For more than a year, I have been following the adventures of Canadians Arend and Anneesa Feenstra and their eight children in their adopted home of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. A deeply religious, conservative couple, the Feenstras had become disillusioned with what they considered to be the overly liberal trend of life in Canada, and wanted to protect their family from “wokeness,” LGBTQ, and other presumed dangers of a free society. So they sold their farm, moved to Russia, where they hoped to find freedom to live as they choose. After a bit of a rocky start, they managed to acquire a large piece of farmland, where they have built a beautiful home and farm buildings, started a couple of side businesses, and become internet celebrities and full-time propagandists for the Putin regime.

Over the course of the past year, I have learned that the Feenstras’ story is not as unusual as I had initially believed (though the others have not been so well publicized). In addition to reading of the increasing number of conservative families from Canada and the U.S. who are following in their footsteps, I now find that the Russian Orthodox Church has also brought its proprietary brand of male-dominated conservatism to our shores . . . and one individual stands out as a perfect example of its growing success.

His name is Father Moses McPherson. An American from Texas, he is a former roofer who was raised a Protestant, and now serves as a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) in Georgetown, Texas — an offshoot of the mother church in Moscow.

And his congregation has tripled in size in just the past 18 months.

Eastern Orthodoxy is just one of numerous religions represented in the United States, where freedom of religion is guaranteed by our Constitution. As in other Christian faiths, its adherents believe in one God, and in the Trinity. It stresses morality as being essential to one’s relationship with God, but differs mainly in some of its liturgical practices. And, while ROCOR has had a presence in the United States since its establishment in 1917 by Russians fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution, its numbers have been growing rapidly of late.

In and of itself, Eastern Orthodoxy is as legitimate a form of worship as other denominations of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, or any other religion. But what Father Moses — and, apparently, other ROCOR leaders — are offering that has become so attractive to young male converts are “absurd levels of manliness.” [Lucy Ash, BBC News, May 24, 2025.]

Judging from conversations between members of his congregation and BBC’s Lucy Ash, it appears that the recent spate of conversions is owed less to the fundamentals of the religion itself, and more to a desire for a patriarchal society. One of Father Moses’ parishioners, a software engineer, told Ash that he had felt empty inside, believing that society has been “very harsh” on men. He complained that men are being criticized for wanting to be the breadwinners of their families, with wives who will stay at home as full-time homemakers. “We are told that’s a very toxic relationship nowadays. That’s not how it should be,” he said. [Id.]

Ash said that most of the converts she met also had opted to home-school their children, in part because they believe women should prioritize their families rather than careers. And Father John Whiteford, an archpriest in a ROCOR near Houston, says that home-schooling ensures a religious education and is “a way of protecting your children, [while avoiding any talk about] transgenderism, or the 57 genders of the month or whatever.” [Id.]

Much like the ideal family units of the 1950s TV sitcoms, such as “The Brady Bunch,” and the aptly-named “Father Knows Best.”

ROCOR’s proponents also show a leaning toward another recent trend: pronatalism. Already popular with such prolific sperm donors as Elon Musk and Pavel Durov, it is receiving a huge boost from a growing number of conservative families. Father Moses himself shared a picture of his wife’s positive pregnancy test on his Instagram feed, and received 6,000 likes for announcing the arrival of their sixth child. And he instructs his congregation that there are two ways of serving God: by becoming a monk or a nun . . . or by getting married, avoiding contraception, and having as many children as possible.

Of course, he doesn’t explain how the average family, with a single (male) earner, will manage to support such large numbers of children. But that isn’t his problem.

Father Moses also complains of the “feminization” of the West; and many conservative young men relate to that. “I don’t want to go to services that feel like a Taylor Swift concert. If you look at the language of the ‘worship music,’ it’s all emotion — that’s not men,” he says. [Id.]

But one Greek Orthodox Sunday school teacher in Austin, Texas, Elissa Davis, says on her podcast that many of the converts belong to “the anti-woke crowd,” and have what she calls “strange ideas” about their new orthodox faith — especially those in the Russian Church:

“They see it as a military, rigid, disciplinary, masculine, authoritarian religion. It’s kind of funny. It’s almost as if the old American Puritans and their craziness is resurfacing.” [Id.]

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Did I hear someone ask, “So what?” I’m not surprised, as that was my initial reaction as well. An individual’s choice of religion is a deeply personal matter, and I would never imply that one is more worthy than another.

And if a woman chooses to forego a career in order to stay at home as full-time mother and wife — if that truly makes her happy — then good for her. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it . . . if it truly makes her happy. But when I hear rumblings of a return to a patriarchal society, I begin to wonder, as a woman, whether I would be able to vote in the next election, or buy a house without a man’s cosignature, or express an opinion of my own.

Perhaps I wouldn’t be so concerned if this were just a localized trend. But it isn’t. ROCOR exists under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church — the one centrally located in Moscow — whose current head is Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church . . . and whose political stance is 100% pro-Kremlin.

He is known as a close ally of Vladimir Putin, whose rule he has described as “a miracle of God.” He has justified Russia’s war against Ukraine as a struggle against “forces of evil”; and the World Russian People’s Council, under his leadership, has described it as a “Holy War.” [Biography of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Wikipedia.org.] There is no separation of church and state in Russia.

And Putin himself has forcefully promoted (and rewarded) larger families and ultra-conservative lifestyles . . . even importing families like the Feenstras, and celebrating 2024 as “The Year of the Family.”

*. *. *

It has become instinctive: When I see the hand of Vladimir Putin or his allies in any segment of American society, I take note. And when it aligns with many of the views of our current administration, I begin to worry.

Can you blame me?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/27/25