Saint Raphael Of Brooklin
Orthodox Church of America
1245 Broadway,
El Cajon CA 92021
Thank you for visiting the Saint Raphael of Brooklyn Orthodox Church website. We hope you find our site informative and edifying. We invite you to join us at one of our Liturgical Services. These services have been part of our worshiping tradition as set forth by the Fathers of Our Church going back to the fourth century. We follow the New Liturgical Calendar of the Church.
WELCOMING YOU HOME TO
THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
The Orthodox Church is the One Church founded
by Jesus Christ and his apostles, begun on the day of Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit in the year 33 A.D. We read in the Book of Acts that “[1] When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. [2] And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. [3] And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. [4] And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
The Bishops of the Orthodox Church trace unbroken lines of succession to the Apostles themselves. Therefore, every bishop of the Orthodox Church ultimately received his consecration from Christ Himself. We call this the Apostolic Succession.
In the same manner that Jesus consecrated His Disciples and through them the Bishops, so also the faith of the Orthodox Church was handed down by Christ to His Disciples, who handed it down to the Bishops. Nothing has been added or taken away from the faith “which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3). The primary statement of faith of the Orthodox Church is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
