The Antiochian Village is a 300-acre conference and retreat center owned by our Archdiocese, tucked into the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania near Bolivar. It’s where thousands of Orthodox kids go to summer camp each year, where parishes hold retreats, and where the Church gathers for everything from theological study to family weekends in the mountains.
Metropolitan Philip founded it back in 1978 with a simple vision: give people a place to step away from the noise and meet God. He wanted somewhere the faithful could worship, learn, and live together without all the distractions that clutter up daily life. The Village sits about six miles north of Ligonier, and if you’ve ever been to that part of Pennsylvania, you know it’s beautiful country. Rolling hills, thick woods, the kind of place where you can actually hear yourself think.
What Happens There
Most people know the Village for its summer camp program. Over 1,100 kids ages nine to seventeen showed up in 2025 alone. They come for two-week sessions that pack in Divine Liturgy, teaching, fellowship, and all the regular camp stuff like swimming and campfires. But it’s not just activities with a Jesus sticker slapped on. The whole point is to give young people a living experience of the Orthodox faith. They’re not just learning about the Church. They’re living in it, praying together, eating together, working out what it means to be Orthodox when you’re surrounded by other Orthodox kids doing the same thing.
The camp runs four sessions each summer, and it’s staffed by volunteers who come back year after year. Tuition runs around $1,150 per camper, though there’s financial aid available through the camp itself, through the Order of St. Ignatius, and often through home parishes. If cost is keeping your kid from going, talk to someone. They don’t want money to be the barrier.
Beyond summer camp, the Village hosts retreats year-round. Winter Family Camp in January. Staff Ski Retreat. Arch Week for recent high school graduates who want to go deeper before heading off to college. Parishes book the facilities for their own retreats. The Archdiocese holds meetings there. It’s a working conference center with about a hundred guest rooms, a big dining hall, meeting spaces, a chapel, walking trails, even a fitness center.
There’s also a heritage museum built in 2004 that tells the story of Orthodox Christianity and the Eastern Mediterranean world that gave birth to the Church of Antioch. Remember, Antioch is where believers were first called Christians according to Acts 11:26. That history matters to us, and the museum keeps it alive for people who might not know much about ancient Syria or the early Church.
Why It Matters
The Village is one of nine camping ministries run by the Archdiocese across different regions. But it’s the flagship, the one that draws kids from all over North America. For a lot of Orthodox young people, especially those growing up in small parishes or mixed families, camp is where they first realize they’re not alone. There are other teenagers who fast during Lent. Other kids who know the Liturgy by heart. Other families trying to live this ancient faith in modern America.
That’s not a small thing. Here in Southeast Texas, you might be the only Orthodox family at your kid’s school or in your neighborhood. Your extended family probably thinks you joined some weird foreign religion when you became Orthodox. The Village gives your children a chance to be normal for two weeks. To be surrounded by people who get it.
And it’s not just for kids. Adults need that too sometimes. A weekend at the Village for a parish retreat or a quiet few days for personal prayer can reset you in ways that Sunday Liturgy alone can’t always manage. There’s something about being in a place that exists specifically for worship and fellowship, where you’re not rushing off to work or dealing with the regular chaos of life.
If you’ve got kids approaching camp age, start talking about it now. If your parish hasn’t done a retreat there, suggest it. The drive from Beaumont is long, but people make it. And once you’ve been, you’ll understand why families keep going back year after year.
