Attendance at Orthodox churches around the U.S. has seen a dramatic increase in conservative young men drawn to a more rigorous practice of Christianity, reports The New York Times.
"In the whole history of the Orthodox Church in America, this has never been seen," the Very Rev. Andrew Damick, an Antiochian Orthodox priest and author in Eastern Pennsylvania, told the news outlet. "This is new ground for everyone."
Orthodox Christians belong to the family of Eastern Orthodox Churches, one of the three main branches of global Christianity (alongside Roman Catholicism and Protestantism). The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second-largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 220 to 260 million adherents.
The religion has been present in the United States since the late 18th century and today represents a small but historically significant branch of Christianity, with roughly 1 million to 1.2 million adherents across various Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions, according to the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops' most recent estimates.
More men identify as Orthodox Christians in the U.S. (61%), compared with 46% of evangelicals, according to the Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study of U.S. adults conducted July 2023 to March 2024. The survey also says 49% are between the ages of 18-49; 24% are ages 18-29.
Several men interviewed by the Times who attend All Saints in Raleigh, N.C., said they felt "purpose" in the Orthodox Christian religion.
"Young men need purpose, whatever that is," said Jerod Stine, 26.
"Young men are struggling to find jobs, they're struggling to get into schools, and they're really being told by society, ‘We don't really need you.'"
Laric Copes Jr., 28, who also attends All Saints, added: "There's no war for us to die in — well, there are wars for us to die in, just not ones that are honorable."
Orthodoxy serves as "a kind of frontier of exploration," he said.
Josh Elkins, a 20-year-old student at North Carolina State University who was chatting with other young men from All Saints at a bookshop and bar on the city's north side, told the Times the church "is the only church that really coaches men hard, and says, ‘This is what you need to do.'"
"It's so much harder than I thought it was going to be," said Matthew Herman Hudson, 29, who works in the bookstore in Raleigh. "But it speaks to me in a way that nothing else ever did."
In Riverside, California, at St. Andrew Orthodox Church, the Rev. Josiah Trenham has more than 1,000 active parishioners, compared with 75 five years ago.
All Saints in North Carolina had a record 165 catechumens, people in the typically yearlong process of formally joining the Orthodox Church.
"The trajectory is increasing," Trenham told the Times.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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