To make matters worse, the Crusaders in 1204, ransacked the Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople. Any hope of reconciliation died with this act of desecration. In some countries, where the OC is dominant, it also constitutes a monopoly or state religion. In the U.S., this ethnicity has hampered its growth among the general citizenry. Congregations are generally made up of immigrants and children of immigrants.
Liturgies are in languages other than English.
This ethnicity has also made the OC culturally invisible in the sense that it has had very little impact on the culture as a whole. Instead, the church is like an island where a particular culture and language is featured and sustained. Their use in worship was established by the 8th Century, though not before much blood was shed over the matter. When one enters an Orthodox sanctuary one is overwhelmed by the icons and frescoes on every square inch of the walls. They are for the OC a form of theological expression much as commentaries are for the Western Church.