Internet Orthodoxy: the rise of Modern Orthodox Evangelism

It is no secret that Orthodoxy in America is growing at an unprecedented rate. What has often, and honestly should be referred to shamefully, been called “America’s best kept secret”; Orthodoxy has been presented to the average American who is searching for truth – something that will not change on them or leave them behind – in an age where this is becoming an increasingly difficulty undertaking. The growth, found especially after the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, presented the average American not only an increased amount of free time but also in many case the face-to-face reality of death. Always with the understanding that, chiefly, the growth of the Church has been through the moving of the hearts by the Holy Spirit. Relevant to consider is the rise of Orthodox Christian content on the Internet. “Internet Orthodoxy” has been often been first interaction of Orthodoxy with many inquirers. If you don’t believe me, all you have to do is ask the average inquirer where they first heard about Orthodox Christianity. The answers you may receive will more often times than not include Tiktok, Instagram and Youtube. You will also hear the same Orthodox Christian content creators be referenced as inspirations for coming to the Church. There is even a strange phenomenon of individuals catechizing themselves through these content creators before ever stepping into an Orthodox church!

Often cited by clergy on the ground, parishes have grown to a point of overcapacity. On Orthodox publications such as Orthochristian.com, it is not unusual to see parishes seeking monetary assistance as their existing church spaces have become insufficient to accommodate the crowds. It is becoming increasingly common to hear from clergy that the size of their parish’s congregations have doubled, even tripled or quadrupled in size since 2020. Unfortunately, due to a lack of concrete data which in my opinion needs to be addressed, this growth is hard to quantify. There have been some estimates, but the widely circulated 6 million Orthodox Christians in the United States has been largely refuted by Clergy and Hierarchs alike and the number more realistically is pointing towards 1% to 1.5% of the population in the United States according to the Pew Research Center, ranging from 1.6 million to 2.6 million Orthodox Christians. As discussed above, this number is only growing and has continued to do so in a dramatic fashion since 2020.

It would be wrong to not point out some negatives in the rise of inquirers coming from the Internet. Some Orthodox content creators, including clergy, have become controversial and sources of scandal among the Faithful. This is evident in the fact of having prompted actions of regulations concerning social media usage such as the publication of ROCOR’s recent social media policy. I personally also find it unfortunate that there is often an intermingling of content that is, at a minimum, alien to the Church within the same channel. This can give inquirers the wrong impression of how the Church thinks about X and Y issue, if the Church even has a stance on such opinions at all. This results in an increasing growing problem of some arriving to the Church for the wrong reasons, and yes I would propose that there very much are wrong reasons for entering the Church. I also hold the opinion that Orthodox Christian content should be created by baptized and/or chrismated Orthodox Christians. I knew personally an individual, who will not be named, who was very zealous and loved the Lord, yet was actively creating Orthodox Christian content on social media having just recently became a Catechumen, a time which of which should be of deep silence, reflection, and prayer! There is in fact another very popular Orthodox YouTube channel that is ran by a Catechumen, and yet another even more popular Orthodox YouTube channel ran by a confessed Roman Catholic who has officially announced they will not be converting to Orthodoxy. Point being, it is very easy to be mislead in this space and there are content creators that probably should not be creating content, probably your own brother in Christ included as I am no greater than any of these individuals but I digress.

In the age of the Internet, there has been a rise of Modern Orthodox Evangelism. In the words of Fr. Thomas Hopko of blessed memory, what are we to do? In recent history, Orthodox Christians have been very neglectful of Matthew 28 and mission. Archbishop Anastasios of Albania of blessed memory was one of our greatest heroes in this century when it came to evangelism, and he certainly employed the technology of his time to help achieve this such as Radio Ngjallja. I find it often the case that content creation with oversight is key as what we publish is not just a reflection of us but the Church whether we intend this or not. The words of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas underscore this by saying “Uphold the spirit of our Church online: Bear in mind that any word spoken by a priest on social media is viewed by the world as the position of the entire Church, and thus demands a heightened sense of Christian responsibility.”, naturally this statement extends not only to the clergy but to the laity as well. Let us be mindful of what we post and interact with on social media. Contrary to opinion of some YouTube comments, not everyone that isn’t Orthodox is a heretic. Not every comment we see on Facebook or X should be addressed, even if directed at us. Let us remember the words of St. Paul in Romans 12, especially calling to remembrance his exhortations “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” and “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Internet Orthodoxy may get people in the door, but let us remember that our actions as the Faithful helps keep them in the Church, let us be keepers of one another! Let us be mindful in our interactions and content published online and the content we decide to consume. There is a certainly a place for the Internet to be used in Orthodox evangelization, the new faces we meet every trapeza is evidence of this. I know some may disagree, but we must reach out in any way we can to those of us who are earnestly seeking after the True Faith, those of whom who without interacting with Orthodoxy on the internet may have never had the chance of discovering it. Let us not discourage those who discover our Faith through these means, rather let us cultivate them, love them, and show them Christ through our interactions.

May God help us in our Orthodox pursuit,

Your brother in Christ,

J.