The Century of the Orthodox?

[Zenith Darksea]

Here are some interesting statistics I came across while idly browsing the internet. It seems that, as Dr Brad Nassif recently said, the twenty-first century might turn out to be the "Century of the Orthodox". Here's one reason why he said that.

Last year, the 2006 Yearbook of Churches reported that the Orthodox Church in America (a distinct jurisdiction from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, which falls under the Patriarchate of Constantinople) had over a 6% increase in members - this was by far the greatest of the top 25 Christian denominations in America (the next greatest growth was among the Assemblies of God, which managed 1.8% growth; Pentecostal groups such as this are already well known for their rapid increase and decrease of membership). Moreover, in the last 20 years the OCA has set up 220 new parishes, almost exclusively catering for converts and serving the Divine Liturgy in English. This puts the number of Orthodox in America at over 3.2 million (including the Greek, Coptic, Syrian, Serbian and Armenian Orthodox jurisdictions), more than the Presbyterian Church and nearly as many as the National Baptist Convention of America.

In pure statistics the Orthodox are nowhere near as numerous as groups such as the Roman Catholics or the Southern Baptist Convention. They are however by far the fastest growing denomination and in the last twenty years the Orthodox have been by far the best Christian success story in the US. Common reasons for conversion to Orthodox Christianity have been dissatisfaction with what is often seen as Protestant apostasy from fundamental tenets of Christianity and also a desire for a richer religious experience.

More subtly than actual numbers however, the biggest effect has undoubtedly been the influence of Orthodox theology. Far more people have come into contact with Eastern Christian teachings and are beginning to realise their ancient Christian roots. Perhaps the best evidence for this is the fact that in American Orthodox seminaries (schools for the training of priests), well over half the students are American converts to Orthodoxy.

There is a long way to go, but could the 21st be the century of the Orthodox?

[SickBoy13]

I think we could see a major increase in our numbers.
Part of this reason could be our lack of politics. The Orthodox nations, going back quite far, have always held a seperation of Church and state.
This is appealing because Americans are fed up with "religious" (misguided zealot) nuts telling them that they are all going to hell. These nuts hold political power too, like that dumbass Falwell.

[Zenith Darksea]

Are there any Americans (especially American Christians) with views on this matter?

[Samuel_the_Great!]

Hey,i am agnostic but only for the last 3 months and before that i was a orthodox christian converted from Judaism.And u wanna know why your tactics are working,its because u scare us people who don't have all the answers into believing we will go to hell

[Dunecat]

Would not a 6% increase in a smaller body of people be easier to attain, though?...

[Giorgos]

Would not a 6% increase in a smaller body of people be easier to attain, though?...

Yes it would.

[Shaun]

I think taking a 6% increase in members to be the 'Orthodox century' is quite a leap, at least wait until 2020 to see if these numbers will sustain.

[Cato the Younger]

Are there any Americans (especially American Christians) with views on this matter?

I'm glad to hear it; I was raised Catholic but am not very religious anymore. I think SickBoy13 is absolutely right. These crazed far right-wingers with their damnation and Hellfire really gets on a lot of people's nerves, including mine. My grandmother recently converted to Greek Orthodox and it seems that she loves it; religion has a new meaning in her life. Perhaps I will have to attend mass (my apologies if it is called something else; I'm not sure) with her a few times and see how I like it.

[Sétanta]

No, see the Catholic Church gets far more new members in America alone just by births than the Eastern Orthodox Churches do. The Century of the Orthodox implies that they have a huge jump in numbers, and growing 6% doesn't imply that. You aren't going to see the huge religions growing six percent because there is far, far more members in that Church already, so it is much easier to grow 6% than it is to gain a huge number of converts.

[Dunecat]

No, see the Catholic Church gets far more new members in America alone just by births than the Eastern Orthodox Churches do. The Century of the Orthodox implies that they have a huge jump in numbers, and growing 6% doesn't imply that. You aren't going to see the huge religions growing six percent because there is far, far more members in that Church already, so it is much easier to grow 6% than it is to gain a huge number of converts.

What he said.

Not saying I would like to see new regional orthodox churches... I just don't think it's happening at such an exponential rate.

Maybe I'll just have to do something 'bout that...

[Zenith Darksea]

The statistics are all relative. Ok, the Catholics and others get more people numerically speaking, but relative to the current size of the churches, the rate of Orthodox growth is much greater than any other Church in America.

