The Evangelical Orthodox Church is an Eastern Orthodox Christian movement with its origins in Evangelical Protestantism, particularly in the Campus Crusade for Christ student missionary organization, that came to embrace an Eastern tradition of Christianity. Eastern Orthodoxy (also called Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy) is a Christian tradition which represents the majority of Eastern Christianity. ... The word evangelicalism usually refers to a tendency in diverse branches of Protestantism, typified by an emphasis on evangelism, a personal experience of conversion, biblically-oriented faith, and a belief in the relevance of Christian faith to cultural issues. ... Campus Crusade for Christ is an interdenominational Christian mission organization, focusing on evangelism and discipleship in over 190 countries around the world. ... A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ...

Campus Crusade missionary Peter E. Gillquist (1938-) established in 1973 in Chicago a network of house churches throughout the United States, aiming to restore a primitive form of Christianity, which was called the New Covenant Apostolic Order (NCAO). 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... House church is an informal term for a group of Christians gathering regularly or spontaneously in a home or on grounds not normally used for worship services, instead of a building dedicated to the purpose. ...

Researching the historical basis of the Christian faith, Gillquist and his colleagues found sources fort this restoration in the writings of the early Church Fathers. This led the group to practice a more liturgical form of worship than in their previous evangelical background. In 1979, the Evangelical Orthodox Church (EOC) was organized. The (Early) Church Fathers or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. ... From the Greek word λειτουργια, which can be transliterated as leitourgia, meaning the work of the people, a liturgy comprises a prescribed religious ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular religion; it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), a daily activity such... This article is in need of attention. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ...

The belief of needing Apostolic Succession led most members of the EOC to join the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America in 1987. The group of 20 parishes became known as the Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission, lasting until 1995 when it was disbanded and the parishes put under the standard diocesan framework of the Archdiocese. Some parishes which did not join the Antiochians eventually joined the Orthodox Church in America, while a few remain independent and still use the EOC name. In Christianity, the doctrine of apostolic succession (or the belief that the Church is apostolic) maintains that the Christian Church today is the spiritual successor of the Church of the Apostles. ... The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (often referred to simply as the Antiochian Archdiocese) is the sole jurisdiction of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in the USA and Canada with exclusive jurisdiction over the Antiochian Orthodox faithful in those countries, though these faithful were originally cared for by the... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A parish is a type of administrative subdivision. ... Pope Pius XI blesses Bishop Stephen Alencastre as fifth Apostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands in a Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace window. ... The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Herman. ...

Source

• Gillquist, Rev. Peter E. Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith. Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 1989. (ISBN 0962271330)

External link

• About the Evangelical Orthodox Church, a site by former members

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