San Jorge Orthodox Cathedral

Photos: Catedrales e Iglesias/Cathedrals and Churches, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

The San Jorge Orthodox Cathedral is a tiny church that’s prominent only on its own block in Roma Sur. It’s the cathedral of the Antioch Christian Church of Mexico which counts some 4,700 adherents. That’s together with the Cathedral of San Pedro and San Pablo in Huixquilucan, Mexico State.

The church began as a center for Orthodox Catholics from Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Russia, Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria although it has expanded to include many others. Mexico had long been welcoming to migrants from the Near East, particularly those from Syria and Lebanon.

• San Jorge, Saint George, was a Roman soldier and member of the Praetorian Guard of emperor Diocletian. One of the most popular early Christan martyrs, he was executed for refusing to recant his Christian faith in the late 280s C.E. He was especially honored as a military saint during and after the Crusades. The legendary dragon he slew was in service to the king of Silene in today’s Libya, although the legend dates to the 11th century, some 700 years after the saint’s life.

The parish began here in the 1930s, and the first stone was laid in 1944. It opened and was dedicated to Saint George in 1947. In the 1960s, the church was re-oriented to serve everyone else in the Orthodox community whether they were Antiochian or not. And today, services are well-attended by those from the diaspora and more.

The Archdiocese headquartered here covers Mexico, Venezuela, Central America, and the Caribbean. According to  Church tradition, the Antioch Christians are successors to the community founded in Antioch, today Antakya in Turkey’s Hatay Province, by the Apostles Peter and Paul.

Antiochian Christians in the global diaspora number some 4.3 million and far outnumber those in the Levant.