St. Nicholas Shrine in New York City, 2021.

Because no Greeks in America would even know they were Greek if it wasn’t for the church.

Despite existing in a modern-day, pluralistic America, Greek Orthodox churches play a vital role in transmitting and preserving Hellenic culture, even among those who can hardly speak Greek. The reason some Greek Americans still know a few words of their ancestral language is solely because of the church’s presence and the religious traditions that sustain Greek identity.

The higher church attendance among Greek Americans compared to Greeks in Greece can be attributed to several factors, including cultural, social, and historical differences. Here are some key reasons:

Maintaining Heritage

For Greek Americans, attending church is a way to preserve their cultural and religious heritage in a foreign country. Living in a foreign society makes maintaining cultural ties very difficult. The church often serves as a central hub for cultural activities, language learning, and community events. Obviously, there is no need for a central hub like this in Greece, where the same culture and heritage surrounds Greeks.

Modernization and Secularization

Recently, Greece has undergone significant modernization and secularization, particularly in urban areas. This trend has led to a decline in regular church attendance among the younger generation, who may view religious practices as less relevant to their daily lives. Such “modernization” has led to many of the youth in Greece, as in all of Europe, to disregard the importance of religion and the Orthodox institutions in favor of a more self-serving, hedonistic outlook on existence.

Observing these facts, it becomes clear that the desire among Greek Americans to maintain their cultural ties to their homeland is a major motivator for regular church attendance. Many Greeks, especially the youth, do not believe they need to be concerned with maintaining their culture as they live in the homeland. It is our belief, however, that this is a fatal mistake.

Community Bonding

The Greek Orthodox Church in the United States often plays a pivotal role in community bonding, helping immigrants maintain a sense of identity and belonging in their new environment. Especially for the many newly arrived immigrants in the US throughout the 20th century, the establishment of Greek Orthodox Churches in America provided a place for the Greek community to gather and bond regularly, before going back out into the melting pot of American society for the rest of their week.

For Greeks living abroad, attending church remains a cultural necessity.

To this day, the church provides a crucial support network for many immigrants, offering assistance with integration, social services, and a sense of continuity with their homeland. Greek Orthodox churches in America also often provide a range of services beyond religious worship, such as educational programs, social activities, and cultural events, which encourage regular attendance.

Why is loyalty to homeland identity and faith important?

The sharp decline in religious observance throughout Western Europe has brought with it an existential threat to the national identities of all European countries, including Greece. Religion and the church have always served as a staunch shield for all European cultures. Even as wars have been lost and European lands have been conquered by foreigners, Christianity has shielded the identities of the conquered and eventually led the charge to reclaim freedom.

If it weren’t for the Greeks’ strict adherence and defense of Eastern Orthodoxy, Greece becoming an Islamic country during the Ottoman occupation would have been a certainty, and Greece would have lost her culture entirely. Now what might have become of Greece under Ottoman rule is happening everywhere in Europe. Without the church to motivate, organize, and guide the populace, young Europeans have become complacent, nihilistic, and entirely unconcerned with the future of their nations.

Likewise, the foreign influx of migrants who are rapidly replacing Christian European cultures with Middle Eastern Islamic cultures continues to go unanswered. All the while, young Europeans are abandoning God in favor of their own materialistic appetites and hedonistic lives.

This has weakened the cultures of these countries dramatically, and these cultures are being successfully conquered by foreign cultures who strictly adhere to their religion. It is the belief of KTE that global atheistic efforts are being made to suppress European identity in favor of a multiracial, culturally devoid Europe.

Cultural preservation often requires a unified defense against foreign forces who wish to destroy it. Without religious devotion, Greece and Europe will continue to lose in the silent war that is eroding their identity. Many Greeks in the diaspora find that their connection with the church is one of the sole reasons they continue to connect with their culture, despite living in a foreign country. As a direct result, Greek communities in America continue to be bound together by their local church. Their continued involvement is not only what protects them from the dangers of modernity, but also serves as a lifeline to their homeland. Back in Greece, the death of our culture begins with turning our backs on the religious institutions that have protected and defined us for centuries. KTE encourages all Greeks to regularly attend church, and to defend the superior values of Orthodoxy from all those who seek to destroy it.