I was hoping to be able to give you weekly updates on all sites, as far as uniques are concerned. Well, the only site that I get weekly updates on is my own, as it is the only “quantified” site of the lot. Therefore, as I only get monthly updates on other sites, this shall be a monthly feature, and shall have a complete statistical breakdown. The figures are from Quanticast. (see http://www.quanticast.com for details).
A great deal of what follows is raw statistical data. This is the raw material one needs to make a reasoned judgement on the state of the Church. There are five official (GOA, OCA, ROCOR, AOCANA, and ACROD) and three personal sites in this study.
The personal websites in this study are Orthodox Christians for Accountability (“Stokoe”), Orthodox England (“Phillips”), and Voices from Russia (“Drezhlo”). The last two sites present an ordinary Orthodox point of view whilst the first is decidedly modernist and dodgy. I had to drop Frederica from the survey as Quanticast no longer has figures for this site. One wonders…
We shall present the data, and let us see where it takes us! The truth shall set you free.
A) Gross monthly uniques
Official Sites:
1. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese (GOA): 56,004 (100) (71)
2. Orthodox Church in America (OCA): 19,386 (35) (72)
3. Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in North America (AOCANA): 12,481 (22) (79)
4. Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR): 4,991 (9) (67)
5. American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (ACROD): 2,107 (4) (40)
The first figure in brackets is this month’s index, whilst the second bracket contains an index as compared to last month. The above figures must be adjusted to account for “addicts” (daily visitors) and “regulars” (more than once a month, but, not daily). There appears to be a slippage across the board, but, as it affects all sites, it may be a normal seasonal variation.
Personal Sites:
1. Orthodox England (Phillips): 8,635 (100) (163)
2. Voices from Russia (Drezhlo): 6,950 (80) (113)
3. Orthodox Christians for Accountability (Stokoe): 5,288 (61) (79)
Stokoe’s site shows the same slippage as the “official sites”, whereas Fr Andrew and I have posted noticeable increases. All punters take notice…
B) Adjusted monthly uniques
Official Sites:
1. GOA: 50,484 (100) (84)
2. OCA: 15,175 (30) (73)
3. AOCANA: 9,111 [18] [68]
4. ROCOR: 3,336 (7) (56)
5. ACROD: 1,897 (4) (40)
No surprises here, for the ranking and proportions of the gross figures are virtually the same as the adjusted ones. The number of addicts is divided by three, and the number of regulars is divided by two, per the Quanticast site, to give a better view of actual individuals accessing the various addresses. All sites show slippage from May, no doubt, people are using their heads and going off on holiday to the lake… bully for them!
Personal Sites:
1. Phillips: 8,160 (100) (159)
2. Drezhlo: 6,221 (76) (112)
3. Stokoe: 3,120 [38] [68]
As an aside, there is an internet group known as the Orthodox Forum run (essentially) by a single individual, Harry Coin. It claims to be the most authoritative non-official source on the web. Well, it only has 1,558 registered members this month (an increase of 81 members over last month, giving an index of 105), so, it is only a small group of theological radicals (they advocate such things as a married episcopate and support the Osbourne schismatics), and the core of the group is only about 50 true-believer liberal radicals. If it was to have an index number as per the above list, it would be 19, and it would rank dead last. That is, it has only 19 percent of the readership of Fr Andrew’s site. Be wary of this group, they are not as important as they claim. Thankfully, their bark is FAR greater than their size. They are “all hat and no cattle” as they say in Texas.
C) Gender ratios in percentages
a) Male readership as a percentage of the total
Official Sites:
1. ROCOR: 43 percent (88, Internet average; 100, this study sample) (100)
2. OCA: 42 percent [85, 98] (105)
3. GOA: 41 percent (84, 95) (103)
4. AOCANA: 36 percent (73, 84) (106)
5. ACORD: 20 percent [41, 47] (125)
None of the official websites does a good job of attracting male readership, if we define “good” as being within 10 points of the average. If we define “fair” as being within 20 points of the average, the top three score that. The AOCANA needs to do major revamping and the ACROD figures are abysmal.
