OUR PARISH
Our Heritage
Our parish is part of the Antiochian Archdiocese of America, which is under the spiritual authority of the Patriarchate of Antioch.
The Church of Antioch was established by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas in 42 A.D. and served as one of the five ancient centers of the early Church. In fact, "it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians" (Acts 11:26).
Today, the Antiochian Church remains in full communion with all other Orthodox Christian jurisdictions, such as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. We share the same faith and way of life that has been preserved unbroken for twenty centuries.
Our Story
In 1956, our community was founded to be a "pan-Orthodox" parish made up of Orthodox Christians of all backgrounds and ethnicities. Our founders were dedicated to offering the Divine Services in English, and our parish quickly grew to include Orthodox Christians of various backgrounds, including Greek, Lebanese, Slavic, Hispanic, and more.
Just ten years into our history, Father Joseph Allen was assigned to our community. "FJ" served as our priest for over 50 years before retiring as our Pastor Emeritus in 2019 and falling asleep in the Lord in 2020. He cultivated a rich parish life that made many refer to St Anthony's as "family". Today, we seek to carry on the loving spirit of our founders and our longtime pastor as we adapt to our contemporary context with fidelity to the timeless truth of Orthodoxy.
Our Mission
to live out the Orthodox Christian Faith through participation in Divine Services, study of Holy Scripture, caring for the poor and needy, and inviting others into the warm and welcoming embrace of the ancient Church of Christ.
Our Vision
is that Saint Anthony's will be a community of Orthodox Christians of diverse backgrounds
who welcome seekers of the faith given to us by Jesus Christ
and who live our faith through worship of one God in Trinity, education, hospitality, compassion, works of mercy, and respect
serving each other, our neighbors, and the greater community by God's grace.
Our Patron
Our community is named after Saint Anthony the Great, the father of monasticism and one of the greatest examples of the Christian faith in the history of the Church.
Saint Anthony was born in 250 A.D. in Egypt. Having grown up a pious Christian, he began ruminating on the early apostles' practice of sharing all things in common, and eventually took Christ's call to "sell all you possess and give it to the poor" (Matthew 19:21) personally. Fleeing the temptations of the world, Saint Anthony settled in a cave in the desert. He devoted his life to prayer and repentance, eventually becoming so free from sin that people from throughout the world would visit him for advice.
When the parish was chartered in 1956, it was hoped that the missionary zeal of St. Anthony’s would galvanize and bond together the parish’s various cultures as it sought to bear witness to the love of Christ to people of all backgrounds.
Saint Anthony's life is preserved by Saint Athanasios the Great, an early bishop who lived in the same era. Click here to read an abbreviated version and here to purchase the full text.
