Administration
Patriarch JOHN X
His Beatitude John X
Patriarch of Antioch and all the East.
Personal Data:
His Beatitude John X was born in the city of Latakia, Syria, in the year 1955. retouched-final-flatten He was raised in a home known for education, virtue and faith. His father, Manah Yazigi, a Syrian, was a teacher of Arabic and a poet. His mother, Rozah Moussi, is of Lebanese origin. His Beatitude has three siblings, one of whom is a Metropolitan and another a nun.
Education:
His Beatitude attended the schools of Latakia. He enrolled in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Techrin, in Latakia. He has studied church music and excelled in it, forming choirs and training them in traditional church chants. He is a notable leader of young people and has worked with them in various social and spiritual programs.
He received the degree of Bachelor of Theology from the Saint John of Damascus Institute of Theology at Balamand in 1978. He then studied at the University of Thessaloniki in Greece and received the degree of Doctor of Theology with Distinction in the year 1983.
His doctoral thesis, which was written in Greek and carried the title The Service of the Holy Baptism: A Historical, Theological, and Liturgical Study, was published. While in Greece, he also studied church music and received a Diploma from the Higher Institute of Byzantine Music in Thessaloniki.
Metropolitan SABA
Archbishop of New York and Washington D.C., and Metropolitan of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America
His Eminence, the Most Reverend Saba Isper is the Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East and the Holy Synod of Antioch elected His Eminence to lead the Archdiocese during its extraordinary session on Feb. 23, 2023, in Balamand, Lebanon.
His Eminence will lead and oversee the Archdiocese’s parishes, missions, departments, institutions and organizations in the United States and Canada from the headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey. The auxiliary bishops aid him in his administration across the continent.
Metropolitan Saba was born in Latakia, Syria in 1959. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Tishreen in Latakia, and a bachelor’s degree in theology from the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology in Balamand. His Eminence is fluent in Arabic and English.
Prior to his election as Metropolitan of North America, His Eminence cofounded The Hauran Connection with the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America. This charitable project enhances Orthodoxy in this ancient Christian land in the face of strife. More than $1 million has been raised since 2007.
Developmental projects and charitable endowments for the Bosra Archdiocese under Metropolitan Saba include a medical clinic in As-Suwayda, dormitories for 150 university students in As-Suwayda and Daraa; 48 studios for retirees in The House of Love; the Bethany Spiritual Retreat Center in Kharaba; Bread for All that distributes food to the poor regardless of religion; ongoing agricultural projects; and The Good Samaritan, a multifaceted charitable organization for parishioners displaced or affected by the recent Syrian war.
His Eminence was ordained on Nov. 29, 1984. He was ordained a priest in 1988 and elevated to the dignity of archimandrite in 1994. He pastored St. Michael the Archangel Church in the Archdiocese of Latakia until 1998. During that time, Metropolitan Saba edited and published the Orthodox Christian magazine Farah geared toward children and families.
In 1998, Metropolitan Saba was elected and consecrated as an auxiliary bishop to His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV of thrice-blessed memory. In 1999, His Beatitude and the Holy Synod of Antioch elected him as metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Bosra, Hauran and Jabal Al-Arab in Syria.
Simultaneously with his pastoral and episcopal duties, from 1995-2006, His Eminence served as instructor of Pastoral Care and Introduction to the Old Testament at the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology in Balamand.
His Eminence established a publishing house in the Bosra Archdiocese, the Al-Arabiya magazine for adults, and continued issuing Farah for children. An English version has been produced since 2010. Metropolitan Saba authors weekly articles on his Facebook page and has written on various topics in Al-Noor, Patriarchal and Al Arabiya magazines. He has authored a number of books in pastoral life and theology.
Metropolitan Saba has also translated a number of titles from English to Arabic, including works by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev and Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko.
His Eminence’s patron saint is St. Saba (Sabbas) the Sanctified, commemorated on Dec. 5.
Bishop ALEXANDER
Auxiliary Bishop of Ottawa, Eastern Canada, and Upstate New York
His Grace Bishop Alexander was consecrated to the Holy Episcopacy on December 5, 2004 at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Damascus, Syria. His consecrating bishops included His Beatitude Ignatius IV. He was enthroned as the first Diocesan Bishop of Ottawa, Eastern Canada, and Upstate New York at St. Elias Cathedral in Ottawa on June 12, 2005.
Bishop Alexander served as priest of St. Mary’s Antiochian Orthodox Church in Hunt Valley, Maryland from 2000-2004.
