RISE OF THE ORTHOBROS

After an unprecedented surge in popularity, Orthodox Christianity is now the third largest Christian faith in the US...and it's also attracting record numbers of young British males

- PETE SHERIDAN

THEY CALL them the Orthobros.

Young Americans, predominantly male, who are embracing traditional values and looking for something that makes sense of their lives. But they are not turning to work, romantic relationships or political activism for their fulfilment.

Surprisingly, they are flocking by the thousands to the deeply traditional faith of Orthodox Christianity.

Little changed for centuries, it offers a life of self-discipline and purpose.

And Britons appears to be following suit.

After decades of falling church attendance and rising secularism in America, Orthodox Christian parishes across the US find themselves struggling to accommodate the flood of fresh converts.

New churches are being built, additional priests are being hired and religious schools are being opened.

"In the whole history of the Orthodox Church in America, this has never been seen," says Antiochian Orthodox priest the Very Rev Andrew Damick, in Pennsylvania.

"This is new ground for everyone." Rev Josiah Trenham, who in 2020 had just 75 parishioners at his Orthodox Church in Riverside, California, today has more than 1,000 active congregants, with another 241 in the midst of converting.

"The last four or five years have been a massive uptick and it's showing no signs of tapering off," he says. "If anything, it's increasing still. It's happening massively in untold numbers all over the country." Britain is also reporting a surge in followers of Orthodox Christianity. It's one of the few growing Christian groups in Britain, with more than 450,000 adherents.

Traditionally the spiritual home of immigrants from the Greek Orthodox, Serbian and Ukrainian churches, Orthodox Christianity is increasingly attracting a younger generation in the UK, and theologists are wondering if a similar explosion of interest from Orthobros will happen here.