Personal Sites:
1. Drezhlo: 55 percent (109, 100) (100)
2. Phillips: 49 percent (100, 89) (104)
3. Stokoe: 46 percent [93, 84] (107)
Note well that all personal sites are doing better at attracting a male readership than the “official” ones. Interesting. I should note that I do not try to attract a masculine audience, and some of my most vocal and loyal readers are women. Go figure!
b) Female readership as a percentage of the total
Official Sites:
1. ACROD: 80 percent (156, 100) (95)
2. AOCANA: 66 percent (126, 80) (97)
3. GOA: 59 percent (115, 74) [98]
4. OCA: 58 percent (114, 73) (97)
5. ROCOR: 57 percent (111, 72) (100)
All the official sites do an excellent job of attracting female readership. Now, they should concentrate on getting the fellows, as well. However, there appears to be a correlation between modernism and a larger female following. That is more marked in the personal site listings below.
Personal Sites:
1. Stokoe: 54 percent (106, 100) (95)
2. Phillips: 51 percent (100, 94) (96)
3. Drezhlo: 45 percent (90, 83) (100)
All of us are doing a “good” job at attracting a female audience.
D) Educational Levels of the readership in percentages
a) Non-college graduates
Official Sites:
1. ROCOR: 27 percent (61, 100) (96)
2. GOA: 24 percent (55, 89) (92)
3. ACROD: 23 percent (53, 85) (96)
4. OCA: 20 percent (45, 74) (105)
5. AOCANA: 16 percent (36, 59) (100)
45 percent of the general population falls into this category, so, one cannot conclude that Orthodox are better educated than the average, as corroborating evidence from objective sources is lacking. It is true that the official sites are doing a poor job of reaching this cohort, whilst one also notices that the gap widens with the increasing level of modernism.
Personal Sites:
1. Drezhlo: 37 percent (81, 100) (103)
2. Phillips: 15 percent (34, 41) (100)
3. Stokoe: 6 percent (13, 16) (120)
My site is the only site of the three to be in the “fair” category, that is, an index of 80-89. The others miss the mark for this social category, with the Stokoe site being abysmal in this regard. Of course, the snotty and shirty tone of so many posters on the Stokoe site puts many people’s teeth on edge, and many see them as overeducated dweebs who wish to lead all others about by the nose.
b) College graduates
Official Sites:
1. ACROD: 62 percent (149, 100) [98]
2. GOA: 46 percent (111, 74) (102)
3. AOCANA: 44 percent (107, 71) (102)
4. OCA: 38 percent (92, 61) (97)
5. ROCOR: 27 percent (66, 44) (100)
Slots 2 to 4 are doing a “good” job of reaching the college-educated, whilst the very high figure for ACROD reflects its relative lack of new immigrants and the movement of many of its people from the working-class to the lower reaches of the middle-class. The lower figure for ROCOR may reflect the larger number of immigrants in its ranks, combined with a strong working-class distaste for the pseudo-intellectual antics of SVS and its minions.
Personal Sites:
1. Phillips: 49 percent (118, 100) (91)
2. Drezhlo: 43 percent [104, 88] (102)
3. Stokoe: 32 percent (78, 65) (100)
Batiushka Andrew does a sparkling job at attracting the college crowd. I do a “good” effort, whilst Mr Stokoe is poor, yet again. He can’t seem to connect with ordinary folk at all.
c) Post-graduate degree holders
Official Sites:
1. ROCOR: 45 percent (315, 100) (102)
2. OCA: 42 percent (289, 93) (100)
3. AOCANA: 40 percent (276, 89) (100)
4. GOA: 30 percent (204, 67)
5. ACROD: 15 percent (104, 33) (115)
A caveat, if you please. These figures are skewed by the number of clergy accessing these sites, and these fellows all have a post-graduate education.
The big three are within 10 percent of each other, making their efforts equally effective at reaching the highly-educated. The ROCOR has always had the highest level of education in the American Orthodox diaspora, and the above figure confirms it. The GOA is still doing an excellent job, being at slightly over 200 percent of the Internet average. The coal-mine origins of ACROD are evident in the above figures, it is not a criticism, rather, it is an observation (in fact, it is within the normal statistical variance for the norm, a good sign). Their parents did not have the means to allow them to continue studies past the baccalaureate level. It may mean that this group is the most solidly-grounded of the lot, being less apt to be moved by intellectual notions and conceits, a very good thing, indeed.
Personal Sites:
1. Stokoe: 62 percent (431, 100) [98]
2. Phillips: 36 percent [249, 58] (116)
3. Drezhlo: 20 percent (143, 32) (91)
The note concerning clergy applies here as well.
