Orthodox Christian dating in Washington
Orthodox dating in Washington: Seattle's three cathedrals, Tacoma, the peninsulas and Spokane, and how to find a spouse inside the Church. Free of charge.
Create your profileAn illustration, not a data map.
- OCA
- Greek
- ROCOR
- Antiochian
- Serbian
- Monastery
Short answer
If you are Orthodox and single in Washington, most of the Church stands around Puget Sound, and it began earlier here than almost anywhere in the West: St Spiridon in Seattle was founded in 1895 by loggers, fishermen, cooks and waiters in their twenties, the Greeks who grew out of it finished their own church in 1921, and today Seattle has an OCA cathedral, a Russian cathedral and two Greek parishes within a few miles of each other, with parishes of every jurisdiction in Kirkland, Brier, Mountlake Terrace and Issaquah. Tacoma has two communities, one of 1896 and a Greek parish that has passed its centenary; the peninsulas have Port Townsend, Poulsbo and a monastery on Vashon Island; east of the Cascades there is Spokane, and in the dry hills above the Columbia a Greek women's monastery at Goldendale.
Behind this page is cana.love, a free dating site for people who want marriage. Its questionnaire asks which church you attend and how often, what you do about fasting, and which of twelve Orthodox jurisdictions you belong to, so that a Greek from Boyer Avenue and a convert from Kirkland can find each other by what they do in the Nativity fast rather than by a checkbox marked "Christian".
Not an Orthodox-only site; who else is here is said plainly below.
Orthodox Christians in Washington
Orthodoxy in Washington begins on the waterfront. In the late 1890s St Spiridon in Seattle was, by its own history, made up overwhelmingly of young men in their mid-twenties, emigrants from Greece, Russia, Serbia and the Near East, mostly loggers, fishermen, cooks and waiters, and it was the fruit of a missionary strategy run from Russia half a world away; Tacoma's parish followed in 1896. By 1915 the Greeks of Seattle were numerous enough to want a church of their own, borrowed an Episcopal church on Yale Avenue in 1918 and completed St Demetrios on the corner of Yale and Thomas in 1921, a parting the old-timers remembered as a rejoicing, because now there were enough Orthodox in Seattle for two churches. St Demetrios marked its centenary in 2022; St Nicholas in Tacoma has marked its own; the Russian Church Abroad has its cathedral of St Nicholas on Capitol Hill, across the street from the Greek Assumption.
The second layer is English-speaking and recent. St Herman of Alaska in Port Townsend began with a few families in the early 1990s in a spare room of a house, moved into a classroom of the Catholic church and built its own church for Theophany 1998; the Romanian parish of the Three Hierarchs in Mountlake Terrace dates from 1994 and Holy Apostles in Vancouver from 1995; St Katherine in Kirkland was founded in 1998 as a mission of St Spiridon to serve the whole Eastside, with every service in English; St Elizabeth in Poulsbo followed in 2001, a mission near Spokane in 2018, and in 2025 a mission of St Matthew was created in Vancouver for the Russian-speaking diaspora of the Portland area. The monks of the All-Merciful Saviour came to Vashon Island in 1988, and the nuns of St John the Forerunner to Goldendale in 1995.
Orthodox Studies Institute, 2024; national figures, not Washington's
Since then the largest change has been the converts: adults who came to the faith with no Orthodox family behind them. It has been counted: in twenty parishes across six jurisdictions and fifteen states, the Orthodox Studies Institute found that two thirds of the people received since 2013 were under forty when they came in, that the thirties were the largest single age group, and that 44 percent were unmarried at the time.
Washington was not measured on its own, but the person in those figures is the one at coffee hour in Kirkland or Port Townsend: an adult who chose the faith, often from a Protestant home, and who is still single; the parishes founded since 1990 were built for exactly that person.
Six jurisdictions have parishes here. The Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of the West has St Spiridon in Seattle, Holy Resurrection in Tacoma, St Katherine in Kirkland, St Herman in Port Townsend, St Elizabeth in Poulsbo, Holy Apostles and the new St Matthew mission in Vancouver, a mission near Spokane and one at Sequim, and its Romanian Episcopate has the Three Hierarchs in Mountlake Terrace. The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco has St Demetrios and the Assumption in Seattle, St Nicholas in Tacoma, Holy Trinity in Spokane and the monastery at Goldendale. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia has St Nicholas Cathedral in Seattle, a mission at Mount Vernon, parishes in Kennewick and Walla Walla and the monastery on Vashon. The Antiochian Archdiocese has St Paul in Brier, and the Serbian Church has St Sava in Issaquah. The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops keeps the directory that lists them all.
Where the community gathers
Washington is one long room around the Sound and three small ones: Seattle and the Eastside; Tacoma and the South Sound; the peninsulas; and everything east of the Cascades.
