St. Elizabeth the New Martyr Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church of Saint Elizabeth the New-Martyr serves Orthodox Christians in Central New Jersey. It is a Mission Parish of the Diocese of Eastern America and New York of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Founded in 1998 in Somerville, New Jersey, our Mission Parish acquired its own church building in 2004 in the Princeton area at 38 Princeton Avenue, Rocky Hill. After being in that historic church building for four years, we had extensive renovations done to our church building in 2008. The Orthodox Church of Saint Elizabeth the New-Martyr has as its aim to bring all to the Light of Christ our Saviour and His Body, the Orthodox Church. It seeks to bring together persons from all backgrounds to glorify the Most Holy Trinity in the True Orthodox Faith. This Parish pledges itself to be a Parish where persons from different traditionally Orthodox cultures, as well as converts to our Holy Faith, are all welcome. The primary liturgical language used at St Elizabeth's is English, but other languages, such as Church Slavonic, Greek, and Arabic, are used in addition to English as a witness to the catholicity of the Church and to serve the needs of members of various backgrounds. St Elizabeth's adheres to the Patristic (i.e. the "Old" or Julian) Calendar of the Orthodox Church in both the Paschalion (the date of Easter and the Feastdays dependant upon it) and the Menologion (the dates of fixed Feastdays.) The Order of Divine Services used at St Elizabeth's is that received in the Russian Orthodox Church, the Typikon of Mar Sabbas, observed with the standard modifications for parish usage. Although the parish's Liturgical Order is that of the Russian Church, many liturgical customs that are meaningful to those who make up our Parish from other Orthodox backgrounds are also observed. In keeping with the Pan-Orthodox nature of St Elizabeth's, a diversity of genuinely Orthodox styles of liturgical chant is employed. Different traditions of ancient Byzantine and Russian chant are used in the Parish, depending upon the backgrounds and capabilities of our chanters and singers.