https://www.circeinstitute.org/blog/benedict-or-constantine-part-2

Dreher and Ben Op

Reynolds: I guess I have a real concern here, though, in that I don’t think that it takes the actual history of the world seriously enough. Orthodox communities would not have survived in the Middle East to the extent they did if not by God’s grace. The Orthodox Czars had the political muscle to help keep them alive. And I think there’s a naivete’ to think that lay communities of people are going to be able to raise their kids with their own values without some kind of political protection the equivalent of the Russian Orthodox Czar in the Ottoman empire. It’s simply a fact that if there hadn’t been a major Orthodox power there would be a lot fewer Greek Orthodox Christians in the world today.

Part one. https://www.circeinstitute.org/blog/benedict-option-or-constantine-project