Orthodoxy tends to stay out of the news. Recent growth in converts to Orthodox have got some notice this week in the NY Post article Young men leaving traditional churches for ‘masculine’ Orthodox Christianity in droves.
In Droves?
It is true that there is an uptick in the number of people being received into the Orthodox church. And many of them are young men. My own Catechumen class has thirteen Catechumens. Eight of them are going to be received into the church at Epiphany (in January) after a year in the Catechumen process. Some of them are converts from Protestantism. At least one is an older man who has been married to an Orthodox Church member and has been around the church for twenty years but just never went through the Catechesis process. Our previous priest didn’t have an intentional process in place to receive members. Our new priest is by the book.
Internet Influencers
A lot of us, myself included, increasingly lead our lives on-line. We meet people there who are like us and people who are different than us. Some of these people have an interest in the Christian faith and has led to some interaction with Orthodox online often for the first time. There are some solid Orthodox apologists on X and other places. They are able to defend the Orthodox faith, and their opponents are usually unable to answer them due to a lack of experience with the Orthodox. They tend to get viewed as Catholics, but the anti-Catholic arguments don’t stick with the Orthodox because the Orthodox agree with many of the critiques of the Roman Church.
Other Media Outreach
Some of this is due to the ministry of Father Josiah [Trenham].
Is Orthodoxy Based?
Orthodoxy holds to traditional value in marriage and families. This is not a particularly popular thing and the Orthodox Church does attract people who want a traditional life.
Orthodox Churches have male priests only and the hierarchy of the Church is male. The NY Post article notes that much of the Protestant Church has a female energy to it. I think this is generally accurate and can be seen in church attendance. Protestant Churches have more men than women with wives often attending church alone and the number of scandals that come out of this are many.
However, this is not to be seen as a hatred of women. The Orthodox Church has a very high place for Mary, the Theotokos (God-Bearer in Greek). The Theotokos is seen at the top of the typical church building above the altar and has a prominent place. Many of the prayers of the church are to the Theotokos asking her to intercede with her Son on our behalf. But the Church sees the Theotokos in the correct position below Christ as we all are.
All in all, the article is worth reading.
Leave a Reply