Matthew Namee

Matthew Namee serves as editor of OrthodoxHistory.org. He specializes in the history of Orthodoxy in America from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries. He's written a lot about church history, both at this website and elsewhere, and he's spoken at numerous conferences and events. Matthew is the former research assistant to Bill James, the legendary baseball author and Boston Red Sox executive. He went on to earn a J.D. from the University of Kansas and serves as General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer for Orthodox Ministry Services. He and his wife Catherine and their children attend Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in Vancouver, WA. Matthew can be contacted at mfnamee [at] gmail [dot] com.

mfnamee@gmail.com

An Early English Life of St Herman of Alaska

The article that follows is, as far as I know, the first English-language life of St Herman of Alaska. It originally appeared under the title “Herman — Russian Missionary to America,” in a publication called The Constructive Quarterly 7:1 (March 1919). The author, Vera Johnston, was the Russian-born wife of an Englishman,...

How Many Orthodox Christians Are in America?

A quick bit of self-promotion: In January, I'll be teaching a live, 4-week course on American Orthodox History for the Orthodox Studies Institute at Saint Constantine College. I hope many of you can join me -- you can learn more and register for the course by clicking here.   Lately,...

New Class: American Orthodox History

Hey everyone - I've been writing and talking about American Orthodox history for a long time. We started OrthodoxHistory.org way back in 2009, and earlier this year I published my first book, Lost Histories, on the early years of Orthodoxy in America. Today I'm excited to announce that I'll be teaching...

Father Alex and the Mother Church

This is the third in a series of articles based on my interviews with Fr Alex Karloutsos. You can read the first two articles here: The Father Alex Karloutsos Origin Story Karloutsos and the Rise of Bartholomew The last article ended with the election of Patriarch Bartholomew and Fr Karloutsos’s...

Karloutsos and the Rise of Bartholomew

Earlier this year, I conducted a series of interviews with Fr Alex Karloutsos, and last week, I published my first article based on those interviews, chronicling his rise from relative obscurity to the highest echelons of power in America. Today, I will continue this series based on Fr Karloutsos’s memories,...

The Father Alex Karloutsos Origin Story

Father Alex Karloutsos may be the most influential Orthodox priest in modern history. He has spent time in every Oval Office going back to Jimmy Carter, culminating in a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Joe Biden. His connections are extraordinary – the presidents, of course, and every patriarch you can...

Romania vs Moscow, 1940

Today, relations between the patriarchates of Moscow and Romania are tense: both lay claim to jurisdiction in the Republic of Moldova, which makes up about two-thirds of the historic region known as Bessarabia. The other third of Bessarabia is now in Ukraine, Budjak (Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi). In the Republic of...

The Ecumenical Patriarch Snubbed Vatican I

In 1868, the Roman Catholic Church was making preparations for the first Vatican Council, which would go on to proclaim papal infallibility to be a dogma. Ahead of the council, Pope Pius IX sent invitations to the Orthodox patriarchs, attempting to summon them to participate. Italian newspapers got hold of...

Fifteen Amazing Facts in LOST HISTORIES

As you may have seen, Ancient Faith recently published my book, Lost Histories: The Good, the Bad & the Strange in Early American Orthodoxy. If you like this website, you're the target audience for the book. And while reading it should give you a good handle on the early history of...

St John Maximovitch on the Purpose of the Russian Diaspora

Last week, the World Russian People's Council, chaired by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, issued a document called "The Present and Future of the Russian World." The document contains several problematic ideas. It describes the "Russian World" in this way: "The borders of the Russian world as a spiritual, cultural and...