The Antiochian Archdiocese in North America is organized into dioceses, each overseen by a bishop, all under the leadership of a Metropolitan who answers to the Patriarch of Antioch. Think of it as concentric circles of pastoral care, starting with your parish priest and extending outward to the ancient See of Antioch itself.
Here’s how it works on the ground. Your parish belongs to a diocese. Right now the Archdiocese has eight territorial dioceses plus one special vicariate, covering everything from Montreal to Los Angeles. St. Michael’s here in Beaumont falls under one of these dioceses, which means we have a diocesan bishop who oversees our parish along with all the other Antiochian parishes in our region.
Each diocese has a bishop. Some dioceses are large enough to need their own dedicated hierarch, while others might be overseen by an auxiliary bishop or even temporarily by an archimandrite until a new bishop is elected. These bishops aren’t independent operators. They work together under the Metropolitan, who chairs what’s called the Local Synod, basically a council of all the bishops in North America.
The Metropolitan is our chief hierarch. He’s not just administratively in charge; he’s also a member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch, which connects our life here in Texas to the ancient Church that sent out Paul and Barnabas from Antioch two thousand years ago. That connection isn’t just symbolic. The Patriarch of Antioch has real authority over our Archdiocese, even though we have what’s called “self-rule” status.
Self-rule is worth explaining because it confuses people. In 2003, the Holy Synod in Antioch granted our Archdiocese the ability to reorganize ourselves into multiple dioceses and handle our own internal governance. We elect our own Metropolitan (though the Patriarch must approve). We manage our own missions and outreach. But we’re not autonomous. We’re still canonically under Antioch. The Metropolitan reports to the Patriarch. We’re a self-ruled Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, that’s the official title, and every word matters.
Below the diocesan level, parishes are grouped into deaneries. A deanery is just a regional cluster of parishes, usually led by a senior priest who serves as dean. It’s a practical arrangement. Deans help coordinate things like clergy meetings, youth events, and communication between parishes and the diocesan bishop. If you’ve ever wondered why our parish sometimes does joint events with other Antiochian churches in the area, deaneries are often why.
The Archdiocese also has advisory bodies that include laypeople. There’s an Archdiocesan Board of Trustees with over fifty elected and appointed members, both clergy and laity. There’s also the Metropolitan’s Advisory Council, which includes representatives from every parish and mission. Your parish sends people to these meetings. This isn’t a top-down hierarchy where bishops make decisions in isolation. We believe in conciliarity, that the whole Church, clergy and laity together, participates in the Church’s life and governance.
So when you’re standing in church on Sunday morning, you’re connected to a structure that extends from your parish priest to your diocesan bishop to the Metropolitan to the Patriarch of Antioch to the ancient apostolic faith itself. It’s not bureaucracy for its own sake. It’s how we maintain unity and continuity with the Church that Christ founded. The bishop isn’t just an administrator. He’s the one who ordains priests, consecrates churches, and guards the faith in his diocese. The Metropolitan does the same for the whole Archdiocese. The Patriarch does the same for all the churches under Antioch’s care worldwide.
This structure has been tested. It’s survived persecutions, schisms, and the challenges of planting Orthodoxy in a culture that didn’t grow up with it. When you see “The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America” on our website or in the bulletin, that’s not just a mouthful of words. It’s a statement about who we are and where we belong in the two-thousand-year story of the Church.
If you want to understand this better, the Archdiocese website at antiochian.org has detailed information about our current bishops and dioceses. But honestly, the best way to understand how the Church is organized is to live in it. Come to a diocesan event. Meet your bishop when he visits. You’ll see that this isn’t about org charts. It’s about fathers in the faith caring for their flocks, connected to each other and to the Apostles themselves.
