Orthodox Christian dating in New York
Orthodox dating in New York: seven cathedrals in the city, Jordanville upstate, and how to look for a spouse inside the Church. Free, no subscription.
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- Antiochian
- Monastery
Short answer
If you are Orthodox and single in New York, you are in a state where the Church is concentrated rather than scattered: the city and Long Island have seven Orthodox cathedrals among the parishes below, the Archbishop of America has his cathedral on East 74th Street, the Russian Church Abroad keeps its Synod and its Kursk Root Icon on East 93rd, and the Antiochian mother cathedral has stood on State Street in Brooklyn since 1895. Upstate is another country: a monastery with a seminary and a printing press in the Mohawk hills, parishes in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo that go back to the 1890s, and two and a half hours of Thruway between each of them.
What this page leads to is cana.love, a free dating site for people who want marriage; its questionnaire asks which church you attend and how often, what you do about fasting, and which of twelve Orthodox jurisdictions you belong to, so that someone from East 74th Street and someone from Sea Cliff can find each other by practice, not by a checkbox.
Not an Orthodox-only site; the section on what cana.love is and is not says who else is on it.
Orthodox Christians in New York
The story of Orthodoxy in New York is the story of the port. In the autumn of 1891 there were a few hundred Greeks in the city and the parish of Holy Trinity was founded among them, the first in New York and the second in the Americas; forty years later Eleanor Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of its Byzantine cathedral on East 74th Street, and Archbishop Athenagoras, the future Ecumenical Patriarch, consecrated it in 1933. St Raphael of Brooklyn gathered the Arabic-speaking faithful into St Nicholas on State Street in 1895. The Russians had a chapel in the city from 1870 that became, after the upheavals of the 1920s, the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection on East 2nd Street, and the immigrants from Galicia who built Holy Transfiguration in Williamsburg in 1908 saw it made a cathedral in 1932 and heard English in its liturgy from 1946. In 1930 a Russian priest settled on a hill at Jordanville and began building a house that became Holy Trinity Monastery, with a seminary from 1948 and a cathedral consecrated in 1950.
Since then the largest change has been the converts: adults who came to the faith with no Orthodox family behind them. It has been counted: in twenty parishes across six jurisdictions and fifteen states, the Orthodox Studies Institute found that two thirds of the people received since 2013 were under forty at the time, that the largest single group was in its thirties, and that 44 percent were unmarried when they came in.
Orthodox Studies Institute, 2024; national figures, not New York's
The study is national, not a portrait of New York, but the person it describes is the one at coffee hour on the Upper East Side or in Syracuse: an adult who chose the faith, often out of a Protestant home, and who has not married yet. The cathedral on East 2nd Street says its services are primarily in English with some Slavonic, Romanian and Greek; the OCA parish in Rochester serves everything in English; the Buffalo parish of 1894 serves in English with some Slavonic. The languages of the immigrants are still there, and so is the door for people who speak none of them.
Four jurisdictions carry most of the weight in the state, and several more are present. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America keeps its own district in the city, with the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity as the See of the Archbishop, the National Shrine of St Nicholas at the World Trade Center, and cathedrals in Astoria and Hempstead. The Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of New York and New Jersey has its cathedral on East 2nd Street, a second in Brooklyn, and parishes across the state from Sea Cliff to Buffalo. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia has its Synod, its First Hierarch and the Kursk Root Icon at the Cathedral of the Sign on East 93rd Street, deaneries for the city, the Hudson Valley and upstate, and Holy Trinity Monastery at Jordanville. The Antiochian Archdiocese has its mother cathedral in Brooklyn. Romanian, Albanian and Georgian parishes exist as well, and the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops keeps the directory that lists them all.
Where the community gathers
New York is four Orthodox worlds that do not resemble each other: the city with Long Island, the Hudson Valley up to Albany, Syracuse with the Mohawk hills and Jordanville, and the west, Rochester and Buffalo.
New York City and Long Island
New York City and Long Island are where most of the state's Orthodox people are, in every jurisdiction and language. Manhattan alone has the Greek Archdiocesan Cathedral on East 74th Street, the OCA cathedral on East 2nd, the Russian Synodal cathedral on East 93rd, and the marble shrine of St Nicholas at the World Trade Center, rebuilt on Liberty Street after the church of 1916 was destroyed on 11 September 2001. Brooklyn has the Antiochian mother cathedral on State Street and the Transfiguration cathedral in Williamsburg; Astoria has St Demetrios; Long Island has the Greek cathedral of St Paul in Hempstead and the Russian church of Our Lady of Kazan in Sea Cliff, founded in 1942. Within the city the question is never whether there is a parish but which one, and the subway decides more than the map.
