About Us
Our History
St. James Orthodox Church is located at 27 E. Main Street, Rear Second Floor Entrance, in the heart of downtown Westminster, MD. The church has been set up in a beautiful space in the Wantz Building overlooking a large public parking lot opposite the Carroll County Department of Social Services, next to the rear entrance of the Winchester Exchange shopping gallery…
Read more about the history of our parish!
Our Faith
The Holy Orthodox Church is the Church founded by Jesus Christ and described throughout the New Testament. All other Christian Churches and sects can be traced back historically to it. The word Orthodox literally means "straight teaching" or "straight worship," being derived from two Greek words: orthos, "straight," and doxa, "teaching" or "worship." As the encroachments of false teaching and division multiplied in early Christian times, threatening to obscure the identity and purity of the Church, the term "Orthodox" quite logically came to be applied to it. The Orthodox Church carefully guards the truth against all error and schism, both to protect its flock and to glorify Christ, whose Body the Church is.
St. James the Apostle Orthodox Church of Westminster, MD, founded in December of 2006 , is a new mission congregation of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. We are the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Christian Church whose roots trace directly back to first century Antioch, the city in which the disciples of Jesus Christ were first called “Christians” (Acts 11:26). The Orthodox Church is the oldest and second largest Christian group in the world. We are called by God our creator to worship and follow Him, and to proclaim to the world His message of love, peace, and salvation.
God loves all mankind and desires that all human beings should believe in Him, know Him, abide in Him, and receive eternal life from Him. To accomplish this, God Himself came into the world as a man, Jesus Christ, becoming man that we might become like God.
The Antiochian Archdiocese, under the leadership of His Eminence Metropolitan Philip Saliba, sees itself on a mission to bring America to the ancient Orthodox Christian Faith. We join our brothers and sisters in the various other Orthodox Christian jurisdictions affiliated through SCOBA (the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the Americas) — Greek, Orthodox Church in America, Romanian, Ukrainian, and more — in this endeavor. In less than 20 years the Archdiocese has doubled in size to well over 200 churches and missions throughout the United States and Canada.
Read more about the Holy Orthodox Church here and here.
Our Patron
From the beginning, James was devoted to the Lord Jesus. According to tradition, he traveled to Egypt with the Most-holy Virgin and Joseph, when Herod sought to slay the newborn King. Later, as soon as he heard Christ’s teaching, James lived by it. It is said of him that he never ate fat or oil, but lived on just bread and water, and was a virgin to the end of his life on earth. He often kept vigil at night and prayed to God. The Lord numbered him among His Seventy Apostles…
Read more about St. James the Apostle, Brother of God!
Our Photo Gallery
Enjoy our small gallery of photos. And come yourself to St. James Orthodox Church in Westminster! As the Holy Apostle Philip said to the Holy Apostle Nathaniel: Come and see... (John 1: 46).
27 E. Main Street, Rear 2
Westminster, MD 21158
(717) 817-1669