All of us are above the internet average, but, there can be too much of a good thing. Mr Stokoe’s site is so disproportionately skewed to this social cohort (which is only some 14.1 percent of the internet population) that it brings into question its objectivity and balance. It appears to be a site favoured by the Orthodox equivalent of the “chattering classes” and the clerisy. That is why so much material in it is so disconnected with reality. Caveat auditor.
E) Racial composition of the audience in percentages
a) Caucasian
Official sites:
1. ACROD: 95 percent (117, 100) (99)
2. ROCOR: 93 percent [115, 98] (100)
3. OCA: 90 percent (110, 95) (101)
4. AOCANA: 85 percent (104, 89) (100)
5. GOA: 84 percent (102, 85) (102)
No surprises here. Everyone knows that the Orthodox demographic is disproportionately white.
Personal Sites:
1. Stokoe: 99 percent (122, 100)
2. Drezhlo: 86 percent (102, 86) (104)
3. Phillips: 61 percent (75, 62) (102)
Mr Stokoe is only reaching a lily-white audience, whereas I am doing a “good job”, and Batiushka Andrew’s figure is interesting. Where are the other hits coming from? Well, we shall see.
b) Black
Official Sites:
1. GOA: 9 percent (122, 100) (90)
2. OCA: 3 percent (46, 33) (75)
3. AOCANA: 3 percent (45, 33) (100)
4. ACROD: 3 percent (45, 33) (150)
5. ROCOR: * (8, 7) (100)
*: less than 1 percent
The GOA figure is interesting, is it Ethiopians? One wonders. All in all, the official sites do a poor job of reaching blacks, except for the Greeks.
Personal Sites:
1. Drezhlo: 5 percent (72, 100) (83)
2. Phillips: 2 percent [27, 38] (100)
3. Stokoe: 1 percent (16, 22) (100)
If you want to put some “soul” into your life, log onto my site. Please, pass the sweet potato pie (Grandma Goodbee’s is reputedly some of the best, according to my friend Arnold). The other sites are not attracting blacks, with the Stokoe site doing a typically abysmal job.
c) Asian
Official Sites:
1. AOCANA: 6 percent (147, 100) (100)
2. GOA: 1 percent (43, 29) (50)
3. OCA: 1 percent (43, 29) (100)
4. ACROD: * (13, 9) (100)
5. ROCOR: * (8, 5) (100)
The Antiochians are doing a very good job of reaching American Asians. Everyone else needs to go to summer school to relearn the basics.
Personal Sites:
1. Phillips: 4 percent (99, 25)
2. Drezhlo: 4 percent (98, 100)
3. Stokoe: * (9, 9)
If you want to find the Lucky Red Dragon, log onto my site or Fr Andrew’s. He shows an improvement over last month (he’s been eating his dim sun for lunch, that must be it). Tail-end Charlie Stokoe needs help (stop eating that tinned Chung-King glop, Mark).
d) Hispanic
Official Sites:
1. GOA: 3 percent (56, 100) (100)
2. AOCANA: 3 percent (54, 96) (100)
3. OCA: 3 percent (47, 84) (100)
2. ACROD: 2 percent (33, 59) (100)
3. ROCOR: 1 percent (22, 39) (100)
No one is doing a particularly good job of reaching the Spanish-speaking.
Personal Sites:
1. Phillips: 11 percent (163, 100) (92)
2. Drezhlo: 3 percent (57, 35) (60)
3. Stokoe: * (9, 6) (100)
Head on over to Batiushka Andrew’s for the Cinco de Mayo bash (He’s the one handing out the cold Bohemia brewskies from Mexico). I am not doing a “fair” job, I slipped. I should get out those Carlos Gardel CDs and brush up on my tango technique. Mr Stokoe, no soup for you!
e) Other (American Indian, Pacific Islander, Alaska Native)
Official Sites:
1. ROCOR: 6 percent (420, 100) (100)
2. AOCANA: 3 percent (257, 61) (100)
3. OCA: 3 percent [243, 58] (100)
3. GOA: 2 percent (206, 49) (100)
4. ACROD: * (47, 11) (100)
“Other” in our terms usually means an Alaska native. All of the sites apparently seem to be doing well (with the exception of ACROD, which, to be honest, is not seeking out this particular demographic segment). However, the fact that the ROCOR is the champ in this category puts the lie to all the Chicken Littles on the Stokoe website (although, in fairness, Mr Stokoe himself has not made such a silly assertion) who claim that the Alaska natives are going Protestant. They are certainly looking about… but, I do daresay that they are looking further EAST than Canterbury or Wittenberg.
