Ancient roots, modern future

The air inside the sanctuary was thick with incense. A priest in embroidered vestments chanted ancient prayers as parishioners stood shoulder to shoulder. Some bowed deeply before painted icons of Jesus of Nazareth and the saints. Others crossed themselves repeatedly as voices rose together in ancient hymns sung a cappella.

It’s a scene one might associate with a church in Russia, Greece or Ethiopia. Instead, it is in Springfield – in one of the community’s fastest growing congregations – St. Anthony’s Hellenic Orthodox Church at 1600 S. Glenwood Ave. 

For newcomers, the experience can feel both unfamiliar and timeless – a form of worship largely unchanged for more than 1,000 years. Yet the congregation today looks different than it did just a few years ago.

At the beginning of 2025, the parish had 98 families. By the end of the year, 40 additional families had joined the congregation. Another 38 people are now going through the membership process.

According to clergy and scholars, the parish’s growth reflects a national trend: the quiet expansion of Orthodox Christianity in the United States. The surge has been especially noticeable among younger Americans, particularly men searching for a demanding, tradition-centered faith.

“It’s something we’re seeing everywhere,” said Father George Pyle, priest at St. Anthony’s. “People come here and they encounter something ancient – something that hasn’t been reinvented every generation. That authenticity speaks to them.”

A parish with deep local roots

St. Anthony’s has a history stretching back decades in Springfield. The parish was founded by a small group of Greek Orthodox families. The parish takes its name from Anthony the Great, a third- and fourth-century Christian monk. 

But the reason the church chose that saint’s name in the 1940s was to honor a member, Anthony Kerasotes, a U.S. Navy physician killed in World War II. His family, which owned movie theaters across the U.S., helped pay for the construction of the house of worship. 

At the time, the church was composed mostly of people of Greek ethnicity. Today, it’s a blend of people from across the globe. Prayer is offered in six languages at each service, an acknowledgement of those attending who moved to Springfield from Europe, Africa or Asia, where Orthodox churches are more prevalent.

In recent years, St. Anthony’s has seen steady increases in attendance, even as mainline Protestant and Catholic churches nationwide grapple with steep drops in membership.  Many of those newcomers are young adults or young families exploring the ancient Christian tradition.

For some converts, the path to Orthodoxy has been deeply personal.

Summer Griffith grew up in evangelical Christianity but began searching for a deeper historical connection to the early church. That search eventually led her and her family to Orthodox Christianity.

“What drew me was the sense that this faith was rooted in history,” she said. “It wasn’t something that changed every generation.”

Her husband, Matthew Griffith – a nurse at Springfield Memorial Hospital who is training to become a deacon in the Orthodox Church – said the couple found in Orthodoxy a spiritual life centered on discipline, prayer and continuity with the early church.

Matthew joined the Orthodox faith in 2001 and his wife joined in 2013. 

“It’s not easy,” he said. “But that’s actually part of what draws people. It’s a faith that expects commitment.”

Summer said people’s motivation for joining is more straightforward: They are seeking Christ. 

A church rooted in ancient ritual

Orthodox Christianity traces its lineage to the earliest centuries of the Christian church and to the apostles themselves. The tradition developed in the Eastern Roman Empire and spread throughout the Middle East, Greece and Eastern Europe.

A theological and political divide between the Eastern and Western churches culminated in the Great Schism, separating the Orthodox Church from Roman Catholicism.

Orthodoxy remains the smallest of the three major branches of Christianity in the United States – Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox. Roughly 1% of Americans identify as Orthodox Christians.

Orthodox congregations in America were built around immigrant communities – Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians and others – who brought their faith with them. But that demographic pattern is changing. A growing number of converts now come from Protestant or Catholic backgrounds.

The growth seen in Springfield reflects a broader pattern.

“We are seeing significant growth in Orthodox Christianity in the United States,” Alexis Torrance, a professor at the University of Notre Dame specializing in the study of Orthodox Christianity, told Illinois Times.

Torrance said one reason for the renewed interest is Orthodoxy’s claim to historical continuity.

The quest for historical continuity stretches across religious traditions. For example, in Springfield, Sacred Heart Church and Chabad Jewish Center are both experiencing remarkable growth.  One offers Latin masses and the other a return to an ancient, ritualized form of Judaism.  

What people are seeking is holiness, said Gary Davis, a retired religion professor from Lincoln. Holiness means to be set apart, he said. And people are increasingly drawn to faiths that run counter to contemporary culture.

