[Qzmsdoem]

Nice article in the New York Times:

More Protestants Find a Home in the Orthodox Antioch Church

By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN
Published: October 2, 2009


LINTHICUM HEIGHTS, Md. — Cal Oren was threading his way through the Santa Cruz Mountains of California early one evening in 1993, driving his wife, brother and three tired children back from a day of hiking amid the redwoods. As their car neared the town of Ben Lomond, Mr. Oren said, his brother pointed to a church on the roadside and said: “I’ve been inside this. It’s really neat.”

So Mr. Oren pulled to a stop, and as the children stayed in the car, the grown-ups gingerly padded into the sanctuary of Saints Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church. A lifelong Presbyterian, Mr. Oren knew virtually nothing about the Antiochians or, for that matter, Orthodox Christianity in general. He had always associated Ben Lomond with hippies, geodesic domes and marijuana fields.
As he entered, a vespers service was under way. Maybe two dozen worshipers stood, chanting psalms and hymns. Incense filled the dark air. Icons of apostles and saints hung on the walls. The ancientness and austerity stood at a time-warp remove from the evangelical circles in which Mr. Oren traveled, so modern, extroverted and assertively relevant.

“This was a Christianity I had never encountered before,” said Mr. Oren, 55, a marketing consultant in commercial construction. “I was frozen in my tracks. I felt like I was in the actual presence of God, almost as if I was in heaven. And I’m not the kind of person who gets all woo-hoo.”

The ineffable disclosure of that evening, a 15-minute glimpse into Byzantium, rattled everything certain in Mr. Oren’s spiritual life. Even as he and his family kept attending a Presbyterian church near their home in suburban Baltimore, he stepped down as a ruling elder and Bible-study instructor. In 1995, he attended his first service at Holy Cross, an Antiochian church here, about 10 miles south of Baltimore. By late 1996, he was a regular, and in May 1997, he and his family converted and joined.

Any person’s conversion is by nature an individual and idiosyncratic journey, and Mr. Oren’s reflected not only his visceral sense that Orthodoxy had a “core of holy tradition” but also his intense concern over theological concepts like giving the Eucharist to baptized infants, which may not animate other believers quite the same way.
Yet in its broader outlines, his movement from the Protestant realm into the Orthodox one, specifically into the Antiochian branch, attests to a significant and fascinating example of denominational migration. Over the last 20 years, the Antiochian Orthodox Church — with its roots in Syria and Lebanon and its longtime membership in the United States made up almost entirely of Middle Eastern immigrants and their descendants — has become the destination of choice for thousands of Protestants of Northern European ancestry.
The visible shift began in 1987 with the conversion of nearly 2,000 evangelical Christians, led by Peter E. Gillquist and other alumni of the Dallas Theological Seminary and the Campus Crusade for Christ. More recently, a wave of converts has arrived from such mainline Protestant denominations as the Episcopalian and Lutheran.

Some 70 percent of Antiochian Orthodox priests in the United States are converts, according to Bradley Nassif, who, as a theology professor at North Park University in Chicago, is a leading scholar of the religion. A generation or two ago, Professor Nassif said, converts made up barely 10 percent of Antiochian clergy.

Professor Nassif went so far, in a 2007 article in Christianity Today magazine, as to suggest that the 21st century might become the “Orthodox century” as disenchanted Protestants grew attracted to the historical roots, theological rigor and social conservatism of the Eastern Christian denominations.

Whether or not the prediction pans out, it is certainly true that no American convert comes to the Antiochian church by convenience or ease. The denomination has only about 250,000 members in 250 congregations in the country, Professor Nassif estimated. Worshipers stand during most of the two-hour Divine Liturgy each Sunday. Nearly half the days in the year require fasting from meat, dairy, eggs and most fish.

Yet when Mr. Oren and his family joined Holy Cross, they found kindred spirits in more ways than one. The church’s pastor, Father Gregory Mathewes-Green, had left the Episcopal ministry to convert. His wife, Frederica Mathewes-Green, had written perhaps the definitive book on the subject, “Facing East: A Pilgrim’s Journey Into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy” (HarperOne, 2006).

Alienated by what he called “spiritual and theological chaos and moral confusion” in the Episcopal Church, Father Mathewes-Green, 62, started Holy Cross in early 1993 with 19 members, five of them from his own family. When he formally renounced his Episcopal vows, he lost not only his annual salary but also the rectory that was his home.

