Holy Apostles Orthodox Church
345 Ridge Rd, Lansing, NY
Orthodox Church in America



As part of Orthodoxy in America, the Diocese of New York and New Jersey recognizes as its beginning the arrival of Orthodox missionaries at Kodiak Island in 1794. The administrative center of the Mission in America, with the eventual sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, gradually moved from Sitka to San Francisco in 1872. By the time that Bp. Tikhon arrived as administrator in 1898 and had made several extended pastoral journeys, it was obvious that the concentration of parishes and faithful was in the eastern United States. He recommended that the official name of the Mission be changed to the "Diocese of the Aleutians and North America" and suggested that the diocesan see be transferred to New York. This occurred in 1905. From that time until 1980 the parishes in the New York-New Jersey geographic area were officially under the auspices of the ruling hierarch of what is now the Orthodox Church in America (OCA).

Being close to the national Church's administrative center (both when it was located in New York City and since 1974 in Oyster Bay Cove/Syosset, NY) and to St. Vladimir's Seminary has allowed the Diocese to benefit from the leadership of the Church in America. Workshops and conferences on religious education and liturgical music, as well as lecture series for adults have taken place throughout the Diocese at various times and places over the last 40 years.

To read more about our diocese, go here.