Personal Sites:
1. Phillips: 21 percent (1533, 100)
2. Drezhlo: 2 percent (146, 10)
3. Stokoe: * (24, 2) (100)
Batiushka Andrew, you had best watch out for the Tlingit, Yupik, and Aleut elders tooling down the High Street in their 4X4 ATVs. They are going to kidnap you and make you the honoured guest of an impromptu potlatch (You’d best brush up on your native dances. Moses the Tlingit shall be glad to help you). Since the base figure for Fr Andrew is higher this month, the above figure is actually a raw increase over last month. Go figure! We are all doing a good job of reaching the natives except for Mr Stokoe. Mark, unfortunately, the natives have abandoned your site.
F) Income Profile of the audience in percentages
a) Under 30,000 USD per year
Official Sites:
1. ACROD: 57 percent (366, 100) [98]
2. ROCOR: 28 percent [175, 48] (97)
3. AOCANA: 21 percent [139, 38] (96)
4. GOA: 18 percent (119, 33) (100)
5. OCA: 17 percent (114, 31) (100)
The higher this figure is, the higher the number of old age pensioners and/or students in the sample. The OCA is less “grey” than some left-wing commentators have stated. Interesting.
Personal Sites:
1. Drezhlo: 17 percent (110, 100) (100)
2. Stokoe: 14 percent (92, 84) (93)
3. Phillips: 5 percent (34, 31) (125)
Mr Stokoe and I are in the normal range, and Batiushka Andrew does not seem to connect with this group at all, but, he is doing better than last month.
b) 30,000-60,000 USD per year
Official Sites:
1. ROCOR: 50 percent (154, 100) (104)
2. OCA: 47 percent (144, 94) (100)
3. AOCANA: 38 percent (118, 77) (100)
4. GOA: 35 percent (109, 71) (100)
5. ACROD: 16 percent (50, 32) (107)
There is a healthy amount of the middle class in all the groups except for the ACROD, which may indicate a larger pensioner cohort.
Personal Sites:
1. Stokoe: 80 percent (245, 100) (100)
2. Phillips: 48 percent (146, 60) (114)
3. Drezhlo: 34 percent (110, 45) (106)
All of us are doing well in this cohort. I am spot-on average, whereas most of the others are over-represented in this category, especially Mr Stokoe. This is important as this group (and the lower rungs of the next) is the most conventional and hide-bound in its behaviour. It is also infected thoroughly with positivism (although the next cohort, the upper-middles, provides most of the “therapists” and other assorted voodoo-merchants of positivism and can be considered more infested with it).
c) 60,000-100,000 USD per year
Official Sites:
1. AOCANA: 33 percent (106, 100) (100)
2. GOA: 32 percent (103, 97) (97)
3. OCA: 28 percent (88, 83) (100)
4. ACROD: 24 percent (79, 75) (100)
5. ROCOR: 19 percent [61, 58] (100)
This group combined with preceding one makes up two-thirds of the faithful, except for the ACROD, where it is less than half (skewed by a larger pensioner cohort).
Personal Sites:
1. Phillips: 36 percent (115, 100) [88]
3. Drezhlo: 30 percent (95, 83) (100)
4. Stokoe: 4 percent (13, 11) (133)
Batiushka has quite a following in this bracket, whilst I am doing a “good” job. Mark Stokoe gets the cardboard box. His performance is wretched.
d) Over 100,000 USD per year
Official Sites:
1. GOA: 14 percent (66, 100) (100)
2. OCA: 8 percent (37, 56) (100)
3. AOCANA: 7 percent (33, 50) (100)
4. ROCOR: 3 percent (18, 27) (75)
5. ACROD: 2 percent (10, 15) (100)
None of the above groups has an average number of people in this cohort. The urban legends concerning “rich Greeks” are just that, and most of the wealth of the Greeks is not in liquid assets, but, rather in fixed assets (such as business fixtures and real estate) that are not easily convertible into ready cash. However, the GOA does have a larger percentage of such folks than any other Orthodox group.
Personal Sites:
1. Drezhlo: 19 percent (91, 100) (95)
2. Phillips: 11 percent (54, 59) (85)
3. Stokoe: 2 percent (11, 12) (100)
I do a “good” job of reaching this group, Fr Andrew is “fair”, and Mr Stokoe does a miserable job. The people in the lower and upper income brackets do not trust him… hmm… one wonders. I hasten to add to that Mr Stokoe is most probably quite a decent fellow. Unfortunately, he has hitched himself to a corpse, which is sad.
