Category: Orthodoxy in the Americas
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Fr Thomas Hopko on Fr Seraphim Rose
If ever a human being lived on this earth who sought God with his whole heart, whatever sins or errors he may have had—and as the Orthodox requiem service says, there is no man…
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Remembering Metropolitan Dimitrios Couchell
This morning, February 19, 2026, Metropolitan Dimitrios Couchell reposed. Although comparatively few know his name, he was, in fact, one of the greatest men in the history of Greek Orthodoxy in America. This past…
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The Other American Orthodox Saints: A Pilgrim’s Guide
NOTE: I have continually updated this article as I have received more information or had new thoughts occur to me. For Orthodox Christians, what do California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Ohio,…
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When a god visited Congress
In 1934, St John Maximovitch was ordained ROCOR bishop of Shanghai and sent to shepherd the Russian exiles in China. Even before his episcopal ordination, when St John was teaching at the Bitol seminary…
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St Tikhon to Antioch: Set Up Shop in America!
Editor’s note: Last year, Scott Kenworthy (whose landmark biography of St Tikhon comes out in November and is available now for preorder) sent me a remarkable email. He had discovered a letter written by…
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Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical to Greece, and an Orthodox Response
The new Pope of Rome, Leo XIV, has made it clear that he chose his name in honor of his predecessor Leo XIII. This is especially interesting to me as an Orthodox historian, since…
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St Raphael Hawaweeny vs Pope Leo XIII
In 1894, Pope Leo XIII issued a papal encyclical on the “Eastern Rites” — that is, the Uniates, those groups who use traditional Orthodox liturgical rites but submit themselves to the Pope of Rome.…
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A Plea for English in Greek Orthodox Services in 1963
The US Congress imposed immigration quotas in 1924, ending the Ellis Island era of immigration. With no more newcomers, Orthodoxy in America began to assimilate more rapidly into American society, as the children and…
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The Orthodox Baptism of a Civil War Veteran
Last week, we published the story of William Hoskins, an 89-year-old veteran of the American Civil War who traveled from Los Angeles to San Francisco in December 1900 to be baptized into the Orthodox…
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US Civil War Veteran Baptized by St Sebastian Dabovich
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of Orthodox in America had not reached 50,000, but it already had several distinguished converts to the Orthodox Faith from Protestantism and Roman Catholicism: William…