Long Meadow Road.
Then the Midlands. Holy Apostles on Buff Street in West Columbia began in 1982, when Fr Seraphim Storheim visited regularly with a small group of about ten Orthodox faithful; a retired priest, Fr Peter Smith, then served monthly, members held readers' services in between, the local Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox parish helped greatly, one of its members donating a room in his dental office for services, and in 1987 a second Fr Peter Smith became the first full-time pastor. Holy Resurrection in North Augusta was its missionary outreach in Aiken, moved to Augusta, Georgia, in August 2010, and in May 2013 bought its present property on Ascauga Lake Road near the I-20 and I-520 exits, on the South Carolina side of the Central Savannah River Area, to serve neighbours in both states. Thirty miles south-west of Columbia, on Spinner Lane in Wagener, the women's monastery of Sts Mary and Martha, founded in 1989 under Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas and the South and in Wagener since June 1996, keeps its rule of prayer and hospitality on sixty acres.
From the parish histories in the OCA directory, 20 September 2026
The Lowcountry is Charleston and Beaufort. Holy Ascension on North Shelmore Boulevard in Mount Pleasant says two things about itself and means them: all are welcome, all services in English. Ten kilometres across the Cooper, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity on Race Street in Charleston's Westside is the Greek parish of the old city. St James on Tekoa Lane in Beaufort is the diocese's mission of the Sea Islands, an hour and a half down US-17.
The people filling the missions have been counted. The Orthodox Studies Institute surveyed twenty American parishes across six jurisdictions and reported, of the converts received since 2013, that two thirds were under forty at their reception, that people in their thirties outnumbered every other decade, and that 44 percent were single when they came in.
South Carolina was not named among the twenty, but a diocese that opens a mission because there is no church between two cities is a diocese that expects the person the survey counted: raised Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian or nothing, received as an adult, English-speaking, not yet married. Parishes that promise all services in English and a monastery that promises hospitality exist for that person.
Two jurisdictions cover the state on this page. The Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of the South has St John of the Ladder in Greenville, St Anthony in Rock Hill, Holy Apostles in West Columbia, Holy Resurrection in North Augusta, Holy Ascension in Mount Pleasant, St James in Beaufort and the monastery at Wagener. The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta has St George Cathedral in Greenville and Holy Trinity in Charleston, with Holy Trinity in Columbia named in Holy Apostles' history and a monastery of St Photios at Abbeville on the metropolis's list of monasteries; the rest of its South Carolina parishes did not yield to this page. The Antiochian, Serbian and Russian Church Abroad parishes of the state were not read and are not listed below.
Where the community gathers
South Carolina's Orthodox gather in the Upstate, in the Midlands, and in the Lowcountry.
The Upstate
The Upstate is Greenville and Rock Hill: St John of the Ladder on Roper Mountain Road Extension and St George Cathedral on North Academy Street nine kilometres apart in Greenville, and St Anthony the Great on Long Meadow Road in Rock Hill an hour and a half east by I-85, with Spartanburg between them and Charlotte just over the state line.
The Midlands
The Midlands are Columbia and the Savannah: Holy Apostles on Buff Street in West Columbia, across the river from the capitol; Holy Resurrection on Ascauga Lake Road in North Augusta, an hour west by I-20; and the monastery of Sts Mary and Martha on Spinner Lane in Wagener, thirty miles south-west of Columbia, the place the whole state's Orthodox drive to.
The Lowcountry
The Lowcountry is Charleston and Beaufort: Holy Ascension on North Shelmore Boulevard in Mount Pleasant and Holy Trinity on Race Street in Charleston, ten kilometres apart across the Cooper River, and St James on Tekoa Lane in Beaufort an hour and a half south by US-17, with Hilton Head and the Sea Islands beyond.
Cathedrals, parishes and a monastery worth knowing
Founded in 1995 by five families with a co-signed loan for a former mill house; in a former Methodist church since 2001; all services in English.
213 Roper Mountain Road ExtGreenville
SC 29615
The Greek cathedral of the Upstate, in the Metropolis of Atlanta.