G) Age Profile of the audience in percentages
a) 18 to 34 years-old
Official Sites:
1. OCA: 28 percent (96, 100)
2. ROCOR: 24 percent (86, 90)
3. GOA: 23 percent (78, 81)
4. AOCANA: 19 percent [65, 68]
5. ACROD: 15 percent (55, 57)
Quanticast has changed its age categories as compared with last month, so, no comparison is possible for this section. Sorry. Therefore, nothing worthwhile can be said until we have another month’s worth of data in the new categories.
Personal Sites:
1. Stokoe: 32 percent (110, 100)
2. Drezhlo: 26 percent (88, 80)
3. Phillips: 14 percent (52, 47)
b) 35 to 49 years-old
Official Sites:
1. OCA: 31 percent (115, 100)
2. GOA: 30 percent (109, 95)
3. AOCANA: 22 percent (80, 70)
4. ROCOR: 21 percent [78, 68]
5. ACROD: 14 percent [55, 48]
Personal Sites:
1. Stokoe: 42 percent (155, 100)
2. Phillips: 38 percent (140, 90)
3. Drezhlo: 35 percent (128, 83)
c) 50+ years-old
Official Sites:
1. ACROD: 61 percent (256, 100)
2. GOA: 33 percent (136, 53)
3. OCA: 30 percent (128, 74)
4. ROCOR: 28 percent (115, 65)
5. AOCANA: 26 percent (108, 100)
Personal Sites:
1. Drezhlo: 36 percent (153, 100)
2. Stokoe: 24 percent (106, 69)
3. Phillips: 25 percent (105, 69)
H) Percentage of the audience with children 6-17 years-old in the household
Official Sites:
1. AOCANA: 35 percent (107, 100) (100)
2. GOA: 30 percent (92, 83) (103)
3. OCA: 24 percent (74, 69) (100)
4. ROCOR: 23 percent (70, 63) (105)
5. ACROD: 14 percent (44, 41) (93)
The ACROD figures are troubling. It may not be keeping births at replacement level. The AOCANA is healthy; the other three have work to do.
Personal Sites:
1. Drezhlo: 27 percent (83, 100) (96)
2. Phillips: 26 percent [81, 98] (100)
3. Stokoe: 2 percent (6, 7) (100)
OUCH! Mr Stokoe stumbles badly here. He cannot connect with parents at all. Fr Andrew and I are doing a “good” job.
I am not giving raw figures except for one instance. That is in the case of racial composition in the “Other” category. This can give a picture of who is reading what in the volatile Alaska Church crisis. That is a RATHER valuable piece of information, nicht wahr?
I) Other (American Indian, Pacific Islander, Alaska Native) in raw figures
Official Sites:
1. GOA: 1,010 (100) (84)
2. OCA: 455 (45) (63)
3. ROCOR: 300 (30) (75)
4. AOCANA: 273 (27) (54)
5. ACROD: 9 (1) (25)
Not all of the above are Alaska natives, but, it is a good guess that most of them are. It is noteworthy that the OCA, which has jurisdiction over virtually all parishes in that state, does not do better. The natives appear to be looking at all the options. Antioch, in the end, shall not be an option, because of its modernism, positivism, and its thorough infestation with Protestantism. The Greeks shall fail too, because of their well-known corruption, greater than that of the moribund OCA. Note well the ROCOR figures. The ROCOR has no parish in the state at present. It is also the only jurisdiction of the top four to be on the traditional church calendar. Also, its inner church life is the closest to that found in Alaska. Shall the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Alaska go ROCOR? If I were to bet…
Personal Sites:
1. Phillips: 1,714 (100) (134)
2. Drezhlo: 125 (7) (104)
3. Stokoe: 8 (0.5) (89)
Imagine yourself in the old Garden at the fights… (In that special sing-song voice of the ring announcer): “Da winnah, and still champeen, by an unchallenged knock-out, in the white, blue, and red trunks, FATHER ANDREW, from Felixstowe England”. (Batiushka Andrew raises both gloved hands in “da winnah” gesture)
Batiushka Andrew not only rolls over all of us, he also decks all the official websites handily. As far as the natives are concerned, he is GODZILLA. This Godzilla is not stomping on Tokyo; he is flattening Syosset and Englewood Cliffs into the bargain as well. Father Andrew! You’d best check the hedges. Moses the Tlingit and his associates may be waiting to make you the next honorary chief of their tribe.
