American Orthodoxy under attack: A Ukrainian scenario for the USA?

Today, events surrounding American Orthodoxy may prove pivotal for the future of the Church in the United States. The coming months will show whether the Orthodox faithful in this country can avoid a situation like the one that has developed around the UOC in Ukraine. Although such words may seem overly emotional and pessimistic, that impression is only at first glance.

Attack on American Orthodoxy

On November 18, 2025, a meeting was held in Congress between the bishops, clergy, and faithful of the Orthodox Churches in the U.S. and representatives of the Trump administration: Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, Congressman Darrell Issa, and other administration representatives. The delegation represented the Antiochian, Serbian Churches, ROCOR, and the Orthodox Church in America. The parties discussed the persecution of the clergy, journalists, and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by Ukrainian authorities.

According to the participants, the discussions did not involve political issues. For example, the Orthodox delegation did not call for stopping aid to Ukraine. Nevertheless, even before the meeting and immediately after it, statements appeared in which American Orthodox were subjected to real ostracism.

The reputable U.S. resource The Hill published an article, in which the Orthodox participants were called "lobbyists and clergy with ties to pro-war Russian Orthodox Church". Congressman Joe Wilson sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, labeling the meeting participants as Kremlin lobbyists. Following Joe Wilson, two more U.S. congressmen, Don Bacon (Nebraska) and Austin Scott (Georgia), signed the letter. They demanded an investigation into whether the Orthodox could "could serve as vehicles for intelligence collection or foreign influence operations directed at U.S. policymakers”.

Soon, the archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate made a statement regarding the meeting. They thanked Wilson, called the representatives of the American Orthodox Churches "Russian agents", and issued complete absurdity regarding the church situation in Ukraine. The archons assured that the UOC (called a "subdivision of the Moscow Patriarchate") "is now persecuting and killing members of the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine, targeting civilians to sow terror among the population and intimidate them."

The reaction to this libal in the USA was quite sharp. Anna Paulina Luna criticized Wilson's words, calling them "disturbing and disappointing", former Congressman Matt Gaetz stated that Wilson's letter was "fanatical libel", and South Carolina Republican Thomas Beach called Wilson's text "Soviet nonsense" that defames Orthodox Americans.

Statements from Church representatives followed. The Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America called the mentioned publications slanderous. The cleric of the Serbian Church in the USA, Protopresbyter Vasily Vranic, spoke out with sharp criticism of Wilson, and the priest of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), Father Thomas Soroka, appealed to the Holy Synod to cease the Church's membership in the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA.

But the most severe protests came from ROCOR, starting with its primate Metropolitan Nicholas, who participated in the meetings in Congress.

Nevertheless, the question arises - are these voices enough? After all, the libel from Wilson, the authors of The Hill, and the resources that supported them spread widely in American social networks and media, causing a serious resonance. Under the relevant publications, there are thousands of comments containing calls in one form or another to deal with both ROCOR and other Orthodox jurisdictions in the USA.

Some commentators call for burning churches. Others say they need to be closed, inspected, and even "liquidated".

Yes, for now all of this seems like "much ado about nothing", but it is worth remembering that in Ukraine, violence against Orthodox believers did not arise suddenly either.

UOC destruction: the beginning

Back in 2013, the religious situation in Ukraine was relatively quiet and calm. The Yanukovych government was favorable to the UOC: heads of district, regional, and city administrations regularly appeared in churches on major feasts, met with ruling hierarchs, and even helped with the construction of churches. Church conflicts with the UOC-KP and UAOC were rare, as they received practically no support from the authorities. In the media space, no one allowed themselves any attacks on the Church.

But everything changed after the "Revolution of Dignity" and the attempted storming of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. From representatives of the new government, UGCC, UOC-KP, and various media, initially cautious, and then increasingly sharp and daring insults began to sound against the clergy and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The "point of no return" can be considered the harassment that Metropolitan Onuphry faced in Ukrainian society in 2015 when he did not stand up in the Verkhovna Rada during the honoring of soldiers who died in the ATO. The primate explained that it was his protest against the war in the Donbas, in which Ukrainians were dying on both sides. But no one heard him anymore. Just as they did not hear the participants of the All-Ukrainian Cross Procession for Peace in 2016, who walked across Ukraine to Kyiv from the Pochaiv and Sviatohirsk Lavras. They were already being called "Moscow priests" and demanded to go not to Kyiv but to Moscow. At this time, the propaganda of hatred against the UOC reached a red mark in the media, and this mark continued to rise even higher.

Many are puzzled why the seizures of UOC churches with the beating of parishioners and the obvious injustice of what is happening did not meet resistance and criticism from the majority of Ukrainians.

The answer is obvious: this is the result of anti-church propaganda of the Ukrainian version of "Radio Mille Collines". Propaganda that followed the Overton Windows technology: initially, insults to the Church were simply unthinkable, then we began to hear them from radicals. Soon they became acceptable for Ukrainians so much that they became a standard in the media, social networks, and even among MPs. And today, no one can deny that insults and violence against the UOC are a current norm.

