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Ahead of our piece Convert crisis?, the Orthodox Observer spoke with Fr. Evagoras Constantinides to gain insight into how Greek Orthodox priests are responding to U.S. Orthodoxy’s influx of converts.
> Read: Convert crisis? Clergy, scholars weigh in on ideological concerns
The New York Times reported that “Orthodox Christians in the United States are younger and more male than many other Christian groups here,” and that many of them are drawn to an ultra-conservative, hyper-masculine vision of the Church. As a priest, what kind of pastoral approach do you feel our leaders should take with such converts? How can/should clergy manage their expectations?
When I sit with these men, I try to remember that most of them are not hunting for a fight in church. They are tired. They feel betrayed by the world they grew up in. They are hungry for clear lines and for a strong word that does not bend every few years. That hunger is real, and the Church can speak to it, but only if we refuse to bless the armor they walked in wearing.
So a healthy pastoral approach begins by slowing them down. I tell them very early that the Church is not a costume and not a brand. If they come in hoping for a “traditional” stamp on their anger, they will feel frustrated, because the closer they come to Christ, the more He will ask for their pride and their contempt. The shape of real Orthodoxy is prayer, repentance, fasting, confession, liturgy, and quiet work for the people around them. The shape is a Cross, not a throne.
We also have to be very clear about certain ideologies. If a man comes with racism, white nationalism, or a settled contempt for women, that is not a side issue. That is a spiritual infection. He needs to hear, from the first meeting, that this has no place in the mind of Christ. The Church can walk with a person who is fighting these sins. The Church cannot allow those sins to set the tone of parish life.
Managing expectations means naming all of this upfront. I tell them, in simple terms, “Orthodoxy will not be your shield in the culture war. If you stay, it will turn you against your own ego first.” That is the key. If they stay after hearing that, then there is hope for real formation. If they leave, at least they did not hear a lie from us.
Most mainstream coverage around Orthodox converts focuses on Russian traditions; as a member of the Greek Orthodox tradition, could you speak to the situation in our tradition? How does our own influx of converts differ, if at all? In your view, has the Greek Orthodox Church in the U.S. offered a different response to converts?
Most stories in the press talk about converts in a very Russian setting. That makes sense. There are high‑profile cases there. But in Greek Orthodox parishes in America, the picture on the ground looks different, even when the same sort of men are walking through the door.
Many of our parishes are built around families, festivals, and long standing community ties. There is a real warmth there. A young man who found Orthodoxy online may come in ready for a war over ideas. Instead he finds yiayiás kissing icons, kids running around after liturgy, and people talking about who is bringing the spanakopita next week. That can shock him. It can also save him. It pulls him out of the internet world and into a flesh and blood church.
At the same time, this “normal” parish life can hide a real gap. A lot of clergy in the Greek Orthodox world were trained to care for people who grew up in the parish and drifted away. They were not always trained for catechizing men who spent ten years in dark corners of the internet before they ever crossed the threshold. We are learning on the job. Some priests move with wisdom. They ask hard questions. They set clear limits. Others feel grateful anyone under forty has walked in, and they rush a man to chrismation without having any idea what he is carrying inside him.
So yes, the influx is different in flavor from the Russian picture that gets the headlines. The Greek‑speaking world has its own temptations. Ethnic pride can take the place of the Gospel. Nostalgia can take the place of repentance. The response has also been different. In many Greek Orthodox parishes there is more instinctive resistance to overt political extremism, simply because aunties and uncles at coffee hour will not play along. But there is also a risk of being naive about how deep some of these ideologies go. That is where we need to grow up fast.
Lastly, why should the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, or the Orthodox tradition more broadly, respond to its influx of converts in a deliberate way? Do you feel the traditions of Orthodoxy are at risk of being distorted or diluted?
Every wave of converts is both a gift and a test. The gift is clear. People are finding Christ in His Church. The test is about our own faithfulness. Do we treat these people as trophies for our numbers, or as souls we will answer for?
The danger I worry about most is not “dilution,” as if the Tradition were something fragile on a shelf. The danger is distortion. When a loud group takes their own ideas and wraps them in icons and cassocks, they may sound “more Orthodox” than the bishop or the parish priest. They use the language of purity, but the center is still their own will. That is very close to what the Church has always called heresy: picking your own way and selling it as the way of the Church.
If we stay passive, if we clap and post photos every time a new group is received, we quietly train our people to think that numbers are the main story. Then we wake up one day and realize that our children think Orthodoxy is a club for angry men with podcasts. That is the point where the traditions of the Church are no longer being passed on. They are being edited and rebranded for a culture war.
A deliberate response means something different. It means bishops and priests taking time with catechumens. It means clear guidelines about hate‑based ideologies. It means forming lay leaders who can walk with new people for years, not months. It means telling the whole parish, “Every conversion is a life we carry now, with fear and with love.”
If we do that, this moment can become a blessing. These young men can lay down their weapons and become humble fathers, chanters, godfathers, and servants in the Church. If we avoid that work, then yes, the risk is real. The words and the vestments will look Orthodox, but something else will be driving the bus. And once that happens, it is very hard to get the wheel back.
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