Mark Stokoe is abysmal. The native have abandoned his site. I must say that my native Alaskan readers are the ones I cherish the most. My heart goes out to you, and you are always in my prayers.
J) Conclusions to be drawn from the raw data
Official Sites:
1. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
Firstly, the Greeks are not as affluent as most believe. They do have a higher proportion of such people than any other Orthodox group, but, it is lower than the national average. Also, as I pointed out earlier, much of this wealth is tied up in fixed assets, and the liquidity level is low. In fact, in all other income brackets, the GOA is somewhat above average, so, the urban legends of Greek wealth are false. It appears to have fairly normal age, education, and racial curves. This is a solid and substantial body, marred only by corruption in its highest reaches and the notional policies of the EP (which mainly do not affect local parish life).
2. Orthodox Church in America
This body is so troubled that it may no longer be in existence next year. Its educational and racial curves appear to be in the normal range. In income, it can be typified as a middle-class body, for the largest cohort is in the 30-60K USD range. In terms of the highest income bracket, its proportion here is about 50 percent of the GOA figure.
This group is the Orthodox body most in thrall to positivism and all of its works because of its social composition. It has a touching faith in psychologists that is greater than its faith in Christ and Church tradition.
3. Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
Some think this body to be “the Great White Hope” of Orthodoxy in America. Nothing could be further from the truth. Statistically, it is an average body. The racial and educational curves are normal, and 71 percent of the sample falls in the 30-100K income range.
This group has more “convert” parishes than most, which is troubling. Most of the convert priests were ordained without sufficient time in Orthodoxy (ten years would be best, and five years is a bare minimum), therefore, this body is infested with Protestantism, modernism, and positivism.
It is indistinguishable from a conservative Evangelical Protestant body except for its Orthodox ritual. This is the least “Orthodox” of the bodies studied, and it becomes less so with each year. It is a heterogeneous construct held together only by the political skills and ambitions of Philip Saliba. This combination may not survive his demise. It has the most effective propaganda machine in American Orthodoxy. Most converts are fooled regarding this body, but, most “ethnics” are not.
4. Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
This is a body that has rebuilt itself over the last 15 years, and the statistics reflect this. If it had not been for the influx of New Russians after the fall of the USSR, this group would have imploded in the 2000s. It reached its nadir in the years of the Ustinovshchyna, and was revitalised by the election of Laurus Škurla as its First Hierarch.
The ROCOR has the highest percentage of post-graduate degree holders in its ranks, probably due to two factors. The émigré cohort was drawn from the middle classes and above, and the current group of New Russians tends to be professionals. In income, the ROCOR tends to be concentrated in the brackets up to 60K per year. This is a combination of old age pensioners amongst the DP cohort and New Russians being at relatively low rungs of their professions due to their short time in this country.
The ROCOR has the highest proportion of Alaskan natives amongst the readers of its website, which may indicate the future home of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Alaska.
With its reconciliation with Moscow last year, this is the healthiest church body in the US at present. It has overcome most of its internal problems and it may receive most of the healthy elements of the OCA after that body implodes. To my mind, there shall only be three major Orthodox bodies left after the demise of the OCA (of course, the smaller bodies shall still exist). The GOA shall represent “Greek Orthodoxy” and the ROCOR shall be the standard-bearer of “Russian Orthodoxy”, both legitimate traditions in the Church. Both shall get on well with one another. The AOCANA is on course for departure from the Church tradition. It is already thoroughly Protestantised, and the chances of it doing something dodgy such as ordaining a married bishop are high. It shall ensconce American phyletism as its driving ethos, and its resemblance to ordinary Orthodoxy shall be slight. Any body claiming to be Orthodox that has a layman as its Chancellor is well on its way out of the church.
5. American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese
I have a special place in my heart for these people. They are a solid, well-grounded, and good-sense lot with no pretensions. Bishop Nicholas does not put on airs, and he has no grandiose illusions à la Herman Swaiko or Philip Saliba. I believe that this group shall survive its coming demographic problems. They shall simply close unthrifty parishes, and that shall be that.
