The Holy Orthodox Christian Church

Historical Synopsis

          The Holy Orthodox Christian Church was founded de facto on the very day of the Crucifixion of Jesus. With the purpose of wiping out the entire pressure group of Jesus' followers, the Sanhedrin had alerted the Roman authorities that his supporters were planning to oppose the crucifixion by force, requesting that these should be rounded up and placed under arrest.

          Jesus’ brother James gathered them together during the night and led them out of Jerusalem to a nearby safe place. This site – known today as the Monastery of Saint Helen – did eventually turn into the nerve center of the Church and became its Holy See. This occurred about 18 years before Paul de facto founded the Vatican in Rome, making our Church the very first in the history of Christianity.

          Theodosius, Cesar of the Greek-Roman Empire in the 4^th Century, was of Greek blood and allegedly sterile. Irene, one of his Greek concubines – upon giving birth to Cesar’s only son Constantine – was crowned Empress and convinced Cesar to uproot the power from Rome and transfer the seat of the Empire to Bizance in Greece. The city was renamed after his son to Constantinople (today called Istanbul).

          Irene was converted to Christianity in Rome before she became pregnant and received the name Helen when she was baptized, in order to hide the fact from the Roman authorities. Theodosius died of “food poisoning” about eight months after the government was established, and the widowed Empress ruled the Empire. Needless to say that under her rule the persecution of the Christians ceased completely. She educated her son as a Christian. When Constantine grew up, he was crowned Cesar, and eventually embraced Christianity as the official religion of the Empire.

          During her rule, Irene – by then legitimately known as Helen – having researched the history of Jesus, gave her complete affection to and most effective support to the Holy Orthodox Christian Church’s Grand Patriarchate in Jerusalem as permanent and irrevocable custodians of all holy sites in the Holy Land. This Imperial Decree is in vigor up to this date, to the extent that all legitimate Christian denominations – including the Roman Catholic faith – must apply for permission and scheduling for their services to be carried out at any of the holy sites.

          The contemporary Holy Orthodox Christian Church consists of four (4) Grand Patriarchies: the Grand Patriarchy of Jerusalem – which is also the Apostolic See of the Church – the Russian Patriarchy, the Greek Patriarchy and the Patriarchy of the Americas. The Diocese of Puerto Rico as well as the Diocese of Texas, operate as an autocephalous Orthodox Christian Church, which took vows of obeisance to the Grand Patriarch of Jerusalem.