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ST. MICHAEL's PARISH HISTORY European Roots Early Parish Life

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ST. MICHAEL's PARISH HISTORY European Roots Early Parish Life ST. MICHAEL’S PARISH HISTORY A journey of faith, a labor of love – for the Glory of God THE FIRST 100 YEARS European Roots The majority of the people that formed St. Michael’s Parish in Old Forge, PA came from the areas of Europe in the late 19th century which were primarily within eastern Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These people are known are the “Little Russians (Malo-Russians)”. They are generally divided into two groups: those under Polish rule known as the Galicians (or Lemko) and those under Austro-Hungarian known as Carpatho-Russians (Uhorschani) from in and around the Carpathian Mountains. They spoke slightly different dialects but shared a similar ethnic culture centered in the life of the Orthodox Church. Two events, the so called “Union of Brest-Litovsk” in 1595 and the “Union of Uzhorod” in 1645 changed the character of the people’s religious life. These agreements of certain Orthodox bishops with Roman Catholic authorities were political arrangements which forced most of the Orthodox Christians of these regions into union with the Roman Catholic Church. Resisters to this union were subject to various trials and persecutions. Under the “Unia”, as it is known, a new category of religious identity was created, whereby those formerly Orthodox (Pravoslavnie) came to be known as “Greek Catholics”. This was an artificial term created by the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa to designate these new “Uniate” Catholics. Even after the Unia, the Little Russians did not have equal civil rights in the Empire with the Roman Catholic majority and consequently, their church life was less respected and faced many difficulties. Economic life was hard and at subsistence levels on the rural farms of the mountainous Carpathian and Galician regions. In the time of the great immigration to America in the late 19th century industrial revolution, the opportunity for jobs and a new beginning brought many of the Little Russian people to the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. The first immigrants in Old Forge, beginning in 1878, came in principally from the old country villages of Wysova, Chaina, Ustia, Grichova, Leschina, Lossia, Stawisha, Klimkova, Yashkova, and Snitnicha, along with a few from the areas of Great Russia. The men often came first for work in the area coal mines and factories and the f amilies followed their men a few years later. The number of these people settling in Old Forge grew to the point where they realized that this would be their new permanent home. Early Parish Life Soon it was time for the local Russian community to think about reorganizing to obtain a property and build a church. The Church was always the center of the people’s cultural life in Europe and it would continue to be so in America. It is worth noting that both groups of Little Russians – the Carpathians and Galicians – were united in their ecclesiastical efforts from the beginning. This was often not the case in other early Russian communities in America. It was the case that several churches in a given region were started based on specific areas of Eastern Europe the people came from. At the outset, a church “society” known as the “Society of St. Michael the Archangel” was incorporated on October 17, 1890. This was a typical way of preparation towards the founding of a parish. After organizing as a society, they would later petition the bishop to be blessed to form a parish and to receive a priest. We are reminded by this procedure, which our ancestors apparently understood, that without the bishop there is no priest and therefore no real parish or church life, but just a building or corporation. As St. Ignatius of Antioch (yr. 107) said in the earliest times, “Where the Bishop is, there is the Church of Christ.” On July 14, 1891, St. Michael’s Greek Catholic Congregation was formed. This is the exact date of St. Michael’s beginning. At the start, services were held in the home of a parishioner on Winter Street opposite the present location of the Church. Form 1892 to 1895, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in a new, but unfinished church building. The priests who looked after the spiritual needs of the congregation during these formative years were Fathers Alexander Shereghy, Nicephor Chanat, Valentine Balogh, and John Zaklynsky who were visiting Uniate priests from St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Scanton. Among the names of parish founders the following names were recorded: Constantine Rusyn, John Kopcho, Gregory Basalyga, Philemon Gambal, Victor Krenitsky, Andrew Durniak, Jacob Korbelak, Mitrofan, Basil and Roman Gambal, Michael Pecuch, Simeon Sorokanich, Peter Jadick, Joseph Stavisky, Harrison Krenitsky, Ignatius Stavisky, Simeon Hubiak, Thomas Dorosh, Andrew Danilo, Gregory and Onuphrey