Good News! Great Joy!
The Orthodox Way of Keeping Christ in Christmas!
40 Day Nativity Fast: November 15 — December 24
With God’s help, we begin the 40 day Nativity Fast (Nov 15–Dec 24) in preparation for the great feast of the Nativity of Christ on December. 25. Throughout this period, we abstain from meat, poultry, eggs and dairy. We increase our efforts in prayer and worship, fasting, confession, spiritual reading, stillness, and almsgiving. Our services are replete with Scripture lessons, hymns, and prayers that make us ready to receive the Lord in the depth of our souls. We pray for our hearts to be humbled by His Humility and filled with His Presence.
With eagerness we await the Good News of His Coming with Great Joy! The anticipation grows for when we will rejoice with the Angels of Bethlehem:
“Glory to God in the Highest! And on Earth, Peace, & Goodwill toward men!”
This is in stark contrast to our culture which marks the season with parties and activities, cooking and baking, shopping and presents — all saturated with lights, trees, blow-up Santas, elves, & reindeer, and ubiquitous holiday music. The world flings headlong into busyness and revelry until everything stops abruptly at midnight Christmas Day.
We invite you to Join us EAch week and experience a deeper, meaning-filled Christmas this year!
The Orthodox Church is the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are a Christ-centered church. In fact, we share an unbroken history with the Faith of the first Christians, and we can trace our history back to the Apostles themselves.
This parish is part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. We are pan-Orthodox. This means our membership includes many who were born into the Faith, as well as many converts. In our parish, all services are fully in English.
Anyone and everyone is more than welcome to join us for services! If you have questions about our church and what we believe, feel free to reach out to Father Joshua, our parish priest!
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Usual Service Times
Matins - Sun 8:15am
Divine Liturgy - Sun 9:30am
Vespers/Akathist - Wed 6:30pm
Great Vespers - Sat 5:00pm
Live Streaming
While there is no substitute for gathering together in the mystery of the Divine Liturgy and partaking in Holy Communion, and participating in the other divine services of the Church, if you are unable to attend in person, you are invited to join us via live stream.
Located in Linthicum, MD, Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church is a parish of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America. We began as a mission parish in early 1993 with six families who converted to Holy Orthodoxy. Today, our community numbers over 200 members, about half of whom are converts from several Protestant denominations.