The Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church is the True and Living Church being the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Known throughout history as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, this is the Church founded by Our 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.

Incredible as it seems, for over two thousand years, she has continued in her undiminished and unaltered faith and practice. Today her apostolic doctrine, worship, and structure remain intact.

Many would be surprised to learn that for the first 1,000 years of Christian history there was just one Church. In the eleventh century a disastrous split, or schism, occurred resulting in the separation of the Western Church, under the Pope, from the rest of the apostolic Church. The papacy sought to establish itself over all of Christendom, and finally succeeded in the West. But the rest of the Church rejecting this innovation, knows no other head except Jesus Christ Himself, and retains unity through conciliarity. This principle refers to the commitment of the Church to stay true to Christ, and united in confession and worship under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in the same way the apostles did.

Orthodoxy in America

Contemporary American Orthodoxy is the result of the Russian missionaries to Alaska, but also of the migration of peoples from Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. As a result, it often presents an "ethnic" face to American society.

From its humble beginnings in 1794, when a small group of missionaries landed on Kodiak Island, Alaska, Orthodoxy in America has expanded to comprise a Church of over two million faithful. Numerous Americans from all cultural and religious backgrounds have, particularly in recent decades, joined Orthodoxy as well. Clearly Holy Orthodoxy has something to say to American society.