Exaltation of the Holy Cross, began as an English speaking mission within the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America (ROEA). We are a diocese within the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Our church exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world. We welcome people from all ethnic, social, racial, spiritual and religious backgrounds. In fact, our church strives to be “International Orthodox” in its ministry to our community. Rest assured that you will be welcome!
The Romanian people were first evangelized by the Apostle Andrew. This means that Christianity has existed in Romania since the first century of the Christian Era. Our church was established from a Romanian ethnic background. Therefore, we have some traditions that are unique to the Romanian culture. The beauty of the Orthodox Church is that it holds onto the “Traditions” and teachings of the church at large but has “traditions” unique to the region from which the church originated. One can see this when visiting a Russian, Greek, Antiochian, Ukrainian, etc. church…the core practices and beliefs are the same but there are practices and traditions unique to the particular cultural background of the church. Perhaps a simple analogy would be that while we all celebrate Christ on Christmas, people from different countries and backgrounds have their own unique way of celebrating this blessed event.
Exaltation of the Holy Church was birthed in 2008 from St. John the Baptist Romanian Orthodox Church in Glendale, AZ (St John the Baptist Romanian Orthodox Church). St. John Church conducts its services in the Romanian language. They saw a need to establish an English mission that would reach out to English speaking Romanians and the broader community. Initially, under the capable leadership of Fr. William Clark, a convert to the Orthodox Church, the church began as a “pre-mission” in 2005. Later, under the leadership of Fr. Alin Munteanu, the church was established as a “mission” in 2008 with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Nathaniel to proclaim the gospel in English. Eventually, St. Paraschiva Church, a small Romanian speaking parish, joined with Exaltation of the Holy Cross and became a part of the English mission. In 2014, Exaltation of the Holy Cross went from mission status to “church” status.