“There were many times,” he recalled in a recent interview, “when I thought, ‘Today is the day I have to look through the Help Wanted ads.’ ”

In the years since, though, Holy Cross has grown to 120 members, nearly two-thirds of them converts, and has bought and paid off a $265,000 building. Fittingly for a congregation of spiritual seekers, Holy Cross occupies a stone structure built by Methodists and most recently occupied by the Pentecostals of the Korean Full Gospel New Generation Church.

While the sun streams through a stained-glass window of Jesus that was installed by the original congregation, most of the icons were painted within the last dozen years by an Orthodox convert, Carolyn Shuey. The other day, Father Mathewes-Green was tutoring the latest prospective convert, a Roman Catholic immigrant from Congo.
The unexpected evolution of the Antiochian Church has had only one drawback, at least at Holy Cross. When Father Mathewes-Green was persuaded several years ago to raise money with a church supper, people flocked to Holy Cross, expecting the savory specialties of the Levant. What they got was the culinary outcome of the priest’s former life as an Episcopalian from South Carolina: hot dogs and brownies.

The fund-raiser, all prayers and chants to the contrary, was a loser.

[immoceefe]

The only quibble I have with this story is that there are nowhere near 250,000 Antiochians. Why can't we be satisfied with the truth regarding Church membership?

[Daruhuw]

I'm ex-military. Because of that, I'm used to the media not getting things right. It just doesn't ruffle my feathers as much as it used to. My only advice is to try to get used to the idea that the media will always get details wrong.

But, that's just my two kopecks.

PS - the rest of the article was pretty good for MSM. Probably one of the more positive portrayals I've seen.

[popsicesHoupe]

Why can't we be satisfied with the truth regarding Church membership?

Probably because we can't find it.

I did a quick bit of Googling for the membership numbers of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese in North America. I found (in decreasing order):

• 500,000
• almost 400,000
• 380,000
• 350,000
• 300,000
• 250,000
• 130,000
• 84,000
• 83,700
• 54,667
• 51,320
• 50,000
• 41,840

Understand, it only took 5 or 10 minutes to get this many widely disparate figures. Interestingly, I didn't run across any figures on the Antiochian Archdiocese's own website (not that I was digging all that deep).

Part of the problem is that we don't really define what church membership numbers should mean. At my parish, I would have no trouble coming up with four or five different membership figures (with the highest being at least twice as big as the lowest, probably more), depending on how we defined "membership".


Michael

[cheesypeetyz]

I think this is a very informative and, as fth Cyprian said, positive article! I myself had no idea that more and more protestants convert to Ortodoxy. Why are numbers so important? The fact itself is a miracle. (I think)

Panayota

[ddxbovMQ]

Yet in its broader outlines, his movement from the Protestant realm into the Orthodox one, specifically into the Antiochian branch, attests to a significant and fascinating example of denominational migration. Over the last 20 years, the Antiochian Orthodox Church — with its roots in Syria and Lebanon and its longtime membership in the United States made up almost entirely of Middle Eastern immigrants and their descendants — has become the destination of choice for thousands of Protestants of Northern European ancestry.

Do more Protestants convert into the Antiochian Jurisdiction? If they do, does anyone know why?

[immoceefe]

Because they worship in English.
Because they welcome and encourage converts.
Because the music is beautiful and done well.
They have many beautiful churches using traditional church architecture.
Because they are there. The OCA is also essentially a convert jurisdiction but many of its churches are quite small. In fact, I think the OCA has more convert clergy than Antioch.

[Wsjltrhe]

Professor Nassif went so far, in a 2007 article in Christianity Today magazine, as to suggest that the 21st century might become the “Orthodox century” as disenchanted Protestants grew attracted to the historical roots, theological rigor and social conservatism of the Eastern Christian denominations. Roots, rigor and righteousness makes an excellent sermon outline. I love the Orthodox Church very much but am not ready to convert.

[freddystone]

Has anyone been keeping track of the growth of Protestantism in traditionally Orthodox countries post-communism? It is not just the result of Western colonialism, but of Christians who felt that the Orthodox Church was complicit with the Soviet regime, and that having the church as a state religion was no better for faith.