Albany and the Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley and Albany are two and a half hours up I-87. St Sophia, the Greek parish of Albany, was established in 1922; the OCA has St Nicholas in Cohoes from 1914 and a string of older parishes in the mill towns along the river. Across the Hudson at Cambridge, the monks and nuns of New Skete have kept their monastery since 1966. The Hudson Valley deanery of the Russian Church Abroad runs from Nyack to Poughkeepsie.
Syracuse and the Mohawk
Syracuse and the Mohawk are the middle of the state. SS Peter and Paul on Hamilton Street has been Syracuse's Orthodox parish since 1915, and an hour and a half east, on a hill above Jordanville, stands Holy Trinity Monastery of the Russian Church Abroad, founded in 1930, with its seminary, its printing press, its museum and its cathedral of 1950. It is the place upstate that people from every jurisdiction know, and the place where a weekend visitor from the city meets someone from Buffalo. Cornell, an hour south at Ithaca, has an OCF chapter.
Rochester and Buffalo
The west is Rochester and Buffalo, an hour apart. The OCA parish of SS Peter and Paul on Ideal Street in Buffalo was founded in 1894, one of the oldest in the state, and still serves in English with some Slavonic; St John the Baptist in Rochester, founded in 1964, serves everything in English. Both cities are closer to Toronto than to Manhattan, and their Orthodox life looks west and north as much as it looks downstate.
Cathedrals and parishes worth knowing
Founded in 1891 as the first Greek Orthodox parish in New York; the cathedral was consecrated in 1933 and has been the See of the Archbishop of America since 1962.
337 East 74th StreetNew York
The parish of 1916 was destroyed on 11 September 2001 and rebuilt beside the memorial to a design by Santiago Calatrava; open to the public every day.
130 Liberty StreetNew York
Descended from a chapel of 1870, on East 2nd Street since 1943; services primarily in English with some Slavonic, Romanian and Greek.
59 East 2nd StreetNew York
The cathedral of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad and the home of the Kursk Root Icon, in the Synod's house since 1958.
75 East 93rd StreetNew York
The first community established by St Raphael of Brooklyn, in 1895, and the mother cathedral of the Antiochian Archdiocese.
355 State StreetBrooklyn
Founded in 1908, a cathedral since 1932.
228 North 12th StreetWilliamsburg
The cathedral of the Hellenic Orthodox Community of Astoria, with its own parochial school.
30-11 30th DriveAstoria
The Greek cathedral of Long Island.
110 Cathedral AvenueHempstead
Founded in 1894; services in English and some Slavonic.
45 Ideal StreetBuffalo
Every other parish in the state, upstate and in the boroughs, is in the directory of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, which all jurisdictions keep together.
Distances that decide everything
A schematic, not a map. Driving times as given in the text.
In the city the unit of distance is the subway ride, and the numbers are small: every cathedral in Manhattan is within half an hour of every other, Brooklyn and Astoria are a train away, and Hempstead or Sea Cliff are an hour on the Long Island Rail Road or the parkways. Upstate the unit is the Thruway, and the numbers are honest: Manhattan to Albany is about two and a half hours on I-87, Albany to Syracuse another two and a half on I-90, Syracuse to Buffalo two and a half more, and Manhattan to Buffalo six hours and more. Jordanville is an hour and a half from either Albany or Syracuse and the better part of four from the city; Rochester sits between Syracuse and Buffalo, roughly an hour from each.
Set your search by the trip you would actually make on a Sunday for a liturgy and lunch: a subway ride in the city, the Long Island Rail Road out to Nassau, the Thruway upstate. For most New Yorkers that is the city and the island; upstate it is one city and the two hours to the next. A statewide search finds more people and makes every first meeting a day on I-87 or I-90, which suits some and not others; say which on your profile.
The Orthodox year in New York
Pentecost at Jordanville
Holy Trinity Monastery keeps its patronal feast at Pentecost, and the monastery runs a summer youth programme; people from the city, Albany and Buffalo who would never otherwise meet stand in the same cathedral that weekend.
Parish festivals
The Greek parishes of Queens, Long Island and upstate keep their festivals from late spring to autumn, and the parish sites announce the dates. Food fair on the surface, parish reunion underneath: a festival is the one weekend when someone nobody knows is expected at the gate.
Orthodox Christian Fellowship
Columbia and Cornell have OCF chapters. If you are a student or a recent graduate in Manhattan or Ithaca, this is the network that already exists.
