During the COVID-19 pandemic, many American churches transitioned to online services, yet Orthodox Christians largely resisted this shift. Their traditional liturgy, which includes physical rituals such as processions, incense, and shared Communion, continued in person for almost half of U.S. Orthodox Christians, according to a recent study by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

Orthodox Churches’ Reluctance to Embrace Virtual Worship

The study revealed that by spring 2023, only 53% of Orthodox churches offered remote worship options, compared to 75% of all U.S. congregations. This limited adoption of virtual services led to a significant drop in Orthodox church participation during the pandemic’s peak in 2021. Despite this, Orthodox churches rebounded in in-person attendance by spring 2023, contrasting with other U.S. congregations that remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Mixed Outcomes from Pandemic Practices

The Orthodox response to the pandemic has yielded mixed results. While some churches saw a decline in volunteer participation, others experienced growth in membership and attendance, particularly among parishes that stayed open for in-person worship. The study found that 15% of the members of a median Orthodox parish were newcomers post-pandemic, a higher rate than other U.S. congregations.

However, the growth is uneven across jurisdictions, with conservative groups like the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) seeing the most significant gains. This influx has created both opportunities and challenges, especially as some parishes grapple with ideological divisions within their growing communities.

Rev. Luke Veronis of Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Webster, Massachusetts:

“One of the real challenges we in the Orthodox Church are going to have is we have a lot of people coming into our church now, especially young men,” he said. While expressing gratitude for the men who have found his parish, he added, “I would be afraid if some of these men went to some other Orthodox churches, where the priests themselves have given in to these ideological wars and these priests would just feed into what these men are already looking for, the right-wing, extreme craziness.”

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Orthodox churches boomed during pandemic, study finds, but calls growth ‘mixed bag’

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