To illustrate this, imagine the numbers thirty and five. Say that you add ten to thirty - you get forty. That's an increase of thirty three (roughly) percent. Add ten to five however, and that's an increase of two hundred percent. The point is that it's more impressive for a small religious group, especially one with a particularly 'foreign' flavour, to make a relatively large increase than it is for a larger religious group to sustain its own numbers. These are figures that, broadly speaking, have been holding steadily for at least the last twenty five years, and with the exception of one Pentecostal group (which is much smaller itself), the Orthodox are the only minority religion to make such large gains (the nearest being about 1.5%). Orthodoxy is often seen as a purely ethnic religion, yet there are now many churches composed entirely of converts, an achievement that is quite impressive for a foreign import.

At any rate, the bigger influence (I have heard it argued) is not necessarily the number of converts but the influence of the theology. What I was wondering was if there was any noticeably greater influence of Orthodox Christianity in general, rather than just in numbers.

[Dromikaites]

Interesting statistics. I think Cato the Younger has identified something that's setting apart the Orthodox message from other Christian denominations. While of course the Orthodox also believe sinners would go to Hell, they do not put too much emphasize on how bad Hell is focusing instead on how happy one's life would be if one follows God's commands.

I found also another difference between the Catholic and Orthodox approaches to various episodes of Jesus' life. The Catholic Church seems to put a lot of emphasis on what it calls "passion", meaning the sufferings of Jesus from the moment He was arrested until His death on the cross. Some by-products of that emphasis are Mel Gibson's movie, those Philippinos who crucify themselves every Easter, self-flagellations, wearing of cilices and people with stigmata.

The Orthodox Church prefers to focus on the teachings and miracles performed and on the resurrection and the promise of eternal life for the believers. The devout Orthodox would therefore more likely become hesychasts and maybe grow a long beard (or start dressing very conservatively) than develop stigmata. It might be just a matter of taste but even I, as an Atheist, find hesychasm more appealing than stigmata, self-flagellations or wearing cilices. It might be that people who are into meditation, yoga and other similar things but would still like to remain Christians might look at hesychasm as a form of Christian yoga.

To put it into other words, it looks like being Orthodox is more fun.

[Ummon]

Well you see, self-flagellation, self-crucifixion and similar things, are rare stuff as well. Though the question is interesting. Do different denominations of christianity, focus on different aspects of Jesus life, and henceforth all transmit an incomplete message?

[Giorgos]

It's more like most of us just accept what fits nicely with today's living standards and choose to ignore everything else and that's why we never get the full message.

[Siblesz]

Maybe in the United States this is possible, but the opposite is happening in Latin America and Brazil. The Catholic Church (the Greek Orthodox Church of the West) is losing its grip on its credents as Evangelism is taking root. Also take note of the fact that Latin Americans are becoming more and more dominant in American society and are turning to evangelism at an increasing rate in Florida and California.

And in Europe, religion is no longer of any significance. Even Spain, a heavily Catholic state wherein more than 80% of the population went to Church every Sunday just thirty years ago, has changed into a liberal state wherein only 10% of the population goes to Church. Anyhoo, religion in the West is not likely to gain any power in the coming decades as long as the different sects of Christianity battle for supremacy. The growth or decline of Islam, however, is harder to predict, but still suffers the same weakness of division and modernization as Christianity.

And with the internet, every prognostication is bound to fail. It will give society a face lift. But what kind of face lift, we know not yet.

[Zenith Darksea]

The Catholic Church (the Greek Orthodox Church of the West)

As a Greek Orthodox, I profoundly disagree with that statement! Even the term 'Latin Orthodox Church' (which would be culturally more appropriate) would be wrong because I don't really think that we can use the word 'Orthodox' of the Roman Catholic Church. It used to be Orthodox, but bear in mind these days that Papal infallibility, purgatory, the immaculate conception etc. are not very Orthodox.

[Siblesz]

As a Greek Orthodox, I profoundly disagree with that statement! Even the term 'Latin Orthodox Church' (which would be culturally more appropriate) would be wrong because I don't really think that we can use the word 'Orthodox' of the Roman Catholic Church. It used to be Orthodox, but bear in mind these days that Papal infallibility, purgatory, the immaculate conception etc. are not very Orthodox.

Logically, you're completely right. But in the minds of the proletariat, the Catholic Church is the Orthodox Church of the West. Ask any Catholic and Evangelic what he thinks about the Greek Orthodox Church and he'll tell you just that. The proles control the truth in these matters.