Pittsburgh Steelers Safety Troy Polamalu
Troy Polamalu is a seven-time Pro Bowl safety who ranks among the hardest hitters in the league. Always around the ball, this Steelers playmaker is also one of the league’s most religious players.
Polamalu is an Orthodox Christian. Orthodoxy is the Eastern wing of the early Christian church, which split into the Orthodox and Catholic churches in 1054. Polamalu, who came from a Catholic and Protestant background, and his wife Theodora, who came from a Muslim and Protestant background, converted to Orthodoxy in 2007.
Very soft spoken off the field, Polamalu is known as a person who takes his beliefs seriously. He keeps a book nearby called “Counsels From the Holy Mountain” which contains letters and homilies from a monk, Elder Ephraim, who the player has described as his spiritual father, according to The New York Times. And he’s gone on pilgrimages to Mount Athos in Greece.
He told the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette earlier this year: “Orthodoxy is like an abyss of beauty that’s just endless. I have read the Bible many times. But after fasting, and being baptized Orthodox, it’s like reading a whole new Bible. You see the depth behind the words so much more clearly.”
