LOS ANGELES — Often when a potential convert walks through the door his church One of the first things Reverend Andreas Blom encourages them to do is to give up what brought them here.
“You discovered Orthodoxy on the Internet. You learned about it on the Internet. Now you're here, done with the Internet,” he tells reporters at Holy Epiphany Orthodox Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “Now you have a priest. Now you have people. Now you need to wean yourself off all this and enter into a real community of faith.”
Blom is not a Luddite advising parishioners to unplug, but is instead responding to explosive growth Eastern Orthodox online content that is, at least in part, driving an influx of converts throughout the United States. Christian Orthodoxy is an embodied tradition that requires personal involvement, but the Internet has given their message a reach not seen in centuries.
Orthodoxy, sometimes called “America’s best-kept secret,” is practiced by about 1% of U.S. adults, according to the Pew Research Center. But the increased online profile has led to two waves of appeals since then. pandemic, said Matthew Namy, executive director of the Institute of Orthodox Studies.
Young single men are often cited as the driving force behind this trend. But Nami said preliminary data shows the latest influx of converts is more diverse, with many blacks and Latinos, women and young families joining. Clergy report on people from a wide range of religious backgrounds, from Islam to witchcraft, as well as various Christian traditions.
Blom's Church of the Holy Epiphany opened a second church this year because its 250-person building was constantly overcrowded, with dozens of people standing in the street every week.
“It’s almost full,” he said of the new location. “And in our church every Sunday there's a bunch of people again. We just can't keep up.”
They are already negotiating to open a third church.
While some Orthodox content creators are priests, others have no formal connection to the church. They span ideological and political views, with some holding far-right views and others being traditional religious conservatives on issues such as marriage. and abortion.
“In general, Orthodox Christians are not very right. They are a minority group within a minority religious tradition,” said Sarah Ricciardi-Schwartz, who studies religion and politics at Northeastern University.
Jonathan Pageau, a Canadian icon carver who teaches online courses on symbolism, is among the most popular content creators, with nearly 275,000 subscribers on YouTube.
“We have to see this as a kind of irony and a kind of paradox. In some ways, you could say we're using the wrong tools,” he said of how the Internet contrasts with Orthodoxy's emphasis on personal liturgy. “At the same time, one of the things that the Internet offers is reach. And one of the things that Orthodoxy has always lacked is reach.”
Pageau, who converted to the religion in 2003, says he and other influencers emphasize the importance of personal connection to their followers.
“We tell them to go to church,” he said. “You can't live it out in your mind online because it distorts. When you go to church, you meet all kinds of people, people who are on all sides of the political aisle.”
Abia Eileen studied Orthodoxy online for six months before walking into the Hagia Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles. The 28-year-old Latina, anointed or converted in April 2024, also sees a gap between Orthodoxy online and in the flesh.
“The people who come to Hagia Sophia are very tough, wanting to be perfect and holy, based on what they learned on the Internet, most of the time Hagia Sophia is not a place they want to stay,” she said. “We really cultivated a structure of humility, mistakes and vulnerability.”
Of course, devout Orthodox Christians follow a strict program of prayer, fasting and other disciplines. Justin Braxton, a firefighter who converted to the religion a year and a half ago, compares some of the “intense” demands of Orthodoxy to physical exercise.
“I was dreading leg day, but then I felt amazing. I feel like that's the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is when you're essentially fulfilling your carnal needs,” he said. “Joy is that feeling after a hard workout when you say, 'Yes, I did it.'
At the same time, priests often try to temper some converts' desire for rules and structure.
“They come to Orthodoxy and find that yes, we have rules and we have structure. But within those rules and structure there is a lot of variability,” said the Rev. Thomas Zane, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York, and vicar general of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America.
His church has seen exponential growth in attendance since it began about two years ago. “I invite about 50 people to Bible study or adult education classes, whereas before I would have three, four or five people,” he said.
A descendant of Syrian immigrants born into the faith, Zain navigates the ideological diversity that people subscribe to. “It’s brought new life into the church, but it’s also difficult because you’re trying to bring them together into one community with the old and the new,” he said.
Part of the belief that only men convert is that many influencers match the so-called manosphere – online content aimed at men trying to understand their understanding masculinity. Orthodoxy is often positioned as an alternative or complement to self-help advice for young people.
“As a theologian, I think the idea that masculinity—this particular way of thinking about masculinity—is inherent in Orthodox theology and teaching is completely wrong,” said Aristotle Papanicolaou, co-founder of the Center for Orthodox Christian Studies at Fordham University. “There’s really no logic to the idea that I need to somehow be masculine in order to connect with God.”
While some people like it, others feel that these influencers are misrepresenting their understanding of Christianity. “It's just not my cup of tea,” said Aaron Velasco, a 26-year-old filmmaker who was anointed last year.
And while Velasco did have an interest in some of the content creators and appreciates Pageau's behavior and perspective, he believes many of them preach an inflammatory version of the faith that doesn't fit with his current understanding of it.
Many adherents say the broader church is more ideologically diverse than the rigid conservatism often found online.
“Look at the institutional church. There is a huge hierarchy with no women in it. It's hard to say it's not a male figure,” said Dina Zingaro, who studies Orthodoxy at Harvard Divinity School and grew up in the faith. “At the same time, there are a lot of counter-narratives in Orthodoxy that eradicate this idea.”
There has been little public response from church leaders, but some clerics are beginning to talk more about the scale of the influx and the problems that come with it.
“There are cases of extremism and fundamentalism,” said Metropolitan Saba, leader of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, during a speech last month in Denver. “Many of those who come to church today are psychologically, emotionally or socially wounded, which requires experienced and mature spiritual fathers and mothers.”
Zingaro, who preaches regularly and teaches preaching courses for Orthodox women, hopes church leadership will be more vocal.
“Our response, in my opinion, was not strong enough,” Zingaro said. “We're doing something that makes people think that these kinds of statements about Orthodoxy are okay. We need to lift up the real spirit and essence of Orthodoxy, which is actually the opposite of this rules-based version of male dominance.”
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