[Q0KmoR8K]

Has anyone been keeping track of the growth of Protestantism in traditionally Orthodox countries post-communism? It is not just the result of Western colonialism, but of Christians who felt that the Orthodox Church was complicit with the Soviet regime, and that having the church as a state religion was no better for faith.

There's another statistic you ought to consider- the countless Orthodox who were martyred by the Communists. Laymen and laywomen, monks, nuns, priests, bishops... If you weigh the martyrs against the handful who were complicit, the latter are really light as a feather.

[ButKnillinoi]

Has anyone been keeping track of the growth of Protestantism in traditionally Orthodox countries post-communism? It is not just the result of Western colonialism, but of Christians who felt that the Orthodox Church was complicit with the Soviet regime, and that having the church as a state religion was no better for faith.

Trust me this has been discussed in several threads, you might want to check out the search function. "The Church" was not complicit with the Soviet regime, but some people associated with the Church were or may have been to some extent. The Soviet Union is no more but the Church remains and is building on the ruins that communism left behind in its efforts to destroy the Church. Yes the horrible persecution of the Church by communism has created a vaccuum, and Protestant missionaries are rushing in to try and fill it. Not everyone is convinced this is a good thing, particularly with some of the methods that those Protestants are using, imitating the Orthodox Church outwardly to lure unsuspecting people in and buying their loyalty. Doesn't always seem very Christian to this bear of little brain.

The good news is, many missionaries come back converted to Orthodoxy.

Herman the Pooh

[cheesypeetyz]

Trust me this has been discussed in several threads, you might want to check out the search function. "The Church" was not complicit with the Soviet regime, but some people associated with the Church were or may have been to some extent. The Soviet Union is no more but the Church remains and is building on the ruins that communism left behind in its efforts to destroy the Church. Yes the horrible persecution of the Church by communism has created a vaccuum, and Protestant missionaries are rushing in to try and fill it. Not everyone is convinced this is a good thing, particularly with some of the methods that those Protestants are using, imitating the Orthodox Church outwardly to lure unsuspecting people in and buying their loyalty. Doesn't always seem very Christian to this bear of little brain.

The good news is, many missionaries come back converted to Orthodoxy.

Herman the Pooh

As far as I know the same thing happens in Albania. Not only Protestants but Catholics act there too. Thank God for Archibishop Anastasios or else we would have lost our Albanian brothers and sisters.

Panayota

[scoundtrack]

Has anyone been keeping track of the growth of Protestantism in traditionally Orthodox countries post-communism? It is not just the result of Western colonialism, but of Christians who felt that the Orthodox Church was complicit with the Soviet regime, and that having the church as a state religion was no better for faith.

This question is misplaced. The numbers of Westerners--at any rate in the US--who find in the Orthodox Church the Church they have always been looking for is far greater than the number of those in traditionally Orthodox countries who move to a Protestant denomination or to Catholicism. I don't think the Church's complicity with the Soviet regime has anything to do with that: the fall of Communism was followed by a wave of baptism into the Russian Church. After decades of atheism, it is the role of the Church, and the Church only, to re-gather her flock and re-instill the Spirit in them.

[scoundtrack]

Because they worship in English.
Because they welcome and encourage converts.
Because the music is beautiful and done well.
They have many beautiful churches using traditional church architecture.
Because they are there. The OCA is also essentially a convert jurisdiction but many of its churches are quite small. In fact, I think the OCA has more convert clergy than Antioch.

I was going to ask this question. But I don't think it is because of any of these reasons--most Greek, Russian, and other parishes in the US use English, I believe, and all likewise welcome new converts--trust my experience! Perhaps also we just don't know exactly what proportion of the faithful the converts make up in each jurisdiction.

[ToifvT5S]

I was going to ask this question. But I don't think it is because of any of these reasons--most Greek, Russian, and other parishes in the US use English, I believe, and all likewise welcome new converts--trust my experience! Perhaps also we just don't know exactly what proportion of the faithful the converts make up in each jurisdiction.

Not necessarily true. We have alot of Orthodox churches here in Houston and very few of them are 100% english. The more ethnic churches use their ethnic languages. They may have an occassional service a month in english, but by and large, not. Even those that do try to accomodate "American" converts to their ethnic churches still have a high percentage of the Liturgy in the native language.

The OC in America needs to get away from ethnicity and coddling to the immigrants from the Mother lands (not that they don't have a responsibility to coddle them) and pay attention to the english speaking convert wanna-bees in front of them.

Paul