Bishop Alexander was born into an Orthodox Christian family in north Lebanon in 1956. He attended Tripoli Boys’ School and after passing the Lebanese Baccalaureates I and II, he enrolled in the American University in Beirut. Due to fighting in Lebanon, he was unable to continue his education there and instead moved to the U.S. to attend the University of North Texas. He graduated with a B.A. in 1978 and an MBA in 1980. He returned to Lebanon, where he worked from 1981 to 1985 for a company that imported raw materials for factories.
In October 1985, he returned to the U.S. and found work as a supply manager at Prince George’s Hospital in the Washington, D.C. area. After eight years in that job, he worked for a local company that exported medical supplies to the Middle East and then in 1995 was hired by Federated Stores to work as a sales associate for Bloomingdale’s in Rockville, Maryland. While there, he wrote to Metropolitan Philip requesting his blessing to enter seminary. He was directed to attend St. Vladimir’s Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York, from which he graduated in 2000.
Bishop Alexander was ordained to the Diaconate on January 9, 2000 and to the priesthood on April 9, 2000. He was elevated to the Archimandrite on July 4, 2004. On December 5, 2004, he was consecrated to the episcopacy by Patriarch Ignatius IV (Hazim) of Antioch in Damascus, Syria, and he has served as the Bishop of Ottawa, Eastern Canada, and Upstate New York since that time.
Bishop Alexander’s namesday is August 30 (St. Alexander, Archbishop of Constantinople).
PO Box 185
Geneva, NY 14456
315.789.3060 (office) (Phone)
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The V. Rev’d Fr. Gregory-Lazarus Murphy
Priest & Pastor
Fr. Gregory graduated with an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School and Berkeley Divinity School (New Haven, CT) in 1987, where he also completed a certificate in Hospice Care. He served as an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church in parishes in Michigan, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. During this time, he participated in a certificate program in homiletics at the College of Preachers (The National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.). He and his family came into the Holy Orthodox Church by Chrismation at the Parish of St. Mary (OCA) in Minneapolis in 1994. They then moved to the Boston, MA, area and were parishioners of St. Mary’s parish (Antiochian) in Cambridge, MA, where he was enrolled in the St. Stephen’s Course of study. He was ordained by His Eminence Metropolitan Philip to the Holy Diaconate and Sacred Order of Priests in July, 2002, and assigned as Pastor of St. Michael’s parish, Geneva, in August 2002. He was elevated to the Archpriesthood in October, 2012. Fr. Gregory also earned a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.A. in Fine Arts at Indiana University. He also holds a Masters degree in Education from Lesley University (Cambridge, MA). He has studied for a M.Th. at Nashotah House Seminary (Nashotah, WI), and for a D.Min. at Andover Newton Theological Seminary (Newton, MA). He studied Iconography with Ksenia Mikhailovna (Belyakova) Pokrovsky (memory eternal), and Vladislav Andrejev (Prosopon School of Iconology). Fr. Gregory is a member of the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch and volunteers his efforts at the Archdiocesan level with charitable outreach activities. In addition to his pastoral and priestly vocation, Fr. Gregory enjoys photography and producing graphic arts for many groups and organizations.
Khouria Suzanne Murphy
Director of the Choir; President of the Antiochian Women of St. Michael's
Kh. Suzanne graduated from Ithaca College in 1982 with a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance and in Music Education. She earned a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music in 1985, where she was a soloist with the Yale Glee Club and the Yale Opera. Over the years, she has performed as soloist with the Cornell Savoyards, Cabot Street Playhouse, Ocean State Opera, Yale Glee Club, Geneva Light Opera, and others. She has been a principal performer on five albums of the “Boston Byzantine Choir” and performs in concerts with them and other Orthodox musical groups. She has been named as an “Outstanding Teacher of the Arts” by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1999); and was a faculty member of a “National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence” (1997). She is a member of the Antiochian Archdiocese’s “National Choir of North America.” She has served for many years as a faculty member of the Archdiocesan “Sacred Music Institute.” She is an accredited instructor of the Suzuki Music Association, the American Kodály Educators organization, and of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. She is also an Adjunct Faculty member at Hobart & William Smith Colleges and Finger Lakes Community College, teaching vocal technique and performance, and she is on the faculty of St. Peter’s Community Arts Academy. She is currently the Immediate Past President of the Antiochian Women (North American Board), having served as President of the North American Board for two terms, and she served as a member of the Archdiocesan Board of Trustees. She also served as the AW-NAB Vice President, Membership Coordinator, and Religious Coordinator. At St. Michael’s parish, she serves as the chanter and is the Director of the Choir. She also currently serves as the President of the Antiochian Women of our parish. Both Kh. Suzanne and Fr. Gregory are members of the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch and volunteer their efforts at the Archdiocesan level with charitable outreach activities. In her spare time she loves to knit and make handmade crafts for family and friends.