406 North Academy StreetGreenville
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Placed by the diocese in 2008 halfway between Charlotte and Columbia, where there had been no Orthodox church; fully established in 2010.
3075 Long Meadow RoadRock Hill
SC 29730
Begun in 1982 with ten faithful and a room in a dentist's office; first full-time pastor 1987; the mother of the North Augusta mission.
724 Buff StreetWest Columbia
SC 29169
Born in Aiken, in Augusta from 2010, on its own property near I-20 and I-520 since May 2013, serving both sides of the Savannah.
1658 Ascauga Lake RoadNorth Augusta
SC 29841
All are welcome; all services in English.
265 North Shelmore BoulevardMount Pleasant
SC 29464
The Greek parish of Charleston, in the Westside, in the Metropolis of Atlanta.
34 Race StreetCharleston
SC 29403
The diocese's mission of Beaufort and the Sea Islands.
9 Tekoa LaneBeaufort
SC 29902
Distances that decide everything
A schematic, not a map. Journey times as given in the text.
South Carolina is I-26 from the mountains to the sea. Greenville to Columbia is an hour and a half, Columbia to Charleston two; Greenville to Rock Hill an hour and a half by I-85, Columbia to North Augusta an hour by I-20, Columbia to Wagener under an hour, Charleston to Beaufort an hour and a half by US-17. Inside Greenville, Roper Mountain Road and North Academy Street are nine kilometres apart; across the Cooper, Race Street and Shelmore Boulevard ten.
A search radius is a Sunday: Liturgy, coffee hour, and home by mid-afternoon. In the Upstate that is Greenville with Spartanburg and the towns on I-85; in the Midlands, Columbia with Aiken and the monastery road; in the Lowcountry, Charleston with Mount Pleasant and the islands. Further is two hours of interstate before every first meeting, which South Carolinians drive without complaint; say on your profile whether you would.
The Orthodox year in South Carolina
Patronal feasts
St John of the Ladder on 30 March and on the fourth Sunday of Lent in Greenville; St George on 23 April on North Academy Street; St Anthony on 17 January in Rock Hill; the Holy Apostles on 30 June in West Columbia; the Resurrection at Pascha in North Augusta and the Ascension forty days after in Mount Pleasant; the Holy Trinity at Pentecost on Race Street; St James on 23 October in Beaufort; Sts Mary and Martha on 4 June at the monastery. A feast day is the Sunday a parish is fullest and most open to a stranger.
Pascha
Every parish on this page keeps the same Pascha, 12 April in 2026 and 2 May in 2027, often weeks after the Easter of the Baptist calendar; the Paschal night is the night Race Street and Roper Mountain Road are full until dawn, and the week before it is when the parishes of a region visit one another's Bridegroom services.
Christmas
The Orthodox Church in America's parishes and the Greek metropolis keep Christmas on 25 December; a couple whose other half belongs to a Julian-calendar parish elsewhere keeps two.
The monastery
Sts Mary and Martha at Wagener names hospitality as part of its calling, and a monastery thirty miles from the capital is where the Orthodox of Greenville, Columbia and Charleston meet on the same Saturday; a pilgrimage there is where young people from different parishes share a car.
Mission Sundays
Rock Hill was founded with weekend services in 2010, North Augusta bought its land in 2013, Beaufort is a mission still; a mission's Sunday is small enough that a newcomer is met at the door, and a diocese that counts the hours between its churches counts the people in them.
The English rule
Greenville, Mount Pleasant and the diocese's missions say plainly that all services are in English; the Greek parishes keep Greek alongside it. The parish that says so on its directory page is telling the convert of the survey above that the door is open.
Dating across jurisdictions, and with converts
Nine kilometres separate the two jurisdictions in Greenville and ten in Charleston; an hour and a half of I-26, the Upstate from the Midlands; two hours, the Midlands from the coast. The cana.love form was written with those distances in mind, and it reads best line by line.
Line one: what you practise
Line one of the form is practice: the parish you belong to, the number of Sundays a month you are really in it, your fasting, whether you mean marriage; and for an Orthodox member a choice among twelve jurisdictions, OCA, Greek, Antiochian, ROCOR, Serbian, Romanian and six others, Catechumen included, since the survey above found so many of the people searching exactly there.
