The Orthodox Church was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ, and maintains an unbroken continuity of faith and practice that began with the Twelve Apostles at Pentecost.  For nearly 2,000 years the Orthodox Church has maintained and protected the doctrine and worship established by the Apostles and articulated by the leaders of the early Church.

Today, Orthodoxy consists of a family of 15 self-governing churches that span the globe.  They are not held together by a central organization or a single figure wielding power, but are united by a common agreement about the faith, and through sacramental communion.  St. Andrew’s is a mission parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (“ROCOR”), an autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, originally established by people displaced by the 1917 communist revolution and seeking freedom in Europe, North America, South America, Australia, and elsewhere.

We worship God in Trinity, glorifying equally the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; that He is truly God, of one essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  We believe that Christ Incarnate is also truly man, like us in all respects except sin.  We worship the Holy Spirit as Lord and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father. We honor and venerate the saints as those who have grown “unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).  We ask their intercessions before God, knowing that they live in Christ and that nothing, not even death, breaks the bond of love we share with them in Christ.  Of the saints, the Ever-Virgin Mary, the Theotokos (Greek: “Birthgiver of God”), holds a special place as “more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim” (cf. Luke 1:48).

The Orthodox Church recognizes seven common sacraments.  Baptism, by triple immersion, and Chrismation are usually administered together.  Chrismation, following Baptism, anoints one with the “Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” Through the Holy Spirit we are able to live the fullness of the Christian life.  In Holy Communion one receives the very Body and Blood of Christ for remission of sins, the sanctification of soul and body, and life eternal.  In Holy Confession the Christian, when truly repentant, receives from Christ, through the confessor, the forgiveness of sins; the priest witnesses the confession but does not act “in the person of Christ.”

Ordination, Marriage, and Holy Unction complete the seven common, New Testament Sacraments.  By the laying on of hands (Ordination) a bishop transmits divine grace to the person being ordained, linking him to the uninterrupted succession of Orthodox clergy from the time of Christ to the present.  Divine grace also sanctifies the union of man and woman in matrimony—Orthodox parish priests are usually married, but the marriage must precede ordination.  The Sacrament of Holy Unction brings healing to the infirmities of both body and soul, as God sees fit, through anointing with oil.