Orthodox History

Today Fr. Andrew was interviewed on his 2007 M.Div. thesis. https://www.youtube.com/live/YxgUzm-5fDs

https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2026/06/24/what-is-the-american-orthodox-catholic-church/

Matthew Namee and Deacon Seraphim Rohlin are about to go live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7AAIScTUL4

This morning, February 19, 2026, Metropolitan Dimitrios Couchell reposed. Although comparatively few know his name, he was, in fact, one of the greatest men in the history of Greek Orthodoxy in America. This past September, I unexpectedly spent some time with Metropolitan Dimitrios. He was an old friend of my father, but he and I had never met. I asked him a bunch of questions about his life, and as soon as I got back to my hotel, I typed up notes from that conversation. This article is largely based on those notes. https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2026/02/19/remembering-metropolitan-dimitrios-couchell/

Matthew here -- Last fall, I was invited onto the Unto Ages podcast, hosted by John Mullins, to talk about the history of Orthodoxy in America. We went on an hour-and-a-half-long sprint through 200+ years of history, and you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0-4J7XBVBE

THE DONATION OF MEHMET: THE MYTH OF ORTHODOXY UNDER THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE The old story goes like this: after conquering Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmet II granted sweeping privileges to Ecumenical Patriarch Gennadios Scholarios, making him civil leader of all Orthodox Christians -- the ethnarch of the “Rum millet.” But the story is a myth, the Ottoman parallel to the medieval “Donation of Constantine.” This article uncovers the real history. https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2025/11/14/the-donation-of-mehmet-the-myth-of-orthodoxy-under-the-ottoman-empire/

Coming Tuesday. https://youtube.com/live/xQ6p3UfSLOA?feature=share

https://youtu.be/es8RNw3vEYw?si=cDiB6aFoMzX7qqsI

THE OTHER AMERICAN ORTHODOX SAINTS by Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick For Orthodox Christians, what do Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have in common? They all have major relics of Orthodox saints that American Orthodox Christians largely don’t seem to know about. There are currently seven major shrines of canonized Orthodox saints commonly known about in the United States and housed at Orthodox churches. But what most Orthodox Christians in America likely don’t know is that there are at least twelve other Orthodox saints whose major relics are also present in America. And the reason they probably don’t know about them is that they are in Roman Catholic churches. Just to be clear here, I am not talking about the many thousands (probably millions) of relic particles that exist all over the United States, nor even of various bones or large fragments one can find. I am speaking of either whole skeletons or significant body parts like a skull or hand, the kind of relic that is traditionally enshrined and made a place of pilgrimage. Until recently, I had no idea about this myself, but while I was having dinner recently with two of the monks from Holy Cross Monastery (Wayne, West Virginia), one of them told me about an American Orthodox saint no one seemed to know about. He told me that her full relics were in Ohio. I couldn’t believe it! So that started me down the research path. And I couldn’t believe what I discovered. Since it’s so astonishing, I’m sharing it here with you. FULL ARTICLE: https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2025/08/07/the-other-american-orthodox-saints-a-pilgrims-guide/

Matthew's talk on St Tikhon in America for the Russian History Museum at Jordanville is now up on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UvCI4vhCOw

Matthew Namee is giving a free online lecture on St Tikhon at 1 pm Eastern on Saturday (today, for many of you when you see this) for Jordanville’s Russian History Museum. Come join us! Details and registration here: https://www.russianhistorymuseum.org/event/saint-tikhon/

This anecdote about St John Maximovitch was just sent out in the email newsletter for his cathedral in San Francisco.

WHEN A GOD VISITED CONGRESS In 1949, St John Maximovitch came to America to lobby the US government on behalf of his Shanghai flock, who were living in exile on a remote island in the Philippines. The great wonderworker testified before a Senate subcommittee and worked closely with Senator William Knowland of California, ultimately succeeding in getting approval for his flock to come to America as refugees. Read about it here: https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2025/07/02/when-a-god-visited-congress/

NON-FASTING BETWEEN PASCHA AND ASCENSION In 1997, the Holy Synod of Antioch declared that "the Orthodox faithful do not have to fast between Pascha and Ascension," and to this day, Antioch is the only Orthodox Church that doesn't fast on Wednesdays and Fridays during the post-Bright Week Paschal season. This may seem like a recent innovation, but it has notable historical precedent in the pre-schism Orthodox West. Read all about that here: https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2025/06/30/non-fasting-between-pascha-and-ascension/

NEW TRANSLATION: SAINT RAPHAEL AGAINST THE PAPACY The pontificate of Leo XIII (1878-1903) was marked by a flurry of encyclicals addressing the Christian East, which naturally received a great variety of Orthodox responses. Here on Orthodox History we have already published a response to Urbanitatis Veteris published by the official journal of the Russian Orthodox in America in 1901, and a response to Orientalium Dignitas, written by St Raphael Hawaweeny in 1898. We now present a translation from Arabic of St Raphael’s lengthy response to Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, which he wrote in 1904, at the end of his time in Russia as a professor at the Kazan Theological Academy, shortly before he left for America. https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2025/06/12/st-raphael-against-the-papacy/

CHINESE ORTHODOX MARTYRS: A FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE BOXER REBELLION "The fate of these martyrs was horrible: they were disemboweled, beheaded, burned in their houses. The search for Christians and the massacres continued through all the succeeding days of the mutiny. After their dwellings had been destroyed, they were taken outside the city gates into the Boxers’ heathen temples, and there they were subjected to an interrogatory, then burned alive at the stake. We have it from eye-witnesses, heathens themselves, that many of the Orthodox Chinese met death with wonderful courage." Today, the feast of the new martyrs, we've published a firsthand account of their martyrdom, which previously appeared in St Alexander Hotovitzky's magazine in 1901. Click here to read their story: https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2025/06/11/chinese-orthodox-martyrs/

ST TIKHON TO ANTIOCH: SET UP SHOP IN AMERICA! In 1922, St Tikhon, the Patriarch of Moscow, wrote a remarkable letter to Patriarch Gregory of Antioch, saying that, under the circumstances of chaos and division in the Orthodox Church in North America, the best solution for the Orthodox Syrians in America was for them to go under the Patriarchate of Antioch along with “other branches of the Orthodox Church in North America" that were joining their own churches to whom they had a "natural subordination." Read all about it here: https://www.orthodoxhistory.org/2025/06/03/st-tikhon-to-antioch-set-up-shop-in-america/

A photo of St. Sebastian Dabovich from his 1921 passport application.