Our Church did not begin in the 20th Century, or the 19th, or even with Martin Luther in the 16th Century. Our Church began when Jesus Christ established it more than 2,000 years ago through His apostles, and promised that the gates of hell would never prevail against it.
In the East, where Christianity began, there was no Reformation, because there, Christianity hadn't gotten lost, and didn't need to be reformed. This Church came to be called Orthodox because it has held fast to what it was given, has remained true, Orthodox, since the beginning, 2,000 years ago.
Many Orthodox churches in America were established to serve the needs of an immigrant population, and to faithfully transmit and preserve the rich cultural heritage, traditions and language of a specific nation of origin. We at Holy Cross, however, are a diverse American community of ordinary people from many different ethnic and cultural groups, and our services are entirely in English.
We are a very warm and open community and we welcome all visitors.
More about Orthodox Christianity
If you are already a member of Holy Cross, please see our Members' Home page, which is tailored for you.
We believe that in this church, we stand in the very presence of God, and that we join the saints and heavenly hosts in joy and prayer and worship. Orthodox worship engages the whole person: the mind, the heart, the senses, the entire body as we stand, bow, and make the ancient Sign of the Cross as Christians did in Apostolic times.
Jesus and his Apostles prayed in many different ways, sometimes privately, sometimes together. Jesus prayed and taught in the Temple, his Father's house. The services of the Temple included formal liturgical services composed of prayers that all present heard together and prayed together. The Apostles and most of the very first Christians were Jews, and accustomed to praying in liturgical services in the Jewish Temple.
The Divine Services of the Orthodox Church developed over centuries as people of prayer, filled with the Holy Spirit, prayed and sang to God. The services in our church are entirely in English, so even if you are not familiar with this type of prayer and worship, you can hear and understand, and pray together with us, and with the saints and the angels:
They are prayers that poured out of the hearts of saintly men and women when, moved by the Holy Spirit, they expressed before God the desires of their heart. The spirit of prayer is contained in them; so, if you [pray] them as you should, you too will be filled with this spirit.
Great Vespers: 6:00 PM
Hours: 9:40 AM
Divine Liturgy: 10:00 AM
Following the Divine Liturgy, we gather for a “coffee hour”. Please join us for reverent and joyful worship, and please stay after the services for refreshment and fellowship!
While we are building our new church in Kernersville (see below!), God has blessed us with a temporary home: We are leasing the entire first floor of the Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church, which is between Walkertown and Winston-Salem. It is an easy drive from Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem:
Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church
4700 Old Walkertown Rd.
Winston-Salem, NC 27105
Click here for more detailed Maps and Directions
After many years of thought and care, prayer, preparation, fundraising and hard work, we are excitedly building a new church that is central in the Triad, and construction has begun!
For more details, see our Building Project page!
To contribute to the Building Fund, see our Giving page!
We have photographs from Dmitri's Baptism!
Ken and Theresa and their children were chrismated on Pentecost!
Father Christopher updated us all on our church Building Project, and a new, smaller "Lighting the Lamp" capital campaign to fund the iconostas, a central chandelier, etc..
We celebrated the mothers of the parish on this Mothers' Day Sunday.
It has been especially joyful praying for our new church as it is finally being built!.
Our page of photos from Pascha now also has a video of highlights from the streaming video.
We have photos from our joyous celebration of Holy Pascha!
We have photos from Chrismation and the Vesperal Liturgy on Holy Saturday!
We have photos from the Service of the Lamentations / Praises, from the evening of Holy Friday!
We have photos from the Vesperal Liturgy on Holy Thursday!
We celebrated the wonderful Bridegroom Matins in the early evenings of Holy Week.
On the first Sunday of Lent we celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy over iconoclasm with a procession with icons on a beautiful, Spring-like day.
We held our Annual Parish Meeting and reviewed very encouraging parish membership and financial growth and strength.
Sergey shared some photos of the Prayers at the Property in Kernersville where our new church will be built!
We celebrated the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters.
We celebrated Theophany and the Great Blessing of the Water.
We had the joy of the chrismations of Tristan, Emily, Zach, and Rebecca at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, on the Eve of Nativity.
We celebrated Holy Nativity!
St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross again this year and spoke with all of the children!
We celebrated our Parish Picnic together in Triad Park in Kernersville, and it was a joy to gather together and relax and enjoy hamburgers and hot dogs and a lovely meal.
We had the joy of celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of Keith and Tambrey Owens on Sunday, August 28. May the Lord grant them many years of health and happiness!
Michael, Theodora and Olga were chrismated!
We have photos from our celebration of Holy Pentecost!
Our yard sale was a great success, thanks to hard-working volunteers!
We have many photographs from our celebration of Pascha!
We have a photograph of the children with palm branches on Palm Sunday!
We celebrated the Sunday of Orthodoxy with a procession with icons!
We celebrated Theophany, and the Great Blessing of the Waters, and then on the Sunday after Theophany, the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters!
On the Sunday before Theophany, Michael, Sheila, and Jenelle were received and blessed as Catechumens!
On Sunday after Holy Nativity, there was a Typika service with communion.
St. Nicholas visited Holy Cross! And we celebrated those who were most recently baptized and chrismated, and catechumens and inquirers.
Jaxon was baptized!
We have aerial video of curbs and gutters being poured on our building site!
We have some video clips of ongoing construction work on our building site!
More Progress on our Building Site!
Progress Continues on our Building Site!
We have a new colored architectural elevation of our new church from the front!
We have a new colored architectural elevation of our new church!
We have photos from Week 3 of the work preparing the ground for building our new church!
We have some video of the construction work preparing the ground for building our new church!
Construction continues on our Kernersville property. We have a few new photos!
On the feast of Saint Innocent of Alaska, Father Christopher was elevated to the rank of Archpriest for his faithful years of service.
A few weeks after our Groundbreaking Service, the work on the site of our new church in Kernersville began, preparing the site for construction!
Archbishop Alexander presided over our Groundbreaking Service celebrating the beginning of the construction process for our new church!
We have photographs of the baptisms and chrismations on the Feast of the Dormition!
We have photographs of the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost!
We have photographs of the Easter Egg Hunt held after the Paschal Agape Vespers!
We celebrated Holy Pascha in our new home!
Palm Sunday was a glorious celebration!
We had our first Divine Liturgy in our new parish home!
We had our first divine service in our new parish home!
We have some photos from the our last Divine Liturgy at High Point!
We have some photos from the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross!
Prayers at the Property have continued throughout the pandemic. Sergey took photographs on a lovely Spring day!
For more photos, videos and parish news, please see our Parish News, Photos and Videos page.
Before all other deeds, remember about this great deed: that your children, innocent and pure children, take into their pure hearts the Law of God, the commandments of Christ, at least from the small amount of instruction that they can receive from you.
You have not yet forgotten the Law of God, so teach, teach your children, and then your family will become your house church. And the light of Christ from this house church will spread invisibly for you beyond the boundaries of your family.
The Light of Christ, His Divine Truth, will invisibly flow into the hearts and minds of all those who have dealings with you. It could be that the influence of your house church will go beyond its boundaries.
Then the eternal blessing of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, His Beginningless Father, and the All-Holy Spirit will be upon you. Article
The more we forgive, the more courage we gather within our heart which in turn makes it easier to forgive the next time, and the time after that, and seventy-times seven that follow. When we begin living according to a life in Christ, our world changes, we perceive those around us differently. We begin to see them as Christ sees them. Most importantly, we recognize the grace of Christ operative in our lives. We can then echo the words of Saint Paul, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phillippians 4:13) and that includes forgiving everyone, even those who have wronged us greviously. Article