Undoubtedly, this could not have happened on its own, and the attack on the Church was deliberately coordinated by certain forces. Nevertheless, the question remains open: why was there virtually no resistance from the leadership of the UOC? Why were there no protests or demands to hold the slanderers accountable at the very beginning, while the insults against Orthodox believers were still isolated? Why were no lawsuits filed? After all, impunity only ever multiplies and strengthens offenses.

Now, such questions hardly matter for the faithful in Ukraine, but for American Orthodox believers they are extremely relevant. Simply because their situation in some ways resembles that of Ukrainians in 2014: the "anti-Church" Overton window in the U.S. has slightly opened, and through it came the first stench of slander and insults.

It depends solely on Americans whether they can shut this window, or whether the pane will open wider and wider, following the Ukrainian scenario.

And they understand this perfectly well.

Blogger Mark Trikovich, creator of the Tribulation Saints channel, emphasizes that the harassment of participants at the Congressional meeting is "the first move in a narrative campaign that could lead directly to persecution of the Church in this country”.

"This is how it always starts. Not with chains, not with courts, but with stories, with headlines, with subtle accusations that train the public not to trust believers," Mark emphasizes.

In fact, he describes the Overton window technique that was implemented in Ukraine and is now being attempted in the U.S.: "Step one: label a religious group as foreign. Step two: frame them as a political threat. Step three: use vague terms like 'concerns', 'potential', and 'possible influence' to create fear without evidence. Step four: let the public’s imagination do the rest.”

Trikovich emphasizes that the puppet-masters cast a shadow of suspicion over the entire Orthodox Church and then "hand this loaded weapon to the crowd".

"Because as soon as society sees you as a threat, it stops seeing you as a neighbor. And that’s when persecution begins," he says.

Moreover, the hatred is stirred not only against the "enemy" ROCOR. As another popular blogger, Jay Dyer, points out, it also includes Serbian, Antiochian, and other Orthodox jurisdictions.

But why is this technique being implemented in America now?

Dyer answers: "It's also tied into of course the recent surge in Orthodox conversions that we've been seeing from Protestant and Roman Catholic and even atheist opinions out there in America. People are turning to Orthodoxy. A lot of churches are tripling in size."

Trikovich says the same. According to him, "Orthodoxy is becoming the fastest-growing Christian tradition in America, especially among young Americans.”

And this is happening not only in the U.S., but also in Europe. For example, in the Czech Republic, which until recently was considered the most atheistic country in the EU, the percentage of Orthodox believers has sharply increased today due to Ukrainian refugees.

Attack on the Czech Church

Orthodoxy in this country is now facing sudden and very serious problems. The Orthodox Church of the Czech Republic was excluded from the country’s Ecumenical Council, justified in part by accusations of "Russian influence through Orthodox structures in the country". A bankruptcy procedure has been initiated against the Prague Diocese, and the Church now faces the threat of losing special rights. These include the ability to conduct legally recognized church marriages, provide chaplaincy services in schools, the army, and medical institutions, establish theological schools, receive state support, and claim church restitution.

Pressure on the Church in the Czech Republic began as early as August 2024, when the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Security issued a resolution referring to possible Russian influence on the Czech Republic through Orthodox church structures.

All of this is "justified" by the biography of Prague Archbishop Michael, who studied in Leningrad alongside the current Patriarch Kirill of the ROC, served as a representative of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia (OCCLS) in Moscow, and later served at a ROC parish in Germany.

This is the so-called "evidence of Russian influence".

Here, one detail deserves special attention.

Many people in Ukraine are now saying that the UOC should declare unilateral autocephaly, and that this would save it from persecution by the state and so-called "patriots". The Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic has autocephalous status, granted, moreover, by Constantinople. Yet, as we can see, this did not protect it from accusations of "Russian influence". Would unilateral autocephaly save the UOC from such accusations? The answer is obvious.

There is no Russian influence in either the Czech Republic or, especially, the U.S., and there cannot be. Connections with Russia are merely a convenient pretext for attacking Orthodoxy, a pretext that has nothing to do with reality.

The Orthodox Church is not hated because it is Russian, Serbian, or Antiochian. It is hated because it refuses to worship the spirit of the age.

It does not belong to political parties. It does not serve governments or corporations. And when the world wants the Church to approve its idols, and the Church says "no", the world reacts with hostility. And it does not matter where this happens: in Ukraine, the U.S., the Czech Republic, or any other country on earth.

And this is natural, because the hostility of the world toward the Church, the Body of Christ, is not worldly but metaphysical.

But this does not mean that Orthodox believers, living in the world, should not defend their Church, their community, and their faith. They must.

And we believe that our American brothers will be able to do this far more effectively than in Ukraine.