About Our Church

St. Anna Orthodox Church is a mission of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America under the care of His Beatitude Patriarch JOHN X, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, His Eminence Metropolitan SABA, Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of North America, and His Grace Bishop NICHOLAS, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Miami and the Southeast. This new mission is seeking to live out the historical, liturgical and sacramental roots of Christianity as preserved for over 2,000 years by the Orthodox Church.

In November of 2018 our parish was given the name St. Anna Orthodox Church and formally granted “Mission” status.

What is the Orthodox Church?

The Orthodox Church is the original Christian Church, the Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and described in the pages of the New Testament. Her history can be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles. Incredible as it seems, for over twenty centuries she has continued in her undiminished and unaltered faith and practice. Today her apostolic doctrine, worship, and structure remain intact. The Orthodox Church maintains that the Church is the living Body of Jesus Christ.

The Orthodox Christian Church, also called the “Eastern Orthodox,” “Greek Orthodox” Church, or simply “the Orthodox Church,” is the oldest Christian Church in the world, founded by Jesus Christ and with its beginnings chronicled in the New Testament. (Our own Patriarchate of Antioch, one of the most ancient of Orthodox churches, was originally founded in A.D. 34 by Ss. Peter and Paul.) All other Christian churches and groups can be traced historically back to it.

With roughly 250 million members worldwide, Orthodoxy is second in size only to the Roman Catholic Church.  However, in spite of its size, relatively few Americans are aware that it exists.

The Orthodox Church has deep and lasting roots in Christian antiquity and is steeped in rich Biblical tradition. It has been the context of Christian living for millions of Christians for almost twenty centuries.

Yet one cannot understand the Orthodox Church merely by reading about it. Just as reading a biography about someone is no substitute for knowing the biography’s subject personally, Orthodox Christianity must be experienced firsthand to be understood. ​

To find out more about what we believe click HERE to read more.

Our Patron Saint – St. Anna, Holy Righteous Ancestor of God

St. Anna was the daughter of Matthan the priest, who was of the tribe of Levi, whose family came from Bethlehem. St. Anna lived with her husband, Joachim, at Nazareth in Galilee. They were childless into their old age and grieved over this. They had to endure derision and scorn, since at that time childlessness was considered a disgrace. They never complained, but fervently prayed to God, humbly trusting in Him.

During a great feast, the gifts that Joachim took to the Temple as an offering to God were not accepted by the priest, who considered that a childless man was not worthy to offer sacrifice to God. This pained Joachim, and he decided to settle in solitude in a desolate place. When St. Anna learned what humiliation her husband had endured, she sorrowfully entreated God with prayer and fasting to grant her a child. In his solitude, the righteous Joachim also asked God for a child.

The prayer of the saintly couple was heard. An angel told them that a daughter would be born to them, Who would be blessed above all other women. The angel also told them that She would remain a virgin, would be dedicated to the Lord and live in the Temple, and would give birth to the Savior. Obeying the instructions of the heavenly messenger, Ss. Joachim and Anna met at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem. Then, as God promised, a daughter was born to them, and they named her Mary. Mary, (the Theotokos – “the Mother of God”) became the Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and consequently, St. Anna is the Grandmother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

St. Joachim died a few years later at the age of 80 after Mary went to live in the Temple. St. Anna died at the age of 70, two years after her husband. Ss. Joachim and Anna are often invoked by couples trying to have children.

The falling asleep (Dormition) of St. Anna is commemorated every year on July 25.