Programming Note

My apologies for the lack of new material lately. All of us at SOCHA have been busy with various projects and obligations (to say nothing of our families and parishes). Personally, I am devoting a lot of my energy to my paper on Orthodoxy in the U.S. civil courts, which...

Atlas Excerpt #3: The First Two Convert Priests

Recently, Holy Cross Orthodox Press published the Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches, edited by Alexei D. Krindatch. I contributed several pieces to the Atlas, including the article “Ten Interesting Facts About the History of Orthodox Christianity in the USA.” With Alexei’s permission, we’ll publish excerpts from that article over...

Notes on an Ethiopian Orthodox court case

Right now, I'm fully immersed in work on my big paper on Orthodoxy and the civil courts. I just thought I'd offer some notes on a case I just read, Kidist Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church, Inc. v. Kidist Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church, Inc., a 1995 Georgia Court of...

Yet Another Priest is Taken to Court

In the middle of the twentieth century, Fr. Boris Burden (+1973) played important roles in American Orthodoxy.  It was he and Fr. Michael Gelsinger who rallied behind the attempt in the late 20s and early 30s to unite Orthodoxy and they were the key players, together with George E. Phillies...

Atlas Excerpt #2: Agapius Honcharenko

Recently, Holy Cross Orthodox Press published the Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches, edited by Alexei D. Krindatch. I contributed several pieces to the Atlas, including the article “Ten Interesting Facts About the History of Orthodox Christianity in the USA.” With Alexei’s permission, we’ll publish excerpts from that article over...

SOCHA Newsletter, Issue #1 (July 15, 2011)

A few weeks ago, I tested a new OH.org feature, "Friday Links." The response was generally positive, but the idea has evolved a bit since then. Instead of merely posting links on each (or every other) Friday, we're going to begin offering a SOCHA newsletter. At the outset, I'm planning...

New podcast up at Ancient Faith Radio

After a hiatus of more than a year, I've finally added a new American Orthodox History episode over at Ancient Faith Radio. It's actually the audio of a talk I gave last July at the Greek Archdiocese Clergy-Laity Congress in Atlanta, but I just recently got around to sending it to...

Metropolia beats Moscow in court

In the Supreme Court cases Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral and its successor Kreshik v. St. Nicholas Cathedral, the highest court in the country ruled against the Metropolia and in favor of the Moscow Patriarchate in a dispute over church property. But Moscow didn't win all the time. The 1962...

Atlas Excerpt #1: Orthodoxy in Colonial Virginia

Recently, Holy Cross Orthodox Press published the Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches, edited by Alexei D. Krindatch. I contributed several pieces to the Atlas, including the article "Ten Interesting Facts About the History of Orthodox Christianity in the USA." With Alexei's permission, we'll publish excerpts from that article over...

Five court cases

Sorry for the long delay between articles... I've been terribly busy, I'm afraid. Here are notes on five of the many, many Orthodox court cases I've been researching lately. These cases fit broadly into the category of "deference," where the courts tend to defer to the higher church authorities (bishop,...