One of the dedicated and very busy priests serving St. Lawrence Orthodox Christian Church is Fr. Thaddaeus Hardenbrook. Fr. Thaddaeus, as the son of the St. Lawrence community's founding pastor, has been a member of the community from its very inception. From his youth, he has served the church in a variety of ways, including as acolyte, youth group leader, peer counselor, high school instructor, and in church properties maintenance, construction, and landscaping. He has made pilgrimages to Russia, Greece, and the Holy Land, including a working trip to Valaam Monastery in which he and a group of other pilgrims helped in the monastery's rebuilding. Fr. Thaddaeus holds a BA and MA in Literature, and an Orthodox Theology Certificate from St. Athanasius Academy. He has also studied a great deal independently. In March of 2000, he was ordained in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as a priest of the Jerusalem Patriarchate-just in time to serve through Great Lent! (Every newly ordained Orthodox priest is required to serve the Divine Liturgy on forty consecutive days. Lent is an especially demanding time to do this.)

That first Great Lent and Pascha season were a good preparation for Fr. Thaddaeus' ongoing liturgical life. St. Lawrence Church maintains daily Matins and Vespers with Divine Liturgies every Sunday, Saturday, and on many additional feasts. Add weddings, funerals, baptisms, confessions, and various other priestly duties, and this cycle of services keeps Fr. Thaddaeus and his fellow priests very busy-which they love!

Fr. Thaddaeus has this to say about his ministry: "Competitive wrestling, carpentry, and motocross equipped me for this vocation as much as the formal studies I have done. The Orthodox Christian life is a spiritual war no less tangible than actual battle. Despite my unworthiness, and by the prayers of the faithful, God has graciously blessed me to be on the front line."

Fr. Thaddaeus supplements his income by producing large reproduction icons for his business, Orthodox Images. He and his wife, Presbytera Xenia, have three small children. His devotion to his family and to the Church is evident in everything he does. Says Fr. Thaddaeus, "Sacrificial love of neighbor and the reestablishment of healthy family life, based on submission to the authentic, traditional practices of the Orthodox Church, are the foundation stones of sustainable Christian life and community in postmodern America."