Our Church traces its roots in unbroken apostolic succession to first century Antioch, the city in which the disciples of Jesus Christ were first called “Christians” (Acts 11:26).
The Christian Church is based in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who has come in to the world as a man for our salvation. This is the foundational belief of every true Christian. “Orthodox” means right teaching or right worship, and we understand our Orthodox Christian faith to be the full and right revelation of God’s desire for us to believe in Him, know Him, abide in Him and receive eternal life from Him. The clearest and most concise explanation of our faith can be found in the ancient Nicene Creed. Click here to see the Creed
Sometimes called the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church is the first Christian Church, the Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and described in the pages of the New Testament. Her history can be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles. For twenty centuries, she has continued in her undiminished and unaltered faith and practice. Today her apostolic doctrine, worship and structure remain intact. The Orthodox Church maintains that the Church is living Body of Jesus Christ.
The Church of Antioch
The Church of Antioch was established by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas in 42 A.D.
The first Bishop of Antioch was St. Peter the Apostle and the third was St. Ignatius of Antioch; it was from Antioch that Saint Peter and Saint Barnabas set out on their great missionary journeys, a tradition that marks the history of the Church of Antioch. When the Turks took the city of Antioch, the offices of the Patriarchate of Antioch was moved to Damascus, the civil capital of Syria, where it remains to this day “on the street called Straight.” (Acts 9:11).
The Church of Antioch is one of the five ancient Patriarchates of the Christian Church, along with Alexandria, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Rome. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).
Many of the great saints of the Church, including St. Ignatius and St. John Chrysostom, have come from Antioch.
The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America is part of the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.
The Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East comprises nineteen archdioceses throughout the world, including in the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula), Europe, North and South America and Australia, among them the archdiocese of North America.
The Church is led by His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of Antioch and the all East.
Our Archdiocese
The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America includes over 250 churches and missions throughout the United States and Canada. We are in full communion with our brothers and sisters in various other Orthodox Christian jurisdictions, such as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Orthodox Church in America, and are all affiliated through the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America. Together we work to nurture the Orthodox Christians of this land—immigrants and native-born, the children of Orthodox parents and converts—and to bring America to the ancient Orthodox Christian Faith.
Click here to go to the website of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America
Our Patriarch
The current Patriarch of Antioch, His Beatitude, John X, is the one hundred and seventy first Patriarch after Saint Peter. On the 17th of December, 2012, under the name of John X, he became the Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, the third ranking hierarch of the Orthodox Church after the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria.
Click here for the biography of Patriarch John X
Our Metropolitan
The Antiochian Archdiocese is led by His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH Al-Zehlaoui. Metropolitan JOSEPH is a loving leader of his flock, a bold visionary and believer in the future of a strong and united Orthodox Church in North America, and a witness to the power of the Gospel to heal our modern world.
Click here for the biography of Metropolitan Joseph
Our Bishop
Click here for the biography of Bishop Anthony
Bishops of the Antiochian Archdiocese
Our Apostolic Succession - Primates of the Apostolic See of Antioch
APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION has been a watershed issue since the second century, not as a mere dogma, but as crucial to the preservation of the Faith. Certain false teachers came on the scene at that time insisting they were authoritative representatives of the Christian Church. Claiming authority from God by appealing to special revelations, some were even inventing lineages of teachers supposedly going back to Christ or the Apostles. In response, the early Church insisted there was an authoritative apostolic deposit passed down from generation to generation. They detailed that actual lineage, showing how its clergy were ordained by those chosen by the successors of the Apostles chosen by Christ Himself.
Apostolic succession is an indispensable factor in preserving unity in the Church. Those in that succession are accountable to it, and are responsible to ensure that all teaching and practice in the Church is in keeping with her apostolic foundations. Mere personal conviction that one's teaching is correct can never be considered adequate proof of accuracy. Today, critics of apostolic succession are those who stand outside that historic succession and seek an identity with the early Church only. The burgeoning number of denominations in the world can be accounted for in large measure because of a rejection of apostolic succession.
Click here to see our Apostolic Succession from our first Bishop, the Apostle Peter
