+St. John Maximovitch

"Never, never, never let anyone tell you that, in order to be Orthodox, you must be Eastern. The West was fully Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies." +Saint John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco

You are the inheritors of a precious treasure: the authentic and Orthodox rites that nourished thousands now in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Orthodox Church thanks you for preserving this tradition all these years, so that it could be restored to her through Western Rite Orthodox parishes. +Bishop Basil, Bishop of Wichita and the Midwest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

Prayer for WR




A Prayer For Action

O Lord Jesus Christ, who has called the simple and humble to carry the light of the Gospel into the world; and who, in these latter days has raised up your holy servants Tikhon Belavin and John Maximovitch, to foster and bless the ministry of Western Rite Orthodoxy, pour forth your wisdom and grace upon those who seek to spread the Word of Your Truth, by encouraging the wider vision of Orthodoxy, that the West may recover from its apostasy and deep divisions, and its ancient rites may be restored in their fullness to Your Holy Orthodox Church. 

Open the minds and hearts of all Orthodox peoples and hierarchs, to acknowledge the rightful place of their Western brothers within the Orthodox Church, that the efforts of St Tikhon (Belavin) and St John (of Shanghai and San Francisco) may bear fruit, and your Church may be one. This we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, One God, for all ages of ages. Amen.