As someone who church-hopped for a while and mostly grew up mostly in a non-denominational church, visiting an Orthodox Church was not on my college Bingo card. One of my roommates and a couple of my friends encouraged me for months to go to a service with them just to experience it once. After a long time of overthinking and dragging my feet, I finally gained the courage to go to a service at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Salem, Massachusetts. The first time I had walked in I had noticed that the sanctuary was smaller than my home church’s worship center and icons were everywhere on the walls. During the service, I watched the Deacon walk around with incense as the choir was performing chants-a form of worship that I am not used to. I had known and was expecting that it was going to be a unique experience for a Protestant like me and I knew that there was a lot to expect. But, nonetheless, I was glad that I had finally gone and explored what an Orthodox vespers service was. Ever since then I have been going to vespers services twice a week and feel spiritually filled every single time.
The Orthodox Church has a lot of history and it traces its origin to Jesus Christ and the apostles in the 1st century. After Christ’s resurrection and Pentecost, the apostles spread Christianity throughout the eastern Mediterranean, founding churches in places like Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. A pivotal moment of the early church was the Great Schism of 1054 when there was the separation of the Catholic Church of the West and the Orthodox Churches of the East. There was a disagreement over much power the Patriarch of Rome had and other patriarchs did not agree that the Pope had any authority over them. The two halves of the church developed differently and harvested different concepts which included worship and practices.
Since Gordon is a non-denominational school with close Baptist roots and most of the student body identifies as Protestant, there is not that much catered to the small Orthodox community in terms of Gordon’s chapel and theology. Chapel worship, services, and classes do not always line up with Orthodox beliefs or practices and can leave a spiritual absence.
Sophomore Natalie Chankhour grew up in both a Catholic and Orthodox Church so she never grew up spiritually in a Protestant setting. Going to Gordon’s chapels was definitely a new experience that she, like the other Orthodox Christians on campus, realized early on that it does not resonate with them. “I do think that it would be nice if there was more of an incorporation of introducing these traditions and this theology just because I do think it holds so much truth and people don’t even know it exists.” She said.
Junior Nino Manna agreed with Natalie about chapel and gave his insight. “I think it would be more beautiful to have a space where people can come and speak and to bring enlightenment … Of course, I don’t think the school should shy away from its Christian heritage but at the same time I think that it needs to be a place that’s more encompassing of everything that is what Gordon is and who people at Gordon are.” He said.
Other aspects of Gordon and its teachings go beyond chapel, worship, and sermons. In the classroom we are encouraged to find God and apply our faith in every setting, especially in the Biblical Studies classes. Alumni Jason Caputo (2025) converted to Orthodoxy during his senior year and, as a BCM major, realized that he had some differences whether it be interpretations of the scriptures or opinions. But, despite the differences, he still had meaningful
conversation and education. “I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to be in classes where the professors were encouraging my different opinion after I became Orthodox … I was encouraged to share the Orthodox view on something especially when it differed, since Orthodoxy is such a minority in the United States.” He said.
The root of what makes the Orthodox students on this campus not always agree with teachings and chapel services are the doctrinal differences. There are quite a few doctrinal differences between Protestant and Orthodoxy that are very easily noticeable even from a bystanders perspective. From the moment you walk in, the church structure is different from what you would see in a Protestant church. The services include Holy liturgical worship (Divine Liturgy), incense, chanting, and ancient prayers while Protestant churches have more services with modern worship songs and a sermon. The concept of salvation also has notable differences between Protestant and Orthodox. Protestants believe that you are saved by Jesus as well as following with good deeds while Orthodoxy follows salvation as growth and life-long transformation as well as faith and human cooperation with God’s grace. Furthermore, one of the biggest doctrinal differences between Orthodoxy and Protestantism are icons. Protestants see icons as idolatry, but this does not hold true. Icons serve as a form of worship in Orthodoxy and the whole existence of Jesus becoming a man is an icon in of itself: it gives us a face. One could also make the argument that it is not idolatry because there are so many stories in the Bible of God working through physical objects: The Staff of Moses (Exodus 12:7), The Bronze Serpent (Numbers 21:9), and even baptism are all examples of God working through objects.
To provide some ease to the different dynamics between the Protestantism of Gordon and the Orthodox students, they have their priest at St. Nicholas to fall back on for spiritual leadership. Father Lawrence makes it one of his duties to lead the younger generation of Orthodox Christians and to answer questions while supporting individualistic thought. “The support that we give I think is much different than what the world gives. We support independent thought and we respect all opinions. Sometimes we confuse religion and Christian life with ‘you must only have these things’, but one thing we’ve learned from the church is that it’s always been a place of debate and intellectual exercise. So let people find their way without pre-text but we never turn away anybody with a question for us.” He said.
And because of the support and openness of the Orthodox Church in general, there have been many more people converting to Orthodoxy, especially young men. As of recent, interest in Orthodoxy has been increasing and there has been a 78% increase of young men converting. Father Lawrence has had a noticeable growth of men coming to his church in the past couple years and he is excited about it. “I think we are in a world where young men are seeking some of the core social parts of Orthodoxy: consistency, phrases that we’ve lost in society, hard work, decency in the sense of the idea of brotherhood and community, and maybe what it means being a gentlemen in today’s world and to discuss what issues young men are facing in society.” He said.
Jason grew up Evangelical but discovered Orthodoxy and became a catechumen (an unbaptized person undergoing a process of conversion, instruction, and spiritual formation to prepare for initiation into the Christian Church) November of 2024 and got baptized March of 2025 and has plans to become a priest in the future; so he definitely fits the demographic of young men converting. “In terms of why I ended up staying, it is not interest. The biggest thing that kept me here was the people. You meet people who are striving in such a unique way
towards union with Christ. The greatest fruits are the saints appearing in every generation since the first century and you see the saints among you and you realize you can really die to the world and live for Christ.” He said.
Senior Brooke Spataro also converted to Orthodoxy during her time here at Gordon after only knowing her Baptist knowledge. She emphasizes that St. Nicholas is a great, close-knit community that easily follows tradition. “Other churches feel individualized. People go there just for themselves and to get help for themself, but I realized at St. Nicholas you are there all for the same purpose and that is to worship God as much as you can and follow as much as His teachings.” She said.
But despite the differences in worship and service styles, the Orthodox students are still proud to be a part of the Orthodox community on Gordon’s campus and are grateful that they can represent a small group on campus.
“My first reaction to being a part of a small group is that it’s really cool and it gives me more of an opportunity to talk to people that don’t know about it and share what I know.” Brooke said.
Sophomore Vasi Tussing, who has been Orthodox her whole life, says that she is very blessed to be able to be part of and represent the Orthodox Christians on campus. “I have a lot of pride in being one of the few Orthodox people on campus. I think it is a challenge that there aren’t more of us… and I think that’s a calling for me to be a good witness for Christ and for the Orthodox church.” She said.
But just because there are doctrinal differences between most of the student body and the Orthodox Church, Father Lawrence does not want that to be a discouragement for not experiencing an Orthodox service. “I think the only way to really find out what Orthodox Christianity is is to come and see it for yourself. See the empty tomb … The biggest words in Orthodox Christianity is: ‘Christ is Risen’. I would say come peek in the tomb.”
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