Carpatho-Rusyn Community

Rich C · Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Washington, DC

For those of you who have traveled to different Byzantine Catholic churches in the USA, which do you feel are the most "traditional" (i.e., non-latinized, look and feel like the European parish churches inside) and "most Rusyn" (however you would define it)?

If you'd asked me 10 years ago, I would have nominated:

Holy Ghost, McKees Rocks, PA -- they still used a good bit of Slavonic, the prostopinije singing was excellent, they celebrated a fairly good variety of services, and enthusiastically kept customs beyond just the basic Christmas & Easter ones. The church interior isn't particularly Rusyn-looking, but they have icons of the four martyred Rusyn GC bishops of the Prešov and Mukačevo eparchies. The parish did (and still does) host the Carpatho-Rusyn youth ensemble "Slavjane". Their parish school gymnasium had the Rusyn emblem painted on the basketball court floor. And perhaps most importantly, they were not afraid to state in their parish histories that it was a church founded by Rusyns!

St. John Chrysostom, Pittsburgh (Greenfield - Rus'ka Dolina), PA -- they used about half Slavonic on a typical Sunday, the singing was very good prostopinije, the inside of the church, while renovated several times, is "traditional", with a floor-to-ceiling ikonostas and a shrine to the Rusyn GC martyred bishops. The people were very aware that they are Rusyns. About 10 years ago the parish youth group made t-shirts/sweatshirts for a fundraiser that said "Rus'ka Dolina State" with the Rusyn emblem at the center like a college sweatshirt! The parish histories consistently identified it as a church founded by Rusyns.

St. Mary's, Mahanoy City, PA -- they used a moderate amount of Slavonic, the singing was good prostopinije, the inside of the church looks pretty "traditional", with banners and icon shrines and a floor-to-ceiling ikonostas, their outdoor processions circled the entire block! -- and they went "all out" decorating the church for holy days (Pentecost was the best--greens everywhere, around every icon and on every windowsill, even whole trees were brought in and placed up and down each aisle!). Although the people seemed to be a bit confused identity-wise (and had some activist Americanizers to deal with in their pastor and religious ed. leadership), lots of the older folks still identified *with* Rusyn culture, could still speak Rusyn, etc. And a stained-glass window in the church is donated by the parish's former Carpatho-Russian Choir.

Unfortunately these parishes have all taken various turns for the worse and have either eliminated Slavonic, have dumbed down their singing and/or lost their good cantors, have started saying they were founded by "Slavs" or "Eastern Europeans", and/or now have Slovak priests holding events like Slovak language classes and hosting Slovak singing groups at the parish hall.

And of course there was St. Mary's Chapel in Brooklyn, NY, which was a parish that had almost entirely Rusyn-immigrant congregation, used Slavonic almost exclusively, the priest preached in Rusyn, and the epistles and Gospel readings were in Rusyn! Sadly, that church was closed and the congregation was dispersed either to a nearby Ukrainian Catholic parish or the Slovak Roman Catholic parish across the bridge in Manhattan.

I've heard reasonably good things about parishes like Detroit's St. Nicholas (with good cantors and a parish Carpatho-Rusyn Cultural Society, though the church is not too European-Rusyn looking), St. Nicholas in Munster, IN (lots of Slavonic and a very pro-Rusyn pastor), and have seen good things for myself at Holy Ghost in Jessup, PA, and St. John the Baptist in Wilkes-Barre Twp., PA.

Anyone else have current, good authentic parish experiences to share? (I know the "real thing" is hard to find anymore, so maybe we'll have to give credit where credit is due.) Or any formerly-fine examples that are now only a memory?

BrezinaBound · Joined: 09 May 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Chicago Area

I'll vote for St. Michael's RO (now Archangel Michael) in Cleveland (now Broadview) Ohio and St. Mary's Cathedral in Minneapolis -- although a few here in Chicago during Pascha and at Christmas can pull the stops out with Slavonic occasionally -- Sts. Peter & Paul in Burr Ridge and the Cathedral on Leavitt in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood of Chicago.

I'm sure there are more and I look forward to hearing from others.

Rich C · Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Washington, DC