+About Monastic Holy Orders: a basic
+Society of St. Jude Thaddeus (SSJt.)
+Orthodox Order of Friars Minor (OOFM)
+Servants (In Service) to Christ (SC)
A Mission Statement
To preach, teach and evangelize according to the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ!
We are concerned for our relationship to the Living God in this life and the next!
The mission of the American Orthodox Church (North American Orthodox Church), as a part of the authentic Church of the New Testament, is to make our country an Orthodox Catholic nation. Whenever the Church has been given the opportunity to freely teach and live its Faith, it has always won the hearts and the souls of men and woman to the Truth. In our day when so many are worn down by the false claims of so many religious leaders, the Orthodox Church and Faith stand as a beacon of Truth drawing all to her portals of life.
Not all Orthodox Christians use the Eastern or Byzantine liturgical forms. The Western Rite, when compared to the Byzantine liturgical forms, is simpler, less redundant, obviously shorter, and employs a hymnody (the hymns used) that is familiar to a great many American Christians. More precisely, the Western Rite, as approved by this jurisdiction, is a theologically corrected form of worship used by the Latin Church (Roman) or the Anglican Communion. In some Western Rite congregations, the Liturgy may be a Latin or English form of pre-Vatican-II Roman Catholic worship. (In France, all native French Orthodox Christians, who number in the thousands, use this form of worship). Other Western Rite parishes use a liturgy based on the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Modifications, while important, would not be terrible noticeable to even the most regular worshippers. Two of these alterations include the deletion of the filioque (“and the Son”) in the Nicene Creed and the addition of a stronger epiclesis in the Eucharistic prayer said by the priest at the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.
The third section of the Nicene Creed affirms the Church's belief that the Holy Spirit is one of the three Persons of the triune Godhead. History shows that the phrase “and the Son” (or, in Latin, filioque) in speaking of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father was initially an addition by a local council of Western Bishops that was originally even rejected by the Pope of Rome. The Eastern bishops argued the filioque causes a blurring of the roles of each of the three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in the Godhead. It is from the Father that the Son is begotten and it is from the Father that the Holy Spirit proceeds, through the Son.
Besides the removal of the filioque in the Creed, the Western Rite Liturgy requires the priest to petition God the Holy Spirit to act in changing the gifts of bread and wine into the life giving Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The words used in the Liturgy are: “And we beseech thee, O Lord, to send down thy Holy Spirit upon these offerings, that he would make this bread the precious Body of thy Christ, and that which is in this Cup the precious Blood of thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, transmuting them by thy Holy Spirit. AMEN, AMEN, AMEN.”
In addition to these two changes, the Western Rite includes other indiscernible changes that Latin Roman Catholics and most Anglo-Catholics (High Church Episcopalians) would find to be either familiar or certainly acceptable. As some Latin Rite Roman Catholic parishes as well as Protestant Churches continue their decline by denial of basic Catholic faith, doctrine and worship by turning to inclusive language liturgies, which refer to God as mother (to name but one example) and promulgate woman “priests,” many traditional Catholic Christians of both the Roman and Anglican backgrounds are turning to the Orthodox Catholic Church.
By doing so, these Christians have retained familiar forms of worship and at the same time insured themselves of remaining within an ecclesiastical communion, and under godly, Orthodox bishops who teach and practice the ancient Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our mission then, is to stand firm in the faith, preaching, teaching and practicing of the faith according to one's nature and degree of ability.
+About Monastic Holy Orders: a basic
+Society of St. Jude Thaddeus (SSJt.)
+Orthodox Order of Friars Minor (OOFM)
+Servants (In Service) to Christ (SC)
Twenty First Century Desert Fathers
Lines of Apostolic Succession of His Eminence
Suggested Reading:
Privacy Watch nOTICE to VISITORS ABOUT OUR E-MAIL POLICY - Updated
MAN: To Err, the Church and Holy Spirit
The True meaning of Repentance
and forgiveness
AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE CLERGY
Is Christianity At The Cross Roads?
As The World Goes, So Goes The Church
Anomalies in Ecclesiology of Contemporary Orthodox Churches
Attempts at Coming to An Understanding of Orthodox Catholic Christianity
MAN: To Err, the Church and Holy Spirit
GRAMMATA ON THE MEANING OF CANONICAL
A Message from Our metropolitan Archbishop - UPDATED
Orthodox Catholic Fasts, Feasts, and Daily Prayers
See the Main Page for Weekly-Daily listings
Keep Up-To-Date by clicking on:
Quotes from Metropolitan Archbishop +Joseph Thaddeus, OSB, SSJt., Ph.D. - Continuously updated
If You have a question that you wish to ask, please feel free to submit it. However, may it be suggested that you review all previous questions for the Month and also the Archive of questions previously asked for your question may have already been answered.
Our Newest Member to Apostle1.com
Western Orthodox Church in America (WOCA)
Where the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ is bound up in His Love.
To Have the Love of Jesus Christ is to abide by His Life and Teachings.
There is no other way... The Church does not conform to the World,
The World must conform to the Church...
St. Augustine's Anglican Church, Deming, New Mexico
A Caring Community of Orthodox Christians who know the Love is the first and Great Commandment.
St. Augustine's Anglican Church of Deming, New Mexico has kindly granted the American Orthodox Church (North American Orthodox Church) use of the Church to offer Divine Liturgy each week.
American Congregation Of Saint Benedict (ACSB)
Strugglers on the Path in Anglicanism to Anglican Orthodoxy
Our New Member to Apostle1.com Religious Hosting Service
To Change the Nation and the World
PROPER ATTIRE FOR ORTHODOX CLERGY