Sunday, January 09, 2011

New converts flocking to an ancient church

Like many of his parishioners, Father Richard Petranek came to the Orthodox church in search of the past.

After 30 years as an Episcopalian priest, Petranek converted to the Antiochian Orthodox Church and leads a new but growing parish in west Houston, filled almost entirely with converts to the ancient faith.

"Most people come for the stability," he said. "The same thing that is taught today in the Orthodox church was taught 500 years ago, was taught 1,000 years ago, was taught 1,500 years ago."

At a time when most mainline Christian churches are losing members, Eastern Orthodox churches — which trace their beliefs to the church described in the New Testament - are growing, both in Houston and across the United States.

The numbers are still small: the 2010 U.S. Orthodox census estimates there are about 32,000 active Orthodox churchgoers in Texas and just more than 1 million nationally, although other estimates are higher. But the number of U.S. Orthodox parishes grew 16 percent over the past decade.

In Houston and its suburbs, the growth has been more dramatic, fueled by immigration from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere, along with an increasing number of converts.

The Orthodox tradition includes Greek Orthodox, Antiochian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox and the Orthodox Church in America, among others.

"We were amazed the church still existed, and it had never changed," said Lana Jobe, who with her husband, Lloyd, left a Baptist church to join Petranek at St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church four years ago. "That was so important to us."
Read the rest here.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Typical statements by people who never read any history of the Church.

Matushka Anna said...

Are you a troll, Anonymous?

I think you need to rethink your ASSumptions.

Ingemar said...

Well, Matushka, I was half expecting John to make a remark about how these half-catechized newbies are gonna be fresh meat for Met. Philip to devour.

The Anti-Gnostic said...

I commented on this on my blog. Reading the statements in the article, I'm concerned that these people are just washing in with the tide, thinking they are now in the right denomination. The truth is that they were not in the Church, and now they are in the Church.

When they see the human side of the Church, with its bickering laity, corrupt hierarchs, incompetent priests, then they wash back out with the next tide.

Anonymous said...

MaTUSHka,

Perhaps you need to get off yours.

Matushka Anna said...

Get off my assumptions? Get off my chair?

What on earth are you talking about? At least try to make sense when you attempt to insult someone. I could also quote C.D. Bales in "Roxanne" and say, "Is that the best you can do?"

Stick to the topic at hand and stop making bad-tempered assertions. And if you allege something, back it up.

John (Ad Orientem) said...

Anonymous (the obnoxious one),
Do you have something constructive to add to this conversation? While I am OK with differing views, I am not OK with trolls. And while we are on the subject of trolls, kindly take a look at the guidelines for commenting which I have linked in the sidebar. Anonymous comments are tolerated, but I really am not wild about them. And attacking someone by name while hiding behind a screen of anonymity is frankly rather cowardly. If you do not wish to see your future comments deleted I suggest you think before clicking the "post comment" button.

In ICXC
John