Something is changing in an otherwise quiet corner of Christianity in the United States, one that prides itself on how little it has changed over time. Priests are swapping stories about record attendance numbers. Older members are adjusting — or not — to the influx of new attendees. Parishes are strategizing about how to accommodate more prospective converts than existing clergy can reasonably handle on their own.
Across the country, the ancient tradition of Orthodox Christianity is attracting energetic new adherents, especially among conservative young men. They are drawn to what they describe as a more demanding, even difficult, practice of Christianity. Echoing some of the rhetoric of the so-called manosphere, new waves of young converts say Orthodoxy offers them hard truths and affirms their masculinity.
“In the whole history of the Orthodox Church in America, this has never been seen,” the Very Rev. Andrew Damick, an Antiochian Orthodox priest and author in Eastern Pennsylvania, said of the large groups of young people showing up at many parishes. “This is new ground for everyone.”
In the United States, Orthodox Christianity is by far the smallest and least-known of the three major branches of Christianity, representing about 1 percent of the population, compared with about 40 percent who are Protestant and 20 percent who are Catholic. Orthodox pews here have historically been occupied by immigrants from Ukraine, Greece and other countries with large Orthodox populations. Their American-born children often drift to other churches.
But a homegrown Orthodox Christianity is strikingly emergent. Many of the young Americans new to the pews have been introduced to Orthodoxy by hard-edge influencers on YouTube and other social media platforms. Critics call the enthusiastic young converts “Orthobros.”
Great, more fascistic nonsense from Gen Z males. At least I can find solace in the fact that Gen Z women overwhelmingly reject this, so they won't be able to procreate.
Ignoring the eugenics bullshit there:
I wouldn't get your hopes up. We saw similar with genx and millennials. Men are shit because they inherently favor toxic male role models*. Think of misogynists like Al Bundy or how much of rap AND country is "I smacked my bitch because she didn't make me dinner". And women, generally, tend to realize they want a better life.
Then life gets in the way and you see a rise in people who just want to check out and become a "trad wife". Stop working, let some asshole get five thrusts in once a week, and MAYBE have kids that you probably want anyway. A friend, who is very much opposed to the idea, HAS half-joked that just updating her linkedin profile makes it seem pretty appealing.
Although the good news is that the high rates of illiteracy make it a lot less likely for most of those broccoli headed shits to have jobs that can support themselves, let alone a family.
*: I've ranted on it before but more than ever I think Yu Yu Hakusho may have saved my life since the entire Dark Tournament/Younger Toguro arc is a weirdly mature takedown of toxic masculinity... from the early 90s.
TIL being a fascist asshole is genetic (??)
Yes, normal people always take their cues about gender politics from 30+ year old Japanese children's media.