Line two: five languages
Line two is language, of which the site has five, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian, all of them on every page; for South Carolina that is the English every parish here uses, though not the Greek sung on Race Street; and two members who write in two of the five can let an optional AI feature carry the words across.
Line three: the review
Line three is review: no profile and no photograph reaches other members before it has been looked at, a person rules on whatever the automatic check leaves open, and asking another member for money ends a membership at once and for good.
The last line: no bill
The last line is the bill, and it is blank: there is no subscription and there is no paid tier; the two things most sites sell, who visited you and who liked you, are free here; the optional AI helpers draw on credits, 150 given at registration and none sold for now; and you sign in by a one-time link or code to your email, without a password.
What cana.love is and is not
cana.love is not an Orthodox-only platform.
Baptists, Methodists, Catholics and people of no confession who want the same kind of marriage are members too, and whom each member sees is set by that member's own filters. In a state where the Orthodox are a mission church that counts the hours between its parishes and began one in a dentist's office, a narrower promise would be false. What the site promises is exact: jurisdiction, practice and intention are questions on the form, and everyone you meet has answered them, as you did. The company behind it is Cana SpA of Santiago, Chile; the About page says the rest.
Meeting safely
- No money to anyone you have not met in person; on cana.love the asking is itself grounds for a report, and the asker is removed for good.
- Meet first in public, with someone you trust told where you are, and keep the conversation on the site until you, and only you, decide to take it elsewhere.
Reviews, reports and appeals are described on the guidelines page.
Common questions
Is cana.love available in South Carolina?
Anyone of age can join from anywhere, South Carolina among the anywheres. There is no download: a phone's or a computer's browser opens the site, which reads in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German or Russian.
How far should I search in South Carolina?
The Upstate as one region, Greenville with Rock Hill and Spartanburg; the Midlands as another, Columbia with Aiken, North Augusta and the monastery; the Lowcountry as a third, Charleston with Mount Pleasant and Beaufort. Between regions is two hours of interstate before every meeting; say on your profile whether you would drive it.
Which Orthodox parishes in South Carolina serve in English?
St John of the Ladder in Greenville and Holy Ascension in Mount Pleasant say all their services are in English, and the diocese's missions in Rock Hill, North Augusta and Beaufort are English-speaking communities; the Greek parishes keep Greek alongside English. The directories name the clergy; the language is best asked at the door.
Is there an Orthodox monastery in South Carolina?
Yes: the women's monastery of Sts Mary and Martha on Spinner Lane in Wagener, founded in 1989 and there since June 1996, on sixty acres thirty miles south-west of Columbia, which names hospitality among its callings; the Metropolis of Atlanta also lists a monastery of St Photios at Abbeville.
Where is the oldest Orthodox parish in South Carolina?
On this page the dated ones are recent: Holy Apostles in Columbia from 1982, the monastery from 1989, Greenville from 1995, Rock Hill from 2008; the Greek parishes of Charleston and Greenville are older, but their founding years are not on the pages read for this one and are not guessed here.
Where can I find every Orthodox parish in South Carolina?
In the directories: the Orthodox Church in America's listing for South Carolina, seven entries with addresses, clergy and histories; the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta's parish list, which this page could not read and replaced with two parish sites; and the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops' directory for the jurisdictions not read.
Are the two calendars a problem for a couple?
Not on this page: its parishes all keep 25 December, and the Orthodox everywhere keep one Pascha. Two Christmases, 25 December and 7 January, belong only to the couple whose other parish, elsewhere, keeps the Julian calendar.
Next steps
Open a profile on cana.love. Before the first message, read the community guidelines, and read the About page to learn who runs the site. Your region comes next, its feast day or its Saturday at the monastery, and then the person.
Reviewed on September 20, 2026.
Photographs, all Wikimedia Commons: The Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity on Race Street, Charleston — Ammodramus, CC0 · St George Greek Orthodox Cathedral on North Academy Street, Greenville — DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0