In a world characterized by ever increasing malleability and capriciousness, and bereft of immutable convictions, the Patriarchate of Antioch and its Archdiocese in North America embodies and engenders the continuity of the Apostolic Tradition, the preservation of the Historical Church, It’s Teachings, Theology, Dogma, and Precepts, and the Immutability of the ever Loving and Unchanging Triune God.
Virgin Mary Life Giving Spring Antiochian Orthodox Church is a church parish within the Historical, Canonical, and Apostolic Patriarchate of Antioch and its Metropolis, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Shepherded by our Primate, His Eminence Metropolitan SABA, Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of North America, the Antiochian Archdiocese endeavors to serve all who desire to know and love The Lord Jesus Christ and to realize the salvation of their souls.
Whilst the parish of Virgin Mary was established by an emblematic group of individuals that reflect the pluralistic nature of the larger Middle East including Syrians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Palestinians, and Egyptians, it is a parish that serves and nurtures all faithful Orthodox Christians. All who love The Lord Jesus Christ and wish to demonstrate their faith and fidelity to The Holy Orthodox Church and Its teachings are welcome. Indeed, the diverse faithful of Virgin Mary Life Giving Spring call this humble and beautiful church their own. We invite all to come and see that The Lord is Good, that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever”, and that the “faith was once delivered unto the saints”.
We believe in the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; one in essence and in love and distinct only in persons, whom we worship and glorify.
We believe in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the record of God's works with His People and understand them through the activity of the Holy Spirit who preserves and guides the unchanging Tradition of the Church.
We believe that the Church is One Holy Catholic and Apostolic and preserved by the promise of Jesus Christ that "the gates of hell will not prevail against it."
To be Orthodox is to have the correct and complete doctrine and worship of Jesus Christ and to live as He taught us to live; that is, to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.
The Orthodox Church traces its origin back to Jesus Christ and His Apostles and came into the fullness of its life on Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus Christ's defeat of death by His rising from the dead. Today there are over 250 million Eastern Orthodox Christians throughout the world and over 1.5 million in the United States.
We serve God through our public worship, the serving of the Sacraments and in our private prayers. Weekly we gather to proclaim His salvation, participate in the common action of the Divine Liturgy, and commune with God in the Sacrament of Eucharist.
We serve others through fellowship, discipleship, and stewardship. In our fellowship we are united in our common faith and life as we travel further into the Kingdom of God.
Rev. Fr. Symeon Fakhouri
قدس الأب سمعان فاخوري
Father Symeon Fakhouri, born Yazen Ziad Fakhouri, was born in 1983 in Suburban Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in May, 2019. Father Symeon is the son of Ziad (Ret. Engineer) and Maha Fakhouri (Ret. Teacher) and the brother of Tarek Fakhouri (Wife Lubna Abbassi Fakhouri and children Isabella (6), Anastasia (4), Sophia (2)), Luma Sayegh (Husband Edward and children Johnathan (16), Aiden (14), and Nicholas (12)), and Dealla Saba (Husband Issa and child George (Newborn).
Father Symeon has spent time at various parishes throughout the Antiochian Archdiocese, a year at the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, Lebanon and, as Youth Director of St. George in Chicago, Illinois. Additionally, Father Symeon has spent a year at the Antiochian Archdiocese Headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey under the tutelage and Omophorion of His Eminence Metropolitan SABA. Father Symeon
Fakhouri was ordained to the Holy Diaconate by His Grace Bishop ANTHONY on the feast day of The Conception of St. Anna with the Theotokos, December 9, 2023 and to the Holy Priesthood by His Grace Bishop ANTHONY on The Feast of All Saints, June 15, 2025.
Father Symeon has been attached to St. George Upland, CA for the last year training under the tutelage and spiritual guidance of V. Rev. Fr. Hanania Hakimeh
6655 Ming Ave.
Bakersfield, CA 93309
Bakersfield, CA 93309