About Our Parish

St. George Church is a parish in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. This is the part of the Orthodox Christian Church whose roots: apostolic, scriptural and traditional, 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.

St. George was founded in the early 1900’s by immigrants who came from the Middle East, the same region as that scriptural Antioch. As they settled in the Allegheny Valley they brought with them their faith, which was unique and sometimes strange to those used to Western Christian expressions. In 1912 Bishop, now Saint, Raphael (Hawaweeny) consecrated the altar of St. George, then resident on Kenneth Street in New Kensington. As the Church grew under the pastoral guidance of the priests and Bishops, first those who moved to America from the Middle East and then American born ones, the need for a larger place of worship grew also. In the 1950’s the current church temple was built and the congregation, in solemn procession, moved the relics of the saints form their first home to their new one, 1150 Leishman Ave.

St. George has always been a committed member of the New Kensington community both civilly and spiritually. Together with our Orthodox brothers and sisters at the Church of the Annunciation (Greek), St. John the Baptist (OCA) and Holy Virgin (Ukrainian) it is our mission to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission: “Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them all that I have commanded you; lo I am with you to the close of the age. Amen.” (Matthew 28: 19-20)

St. George, along with the whole Orthodox Church, believes that 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. For a fuller statement of the fundamental beliefs of the Orthodox Church, please read our statement of faith: The Nicene Creed.