We are a Christ-centered community of believers. As Christians, we strive to proclaim Christ through our worship, words and actions following the teachings and faith handed down to us from the Apostles of the Early Church. Through no merit of our own and by the very grace of God, we belong to the same Church as the Apostles in Scriptures. In short, we are Orthodox Christians.
St. Andrew is an Orthodox Christian parish under the care of the Patriarchate of Moscow through the Patriarchal Vicarate to Russian Orthodox Parishes in the USA. Although our Patriarch is in Russia, our liturgies and services are celebrated in English to appropriately meet the needs of our parish family and the surrounding community.
Through our Patriarch, we are in communion with all canonical Orthodox Churches (called "jurisdictions") worldwide including the Orthodox Church in America, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the Patriarchate of Antioch, those under the care of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (such as the the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America), and many more. In fact, there are many such parishes throughout Michigan with two being in the nearby area: Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Lansing and Saint James Antiochian Orthodox Church in Williamston.
These jurisdictions, and the parishes within them, represent various cultural expressions of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church: the Orthodox Church (sometimes referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church and distinct from the Oriental Orthodox Church). We are united through the same Faith and may participate in the sacramental life as equals at any Orthodox Church, regardless of the jurisdiction we may belong to.
If you're Orthodox and just visiting or new to the area, please come and worship with us.
We would love to meet you! We promise we will not pressure you at all. If you are curious about what Orthodoxy is, the best way to find out is to experience our worship service: the Divine Liturgy.
The Divine Liturgy is celebrated Sunday mornings and on special feast days (for example, Christmas). A normal Liturgy usually lasts about one and a half hours. You may want to read this before coming "12 Things I Wish I'd Known: First Visit to an Orthodox Church" or watch the Overview of the Divine Liturgy video (View the entire series associated with the book titled "Welcome to the Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Eastern Christianity").
If that sounds a bit intimidating, a more quaint and shorter example of our worship you could experience is our Vespers service on Saturday Evenings. This is a prayer service and although quite different from our Sunday Liturgy, it will still give you a taste for what Orthodox worship means.
We are excited to share our faith with others. We would love for you to stick around after a Sunday Liturgy so we can get to know you (or just to have some coffee and snacks). But please do whatever you're comfortable with. Many of us at St. Andrew, who joined the Orthodox Church as adults, were in your shoes before: curious about Orthodoxy, but a bit (or very!) nervous about visiting such a "different" church. The last thing we want to do is make you feel any more uncomfortable than you may be already.
No time like the present! Come worship with us this Sunday.