The Archdiocese of North America nd Diaspora of the Russian True Orthodox Church is a fellowship of Christians committed to proclaiming Christ’s Gospel of salvation through WORSHIP, EDUCATION, WITNESS, SERVICE, and a COMMON LIFE IN CHRIST as expressed in the distinctive faith-experience of the apostles and our ancestors. We invite the faithful to know God through Evangelism, to educate God’s people through Discipleship and to demonstrate God’s love through service. The faith-experience of the Orthodox Church comprises:

Worship

The sharing of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist is central to all worship. All dimensions of a life in Christ depend upon this. Only through corporate worship and sacramental celebrations of the entire community does the Church truly become the Body of Christ. Continued participation in these unique liturgical experiences of the Russian Church enables all believers to enter into union with God and one another.

The essential activity of the Orthodox Church is its worship and it is understood that everything else — fellowship, social activism, community service — follows from this. It is principally in its worship that the life and teaching of the Church are manifested.

The Divine Liturgy is the principal worship of Sunday — the Lord’s day. The service, as it is celebrated today goes back, in its main outlines to the Fourth Century and before. In this liturgy (from the Greek word leitourgia meaning `common work’) we remember that the world — the entire cosmos — and everything in it, including ourselves, was created by God. We also remember that while the world was created good, because of our sin the world is fallen. We commemorate the fact that even though the world and we who live in it are fallen, God came among us in Jesus Christ — His only Son begotten before the ages. That in Jesus Christ God suffered in the flesh, was resurrected, ascended into heaven, and will come again to judge the living and the dead, and that the life of Christ is given to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is our re demption.

Education

The educational ministry of the Russian True Orthodox Church

Transmits all of faith-tradition which includes: Holy Scripture, sacraments, the writings of the Holy Fathers, dogma, theology, liturgy, history, canon law, art, architecture, and sacred music,

Nurtures spiritual growth

Prepares us to fulfill our Christian vocation in the world; and

Disseminates the unique story and heritage of the Armenian people.

This is a life-long process which we strive to understand more clearly, believe more strongly, and live more faithfully in accordance with the will of God.

Witness

Members of the True Orthodox Church are baptized into the priesthood of all believers. As inheritors of this gift from the Holy Spirit, we are called to a life of holiness, commitment and justice, rooted in the Commandments of God and the precepts of Holy Scripture. Our lives in all aspects should reflect this witness.

The Doctrine of God In Orthodox Tradition, we understand that there is one God who is three persons. These three persons are one in essence or being, as well as one in will and activity while being distinct in origin. The Father alone is without origin. The Son is begotten of the essence of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. Be cause the Father alone is the source of the Son and the Holy Spirit, the unity of God is personal rather than essential.

The Doctrine of Salvation Salvation is the process by which we accept the life of God as our own. It begins with our baptism in which we are born anew into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and ends when we come face to face with God in His Kingdom. It is attained through faith and living a mode of life which is based on the Life of Christ.

Service

As members of the True Orthodox Church and stewards of god’s creation, we are called to serve all people, both within our church and in the world. Christ came not to be served, but to serve, teaching us to do the same.

The sharing of the gifts that God has given to each of us is one of the principle joys and obligations of being a Christian. We should use these gifts and talents for the glory of God in all aspects of life. One important expression of service is being kind, just and merciful as Christ was when he walked among the sick, the poor, and the downtrodden and extended His holy hand to them. It is only by loving and serving one another that we truly become the image and likeness of God and an active part of the ministry of the Church.

The sacraments are those actions by which the Kingdom of God which was, is, and is to come, enters into our life in the present. We become members of the Church through baptism and Chrismation; proclaim the presence of Christ which is and is to come at holy Communion; receive God’s forgive ness by our repentance in Confession; share His love through marriage; dedicate our lives to His service by being set aside in ordination; and receive His gifts of healing in Holy Unction.

A Common Life in Christ

The Community of believers draws upon its shared experience of the Eucharist as the foundation for a common life in Christ. Commitment to the distinctive faith-experience, culture and traditions of the Russian and American people strengthens both the life of the individual and that of the Church. The shared life of each parish community reflects the presence of Christ and the Kingdom of God in the world and the ongoing action of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible is constituted by those writings which contain God’s self-revelation to His people. Over the centuries there have been many writings which have purported to be revelations about God. The Church, through her life in the Spirit, has chosen or canonized those writings which are under stood to be genuine revelation. These writ ings can, therefore, only be properly under stood within the larger life of the ongoing Christian Community which the Church is. The worship of the Church is where we receive the systematic presentation of the life and teaching of the Church. The ascetic life is the life of prayer and fasting in which, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, we struggle to accept the life of the Holy Trinity which is freely offered to ourselves and those around us. In the lives of the saints we see the living witness of the Holy people of God. In the writings of the Holy Fathers we receive the unbroken teaching of the apostles as it has been announced to succeeding generations throughout the ages. The Ico nography of the Church is the visual repre sentation of the teaching of the Church.