In the May 2008 issue of The Word<\/a>,* published by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America<\/a>, Gregory Cook looks at the ways Orthodox Christianity may “transfigure” America. “Orthodoxy has always been open to building on what is true and extant in any nation or culture,” Cook writes. “America should be no different.” <\/p>\n *Also republished here<\/a> (non .pdf).<\/p>\n He quotes Metropolitan Antony Bashir<\/a>:<\/p>\n Orthodoxy is a freedom-loving, democratic faith \u2026 it is at its best in our free America. If the best of Byzantium has survived, it is in the United States, and if there is an Orthodox political ideal, it is enshrined in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Cook’s article, “Words We Live By: Orthodox and American Ideals in Foundational Texts” is an excellent reflection on what it means to be Orthodox in America and what America has given the Orthodox.<\/p>\n