Administration
Sometimes called the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church is the Church founded by our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, which was given life by God the Father and the descent of God the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples on the Day of Pentecost. The origins and early years of our Church is described in the pages of the New Testament, in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epistles. Our history can be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles. For twenty centuries, she has continued in her undiminished and unaltered faith and practice. Today her apostolic doctrine, worship and structure remain intact. The Orthodox Church maintains that the Church is the living Body of Jesus Christ. Read our Discover Orthodox Christianity section, and the Nicene Creed, to learn more about our Faith.
For the first thousand years after Christ, the Christian Church was united worldwide. Then in the year 1054 A.D., the Patriarch (“Pope”) of Rome (who was one of five co-equal leaders of the Church), who had leadership of the churches in the western part of the Roman Empire, broke away from the rest of the Church. This “Great Schism” is the origin of what today we call the Roman Catholic Church. The churches in the eastern part of the Roman Empire remained unified, and continued in the traditions and teaching of the Church as it had done from its very origin on the Day of Pentecost. These “eastern” churches formed what today we call the Eastern Orthodox Church. Over the past 1000 years, the Orthodox Church has grown and spread so that the number of Patriarchates has expanded from the original 5 (minus the Patriarch of Rome), to 21 {see graphic below}.
The First Ecumenical Council of the Church was called by the Emperor Constantine in the year 325 AD. It addressed several pressing theological questions, but it also took steps to organize, regularize, and systemitize the liturgical practices and theological exposition of the Faith across the vast Roman Empire (and beyond). The world was divided into four sections (north, south, east, and west), and one bishop was placed in charge of all missionary activity and oversight of all local churches in their respective quarter. These bishops received the title “Patriarch” (“father-overseer”) of the Church. The oversight of the 4 quarters of the world were given to the bishops of the 4 most prominent cities of the Roman world, the city of Jerusalem also received a Patriarch. The four cities (in order of their precedence) were: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. The “precedence” — functionally speaking — meant that whenever the whole Church gathered together in a council, the Patriarch of Precedence would hold the gavel. This “precedence” — theologically speaking — is of no consequence in spiritual authority, since each and every bishop has equal Sacramental authority, and full authority of oversight in his own diocese. Unfortunately, as the Church moved through the centuries, the worldly-minded understanding of “precedence” crept into the minds of some bishops. On Christmas Day in the year 800, the Bishop of Rome (“Pope”) crowned the Goth, Charlemagne, as the Holy Roman Emperor, citing his own authority as the “First among equals” and without regard to the conciliar nature of the Church. Consequentially, there was already an Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who had his throne in Constantinople (Constantine the Great had moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople in the year 323). This crowning of a rival Emperor was the opening of a schism which fully breached the unity of the Church in the year 1054. In this year, the Bishop of Rome insisted that all of the other Patriarchs, and indeed all bishops everywhere in the Church, received their authority from him (rather than from Christ and through the Holy Councils of the Church). This insistence on Universal Jurisdiction, which had been expressly rejected by our Lord when James and John had sought the same priority among the Apostles (See Mark 10:35), became the excuse that the Pope of Rome used to excommunicate the Patriarch of Constantinople, and to abrogate the Episcopal authority of all of his fellow bishops (after which he named new bishops to sit in the Episcopal Sees across the Christian world).
The Church of Antioch was formally established by the the efforts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and Barnabas (one of “the 70”), sometime soon following the beginning of the persecution of the Believers by the leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem (the date is postulated to be around 34 A.D.). St. Peter served as a point of unity for the many Believers in the city of Antioch and its surrounding area. These Believers were, at the early stages Jewish believers, many of whom had fled persecution in Jerusalem. Some, however, had been Jews from Antioch who had been in Jerusalem to witness the events of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord, and who received the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Upon returning home to Antioch, they preached the resurrection to those who would hear. Thus, the Believers in Antioch were loosly joined together by their common Faith in Jesus Christ, but they had no means of gathering as an organized congregation. It was the presence of St. Peter that drew these Believers together to form an “ecclesia” — a congregation of the Faithful. St. Peter lived and worked among them for the next eight years as the “overseeer” (“episcopus” — i.e., bishop) of the Faithful. The growth and organization of the Church of Jesus Christ at Antioch is emblematic of the way the Church grew all across the Roman Empire, and beyond. The assemblies which coalesced around the presence of one of the Apostles (or in Antioch’s case, two of the Apostles) became prominent in the leadership of the widely dispersed Body of Christ. Thus, Antioch was one of the five ancient “Patriarchates” of the Christian Church, along with Alexandria, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Rome.