Seattle and the Eastside
Seattle and the Eastside hold most of the parishes on this page. St Spiridon is on Yale Avenue at the foot of Capitol Hill; St Demetrios on Boyer Avenue in Montlake; the Assumption and the Russian cathedral of St Nicholas face each other on 13th Avenue on Capitol Hill; north of the city St Paul is in Brier and the Three Hierarchs in Mountlake Terrace; across the lake St Katherine is in Kirkland and St Sava in Issaquah. Within the city the question is which of four, and the 520 bridge at five o'clock decides more than the miles.
Tacoma and the South Sound
Tacoma and the South Sound are forty-five minutes down I-5. St Nicholas, the Greek parish, is on South Yakima Avenue in the city and Holy Resurrection, the OCA parish of 1896, on 28th Avenue East toward Puyallup; Olympia has no parish on this page, and Vancouver, two and a half hours further south on the Columbia, has Holy Apostles and the Russian-speaking mission of St Matthew.
The peninsulas
The peninsulas are reached by ferry. St Herman of Alaska is on 30th Street in Port Townsend at the top of the Olympic Peninsula, St Elizabeth in Poulsbo on the Kitsap side, a mission at Sequim, and the monastery of the All-Merciful Saviour on Vashon Island, an hour from West Seattle by the ferry. For a Seattle Orthodox the peninsulas are a Saturday, not a Sunday.
East of the Cascades
East of the Cascades the map is thin and the distances long. Holy Trinity on North Washington Street is the parish of Spokane, four and a half hours from Seattle on I-90, with an OCA mission at Chattaroy north of the city; the Russian Church Abroad has parishes in Kennewick and Walla Walla; Yakima has no parish on this page; and the nuns of St John the Forerunner keep their monastery at Goldendale above the Columbia.
Cathedrals and parishes worth knowing
Founded in 1895 by young immigrants from Greece, Russia, Serbia and the Near East; the oldest parish on this page.
400 Yale Avenue NSeattle
Grew out of St Spiridon, completed its first church at Yale and Thomas in 1921 and celebrated its centenary on 25 September 2022.
2100 Boyer Avenue EastMontlake
The cathedral of the Russian Church Abroad in Seattle, across the street from the Assumption.
1714 13th AvenueSeattle
Established in 1998 as a mission of St Spiridon to serve the whole Eastside; every service is in English.
14216 132nd Avenue NEKirkland
The Romanian parish of the Seattle area, founded in 1994.
6402 226th Street SWMountlake Terrace
The Serbian parish of the Eastside.
14916 239th Place SEIssaquah
A century-old parish whose Tacoma Greek Festival is held in early October.
1523 South Yakima AvenueTacoma
The OCA parish of the South Sound, founded in 1896.
8710 28th Avenue EastTacoma
Begun by a few families in the early 1990s; its own church since Theophany 1998.
1407 30th StreetPort Townsend
The Greek parish east of the Cascades.
1703 North Washington StreetSpokane
Beyond these twelve, the directory of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops lists every Orthodox parish in Washington, and every jurisdiction contributes to it.
Distances that decide everything
A schematic, not a map. Driving times as given in the text.
Around the Sound the unit of distance is the bridge and the ferry: Kirkland is half an hour from Seattle across the 520 at noon and an hour at five, Brier and Mountlake Terrace twenty minutes up I-5, Issaquah forty minutes out on I-90, Tacoma forty-five minutes down I-5. The peninsulas add a boat: Vashon is an hour from West Seattle with the ferry, Port Townsend two hours by way of Edmonds or Bainbridge. East of the mountains the numbers are honest: Spokane is four and a half hours on I-90, Kennewick three and a half, Goldendale four; Vancouver is two and a half hours south.
Set your search radius by the Sunday you would honestly make, liturgy, lunch and home before the bridge fills, and count ferries as hours. For most people in Washington that is the Sound, Seattle and the Eastside or Tacoma; for the rest it is one's own city and the pass to the next. A statewide search finds more people and puts Snoqualmie Pass between you and a first meeting, which is a fair trade for some and not for others; say on your profile which you are.
The Orthodox year in Washington
Parish festivals
The Greek parishes keep them: Tacoma's in early October at St Nicholas, and the Seattle parishes theirs, on dates the parish sites announce. To the city a festival is a food fair; to the parish it is the homecoming, and it is the one weekend when a face nobody knows is who everyone hoped would come.
The monasteries
The monks of the All-Merciful Saviour on Vashon Island have received pilgrims since 1988, and the nuns of St John the Forerunner at Goldendale since 1995. A Saturday on Vashon is where people from Seattle and Tacoma meet with a ferry ride instead of a festival tent between them.