Pilgrimages
Jordanville receives visitors by its own schedule, with a bookstore, a museum and the cemetery; New Skete at Cambridge, east of Albany, keeps its liturgy on Sunday mornings. Pilgrims from different parishes meet at a monastery in a way no festival allows.
Sunday of Orthodoxy
Pan-Orthodox Vespers on the first Sunday of Great Lent draws the clergy and faithful of every jurisdiction in the city into one church for an evening. A different parish hosts each year, and the diocesan sites carry the announcement.
Diocesan gatherings
Each diocese keeps its own assemblies, retreats and clergy-laity meetings, announced on the diocesan sites above, and they are where the city meets upstate.
Dating across jurisdictions, and with converts
Someone from the Archdiocesan Cathedral on East 74th Street and someone from Our Lady of Kazan in Sea Cliff are both Orthodox, and the first thing they need to know is what that means on a weekday in Lent. That is the conversation the cana.love questionnaire is built to start.
Practice, not labels
It asks which church you attend, how often you are actually there, what you do about fasting, and whether you want marriage or company. Orthodox members choose from twelve jurisdictions listed separately, OCA, ROCOR, Greek, Antiochian, Serbian and the others, and Catechumen stands among them as a choice of its own.
Five languages, Russian included
Five languages, every one of them fully translated: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian. In New York that covers the Russian of Brooklyn and Sea Cliff and the Spanish the city speaks at home; an optional AI feature translates between members who write in different languages.
Checked before it is visible
Every profile and photo is reviewed before it is shown to anyone, and anything doubtful is read by a person. Asking members for money gets a permanent removal, without a warning.
Free, with no paid tiers
Who viewed you and who liked you is free to see, which on most sites is the paid part; there is no subscription and there are no paid tiers. The optional AI extras run on credits, 150 of them at registration, and today there is no way to get more. Sign-in is by a one-time link or code to your email, with no password.
What cana.love is and is not
cana.love is not an Orthodox-only platform.
Christians of other traditions and people who hold the same values about marriage without a confession of their own are here too, and each member sets filters for whom to see. In a city with seven Orthodox cathedrals it would be easy to imply otherwise, and we would rather say it before you register. What the site promises is that your jurisdiction, practice and intention are questions on the form, answered by everyone you meet; the About page gives the full account.
Meeting safely
- Do not send money to someone you have not met, and know that on cana.love asking for it ends an account for good.
- Meet in a public place, tell someone where you are going, and keep the conversation on the site until you decide to take it elsewhere.
What is reviewed before a profile is shown, and how reports and appeals work, is on the guidelines page.
Common questions
Is cana.love available in New York?
Yes. It is a web application open to adults anywhere, New York included, and runs in a browser on a phone or a computer with nothing to install; the site is in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian.
How far should I search in New York?
By the trip you would make on a Sunday for a liturgy and lunch: in the city that is the five boroughs and Long Island, upstate one city and the Thruway to the next. Widen to the whole state only if you are ready for I-87 or I-90 before a first meeting.
Which jurisdictions have cathedrals in New York City?
The Greek Archdiocese on East 74th Street and in Astoria and Hempstead, the Orthodox Church in America on East 2nd Street and in Brooklyn, the Russian Church Abroad on East 93rd, and the Antiochian Archdiocese on State Street in Brooklyn.
Is there an Orthodox monastery in New York?
Yes, Holy Trinity at Jordanville in the Mohawk hills, with its seminary and press; the section on the Orthodox year describes Pentecost there.
Where is the oldest Orthodox parish in New York?
The Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection traces itself to a chapel of 1870; Holy Trinity on East 74th Street was the first Greek parish in the city, founded in 1891; SS Peter and Paul in Buffalo dates from 1894 and St Nicholas in Brooklyn from 1895.
Where can I find every Orthodox parish in New York?
In the directory of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, kept with every jurisdiction, and on the sites of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the OCA Diocese of New York and New Jersey, the ROCOR Eastern American Diocese and the Antiochian Archdiocese.
Next steps
Create a profile at cana.love, read the community guidelines before your first conversation, and the About page for who runs the site and how. Then find your borough or your city upstate, find its calendar, and find the person.
Reviewed on September 19, 2026.
Photographs, all Wikimedia Commons: Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on East 74th Street, Manhattan — EVilkas, Public domain · St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center — Ajay Suresh, CC BY 4.0 · Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection on East 2nd Street, Manhattan — Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cathedral of the Holy Transfiguration in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0 · St Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral on State Street, Brooklyn — Thomson200, CC0 · Church of Our Lady of Kazan, Sea Cliff — DanTD, CC BY-SA 4.0