America’s Eastern Orthodox parishes have grown 16 percent in the past decade, in part because of a settled immigrant community, according to new research.
Alexei Krindatch, research consultant for the Standing Conferences of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, said the 16 percent growth in the number of Orthodox parishes is “a fairly high ratio for religious groups in the United States.”
The number of Orthodox parishes has reached 2,370, and the Orthodox community in America consists of more than 1 million adherents across 20 different church bodies, according to the 2010 U.S. Orthodox Census.
A brief observation to dampen though not extinguish the good news here. Some Orthodox parishes have declined in membership due largely to the breakup in the old ethnic neighborhoods and the inevitable drift of some young people from the faith of their ancestors. But many of these parishes remain sufficiently well endowed to not be in immediate danger of closing. So I would caution against reading a 16% increase in our numbers. I do think we are growing. But the rate is probably no more than half that number and quite possibly less.
Hey, Father, growth is growth. Thank God for little favors. Remember that in statistics, ALL estimates are wrong; just hopefully close to the truth. Sort of like theology. By the way, the youngest parish in the TEC Diocese of Northern Michigan was founded in 1911. Statmann
Considering virtually every Orthodox parish (of any particular flavor or ethnicity) in the US didn’t even conduct services in English until about 30 years ago it makes it all the more interesting. There is certainly growth. In Washington State there are twice as many congregations as there were 30 years ago, all those new ones (and some of the old) with convert clergy and laity. It’s a struggle but a good one.
I found some surprises here. I thought that the figures were eye-poppingly low for what is usually claimed for Orthodox church membership. I am sure that I have often seen a claim of around 900,000 for the Orthodox Church in America alone. This more realistic account of membership cannot be blamed on the definition of adherent. The definition used was: ‘persons associated in any way … adults and children, regular and occasional attendees, paid stewards and persons who do not contribute financially.’ See:
http://www.hartfordinstitute.org/research/2010-USOrthodox-Census.pdf
Another surprise for me was that since 2000 a Vicariate has been created in the US for Palestinian and Jordanian Orthodox. A historic source of tension in Israel, Palestine and Jordan has been that the Orthodox Christians are Arab and the leadership is Greek. Does this Vicariate mean that the Christians of that area are beginning to emerge from Greek control?
1. Ad Orientem: I thought of you when I read it and would be interested in your thoughts on the proposed Orthodox council and if you think a combined US Orthodox church would be accepted and granted autocephaly?
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Re #5
Vatican Watcher
We are (finally) taking steps to resolve the jurisdictional chaos within the Orthodox Church here in N. America. I expect that the forthcoming Great and Holy Pan-Orthodox Synod (which some are suggesting could be received as an OEcumenical Council) will take steps to end the scandalous situation here. That said I do not see autocephaly in the cards.
Too many of the old country churches have too much at stake here (money), especially the Ecumenical Patriarchate which presides over a church of no more than a few thousand believers in Turkey thanks to the aggressive ethnic cleaning by that country over the last century. At a recent meeting to prepare the agenda of the Great Synod, guidelines were agreed to for the granting of autocephaly to new churches, which require the EP’s blessing. This was likely in part a response to the situation with the Orthodox Church in America (the former Metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Church), which was granted autocephaly by Moscow in 1970. At present the Russian Church is really the only one who has recognized that claim. Most of the other Orthodox churches view the OCA as an essentially ultra-autonomous church but maintain communion with her.
For the EP the churches in the “diaspora” (a term I really dislike) also represent a cash cow and a means to claim some relevance beyond the canonical primacy of honor which the First Throne holds in the Orthodox Church. He has been vigorously pressing claims to canonical jurisdiction over all of the churches in the “barbarian” lands (canon 28 of the Fourth OEcumenical Council).
If I had to take a guess at what the future holds, it would be a somewhat more unified American Orthodox church that would maintain its current quasi ethnic jurisdictional arrangements within the broader framework of the newly established Episcopal Assembly, chaired by a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that would function as a sort of super synod.
All of this however is purely speculative and at most an educated guess.
Beyond that; the forthcoming council will be tackling a number of issues that have been a bit thorny over the last century or so. Among those would be the calendar, the fasting rules in the modern world (they haven’t changed in about 1500 years and are often fudged or simply ignored by the laity), the manner of receiving converts and relations with the non-Orthodox in general. It is possible the Synod may also issue some decrees dealing with contemporary issues of a moral nature such as birth control (there is some diversity of opinion on that subject), the sanctity of marriage and reaffirming the Church’s stand that abortion is murder. Given the EP’s personal attachment to environmental issues I would be mildly surprised if some sort of general “take care of the Earth” statement was not also issued.
The EP and some of the other churches have made strenuous efforts to keep this thing tightly scripted. However there are no guarantees as to what will happen once you get all of the world’s Orthodox bishops (or at least most of them) gathered in the same place for the first time in probably a thousand years or more. We don’t have a Pope (the EP’s occasional pretensions notwithstanding) to impose an agenda so things could get very interesting.
The one thing I do NOT expect are any major doctrinal pronouncements. There are at present no serious theological or doctrinally based issues dividing The Church. Church doctrine is largely settled and any attempt to add to or meddle with it would be foolish and almost certainly end badly.
In ICXC
John
Re #4
Terry Tee,
The numbers which you have seen in the past have long been the butt of jokes within the Church. They were grossly inflated until some recent financial scandals more or less forced the hierarchy to drop the silly pretensions. These numbers represent what is probably a fairly honest picture of where we are.
As for the Arab Vicarate my understanding is that the Jerusalem Patriarchate has ceded their relatively few parishes here to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch for their pastoral care. Both of these Patriarchates are of course, run by ethnic Greeks. There are very few ethnic Arab bishops despite the fact that they constitute 90% or more of the faithful in the Middle East. Which fact is (quite justifiably IMO) a sore point with many of our Arab brothers and sisters.
In ICXC
John
Thank you Ad Orientem. Taking us a little off-subject, but in relation to your passing comment in # 7, I wrote to my MP (Member of Parliament) a few weeks ago asking him to ask the Foreign Office here in London about its attitude to Turkish membership of the European Union. In particular, I asked that membership should not be agreed until the Orthodox Church was free to chose its own patriarch without government interference, and that property confiscated from the Church by the Turkish government should be restored (for example, the seminary) and in short that discrimination against Christians in Turkey should stop. He forwarded my letter to the minister of state and I await his reply …
7. Ad Orientem:
Thank you for your reply. I hope you don’t mind if I quote your comment at my blog. It’s pretty comprehensive and just what I have been looking for.
Returning to the original subject: statistical growth. The total number of Antiochian Orthodox Parishes were: for 1899 2; 1909 166; 1919 41; 1929 56; 1939 66; 1949 69; 1959 79; 1969 93; 1979 116; 1989 151; 1999 226 and 2009 273. Not too bad for a bunch of Arabs plus lots of convert clergy. Statmann
Oops! the number for 1909 was 16. Statmann
Re # 10
Vatican Watcher,
Feel free to quote away. Drop a link to your blog if you get a chance.
In ICXC
John
13. Ad Orientem:
http://vaticanwatcher.blogspot.com/
What this also shows is the fissiparousness for which Orthodoxy is famous. Two Armenian entities, several Russian, two Antiochian …