The History of St. Anthony the Great in Spring, Texas
St. Anthony’s began as an outreach program in 1982, the vision of +Fr. Anthony Sabbagh and several parishioners, who wanted to establish an Orthodox Christian Church in the area northwest of Houston. Meetings were held in a subdivision clubhouse and in homes for a year. Afterwards, St. Anthony was granted mission status and a temporary place of worship was established in a shopping center suite. In May, 1983, His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP blessed the founding of an Antiochian Orthodox Mission which, at that time, was called “Orthodox Christian Mission of Harris County.” The first Divine Liturgy was celebrated on June 25, 1983 and on February 1, 1984; we were placed under the patronage of St. Anthony the Great. In 1987, we were blessed to be able to purchase property on Mirror Lake Road, where we worshipped until 2007. We are now in temporary buildings on our new property located at 7202 FM 2920 in Spring, Texas. We have hired a local architect, Lancaster and Associates, to design and build a new temple of worship that will stand as a beacon of Orthodoxy in North Harris County for all to see. We are under the spiritual leadership of The Rev. Fr. Anthony Baba. Fr. Anthony is helping our parish to grow, spiritually and in size, as we move forward, professing our Orthodox Faith as a living link to historic New Testament Christianity.
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St. Anthony the Great in Spring, Texas, is a bright and exciting example of a true Pan-Orthodox church in America, bringing together the unchanged and undiluted Christian Faith in a rich tapestry of ethnic and cultural diversity. Some of our members come from traditional Orthodox national backgrounds – Arab, Greek, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, etc. However, many other parishioners are converts from traditional western backgrounds, who have chosen for themselves the ancient, authentic Christian Faith. Together, we have discovered the life-giving, uncompromised truth of the Holy Gospel. We are a growing community of the faithful, coming together as one body – the very living Body of Christ – for the salvation of the souls and worship of Almighty God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.