Welcome to St Anthony of the Desert Orthodox Mission of Las Cruces New Mexico

The Orthodox Church is the ancient Church of Christ, in continuity with those churches established by the Apostles following the Resurrection.  Orthodoxy has been in existence since the day of Pentecost and has grown worldwide through mission efforts on the part of Apostles and Evangelists and missionaries since then.

Orthodoxy is evangelical, but not Protestant.  We preach Christ crucified and risen to new life for us and for our salvation.

Orthodoxy is catholic, but not Roman.  We hold the one faith of the church since time immemorial, but we are a council of churches not under the Bishop of Rome.

Orthodoxy is biblical, but not fundamentalist.  The church produced the Bible, not the other way around; early Christians used only the Old Testament, and in time produced Gospels and Epistles that were local but became universally recognized.

Orthodoxy is Tradition, but not traditionalist.  We accept what is called the Great Tradition, which includes the decrees of the Councils of the early church, the writings of the Church Fathers, early interpretation of the scriptures, and the Nicene Creed. 

Orthodoxy is Christian, not Jewish, in our case.  Our worship, however, contains various practices which stem from our Jewish background: among these are the extensive use of Psalms in worship, the reading and interpretation of scriptures, the use of vestments, the incensing of the church and the people, and the form of prayers and worship patterns.

Orthodoxy cannot be defined by comparison to other Christian bodies.  We look "Protestant" because of our emphasis on the local church as the manifestation of the whole church; we look "Catholic" because of our rich and formal worship patterns. But we are neither; we pre-date the western division of Protestants and Catholics.  We are simply Orthodox. We are often identified by ethnicity, as in "Greek Orthodox" or "Russian Orthodox," but these divisions are cultural and have nothing to do with our teaching, which is unified and whole across all ethnic and cultural divisions.
 
If you have never experienced the fullness of the Orthodox Church, please come and see and be among us.  For many people, Saturday Vespers is a good introduction to the faith community.  The ancient faith is vibrantly contemporary and speaks to your condition.

(To find out about the general history of Orthodoxy in America, consult
the church history section through the tab in the sidebar marked "About
Orthodoxy.")

  Christian faith spread through the Ancient Near East, which was part of the Roman Empire, very early.  In 313 the faith was legitimized in the Empire. In time, people began to move out of cities into desert hermitages.  These grew into great monastic centers, and St Anthony was at the heart of the movement.
      Desert spirituality is austere, lively, and oriented to our experience of God in the present moment.  It is full of tales of spiritual warfare, with monastics fighting for their souls against the forces of Evil.  The Desert Fathers and Mothers left behind a collection of pithy proverbs, maxims, and stories.  They stick in your mind and make you think deeply, even if they seem simple at first.
      Anthony burst onto the scene early.  The child of wealthy Egyptian parents, he gave his inheritance to the poor.  Anthony went to the desert at the age of twenty and died at the age of 105 in 356.  He became the model for all future monastic leaders and his rule, developed further by St John Cassian and St Benedict, became the model for all monastic rules east and west.  
  St Athanasius, the towering figure of the First Ecumenical Council (325), wrote the Life of St Anthony.  Think about that: the saint who defended the intellectual integrity of the faith wrote the biography of one noted for pastoral ministry and spiritual life.  Anthony left no writings, but only sayings recorded by others; yet during his eighty-five years in the desert, he gathered what one writer called “an entire army of disciples and emulators.”  Anthony became the source of an entire movement, thereby proving that a consecrated life is more powerful and alluring than written teaching.  Hence the biography.
      Anthony originated the main rule of Desert spirituality, that we should follow the will of God in all things:  “Therefore, whatever you see that your soul desires according to God, do that thing, and you shall keep your heart safe.” Cardinal Newman of the Roman Church said of him: “His doctrine was pure and unimpeachable; and his temper is high and heavenly, without cowardice, without gloom, without formality, without self-complacency.”
  Whole towns sprang up in the desert during those centuries as people flocked to these spiritual guides.  When we think about holiness, do we not turn instinctively to faithful people we find attractive?  May we today find models like St. Anthony (commemorated 17 January), and turn to them for guidance in faith and hope.

In 2006 Fr Gabriel and Pani-Matka Susan began to research the Southwest to discover where churches were and where a new mission might begin.  We discovered that Las Cruces, a city of roughly 100,000 with New Mexico State University at 16,500 students, had no Orthodox Church.  The nearest ones are in El Paso TX going southeast, about 50 miles distant, but to the north, west, and east, you have to travel over 225 miles to find another parish of any jurisdiction.

Archbishop ANTONY of our national church agreed that Las Cruces would be an appropriate place for the new mission.  Fr Gabriel had attended several mission and evangelism conferences sponsored by the AOC.  Both he and Pani-Matka Susan had background in campus ministry and so the fit seemed natural, despite the fact that we had no firm contacts with which to begin.  Fr Gabriel and Pani-Matka Susan both sought employment in the area and found opportunities at the University, Pani in food services, Fr Gabriel in teaching. 

We moved into our home on 15 September 2007.  Our first services began two Sundays later in our home in Mesilla and in December of 2007 we moved into the chapel of St Andrew Episcopal Church, Las Cruces, where we continue. 

We are blessed to serve under Metropolitan CONSTANTINE and our Bishop for the Western Eparchy, Vladyka DANIEL.

We are a mission of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA but we conduct all our worship in English and we are seeking to develop as a pan-Orthodox Church.  Our current membership consists of cradle and convert Orthodox people and we have a number of seekers and catechumens in process.

We also sponsor the Orthodox Christian Fellowship chapter at New Mexico State University.

TO FIND OUT MORE, CHECK OUT OUR PODCAST "MUSINGS ON MISSION," AT ANCIENT FAITH RADIO: http://ancientfaith.com