Orthodox Christians trace their theological traditions to the Greek-speaking world of the early church. The New Testament itself was written in Greek, and many of the church’s earliest theologians – often known as the Greek Fathers – helped shape the doctrines that Orthodox Christians still follow today.

Those teachings were formalized in early church councils, including the First Council of Nicaea, which articulated the Nicene Creed still recited in churches of many denominations around the world.

Father Andrew Damick, a national figure in Orthodox publishing and broadcasting, told IT the appeal of Orthodoxy also reflects a deeper cultural shift.

For centuries, he said, Western culture gradually turned away from the idea that the spiritual world is real and present in everyday life.

“Intellectualism and scientific empiricism have trained people to believe that the only way of knowing anything is through what can be measured,” Damick said. “But human beings still have a deep sense that there is something more – that there is an unseen world.”

That longing intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, when isolation disrupted ordinary human relationships and religious practice, he said.

“The pandemic accelerated a kind of social isolation,” Damick said. “People were cut off from one another, and many began asking deeper questions about meaning and connection.”

Some drifted away from religion entirely. Others began searching for traditions that offered a stronger sense of spiritual reality.

“In many growing religious communities – whether Orthodox, Pentecostal or others – what they share in common is that they take the unseen world seriously,” Damick said.

Highly ritualized forms of worship, he said, can help restore a sense of spiritual “enchantment” that many people feel modern life has lost.

Another distinctive feature of Orthodox Christianity is its embrace of mystery.

Where many modern religious traditions attempt to explain theology in systematic terms, Orthodoxy often emphasizes the limits of human understanding when it comes to God.

“If God is beyond our reasoning, then there will always be an element of mystery,” Torrance said.

That sense of reverence is especially evident in Orthodox worship, where incense, icons and chanting are meant to create an atmosphere that points beyond the ordinary.

When visitors attend a Divine Liturgy for the first time, Torrance said, many describe an experience they struggle to put into words.

“People often say they sense something sacred happening, even if they can’t fully explain it,” he said.

A demanding faith

Part of the attraction, parishioners say, is that Orthodox Christianity asks a lot of its followers.

The weekly Divine Liturgy can last 90 minutes or more, and many congregants stand throughout the service. Worship includes chanting, incense and ritual bows before icons. Much of the liturgy occurs behind the iconostasis – the ornate screen separating the altar from the congregation – emphasizing the mystery at the heart of Orthodox worship. The church calendar also includes long periods of fasting.

Some contend that demanding spiritual discipline is a reason the tradition has begun attracting younger Americans.

“In the whole history of the Orthodox Church in America, this has never been seen,” Damick said of the current surge in attendance, which is playing out on a national level as well as in Springfield. 

He said the initial wave of converts included many young men, but more recently the growth has broadened to include entire families.

Metropolitan Nathaniel Symeonides, who oversees Greek Orthodox parishes in the Midwest and recently visited St. Anthony’s, told IT the renewed interest reflects a broader spiritual search among Americans.

“Orthodox Christianity is not something that we have reinvented,” he said. “It is a faith that has been preserved and lived continuously since the time of the apostles.”

Symeonides said the church’s emphasis on tradition, worship and spiritual discipline resonates with people seeking stability in a rapidly changing culture.

Pyle said it is not part of the Orthodox tradition to evangelize. Much of the recent interest has developed organically, including at St. Anthony’s. 

But Damick noted it is easier to learn about Orthodoxy today through podcasts, online videos and social media.

“The accessibility of information about the Orthodox Church has exploded,” he said. “People encounter it online, and then they start showing up at local parishes.”

Because Orthodoxy centers on communal worship around the Eucharist, that online discovery usually leads people to seek out a local congregation.

“In Orthodoxy, the Gospel isn’t just information,” Damick said. “It’s a way of life lived together in a real community.”

As the Divine Liturgy concluded at St. Anthony’s, parishioners approached the priest to venerate a cross.

Many of the faces were new. But the faith they’ve joined is anything but.

For Father Pyle, that paradox – ancient tradition meeting modern seekers – may explain Orthodoxy’s growth in Springfield.

“The world is always changing,” he said. “But people still hunger for truth, beauty and meaning. When they find something that feels rooted and real, they respond.”   

Scott Reeder, a staff writer for Illinois Times, can be reached at sreeder@illinoistimes.com. 

This article appears in March 26 – April 1, 2026.