It is the “whitest” of all the official groups, and it has a high level of education, with over two-thirds of its people with college degrees. The relative paucity in the younger cohorts indicates that this group may be only 50 to 60 percent of its present size in a generation. However, this group is noted for its pragmatism, and it shall not become a crisis. They shall simply close dead parishes, and that shall be the end of it. Shall they join a larger “Russian Orthodox Church in the Americas”? Only time shall show us, and if they do, it shall be for solid and good-sense reasons. Again, this is one of my favourite groups of people. I wish them well.
Personal Sites:
1. Orthodox England, Fr Andrew Phillips
Here is the pick of the litter. It is interesting to note the depth of this audience, which is almost as large as that of the dodgy AOCANA. For a personal website, this is an achievement. The theology is solid and clear, and there is no trace of modernism. I would recommend this site to anyone. Read it now!
Fr Andrew has a diverse following, with an especially heavy cohort coming from Alaska natives. His readers tend to be college-educated or above. In income, his readers tend to 30-100K bracket, but, he does better in the 100K+ category than all official sites except for the GOA, and better than all personal sites except for mine. Fr Andrew is reaching the people that the official sites and the Stokoe site wish to reach, but, often, do not. The premier Orthodox commentator on the web, I say.
2. Voices from Russia, Barbara-Marie Drezhlo
I am loath to state much concerning my own site, except to say that my intent is to provide a well-rounded view of Russia: its culture, its religion, its sport, and its society. I appear to be succeeding.
In education level, I do a “good” job of reaching those with college, an excellent job of reaching those with grad school, and I hold my own with the non-college educated. In income, I appeal equally to all brackets, and score the highest of all personal sites in the study in reaching the 100K+ cohort.
3. Frederica, Frederica Matthewes-Greene
There are no longer figures available for this site. One wonders… Ms Greene considers herself an authoritative spokesman for Orthodoxy. Instead, she is a living example of all that is wrong with the AOCANA. She was fastened upon by Philip Saliba because she works for NPR (National Public Radio), and shares all of its reliably secularist liberal opinions. In one of her books, she states that one of her mentors in the faith was a Uniate. A UNIATE. That is, someone outside the Church and foreign to it. She is the typical ignorant Anglo-Saxon convert spouting off on Orthodoxy before learning the ABCs of the Faith.
If I were to call her anything, it is a barely-converted Anglican with only vestigial traces of Orthodoxy. I should note that Professor Vigen Guroian, the noted Armenian theologian and scholar, has issued a similar condemnation of Ms Greene. Her site and books are not recommended, as they are nothing but evangelical Anglicanism with a few Orthodox terms tossed into the pot.
4. Orthodox Christians for Accountability, Mark Stokoe
Mr Stokoe is a former Syosset insider, which is the main Achilles heel of his site. He refuses to see anything other than a continuation of the present status quo, and many of his contributors are autocephalist true-believers. To give two examples, one could name Fr Vladimir Berzonsky and Fr Theodore Bobosh. They are contemptuous of any view other than one worshipful of Alexander Schmemann and his fancies, and both are dupes who refuse to see the fact that the “autocephaly” of the so-called OCA was a temporary dodge of the MP in its struggle to survive in communist times. This unreality has driven many away from this site.
A full 63 percent have graduate degrees. In short, it is a much skewed sample. In fact, his is the “whitest” of all the sites in the study, and his Alaska Native readership is only 10 individuals, not even 1 percent!
Why is Mr Stokoe doing such a poor job? Firstly, it is obvious to many that his website and the actions around it were a “palace coup” gone badly. After some 35 months, the crisis has only deepened, and the recent 6-million USD suit against the OCA in Maryland may signal the beginning of the end. One of the things that came out is that an OCA priest talked openly of what he heard in confession and counselling to smear a laywoman, and he was not disciplined by Syosset when it became known. Mr Stokoe did not condemn this action when he posted about it. That, I think, is the main fault in his site, and it is the reason why many do not trust him. As Fr Vsevolod Chaplin said recently, “truth is truth, and sin is sin”. Indeed. Mr Stokoe should emblazon this on his heart.
CONCLUSION
Firstly, let us all let out a long sigh of relief! Studies such as this are useful and valuable, but… OOO-WEE! They take such time, don’t they?
This gives an accurate picture, to the best extent that the data available can, of a good part of Orthodoxy. Let’s stop lying to one another and let’s walk honestly in the light. God shall bless us for it.
That’s the tote-board for the month. Get your bets in before the flag is up.
Vara Drezhlo
Saturday 14 June 2008
Voices from Russia 
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