The Antiochian Archdiocese of North America is the official North American jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Antioch, one of the ancient patriarchates of the Orthodox Church. It’s our church. When you worship at St. Michael’s, you’re part of this Archdiocese, which includes hundreds of parishes across the United States and Canada.
Ancient Roots, American Home
We trace our lineage to first-century Antioch, the city where followers of Jesus were first called Christians. That’s not just a nice historical footnote. The Patriarchate of Antioch is one of the five ancient sees of Christianity, and it’s been continuously shepherding the faithful for nearly two thousand years. Our Archdiocese here in North America remains canonically connected to that ancient see while functioning with self-rule, a status granted by the Holy Synod of Antioch in 2003.
Self-rule means we govern our own internal affairs while remaining part of the Patriarchate of Antioch. We elect our own Metropolitan. We organize our own dioceses. We make decisions about parishes, missions, and ministry here without needing approval from Damascus for every detail. But we’re not independent. We’re still Antiochian Orthodox, still under the spiritual authority of the Patriarch of Antioch.
The Archdiocese wasn’t always unified. In the early twentieth century, Antiochian immigrants from Greater Syria came to America and established parishes, but administrative divisions split the community for decades. Two separate Antiochian archdioceses existed until 1975, when the Articles of Reunification brought everyone back together under one roof. That reunification matters because it ended confusion about which bishop had authority where and allowed the Archdiocese to grow with a clear structure.
How We’re Organized
The Archdiocese is headquartered in Englewood, New Jersey, and it’s led by a Metropolitan who serves as the chief pastor for all of us. Under him are diocesan bishops who oversee different regions of the country. After the 2003 grant of self-rule, the Archdiocese reorganized and consecrated new bishops in 2004 to better serve parishes across North America.
Texas falls within one of these dioceses. So does Louisiana, Mississippi, and the rest of the South. Each diocese groups parishes by region so that bishops can actually visit, know their priests, and provide pastoral care without trying to cover impossible distances.
We also have something most other Orthodox jurisdictions in America don’t: a Western Rite Vicariate. These are parishes that use liturgical forms adapted from Western Christian traditions but under full Orthodox theology and episcopal oversight. It’s a small part of the Archdiocese, but it reflects our missionary approach.
What Makes Us Antiochian
Historically, the Archdiocese formed around Arabic-speaking immigrants from what was then called Greater Syria. Many parishes still celebrate the Divine Liturgy in Arabic, or they’ll do English and Arabic together. You’ll hear Arabic hymns at big feast days. The cultural heritage matters, and we preserve it.
But we’re not an ethnic club. Most Antiochian parishes in America now conduct services primarily in English. We’ve been intentional about evangelism and welcoming converts, which is why so many people in Southeast Texas with Baptist or Methodist backgrounds end up here. The Archdiocese has always balanced preserving tradition with making Orthodoxy accessible to Americans who don’t speak Arabic and whose grandparents weren’t from Aleppo.
St. Raphael Hawaweeny, the first Orthodox bishop consecrated in North America, embodied this balance. He was Antiochian, served under the Russian Church initially, and spent his ministry caring for Arabic-speaking immigrants while also reaching out to Americans. His feast day is February 27, and he’s a reminder that our mission has always been both to preserve and to proclaim.
Our Place in American Orthodoxy
The Antiochian Archdiocese is one of several canonical Orthodox jurisdictions in North America. There’s also the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the Orthodox Church in America, the Serbian Church, the Romanian Church, and others. We all believe the same faith, celebrate the same sacraments, and recognize each other’s bishops and priests. The divisions are administrative, not theological.
We work together on pan-Orthodox projects and participate in inter-jurisdictional bodies. But we remain distinct because we’re canonically under different mother churches. It’s complicated, and honestly it’s not the ideal situation. Most Orthodox agree that eventually we need a unified American Orthodox Church. Until that happens, though, the Antiochian Archdiocese provides a stable, canonical home for Orthodox Christians across this continent.
If you’re exploring Orthodoxy and wondering whether it matters that St. Michael’s is Antiochian rather than Greek or OCA, the answer is: not as much as you’d think. We’re all Orthodox. The differences are mostly cultural and administrative. But it does mean that when you’re received into the Church here, you’re joining not just St. Michael’s but the whole Antiochian Archdiocese, connected through your bishop to every other Antiochian parish from Montreal to Los Angeles, and through the Patriarch of Antioch to the ancient see where believers were first called Christians.
That’s not a bad family to belong to.
