By the Numbers: Orthodoxy in America
According to a recent poll by the very reputable Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Orthodox Christians make up only 0.6% of the population in the United States.
religions.pewforum.org/affiliations
This has to be significant in some way, especially when most Orthodox trace their roots to countries that are overwhelmingly Orthodox. Does it make a difference? Should it? How?
Most Orthodox especially in unpopulated areas are left to fend for themselves.
The loss of membership to the Orthodox Church must be great.
Is there a way to practice the faith in the desert alone with no support?
It is extremely difficult to practice the faith in isolation. Of course, we have the examples of the desert fathers and, even today, monks on the Holy Mountain of Athos, for example, who go to live in obscurity in a cave somewhere. But such cases almost always happen after the Christian in question has been formed by living in the tradition for many years and has reached a certain spiritual state. This is completely different from our situation in the US, where some Orthodox living in underpopulated have not had the benefit of *any* community life at all — no participation in the mysteries of the Church, no catechism, no spiritual father, no living examples of the faith whom a child can learn to emulate.
Historically, what often seems to happen in these situations – not just to Orthodox, but to any minority religious group – is that those of the minority tend to convert to a more mainstream group. Under the Ottoman domination, the Orthodox resisted this a great deal, even offering many new martyrs, who preferred to die rather than abandon the truth that had been preserved and handed down to them by their fathers and mothers. But again the situation in the US is different. In the US, the majority religion is some version of Christianity, which makes it more seductive to Orthodox living in isolation than something completely foreign like Islam. As the poster above noted, this must lead to a significant loss for the Church.
I think it might also be worthwhile to mention that one can establish a relationship with a spiritual father via long distance communication using telephone conversations or email. Through this relationship, one can receive important guidance from a spiritual director. Such a director can provide the Christian with a prayer rule and answer questions that arise in the spiritual life as it is lived. Periodically, as much as it is possible, it would then be important for one to travel to an Orthodox Church to confess and receive the Gifts. Although it is ideal to be mere walking distance from a church, that is not alway possible. In the ancient desert monasteries of the Thebaid, monastics would depart into the desert during Great Lent after Forgiveness Sunday and only return to their monastery six weeks later for Holy Week and Pascha. Again, this is not ideal, but God comes to meet us even if we can only take one step closer to Him.
This is most interesting Fr. Edwards. We face a smiliar situation in my country – we are far away from a priest and yet we muct meet. Not that many ethnic Orthodox seem to want to meet up for Typika though – only the converts tend to show up. Should we not make the most of what we have instead of hoping for what is not always avaiable?
The situation you describe, Nathaniel, sounds not unlike the situation in some rural parts of the United States in which the nearest parish and priest are several hours away, yet a small group of believers has developed that wishes to start a mission. In these cases, as Fr. Dn. Daniel mentioned above, we can try to establish a long-distance relationship with a spiritual father and travel to the nearest parish as often as time allows. But, as you say, the important thing is to make the most of what we have and not become disillusioned or frustrated by our situation. We pray for your community and all such missionary communities! May the Lord grant you what you need!
Father bless—
If you note, the margin of error is also 0.6%, so there may actually be none of us here … or 3,600,000 of us! (1% = 3,000,000.) What that also means is that most of Pew’s figures on the linked page are relatively meaningless, statistically speaking. Pew is relatively reputable, but it’s hard to do accurate survey statistics regarding relatively small groups in a sample, i.e., a country, as big as the U.S., beyond say All Catholics, and the main 2 or 3 Protestant branches, such as they do there. One problem I can think of is that we small groups are so hit-and-miss, that one day the pollster can hit the jackpot with us, and another day not find a one of us; even if he splits the difference, is that going to be accurate? Who knows? Exactly.
With all the bytes spilled on the WWW arguing over purported/claimed Orthodox numbers, it’d be really helpful if the Census Bureau felt free to ask a religious question as they occasionally used to. Then again, the numbers might get skewed by smart-alecks writing down “Jedi” as I read recently happened in Australia, by way of protest against the government even asking!
Dear Peter,
The blessing of the Lord! Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I take your point about statistical significance, but even if we are 3,600,000 (or more), that number is still (relatively) quite small, so the overarching question remains the same.
I notice that we’ve had discussion here of some of the difficulties of being a minority group, but what about the opportunities it presents?