Theophany at the water
St Herman in Port Townsend opened its own church on the feast of Theophany in 1998, and in a state made of shoreline the blessing of the waters each January is the feast the parishes keep outdoors.
The new missions
St Matthew in Vancouver was created in 2025 for Russian speakers, the mission near Spokane in 2018 meets in a borrowed hall, and Sequim has a mission on the peninsula; a mission's first years are when it needs people and notices every new face.
Sunday of Orthodoxy
On the first Sunday of Great Lent the parishes of the Sound gather for one Pan-Orthodox Vespers, clergy and faithful of six jurisdictions in one church; the host changes each year, and the diocesan sites announce it.
Diocesan gatherings
Each diocese keeps its own assemblies, young-adult retreats and clergy-laity meetings, posted on the sites above; they are where the Sound meets Spokane.
Dating across jurisdictions, and with converts
A Greek from St Demetrios and a convert from St Katherine in Kirkland are both Orthodox and one bridge apart, and the first thing each needs to know is what the other does about the Wednesday fast. The cana.love questionnaire was written to start exactly that conversation.
Practice, not labels
It asks which church you attend, how often you are really there, what you do about fasting, and whether you want marriage or someone to text with. Orthodox members choose from twelve jurisdictions listed one by one, OCA, ROCOR, Greek, Antiochian, Serbian, Romanian and the rest, and Catechumen stands among them as a choice of its own for people still on the way in.
Five languages, Russian included
The site is fully translated into English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian. In Washington that reaches the Russian of the cathedral on 13th Avenue and the new mission in Vancouver, the Romanian of Mountlake Terrace, and the Spanish the valleys speak at home; an optional AI feature translates a message between two members who write in different ones.
Checked before it is visible
Every profile and every photo is reviewed before anyone else can see it, and whatever looks doubtful goes to a person. Asking members for money ends an account permanently, with no warning.
Free, with no paid tiers
Nothing here sits behind a paywall: seeing who viewed you and who liked you is free, which on most sites is the paid part, and there is no subscription and there are no paid tiers. The optional AI extras run on credits, 150 of them at registration, and at present there is no way to add to them. Sign-in is by a one-time link or code to your email; there is no password to lose.
What cana.love is and is not
cana.love is not an Orthodox-only platform.
Catholics, Protestants and people who hold the same values about marriage without a confession of their own are on it too, and every member sets their own filters for whom to see. Someone who has taken the ferry to Vashon for a Saturday deserves to hear that before registering, not after. What the site promises is that your jurisdiction, your practice and your intention are questions on the form and that everyone you meet answered them; the About page tells the rest.
Meeting safely
- Never send money to someone you have not met; on cana.love the request by itself ends an account for good.
- Meet in a public place, tell someone you trust where you will be, and keep the conversation on the site until you are comfortable moving it elsewhere.
What is reviewed before a profile is shown, how reports are handled and how to appeal are all on the guidelines page.
Common questions
Is cana.love available in Washington?
Yes. It is a web application open to adults anywhere, Washington included, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian; it runs in a browser on a phone or a computer, and there is nothing to install.
How far should I search in Washington?
By the Sunday you would honestly drive, or sail, for a liturgy and lunch: the Sound for most people, one's own city east of the mountains. Widen to the whole state only if Snoqualmie Pass before a first meeting does not put you off.
Which jurisdictions have cathedrals in Seattle?
Two: the Orthodox Church in America at St Spiridon on Yale Avenue, and the Russian Church Abroad at St Nicholas on 13th Avenue.
Are there Orthodox monasteries in Washington?
Two: the All-Merciful Saviour, a men's monastery of the Russian Church Abroad on Vashon Island since 1988, and St John the Forerunner, a Greek women's monastery at Goldendale founded in 1995.
Where is the oldest Orthodox parish in Washington?
St Spiridon in Seattle, founded in 1895; Tacoma's parish followed a year later, and Seattle's Greeks completed their own church, St Demetrios, in 1921.
Where can I find every Orthodox parish in Washington?
In the directory of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, kept with every jurisdiction, and on the diocesan sites: the OCA Diocese of the West, the Greek Metropolis of San Francisco, the ROCOR Western American Diocese, the Antiochian Archdiocese and the Serbian Diocese of Western America.
Next steps
Create a profile at cana.love; read the community guidelines before your first conversation, and the About page if you want to know who runs the site and how. Then find your side of the Sound or your city beyond the pass, find its calendar, and find the person.
Reviewed on September 19, 2026.
Photographs, all Wikimedia Commons: The blue domes of St Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral on Yale Avenue, Seattle — Jrozwado, CC BY-SA 4.0 · St Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Montlake, Seattle, seen from the north — Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · The gold domes of St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral on Capitol Hill, Seattle — Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · The painted dome of St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Tacoma — Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Spokane — T85cr1ft19m1n, CC0