THE ORTHODOX PATRIARCHATE OF ANTIOCH AND ALL THE EAST
The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America is part of the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. The See of Antioch dates back to the days of the Apostles Peter and Paul, founders and patrons of the Church of Antioch, and currently ranks third in honor among the fifteen autocephalous Orthodox Churches. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). The first Bishop of Antioch was St. Peter the Apostle and the third was St. Ignatius of Antioch; it was from Antioch that Saint Peter and Saint Barnabas set out on their great missionary journeys, a tradition that marks the history of the Church of Antioch. When the Turks took the city of Antioch, the offices of the Patriarchate of Antioch was moved to Damascus, the civil capital of Syria, where it remains to this day “on the street called Straight.” (Acts 9:11).
The Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East comprises nineteen archdioceses throughout the world, including in the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula), Europe, North and South America and Australia, among them the archdiocese of North America.
The current Patriarch of Antioch His Beatitude, Ignatius IV (Hazim) is the one hundred and seventieth Patriarch after Saint Peter. On 2 July 1979, under the name of Ignatius IV, he became the Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, the third ranking hierarch of the Orthodox Church after the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria.
The following websites link the See of Antioch:
Home page of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East: www.antiochpat.org
Saint John of Damascus Institute of Theology: www.balamand.edu.lb/theol...
The Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo and Antioch: www.alepporthodox.org/
The Orthodox Archdiocese of Beirut: www.quartos.org.lb/
The Orthodox Archdiocese of Byblos & Botrys (Mount Lebanon): www.ortmtlb.org.lb/
The Antiochian Orthodox Diocese in Western and Central Europe: www.orthodox.clara.net/
