Orthodox Christianity encounters the South
A parishioner was recently telling me that though she has been Orthodox for 30 years, still to this day her family doesn’t believe that she’s saved or even a Christian. It’s difficult to encounter the South as Orthodox. We’re accused of a lot of things: worshiping Mary, idolatry (because of the iconography), being works-based, too much ritual, putting our emphasis on “manmade traditions.” Inquirers have to rethink and reorient themselves if they become Orthodox in this culture. It’s a learning experience.
The old-time Bible Belt culture has frayed though. It’s still a reality in some parts of the South, but Memphis is an urban community and in Memphis, religious commitment has gone out the window. There’s absolutely no sacred time. A lot of people see Sunday mornings as just another day. Sunday morning youth soccer games and other Sunday activities are common. We have a young daughter and we’ve been surprised at how many birthday party invitations we get for her, for Sunday mornings.
I’ve never seen my priest father angrier than when I was playing baseball in the seventh grade, and the bishop was coming to town. I told my coach that I was going to miss the game because the bishop was going to be there and I needed to be at our church. The coach proceeded to tell me I needed to get my priorities straight, and I needed to be at the game (and this wasn’t even school baseball, it was just a local league). My dad is very calm—never explodes—but he left our car and walked over to the coach and yelled at him.
Here in our midtown area from where I’m sitting, I can nearly see lovely old church buildings. A large, beautiful Presbyterian church was recently sold to the local college and their 100-year-old community now meets in a storefront. The Methodist church literally within two blocks of us had been meeting in another beautiful 100-year-old building, and they have sold it and now meet in their fellowship hall across the street because they couldn’t afford to keep the lights on.
I’ve been with local pastors discussing how things are going after COVID. They say “…just like everybody else, our attendance is down,” and I tell them, “Well, not us, actually we’re seeing more people than we ever have before.” In midtown Memphis, we’re the only church that is experiencing any sort of growth and continuous life. One church two blocks away from here is merging with another community so they’ll be leaving that building, just to survive. It’s an interesting landscape.
The post-COVID growth in Orthodox parishes
I think during COVID there was a general sense of people saying, “If I can do church at home, then what is the purpose of church?” and they started rethinking what church means. Also, one of the positive things about COVID was that we started live-streaming and people sitting at home could find our services, and at the same time related Orthodox videos were popping up. As a priest, it was so interesting to me that when inquirers set foot in the door, they had already watched our services and their questions were different and further along than a pre-COVID inquirer. Today’s inquirer has watched a month of services and they have questions that are more involved because they’ve already experienced the Church virtually.
People in the South usually have some sort of church background, but today we find they often were never baptized (that happens later in Protestant culture), or they started out attending a church but by the time they were 8 or 9 years old, their families stopped going. They might have some background but not much. It’s a different type of person; they have less experience with even what it means to be a basic Christian of any kind. In some ways, it’s nice because there is less baggage to have to take out from their backpack—less reprogramming that has to take place.
A baptism at St John Orthodox Church, Memphis, TN
Today’s inquirers have cultural questions
They’ve usually done more research and have more information, so instead of asking what’s the difference between Baptist and Orthodox, they are talking to me about Islam, Buddhism, and other religions. There are also people who want to talk about social and cultural issues rather than the Faith. Rather than doctrinal questions or questions about who Jesus is, they bring up LGBTQ topics, for instance.
This presents challenges. Some of the major places where people find information online present the Church in a way that suggests that cultural issues are at the heart of everything. In order to be Orthodox, you have to fill in the blank: homeschool, think or vote a certain way about social and cultural issues, and dress a certain way. These sites push what I call an “anti-world view” rather than a “pro-Christ worldview.”
While it’s exciting to be in this time where Orthodoxy is growing and there is a surge of people coming to the Church, my concern is to keep people in the Faith, especially if they’re coming because of a rejection and flight from the world rather than a love for Christ.
We are called to be all things to all men, that by all means we may save some. We still need to be in the midst of the world so that people can see the Light of Christ and then He can draw people to that Light. We need to encourage strong mentorship and discipleship for our zealous, idealistic newcomers so that they can grow up to greater maturity in Christ.
And a cautionary note: even some of the better videos don’t often say, “The best place to go for your questions is to your local parish, your local priest.”
On the experience of seminary: did it make a difference?
The biggest benefit during those years was the life in community. That’s one thing I love about our church here, it’s very much a loving community. Our center focus is worship but we also will randomly have pizza night, cookouts, sports teams, and gatherings with no service connected to them.
At seminary, you’re thrown in with these like-minded people, and the center focus is the liturgical life of the Church: matins and vespers every day, a fullness of the liturgical cycle that you’ll never do again. But the community aspect is truly outstanding. You are interacting with people and you begin to see the nuances in Orthodox Christianity. Overnight you’re thrown in with a tremendously diverse group of people: those of Romanian backgrounds, Coptic backgrounds, people from Greek and Russian families, as well as many converts.
Until I went to SVOTS I didn’t have a concept of what a cradle Orthodox mentality even was, and while I was there I learned to appreciate that in an important way. There are many beautiful influences and cultures within Orthodoxy but unless you know people from those backgrounds, you have no idea of the holiness and beauty of them.
The life in community also helps you to be able to get angry with people and then work it out. These are your neighbors, you literally live next door to a person who made an asinine comment—or I made an asinine comment—and I need to go repent of that and work it out.
You can have disagreements and still love each other. When you see each other every day at seminary, you can witness to the love and forgiveness of Christ in a much more deep and profound way.
Conflict resolution is a critical skill for a priest. Just because a parishioner has a different opinion than mine, that doesn’t matter: the Church has room for so many different opinions and we have to remember that. There is room for different perspectives in the Church as long as those perspectives don’t contradict the dogmas and teachings of the Church.
The relationships formed at St Vladimir’s are ongoing. I continue to draw on seminary by following my classmates’ progress and their ministries. Each of our parishes is profoundly different from each other and yet there is so much beauty being manifested in them. My closest friends are the guys I graduated seminary with and I’m thankful that I’m able to see them at times and share our experiences. We keep up with each other, we call each other.
That is invaluable to me. We had the lived experience at seminary and now we share the after-seminary clerical life together by helping each other, keeping each other accountable, and even venting a little bit. In these guys, I have people who can call me on my words and actions if I say or do something wrong. Those three years of community life together built a sustained foundation of trust. Needless to say, I’m a strong proponent of continuing the physical presence of the seminary.
Palm Sunday at St John Orthodox Church, Memphis, TN
