15 - Eastern Orthodox Christianity in America

Summary

Orthodox Christians sometimes refer to their faith as the best-kept secret in America. Globally, Orthodox Christians number between 210 and 225 million, making Orthodoxy the world's second largest Christian denomination. In North America the Orthodox churches claim upward of 4 million adherents, of whom perhaps only 1.2 to 2 million are active supporting members. Nevertheless, even in regions where Orthodox Christians are relatively numerous, their history, beliefs, and practices remain largely unknown. Occasional feature articles in local newspapers may call attention to the pageantry of Orthodox Holy Week, which often falls some weeks after Western Christians have celebrated it, or to customs associated with Christmas, which for many Orthodox Christians falls thirteen days after the Western observance. But generally these token acknowledgments simply reinforce the impression that Orthodoxy is exotic, foreign, so closely linked to alien cultures – Greek, Russian, Serbian, Romanian, Syrian – as to be non-American, if not altogether un-American.

Orthodoxy in America is perceived as exotic. It also is perceived as fragmented. Despite efforts toward greater unity over the past half century, it is divided into over a dozen jurisdictions, which have been established not only along ethnic lines but also, in several cases, along factional lines within a given ethnic group. For example, Manhattan is home to a Greek Orthodox cathedral, a Serbian Orthodox cathedral, a Ukrainian Orthodox cathedral, and no fewer than three cathedrals that could be classed as Russian.