Sexual abuse and Orthodox churches—a blind spot?
Sexual abuse by Orthodox clergy occurs worldwide but remains largely unstudied and shrouded in silence, writes Hermina Nedelescu, a neuroscientist and theologian at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, in an article published in German in Religion and Gesellschaft in Ost und West (May). The entire issue is devoted to power and abuse in various mainstream churches in Western and Eastern Europe. Nedelescu cofounded Prosopon Healing in 2024, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing awareness, research, and education on clergy-perpetrated (sexual) abuse, supporting survivors, advocacy, and community building, and promoting accountability within the Orthodox Church. She explains that such abuse arises when a cleric (subdeacon, deacon, priest, or bishop) exploits his authority within a pastoral relationship. She sees the core of the issue as power and control more than sex. Two mechanisms predominate: grooming, a gradual conditioning that builds trust—through attention, praise, gifts, or ties to the victim’s family—while isolating the person; and coercive control, later sustained through threats, blame, and intimidation. Due to their respect for the priesthood, believers struggle to imagine clergy as abusers, which deepens the silence. Drawing on Amos Guiora’s concept of “enablers,” Nedelescu stresses instances of systemic complicity, with hierarchs and leaders who either know of abuse but fail to act, or who actively conceal it, discredit victims, or quietly relocate offenders—shielding the institution while leaving abusers in positions of access. However, Nedelescu also observes differences in the way such issues are handled across jurisdictions.
Her findings are based on Prosopon Healing’s database, which builds on data collected over decades (originally on the now-defunct Pokrov.org website by Melanie Sakoda and Cappy Larson). From 2002 to the present, it documents nearly 800 victims and over 200 accused clergy—figures presented as only the tip of the iceberg, since most abuse goes unreported. The article calls for awareness and accountability for both perpetrators and enablers, citing a 2025 conviction and prison sentence of a bishop in Romania as a precedent and a California bill, introduced by two Orthodox women, that could establish criminal liability for abusive clergy. Regarding the Romanian case, the issue includes a report by investigative journalist Vlad Stoicescu, who works with a media project that was instrumental in exposing the case, since clergy who had become aware of the bishop’s abuse of a number of young people training for the priesthood didn’t dare to denounce him and judges had initially preferred to look the other way. In 2025, the bishop was condemned to eight years in jail and a monk to 14 years. Stoicescu observes that, along with the armed forces, the church remains the most respected institution in Romania, despite its reluctance to deal openly with such cases.