We’re all the same Church. The Greek, Russian, Antiochian, and other Orthodox churches aren’t denominations like Baptist versus Methodist. They’re administrative families within the one Orthodox Church, united by the same faith, the same sacraments, and the same bishops tracing back to the Apostles.
Think of it like this. You’ve got different counties in Texas, each with its own sheriff and commissioners. But they’re all Texas. Same laws, same constitution, same state. That’s closer to how Orthodoxy works than the Protestant model where each denomination has different beliefs.
The names reflect history and language, not theology. The Antiochian Orthodox Church traces back to Antioch, where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). That ancient Church served Arabic-speaking Christians in Syria, Lebanon, and the Middle East. When Antiochian immigrants came to places like Beaumont in the early 1900s, they brought that tradition with them. The Russian Orthodox Church grew from missionaries who brought the faith to Slavic peoples a thousand years ago. The Greek Orthodox Church connects to Constantinople and Greek-speaking lands. Different stories, same faith.
We call this structure “autocephaly,” which means “self-headed.” Each autocephalous church governs itself. It elects its own bishops, runs its own seminaries, makes its own administrative decisions. The Antiochian Archdiocese of North America operates under the ancient Patriarchate of Antioch but has significant independence to address North American needs. No Orthodox bishop answers to a pope. We don’t have one.
But here’s what matters: we’re in full communion. An Antiochian Christian can receive the Eucharist at a Greek parish, a Russian parish, an OCA parish. Your confession is valid anywhere. Your baptism is recognized everywhere. If you’re traveling and there’s only a Serbian Orthodox church in town, you go there. You’re home.
This isn’t new. The early Church worked this way. The Council of Nicaea in 325 recognized major centers like Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome as self-governing. They didn’t report to each other. They consulted each other, sure. They gathered in councils to address heresies. But the Church was never a pyramid with one human at the top. It was a family of local churches, each led by bishops in succession from the Apostles, all believing the same things.
The Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople holds a “first among equals” position. He can call meetings and has certain honors, but he can’t tell the Patriarch of Antioch what to do any more than the Patriarch of Antioch can boss around the Archbishop of Athens. It’s not authority. It’s respect.
So why does this look messy to outsiders? Because most Americans grew up with either the Catholic model (one pope over everyone) or the Protestant model (each church independent, believing different things). Orthodoxy is neither. We’re independent administratively but united in everything that actually matters: what we believe about Christ, how we worship, what the sacraments are, who the saints are, what the Bible means.
You’ll sometimes hear about jurisdictional issues in America. We’ve got overlapping territories here in ways that don’t happen in Greece or Russia. That’s a quirk of immigration history. Your Greek neighbor’s family helped found the Greek church on Calder Avenue. Your coworker’s Russian grandparents built the Russian parish across town. And St. Michael Antiochian Orthodox Church serves families from Lebanon, Syria, and converts from every background imaginable. It’s not ideal to have multiple Orthodox churches in one city, and there’s ongoing work toward better coordination. But it doesn’t break our unity.
When St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote letters in the early second century, he kept emphasizing the oneness of the Church gathered around the Eucharist. That’s still how we understand it. We’re one Church because we have one faith, one baptism, one Eucharist. The administrative structure serves that unity rather than defining it.
This actually reflects something beautiful about how God works. The Trinity is three Persons, one God. Not three gods cooperating. One God in three Persons. The Church is many local churches, one Church. Not many churches agreeing on stuff. One Church in many places, speaking many languages, serving many peoples, but believing and worshiping and living the same faith that Peter and Paul and Mary Magdalene knew.
If you’re visiting St. Michael for the first time, you might wonder if you should try the Greek church too, or if there’s a difference. Visit both if you want. You’ll hear the same Gospel, receive the same mysteries, venerate the same saints. You might hear more Arabic at one, more Greek at another. The coffee hour will taste different. But the faith is identical, and you’re welcome at either. We’re family.
