Sword in the Fire

Orthodox in America and around the world often gets criticized for lack of evangelism and missions. In some ways this is fair. In the US, we have often created insular communities with little organized community action. Yet, looked at from a large historical perspective this criticism is unwarranted. Look out over the scope of the globe and most of Europe and Asia have been touched by Orthodoxy. A large majority of our saints were missionary saints. In the 20th Century, Orthodox missions has been vibrant through Africa and parts of Asia. Missions have been hard for us due to persecution. Orthodoxy in the Middle East has been under the thumb of Islam for centuries so survival often takes precedence over expansion. Eastern Europe was under the Ottoman yoke after the fall of Constantinople, and after a brief period of freedom the Communist scourge took over and decimated the Orthodox world. Yet after the fall of communism, the Orthodox of Russia have shamed us all by displaying ...