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Section 5B and C: Our Vision of the Church

As the Orthodox Church in America, our mission is to remain faithful to God and to seek and work for the salvation of souls. We are called to be the living presence of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. While maintaining continuity with the living and unbroken Tradition of the Church, we seek to understand and address the issues which Orthodox Christians on this continent face in their daily lives.

A Church of Unity. As the local autocephalous Church in this land, we are committed to the canonical unity of the Orthodox Church in North America. We are dedicated to work in harmony with our brothers and sisters of other Orthodox Christian communities on trust commitment and to work consciously to realize this unity. Respecting the rich traditions of the Orthodox Churches throughout the world, we are grateful for our Church’s heritage, which has enabled the ongoing development of our own identity and mission in North America. We pray for the day when all obstacles to canonical unity on this continent will be overcome and we witness to the emergence of a single, united Orthodox Church in North America.

A Church of Ministry. We dedicate ourselves to educating the People of God, young and old alike, in understanding, living, sharing and articulating their faith. We are committed to the comprehensive priestly formation of clergy to oversee the life of our parish communities and to the development of educated and informed lay leaders. We acknowledge the centrality of worship in the lives of God’s People, dedicating ourselves to celebrating the Church’s liturgical tradition in the language of the faithful while strengthening their understanding and experience of God through worship. We pledge to assist our clergy and our laity alike to pray, to work, and to live together harmoniously for the building up of their parish communities, their dioceses and the Orthodox Church throughout this continent. We accept and affirm the ministry to the hungry and the homeless, to the sick and the imprisoned, to the lonely and the disenfranchised, and to all persons in need of God’s mercy, love, and help here and throughout the world as the vocation given to us by Christ—as a vocation carried out by the whole Church, by its dioceses and parishes, and by every member of the Body of Christ.

A Church of Mission. The Church joyfully welcomes all persons seeking salvation. We look to the day when people everywhere will rejoice to see the witness of the Orthodox Church in America and will become actively involved in the work of Christ through His Church. Therefore, we commend ourselves and each other to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We reach out to all persons who are searching for divine truth through Christ and His Body, the Church. We pray, that by God’s grace, we may faithfully manifest to the world the saving Truth and the newness of life in God’s Kingdom.
Mission Statement of the Orthodox Church in America

As God’s people, we are united together into His Body—the Church—with a special calling: “. . .you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you are God’s people... “(I Peter 2:9-10). Thus, our mission as God’s people is to declare, proclaim and reveal to the world the Good News first declared, proclaimed, and revealed to us by His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Mission of the Orthodox Church in America

Throughout her two hundred-year history, the Orthodox Church in North America has been guided by this “call to mission.” Over the years, in times of hardship and times of plenty, the faithful of the Church have sought to bring the message of salvation to those around them, to be a witness to the people of this North American continent.

In 1990 the Holy Synod articulated this mission in the following statement

The mission of the Orthodox Church in America, the local autocephalous Orthodox Church, is to be faithful in fulfilling the commandment of Christ to “go into all the world and make disciples of all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all