2010 Census of US Orthodox Churches

By Alexei Krindatch

The data is now available from the 2010 US Orthodox Christian Census which was completed as a part of the national “Religious Congregations and Membership Study 2010” (for more information on “RCMS 2010” study go to www.rcms2010.org).

Below are some highlights from the Census results. For more information, additional data and any questions regarding 2010 US Orthodox Christian Census, contact principal researcher: Alexei Krindatch at akrindatch@aol.com.

What is the US National Orthodox Census and what it tells us about?

The 2010 US Orthodox Christian Census provides information on:

• parishes and monastic communities in American Orthodox Christian Churches including the so-called Oriental Orthodox Christian Churches (see full list of participating churches in Tab.1);
• Church “adherents” - the most inclusive category of church membership which includes children and anyone participating even occasionally in church life;
• Church “regular attendees” - the persons attending church on the regular basis.

Data on adherents and regular attendees are available for each local Orthodox parish (congregation), each national American Orthodox Christian Church and for each geographic area and each county of the USA.

Why is this National Orthodox Census unique?

The data in the Census was obtained directly from the local Orthodox parishes - not from the national church headquarters or regional judicatories (dioceses). Therefore the 2010 National Orthodox Census provides the most reliable and accurate information on the Orthodox Christian Churches in the United States.

What is the total membership in all American Orthodox Christian Churches combined?

There are roughly 1,044,000 adherents of the various Orthodox Christian Churches in the United States. This figure includes 227,000 members of the Oriental Orthodox Christian Churches such as Coptic, Armenian, Syriac and Malankara Indian Orthodox Churches. The American Orthodox Christians worship in 2,380 local Orthodox parishes which belong to 20 different national Orthodox Church bodies including 6 Oriental Orthodox Churches. Tab.1 provides information on full membership (“adherents”) and regular church attendees for each Church.

Are American Orthodox Churches growing?

The answer to this question is “Yes.” From 2000-2010, the total number of Orthodox parishes in America increased for 16 percent. The fastest growing groups among national Orthodox Churches in the US are: Bulgarian Orthodox Eastern Diocese (+122% increase in parishes), Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese (+121%), and Malankara Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church (+89%).

Only three Orthodox Churches declined in number of parishes during 2000-2010: Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church and Armenian Apostolic Church of America (Catholicosate Cilicia). Tab. 3 shows changes in number of parishes during 2000-2010 for each Orthodox Christian Church in the US.

Which of American Orthodox Christian Churches are the biggest and which are the smallest ones?

In terms of membership, of all US Orthodox Christian Churches, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) is by far the largest one. According to 2010 US Orthodox Census, GOA has nearly 477,000 members. Put differently, 46% of all Orthodox Church members in the USA belong to GOA. In terms of number of parishes, however, Orthodox Church in America has more local congregations than GOA does: 551 and 525 respectively. The smallest of American Orthodox Churches is Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America. Although it is considered as a national Church, it has just 2 parishes with 700 members total.

Are the members of American Orthodox Christian Churches regular and frequent church goers?

There is no one general answer to this question. It depends on particular Church. See Tab.1. Nationwide, for all US Orthodox Christian Churches combined, the proportion of the regular church attendees in the total of church adherents is 27 percent. But there are huge differences in the frequency of church attendance across the various American Orthodox Churches. The regular church attendees constitute as much as 77% of all church members in the Holy Orthodox Church in North America, 53 % in Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and 51% in Coptic Orthodox Church. Quite differently, no more than 15% of all members attend church regularly in the case of American Diocese of Macedonian Orthodox Church (11%), Vicariate for Palestinian Orthodox Communities (12%), Armenian Church of North America Catholicosate Etchmiadzin (13%) and Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church (15%).

How large are American Orthodox parishes?

The size of an “average” Orthodox parish in America varies greatly from one Orthodox Church to the other. See Tab.2. The most sizeable parishes are in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA). An “average” GOA parish has 908 persons. At the same time, the parishes of the Holy Orthodox Church in North America, Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese and American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese are relatively small: 81, 130 and 133 persons per parish on an average.

Where in America do the members of Orthodox Christian Churches live and worship?

Orthodox Christians live and have their churches in all US states. At the same time, 48% - almost half – of all Orthodox Church members live in just five states: California (14.5% of all American Orthodox Church members), New York (13.5%), Illinois (7.2%), New Jersey (6.9%) and Massachusetts (5.9%). Tab. 4 provides information on state-by-state distribution of the members of American Orthodox Churches. In terms of the number of the local Orthodox parishes (rather than church members), five states with the biggest number of Orthodox congregations are: California (255 Orthodox parishes total), Pennsylvania (250), New York (240), Florida (136) and New Jersey (128). Tab. 5 shows state-by-state distribution of the parishes of American Orthodox Churches.

