Western Rite Orthodoxy
The Ancient West, Made Whole
The historic worship of the Christian West — the rites of Rome and the British Isles — restored and preserved within the fullness of the Orthodox faith.
At Emmanuel, we worship according to this ancient Western patrimony, in communion with the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese.
“… and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”
Watch & Learn
An Introduction to the Western Rite
This short film offers a window into Western Rite Orthodoxy — its history, its worship, and its place within the one Orthodox Church.
An Introduction
What Is Western Rite Orthodoxy?
One faith, many rites. What follows is a brief introduction to the Western liturgical tradition as it lives today within the Orthodox Church, and its home in the Antiochian Archdiocese.
What It Is
The Orthodox Faith in a Western Voice
Western Rite Orthodoxy is the practice of the ancient liturgical traditions of the Christian West — the venerable rites of Rome, Gaul, and the British Isles — within the full communion and faith of the Orthodox Church. It is not a new invention, but a restoration: the recovery of forms of worship that nourished Western Christians for the first thousand years, before the Great Schism divided East and West.
The Orthodox Church has always been a communion of many rites united in one faith. Just as the Christian East preserved the Byzantine, Antiochian, and other liturgies, so too the West had its own venerable patrimony. Western Rite Orthodoxy honors that patrimony, offering worship in a form deeply familiar to the West while confessing the undivided faith of the Apostles and the Fathers.
Under Antioch
The Antiochian Archdiocese
In North America, Western Rite Orthodoxy is served principally through the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, under the Patriarchate of Antioch — the same ancient see where, as the Book of Acts records, “the disciples were first called Christians.” In 1958, Metropolitan Antony (Bashir) of blessed memory established the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate, giving canonical home and pastoral oversight to parishes worshiping according to the Western tradition.
This was an act of profound Orthodox hospitality: welcoming Western Christians into the Church not by stripping away their heritage, but by restoring it to its rightful place within Orthodoxy. Today the Vicariate oversees parishes across the continent, each one fully Orthodox in faith and fully Western in the form of its worship.
The Liturgy
Ancient Rites, Restored
Western Rite parishes celebrate one of two principal liturgies. The Liturgy of Saint Gregory is derived from the historic Roman Mass, as it was prayed in the West during the first Christian millennium. The Liturgy of Saint Tikhon draws upon the English liturgical tradition, corrected and completed according to the Orthodox faith.
Both liturgies have been carefully examined and blessed by the Orthodox hierarchy to ensure they express nothing contrary to the Orthodox faith. What a worshiper encounters is at once unmistakably Western in its cadence and beauty, and wholly Orthodox in its theology, its calendar of saints, and its sacramental life.
One Faith
Diversity of Rite, Unity of Faith
It is essential to understand that Western Rite Orthodox Christians are not a separate church, nor a halfway house between Rome and Orthodoxy. They are fully Orthodox — sharing the same faith, the same sacraments, the same bishops, and the same chalice as their Eastern Rite brethren.
The difference lies only in the outward form of worship, not in belief. In this, the Church testifies to an ancient truth: that Orthodoxy is not bound to a single culture or language, but is the universal, catholic faith able to sanctify every people in their own tongue and tradition.
We Invite You
The surest way to know the Western Rite is to worship with us. Come and experience the ancient liturgy of the Christian West, alive and unbroken within the Orthodox Church.
“Come and see.” — John 1:46