== Spiritual journey ==
[[File:Peter E. Gilquist - reposed - DSCF4525.JPG|thumb|left|The body of Archpriest Peter E. Gillquist lying in state at All Saints' Orthodox Church, [[Bloomington, Indiana]], the day before his burial]]While still on staff at Campus Crusade, Gillquist and some of his colleagues began studying church history and came to the conclusion that the [[Orthodox Christianity|Orthodox Church]] was the only unchanged church in history.<ref name="ntd">“Reverend Speaks on His Conversion”, ''North Texas Daily'', 2/25/2005</ref> In 1973 Gillquist and his colleagues in Chicago established a network of [[house church]]es churches throughout the United States, aiming to restore a primitive form of Christianity, which was called the New Covenant Apostolic Order. Researching the historical basis of the Christian faith, Gillquist and his colleagues found sources for this restoration in the writings of the early [[Church Fathers]]. This led the group to practice a more [[liturgy|liturgical]] form of [[Christian worship|worship]] than in their previous evangelical background. Originally known as the Christian World Liberation Front, and then the New Covenant Apostolic Order, in 1979 the [[Evangelical Orthodox Church]] (EOC) was organized.
A desire for [[Apostolic Succession]] led most members of the EOC to join the [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]] in 1987 after first investigating the Episcopal Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Archdiocese, and the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Gillquist and other EOC leaders traveled to [[Istanbul]] to meet with the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]] but were unable to complete any substantial progress toward their goal. However, they were able to meet with the [[Patriarch of Antioch]] during his historic visit to Los Angeles that year. After further discussions, Gillquist led seventeen [[parish]]es with 2,000 members into the Antiochian Archdiocese in 1987. This group became known as the Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission, lasting until 1995 when its parishes were absorbed into the standard [[diocese|diocesan]] framework of the archdiocese.