Macheska, Paul Serniak, Leon Pergrim, Constantine Sumple, John Lischinsky, Myron Petrowsky, Gabriel and Gregory Halchak. The Return to Orthodoxy From 1891 to 1895, the St. Michael’s community was involved in issues and pressures affecting many other Russian-American communities around the country. Disputes arose concerning old country politics, nationality differences, and especially religious identity. The year 1891 saw the conversion to Orthodoxy of one of the first Uniate parishes in America, the Protection of the Virgin Mary Church in Minneapolis, MN through the guidance of its pastor, St. Alexis Toth. This step would begin a return to Orthodoxy movement throughout many Uniate communities in America, spearheaded by the missionary efforts of Fr. Toth. Apparently many founding members of St. Michael’s in Old Forge in their hearts longed to return to the Holy Orthodox Faith of their ancestors. During this time of factional tension and transition, St. Michael’s received its first resident pastor, Fr. Gregory Hrushka, who served from 1896-1901. Fr. Gregory has to be seen as a pivotal figure in St. Michael’s history. He evidently provided the impetus and inspiration for St. Michael’s coming reception into the Orthodox Church. He came to Old Forge from a Uniate parish in Jersey City, NJ and was very active in church and immigrant affairs, editing two Russian newspapers, “Svoboda”, and later “Svit” (The Light) while in Old Forge. He was well-educated and had Orthodox sympathies. Fr. Hrushka arrived as construction of the church neared completion. The date of consecration was approaching and by this time the majority of parishioners manifested a desire to be Orthodox. Unlike the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where their true spiritual identity had been suppressed, the people realized that in America they had the freedom, even as a minority group, to worship as they pleased. At one point earlier in 1895, this commitment was expressed in one revealing episode. Troubles were such that the Uniate-minded minority called the Roman Catholic Bishop O’Hara of Scranton to intervene in Old Forge. On the day he arrived, there were no Uniates present, but faithful pro-Orthodox who told the Bishop that his presence was not requested. It was on December 25, 1896, that Russian Orthodox Bishop Nicholas was invited to Old Forge. On this God-ordained day he accepted St. Michael’s Parish into the Holy Orthodox Church. The Uniate faction apparently, prior to this occasion, has initiated court proceedings for the possession of the Church property. After the bishop’s visit, those proceedings were dropped and a split occurred in the mostly Carpathian Uniate group to organize St. Nicholas Greek Catholic Church down the street from St. Michael’s. In 1897, St. Michael’s became chartered as “St. Michael Russian Othodox Greek Catholic Church”. During this period, Fr. Alexis Toth had come to Wilkes-Barre and had succeeded in bringing many area Uniate parishes into the Orthodox fold. Among these was the Holy Resurrection Church where he was pastor. This parish was originally planned to the seat of the future Uniate bishop, instead became today’s Holy Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral. Frs. Toth and Hrushka were close friends and Fr. Hrushka had undoubtedly been inspired to follow Fr. Toth into Holy Orthodoxy along with his family Old Forge faithful. In a sermon by Fr. Alexis Toth given at St. Michael’s, he proclaimed “His (Christ’s) Holy Orthodox Faith and Church is the only one that brings salvation.” Fr. Toth, now St. Alexis Toth, is called the “Father of the Orthodox Church in America.” St. Michael’s received another holy visitor in 1897 when Archbishop Tikon, then bishop of North America, and later Confessor Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (He died in Soviet prison in 1925 and was canonized a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1989.) consecrated St. Michael’s first church building. The parish received a citation (hramota) signed November 29, 1897 by Metropolitan Pallady of St. Petersburg, Russia. In it is expressed praise of the St. Michael’s parishioners for their courage in accepting Orthodoxy and refusal to accept the Roman bishop requested by the opposing faction, and trust that the Parish would always remain fervently Russian Orthodox. Tragedy struck the young parish early on as the original church building was destroyed by fire in 1903. It was rebuilt the same year and is known to current members as the “old Church” which stood until 1965. This occurred under the pastorship of Fr. Elias Klopotovsky who arrived in Old Forge in 1901, following Fr. Hrushka. Of sad note is the apparent outcome for Fr. Hrushka. After serving in Old Forge, he returned to Galicia and apostasized, returning to the Unia and died in 1913 according to a previous account, as “a forgotten and disillusioned man,” with no further explanation. Fr. Elias Klopotovsky was the first priest form the regions of Great Russia to serve in St.
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