A New Western Rite Orthodox Initiative

Incense is offered in a Western Rite liturgical tradition.

Join others in establishing a Western Rite Orthodox Church in Atlanta, GA.

The Atlanta metropolitan area has over 6.4 million people, making it one of the largest in the country. But of the thousands of churches in this area, only about 10 are Orthodox. And of those, none are Western Rite. In fact, there isn’t an established Western Rite Orthodox Church between Florida and Virginia.

There is, though, a small core group of people here in Atlanta seeking others—individuals and families—who are interested in seeing a Western Rite mission form in this huge zone of opportunity.

Are YOU interested in this initiative?

I'M INTERESTED!
A traditional Western altar with reredos set against a large stained glass window.

Why Western Rite?

The Orthodox Church, wherever in the world it has gone, has used the native vernacular in language, architecture, and the visual and poetic arts of a people in order to communicate the Gospel and way of life of the Church. In America, there is a huge percentage of the population whose background, heritage, and intuition resonate with a Western Christian liturgical tradition. 

Metropolitan ANTONY (Bashir) issued an edict in 1958 establishing a Western Rite in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of America in order to provide for Western converts a congenial and usable liturgical tradition of familiarity and consonance, rather than “an atmosphere so foreign to all they have known.” More than that, though, the Western Rite demonstrates the true catholicity of the Orthodox Church, as it restores to her her own Western patrimony and tradition. 

Find out more about the Western Rite here.

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Votive candles sit below the icon of Saint Alban, the proto-martyr of the British Isles. A small holy water font with a crucifix is hung beside the candles.

The Context

There is a remnant of people from a previous Western Rite mission—Church of the Advent—which lost their priest in 2024 and their building in 2025. Among them is a Subdeacon (Stephen Brannen, who is pursuing a Masters of Theological Studies with a Western Rite concentration from the Antiochian House of Studies) and a treasurer (Matt Couch, a First Sergeant with the U.S. National Guard who is safekeeping the assets of the mission) who together are still in touch with Bishop John Abdalah, the Auxiliary Bishop for the Western Rite Vicariate in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America.

The hope is that a new community can form, benefit from the oversight of Bishop John and his assistant Vicar General, and launch a new mission with the monetary and material assets (sacred vessels, vestments, furniture, books, etc) of the old mission.

I’m interested in seeing a new Western Rite mission formed!

More About the Western Rite

The logo of The Orthodox West---the traditional depiction of the "Agnus Die" (Lamb of God) from the Book of Revelation.

The Orthodox West

This project of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate provides incredible information and resources about the Western Rite in the Orthodox Church.

A priest wearing a red vestment performs a blessing over a man with gray hair, who is kneeling with his hands clasped in prayer.

Video: What is Western Rite Orthodoxy?

This video debuted during a presentation at the Antiochian Archdiocese Convention in July 2019. Written by Fr. Patrick Cardine and produced by Advent Atlanta.

A traditional Western European procession of the Blessed Sacrament.

Western Rite Praxis and Devotion

Learn about the liturgical and devotional heritage of the Orthodox West.

Iconography of the Crucifixion carved in relief on the reredos of a Western altar.

I’m Interested!

This initiative needs individuals, families, children, adults, singers, teachers, volunteers, artists, accountants, saints, sinners, cradle Orthodox, converts, inquirers, committed, and curious.

This need YOU.