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Timeless faith sees good times. Orthodox Christianity growing swiftly in U.S.

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The Cincinnati Enquirer: Timeless faith sees good times. Orthodox Christianity growing swiftly in U.S. (HT Presbyweb)

"People are looking for a church that is traditional for worship, traditional in values, traditional in morals," said Mark Maymon, a convert and bishop of the Toledo-based Antiochian Orthodox Church's Diocese of the Midwest. "We are not altered by fads and whims and trends. We are committed to worship, which is the work of the people."

Nationally, entire congregations are joining the Orthodox ranks:

In Indianapolis, a former evangelical Christian church joined the Orthodox Church in America in 2002, becoming St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church.

In Warrenton, Va., a former Charismatic Episcopal Church converted in March to join the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

Maymon, a former evangelical Christian who attended Oral Roberts University before becoming Orthodox, said many of the congregations and converts are becoming part of the church because of upheaval in Western denominations stemming from decisions on homosexuality and other hot-button issues.

"For 20 years, Orthodoxy was one of the best-kept secrets," he said. "Now we have seen a tremendous influx."

…….

The Orthodox Church in America, the second-largest group of Orthodox believers in North America behind the Greek Orthodox Church, reported a 6 percent increase in believers from 2005 to 2006, bringing membership to 1 million adherents, according to the 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

In the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, which has adopted a "convert-friendly" policy, one-third of its 200 parishes were founded after 1990.

Overall in the United States, Orthodox Christians number between 1.2 million regular church-goers and 6 million adherents in 2,400 churches, including seven in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

"As American Orthodox churches become more and more American, with English spoken more often, the message gets out and that leads to more converts," Krindatch said.

Comments

3 responses to “Timeless faith sees good times. Orthodox Christianity growing swiftly in U.S.”

  1. University Update Avatar
    University Update

    Timeless faith sees good times. Orthodox Christianity growing …

    Reply
  2. Dana Ames Avatar
    Dana Ames

    Three things:
    1) For thinking people, O. theology has everything else beat hands down. I don’t agree with some conclusions they draw and directions they go therefrom, but there’s room in it for so much more than penal substitutionary atonement. The “basic” theology is truly beautiful. (I have a Russian O. friend who tells me NT Wright is “quite Orthodox”!) On the level of praxis, it flexes with the human condition. Ideals are high, but reality is factored in; I find much less guilt (at least looking in from the outside) than in my own and others’ stories of growing up in RCatholicism.
    2) For many symbol-starved, sensory-deprived low church folks, for many others searching for depth of meaning and the sacramentality of the quotidian, and for those who find the extreme primacy (worship?) of the intellect in evangelicalism and some mainlines exhausting (though plenty of EO writings are byzantine 🙂 and require some intellectual muscle), EO is very attractive.
    3) Did you ever meet the late Sasha Makovkin? He was an ordained Pres. minister and a well known potter who lived in our county. He used to take his portable wheel into churches and throw pots and give the most delightful and deep talks about God- sometimes without even mentioning God, which allowed him to be invited to schools and other “secular” places. Knowing that he was raised O., I once asked him why he thought Prots were converting to O. He said he thought it was because of the certainty it offered. From most of those interviewed in the article, that seems to me to be the case. Ah, the search for certainty…
    Dana

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  3. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    Dana, your experience matches mine. There is a real richness in Orthodoxy. I also agree that what is driving this is a hunger for certainty (which, while understandable, does not qualify as very good reason for embracing a tradition.)
    My hope is that the strengths Orthodoxy brings will begin to rub off on other manifestations of the Church and bring a new richness to the whole body of Christ.

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