Editing Duane Pederson

{{Short description|American Christian leader (1938–2022)}}
{{About|the Eastern Orthodox minister and leader of the Jesus movement|bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America|Duane C. Pederson}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}

'''Father Duane Pederson, The Right Reverend [[Archimandrite]]''' (September 30, 1938 – July 20, 2022) was an American [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] priest, "[[Jesus freak]]" and former leader of the "[[Jesus movement]]". He was also the founder of Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry.

== Biography ==
Pederson was born in [[Hastings, Minnesota]], US and had three sisters and a brother.<ref>[https://startribune.com/obituaries/detail/0000431798/ ''Tribune obituaries'', retrieved March 28, 2023]</ref>

After moving to California, he was a leader in the [[Jesus People]] Movement during the 1960s and 1970s. He was also the founding editor and publisher of the Hollywood Free Paper which was a [[Christian]] response to [[countercultural]] underground newspapers. As circulation grew rapidly from California to Europe, the Paper became the most widely distributed Jesus Movement publication. It ran from 1969 to 1978. From 1979 to 1980, it became ''Visit'', a periodical ministry to prisoners under the name ''Christian Prison Volunteers''. The paper ceased publication in 1980, but briefly resumed from 1987 to 1988 under its former title.<ref>[https://dl.atla.com/collections/duane-pederson-the-hollywood-free-paper-and-jesus-people-movement-collection ''Atla Digital Library'', retrieved March 28, 2023]</ref>

He was credited with coining the terms "Jesus people" and "Jesus movement", but clarified in an audio interview that those words were attributed to him by a news agency when he said "We're people who love Jesus."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hollywoodfreepaper.org/interview.php?id=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011055158/http://www.hollywoodfreepaper.org/interview.php?id=1 |archive-date=October 11, 2007 |title=The Hollywood Free Paper}}</ref>

Pederson joined the [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch|Antiochian Orthodox Church]] where he received [[Holy Orders]] and was ordained as a priest in 1991.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |date=July 22, 2022 |title=Archdiocese of America: Fr Duane Pederson, Founder of OCPM, has reposed in the Lord |url=https://orthodoxtimes.com/archdiocese-of-america-fr-duane-pederson-founder-of-ocpm-has-reposed-in-the-lord/ |access-date=March 19, 2023 |website=Orthodox Times}}</ref>

In 1993, [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] Philip, [[Primate (bishop)|Primate]] of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America, asked Pederson, an experienced prison minister, to establish a prison ministry for the Archdiocese.<ref name=":0" />

In 2005, Philip offered the Archdiocese's prison ministry to the [[Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas]] (SCOBA). Shortly thereafter, Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM) was chartered by SCOBA as its official prison ministry.<ref name=":0" />

During this time, Pederson also assisted three churches in California: St. Nicholas Cathedral of Los Angeles, St. Matthew Church of Torrance, and Holy Cross Church of Palmdale.

In 2009, Pederson edited a 35th anniversary edition of the ''Hollywood Free Paper''.<ref name="HFP1">[http://www.hollywoodfreepaper.org/article.php?id=1 Hollywood Free Paper]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705173419/http://www.hollywoodfreepaper.org/article.php?id=1|date=July 5, 2009}}</ref>

In 2014, he wrote ''Larger Than Ourselves: The Early Beginnings of the Jesus People'', (Hollywood, California: ''Hollywood Free Paper'', 2014). In the book, he recounted some of the earliest stories of how the Jesus People movement began and includes pictures of key figures and places throughout the early years of the movement.

Later semi-retired, Pederson ministered to prisoners and those on the street, through homeless shelters, as well as serving various parishes in Southern California and Minnesota of the Antiochian Orthodox Church. After his retirement, he returned to his home state of Minnesota where he served at St. George Church of West St. Paul.<ref>[https://klecatskys.com/obituaries/Fr-Duane-Pederson?obId=25418956 ''Klecatsky Obituaries'', retrieved March 28, 2023]</ref>

He died on July 20, 2022, in Eagan, Minnesota. His funeral was held at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, West St. Paul, Minnesota.<ref>{{Cite web |title=+Fr. Duane Pederson+ Founder of OCPM – Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry |url=https://theocpm.org/2022/07/21/fr-duane-pederson-founder-of-ocpm/ |access-date=July 21, 2022}}</ref> He is buried at Lakeside Cemetery in Hastings, Minnesota.

==Awards==
In 2012, Pederson was presented with the Matthew 25:36 Award for his lifetime achievement in prison ministry.<ref>[https://goarch.org/-/ocpm-founder-father-duane-pederson-reposes-in-the-lord ''Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America'', retrieved March 28, 2023]</ref> The award contains a piece of actual prison bar from [[Graterford State Prison]], [[Philadelphia]] with the simple inscription of [[Matthew 25:36]] ("I was in prison and you came to me...").

In 2016, he was awarded the Archdiocese's Silver Order of St. Raphael of Brooklyn.

== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Evangelical Orthodox Church}}

==References==
<references/>

==External links ==
* [http://www.hollywoodfreepaper.org/index.php ''Hollywood Free Paper'']
* [http://www.one-way.org/jesusmovement/leaders/leadrs1.htm Leaders of the Jesus Movement]
* [https://goarch.org Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America ]
* [https://antiochian.org Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]     
* [https://www.theocpm.org Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry]
* [http://www.hollywoodfreepaper.org/sermons.php Pederson's sermons]
* [http://www.saint-matthew.net St. Matthew's Orthodox Church]
* [https://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/features/the_orthodox_christian_prison_ministry audio interview with Father Duane]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pederson, Duane}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:21st-century Eastern Orthodox priests]]
[[Category:American Eastern Orthodox priests]]
[[Category:American Pentecostals]]
[[Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Protestantism]]
[[Category:Former Pentecostals]]
[[Category:Jesus movement]]
[[Category:Members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]]