Timothy Campbell2 said:Maybe he was just an American with Orthodox roots.
Do those people even exist? I wouldn't bet on it...
They do. Here’s one example;
Method, born Radoslav Viličić—originally from Drniš—was an American painter and a member of the True Old Calendar Greek Orthodox Church:
"I am an American by ancestry, by faith, and by feeling. My Orthodoxy has never stood in the way of my identity; if anything, it reinforces my American roots. My life proves that if there can be American Catholics—or 'papists,' as I prefer to call them—Protestants, Muslims, or atheists, then there can also be true Orthodox Christians." And here’s another one, involving his uncle and brothers;
Father Seraphim, known secularly as Frane Špika, hails from Seget Donji near Trogir. His father was Ante Špika, a Dalmatian partisan and US Army officer who served in Mexico City at Topčider, while his mother was a German woman from Banat. He was baptized in 1981 and took his vows just a year later:
"Am I an American? Honestly, I don't know what to tell you. I think I belong to God first and foremost—though, if you really insist on making a point of it, I suppose I have those national roots."His father and two brothers, Vince and Peter, were all baptized at the Hilandar monastery.