Which US states have the highest proportion of the Orthodox Church members in the state’s total population?

Nationwide, the proportion of adherents of the various Orthodox Christian Churches in the total country’s population is small: 0.34%. In certain states, however, this proportion is significantly higher. These states are: Alaska (1.93%), Massachusetts (0.93%), New Jersey (0.83%), New York (0.72%) and Rhode Island (0.72%). Tab. 4 shows proportion of the Orthodox Church members in the total population of each state.

Does US Orthodox Census tell us about all Orthodox Christians living in the United States?

The answer to this question is “No.” The 2010 US Orthodox Census provided information only on persons who are – at least marginally – involved in the Church life and, therefore, are known to the local Orthodox parishes. Similarly to many other Christian denominations in America, there can be significant number of persons who were once baptized in the Orthodox Church and who still consider themselves as being Orthodox Christians, but who do not participate and attend at all. In other words, the 2010 US Orthodox Census was Census of members of US Orthodox Christian Churches rather than Census of the entire Orthodox Christian population in America.

(1) “Adherents” are defined as the most inclusive category of Church membership. Data on adherents were obtained directly from the local Orthodox parishes by asking parish clergy: “Approximately how many individual persons in total are associated in any way with the life of your parish: counting adults and children, regular and occasional attendees, paid stewards and persons who do not contribute financially?”

(2) Data on “regular attendees” were obtained directly from the local Orthodox parishes by asking parish clergy: “Approximately, how many persons - including adults and children - attend Liturgy in your parish on a typical Sunday?”

(3) The Churches #15-20 belong to the category of the so-called “Oriental Orthodox Churches” (also known as “pre-Chalcedonian” Churches, because of their rejection of the Christological definitions of the Council of Chalcedon in 451). They are in full communion with one another, but not with the other (# 1 -14) Churches. The Churches # 13-14 are Churches of irregular status: that is, the other Orthodox Churches consider them “uncanonical” (unlawful).

(4) Male monasteries, female convents, sketes.

(5) “Average size of a parish” was calculated as total number of adherents (Tab.1) divided by the number of parishes. In reality, within each Orthodox Church, the parishes vary significantly in number of adherents

and regular attendees.

(6) The 2000 data were obtained in the study Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States. 2000. Glenmary Research Center: Nashville, Tennessee (published in 2002). Both 2000 and 2010 data were gathered by the same person – Alexei Krindatch. Both 2000 and 2010 studies gathered data on church adherents and the number of parishes. It should be noted, however, that data on adherents in 2000 study were in many cases based on estimates and various statistical calculations, while 2010 figures are more accurate and precise, because they were obtained directly from the local parishes. In addition, in 2000 study, we were unable to get data on adherents for #4, 5 and 15. Therefore, changes in number of parishes (rather than in number of adherents) during 2000-2010 serves as a more reliable indicator for evaluating of growth/decline for each Church.

N / A – not applies, because “Vicariate for the Palestinian / Jordanian Orthodox Christian Communities” did not exist in 2000.

(7) Not counting # 10, because “Vicariate for the Palestinian / Jordanian Orthodox Christian Communities” did not exist in 2000.

(7) “Adherents” are defined as the most inclusive category of Church membership. Data on adherents were obtained directly from the local Orthodox parishes by asking parish clergy: “Approximately how many individual persons in total are associated in any way with the life of your parish: counting adults and children, regular and occasional attendees, paid stewards and persons who do not contribute financially?”

(8) The fact that adherents of the Orthodox Churches constitute 2.15% of the population of District Columbia does not mean that all of them actually physically live in District Columbia. Rather, the figure of 12.9 thousands of Orthodox adherents in Washington DC indicates that they are affiliated with and participate in the life of the Orthodox parishes situated within administrative borders of Washington, DC.

(7) “Adherents” are defined as the most inclusive category of Church membership. Data on adherents were obtained directly from the local Orthodox parishes by asking parish clergy: “Approximately how many individual persons in total are associated in any way with the life of your parish: counting adults and children, regular and occasional attendees, paid stewards and persons who do not contribute financially?”

(8) The fact that adherents of the Orthodox Churches constitute 2.15% of the population of District Columbia does not mean that all of them actually physically live in District Columbia. Rather, the figure of 12.9 thousands of Orthodox adherents in Washington DC indicates that they are affiliated with and participate in the life of the Orthodox parishes situated within administrative borders of Washington, DC.

More data and studies on the Orthodox Church life in America is available at: www.orthodoxreality.org

Alexei D. Krindatch, the research consultant to the “Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas” (SCOBA) He can be reached at: Akrindatch@aol.com, 510-647-9427, 773-551-7226.

Survey courtesy of OrthodoxyToday.org