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NEWS and NOTES
Vol. II, No. 2
Eastern Orthodoxy in the United States
Relatively little is known about the various Eastern Orthodox religious groups in the United States. A recent research project by Alexei Krindatch (Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute) sheds new light on 22 major Orthodox (Eastern Christian) Churches in the USA.
Krindatch found these Churches have a total membership of 1,200,000 adherents gathered in 2,400 local parishes. This figure is considerably smaller than the commonly accepted estimations, which range as high as over four million. The greatest disproportions between "claimed" and actual memberships were found in the two largest Orthodox jurisdictions - the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese which typically claims 1,954,500* members versus 440,000 adherents found in this research and the Orthodox Church in America which claims 1,000,000* versus 115,000 adherents identified in this research.
Read more about the other interesting findings from this study (including rates of growth, assimilation factors, and organizational characteristics) at a new section on this web site.
*membership figures are from the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, National Council of Churches, 2000.
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