The First American to Become an Orthodox Christian

The First American to Become an Orthodox Christian

Philip Ludwell III, the first American convert to Orthodoxy. Credit: Public Domain On December 29, 1716, a remarkable man was born in the Tidewater of Virginia. Fated to become America’s first Orthodox convert, Philip Ludwell III experienced many traumas which may have led to a deep philosophical bent very early on in his life. Nothing is known of Ludwell’s childhood except that the young, impressionable boy lost his father at eleven years of ag…