Source: Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick The Orthodox Studies Institute’s Matthew Namee and Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin join Fr. Andrew to talk about statistical trends in Orthodox Christianity in America and speculate about how they might play out in the coming decades.
Browsing: Governance & Unity Commentary
Child of Governance
Source: Frederica’s World Eighteen years later, what’s changed? Frederica Mathewes-Green Originally published November 25, 2025 Inside the OrthoSphere, everyone’s talking about Ruth Graham’s New York Times article about the influx of converts—particularly men—into American Orthodoxy. Funnily enough, I wrote an article about this very thing eighteen years ago. It was a surprising phenomenon, back then, that the majority of converts were young men. These guys were just showing up at the doors of Orthodox churches, usually after a lot of independent study. (There’s a saying: “Why did he become Orthodox?” “He read too much.”) Back then the predominance of male inquirers really stood…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA The tensions between the Armenian Apostolic Church – Etchmiadzin Catholicosate (“AAC”), headed by Catholicos Karekin II, and the Armenian government, headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, have continued to increase with each side taking stronger actions. Most recently, the increased tensions have related to the status of Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, one of the ten bishops of AAC who, together with the Prime Minister, signed on January 4 a document which urged the retirement of Catholicos Karekin II and which created a Coordinating Council to reform the AAC. https://www.panorama.am/am/news/2026/01/05/%D5%93%D5%A1%D5%B7%D5%AB%D5%B6%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%B6-%D5%B0%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%B8%D6%82%D5%A9%D5%B5%D5%B8%D6%82%D5%B6/3148925. The confrontations relating to Saroyan began on January 10, when…
Source: Faith Encouraged My thoughts on Minneapolis and the Immigration Crisis hopefully informed by my Orthodox faith. Fr. Barnabas Powell The images from Minneapolis are jarring. ICE agents confronting protesters. Violence erupts in the streets. Cities declaring themselves “sanctuaries” that decide that Federal law is none of their business. Political leaders on both sides are manufacturing outrage for their respective bases. And somewhere in the chaos, actual human beings—immigrants, citizens, law enforcement officers—caught in the grinding machinery of our broken discourse. And because of this, people are dying. The Reality We Must Face Let me say plainly what should be…
Source: St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary CLICK HERE to view or download the issue This issue is devoted to the Orthodox Social Ethos document “For the Life of the World.” We are happy for comments and perspectives. Please send them to gayle.woloschak@gmail.com.
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Source: Church Roadmap Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I have not communicated with you for the past three years because I have been deeply immersed in doctoral church research with a singular focus on identifying how to help parishes thrive and not merely survive. I emerge from that research with a clear conclusion: Your parish’s root cause challenges are solvable. If your parish has a clear long-term vision and plan, achieved complete financial stewardship independence from festivals & fundraisers, and if you have abundant ministries and volunteers, well-trained leadership, and growing sacramental and liturgical participation – Glory to God!…
Source: Orthodox Church in America Reflections in Christ by Fr. Alexander Schmemann About the Author Protobresbyter Alexander Schmemann (1921-1983) was born in Estonia to Russian émigrés. As a child he moved to PaFrance. He taught for a time in Paris, and came to America in 1951 to teach at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. He was dean of the seminary from 1962 until his death in 1983. An Urgent Issue No one would deny that the clergy-laity issue in our church here in America is both an urgent and confused one. It is urgent because the progress of the church…
Source: Orthodox Observer By Fr. Alexander Karloutsos This has been a historic week for the Roman Catholic Church in New York. On Thursday, December 18, 2025, the Vatican announced a major leadership transition that marks the end of an era and a significant shift in the church’s direction. Pope Leo XIV officially accepted the resignation of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has served as the Archbishop of New York since 2009. Cardinal Dolan turned 75 in February 2025, the mandatory age for Catholic bishops to submit their retirement letter. Despite his “larger-than-life” personality and a legacy spanning 16 years of influential leadership in…
Source: Union of Orthodox Journalists Since the controversial 2018 “unification” council in Ukraine, Fr. Yaroslav Yasenets has served as a priest in the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.” Recently, he left that structure citing a number of systemic issues which could perhaps be summarized as a prioritization of state loyalty over faith in Christ and adherence to Orthodoxy. In this UOJ-USA Exclusive, Fr. Yaroslav gives us an insider’s look at the state of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” its capture by the state and foreign actors, its crumbling relations with Istanbul, and how its clergy—and chaplains—weaponize state resources against the Ukrainian…
Source: Orthodox History by Samuel Noble Kinsman and successor of Dositheus Notaras, the patriarch of Jerusalem Chrysanthus Notaras (1707-1731) was one of the most erudite Greeks of his time. Educated in Padua and Paris, he wrote works of theology, history, geography and the natural sciences, traveled as far afield as Moscow and Georgia, and maintained correspondences with both Western and Ottoman scholars (the latter, in Turkish). In his Syntagmation, published in Wallachia in 1715, he gives an organizational and geographical description of the entire Orthodox world of his time, enumerating the dioceses and structures of the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem…
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