The Christian Church was essentially one for the first one thousand years or so. The five great patriarchal centers, established in the cultural centers of the Roman Empire, (Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem), formed a cohesive whole -- one Church united in belief, but allowing for minor regional differences in form and practice. In response to the occasional heretical or schismatic group, the Church fully developed its conciliar approach to defining doctrine and solidifying its unification. It was during this time that the seven Great (Ecumenical) Councils of the Church were held. These councils, guided by the All-Holy Spirit, based their decisions on the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Thus, the basic tenets of the Church....Her doctrine, worship and common practices....were defined for all time.

Unfortunately, the unity and cohesiveness established by the councils began to be jeopardized beginning in the eighth and ninth centuries through a dispute between Rome and the other great Patriarchates regarding the supremacy of the Pope of Rome. This concept of papal supremacy, which threatened the conciliar nature of the Church, became more of an issue in the ensuing centuries and resulted in the unilateral addition of new and strange doctrines by Rome to those approved by the great councils. It also involved the addition of practices and customs which exceeded the normal bounds of discretion given to any one bishop and his diocese. These issues culminated in the so called Great Schism, which occurred during the 11th and 12th Centuries. Meaningful relations between Rome and the other four patriarchates gradually ceased to exist during this time. Hence, the Pope of Rome, standing alone, pursued his developing claim of universal headship of the Church in the West.

In the East, the other four patriarchates remained intact. Today, nearly a thousand years later, the Great Church of the East remains whole and united. To be sure, other patriarchates have been added as the Church has expanded into the world, most notably those of Russia and Eastern Europe. Regardless of devastating wars (including the Crusades), the Muslim conquest of many Orthodox lands, and even ruthless suppression by atheistic communist regimes, the Great Church -- the Holy Orthodox Church -- has continued in Her undiminished and unaltered faith and practice received from Christ and His Apostles.
 

The Church in North America

The influence of the Christian colonists in the Eastern United States is well-known among students of American history. With this colonial Christianity, however, came a certain set of assumptions based on the religious environment and convictions of Western Europe, with its dependence on Roman Catholic and Protestant thinking.

The Orthodox were latecomers to the American shores. In fact, the first Orthodox Christians came not to the eastern seaboard of the U.S., but to what is now its largest state, Alaska. In 1794, ten missionary monks from the Valaam Monastery located west of St. Petersburg, Russia, (close to present day Finland), arrived on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Two of the missionaries, the Monk Herman and the Priest-Monk Juvenaly, were later to become Saints of the Orthodox Church.

After many initial difficulties, the mission prospered for the next century. This prosperity occurred within the twin goals of Orthodox mission: the Incarnation of the Word of God within the language and customs of a particular country and the growth of an indigenous Church to sanctify and endorse the identity of the people of that country. By the time of the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, the whole territory was considered to be firmly Orthodox Christian.

When the Orthodox Christian latecomers finally arrived on the Eastern shores of North America, mostly during the first two decades of the 20th Century, they were often ignored as a foreign minority. The Western European based religious and cultural climate of the New World was already deeply entrenched. Thus, rather than mingle with the culture on a religious basis, Orthodox Christians tended to maintain their Old World ethnic identity. They imported priests and bishops from the old country and retained their native languages for the various worship services. Thus, they effectively closed their churches to outsiders who were unable to understand what was being said or done.

But times have changed. Today, the Orthodox Church is being taken seriously in North America. Many people, distressed and frustrated by the direction being taken in various churches and religious circles (and desiring a fuller worship and spiritual life), are turning to the changeless Orthodox Church of the East. New Orthodox churches are being planted in cities and towns from coast to coast. Entire congregations of mainstream and evangelical Protestants are turning to Eastern Orthodoxy. Within the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America alone, the number of churches has increased from 40 to over 400 within a very short period of time.

Although we still hear the terms “Greek Orthodox”, “Russian Orthodox”, “Serbian Orthodox”, “Antiochian Orthodox”, etc., the Orthodox Church remains one Church…unified in belief and practice, yet recognizing individual cultural differences. This life of diversity within complete unity has been the hallmark of the Orthodox Christian Church for two thousand years. In fact, North America is one of the few regions in the world where there are Orthodox communities affiliated with different ethnic Patriarchates throughout the world. This would suggest to the outsider a disunity of some sort. The seeming disunity, however, exists only on the administrative level because THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IS ONE! By the Grace of God, even this administrative disunity will soon disappear and there can be a single North American Orthodox Church....completely unified in Jesus Christ and transfiguring all culture and earthly division.