Holy Cross Orthodox Church, Yakima, WA
The V. Rev. Fr. Joseph Copeland is the Rector of Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Yakima, Washington. Fr. Joseph has been guiding and leading his flock in the Orthodox Way since coming to the One Church in 1987 with many other former Protestants as a part of the Evangelical Orthodox Church.” Fr. Joseph and Khouria Sophia have four grown children: Makrina, Presvytera, physician, wife of Fr. Michael Shanbour and mother of 1; Thomas, Reader, optometrist, husband of Paraskevi and father of 10; Andrea, wife of Pantleimon and mother of 3; Pelagia, Presvytera, wife of Fr. Gregory Edwards and mother of 4; and several others who have become like their own and many beloved spiritual children. Fr. Joseph was raised in Maple Valley, Washington, a rural area outside of Seattle. He graduated from high school in 1966 and began his studies at the University of Washington. In 1968 he married his high school sweetheart, Denise (Sophia) and they both taught in the Seattle area after graduation from university. In 1974, after the birth of their first child they moved to buy and operate an apple orchard in the Yakima Valley of Eastern Washington along with the Fr. Mel Gimmaka family who would accompany them into Orthodoxy.