DOCSLIB.ORG

Whose Tradition?: Adapting Orthodox Christianity in North America By

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Whose Tradition?: Adapting Orthodox Christianity in North America by © Lydia Bringerud A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Folklore Memorial University of Newfoundland May 2019 St. John’s Newfoundland For my Naşa Karin-Irina Doehl, proud feminist and Orthodox Christian, to whom I owe so much. May her memory be eternal. ii Abstract Focusing on three Orthodox Christian communities – St. Paraskeva and St. Luke in Midwestern US, and St. Nicolas in Atlantic Canada – this thesis examines the complex cultural dynamics surrounding Orthodox Christianity in North America. I explore the ways believers, both the Orthodox-born and new converts, negotiate with an ancient faith in a contemporary society where this faith may appear counter-cultural. Building on Leonard Primiano’s (1995) theory of vernacular religion, I propose the concept of vernacular theology to shed light on these processes. Despite the illusion of theology as the exclusive purview of clergy, laypeople exercise interpretive agency to creatively adapt doctrine to their individual life circumstances. Considering the significant role of Church history in the religious choices and experiences of my consultants, I begin with a historical overview of Orthodox Christianity, from its origins in the Roman Empire to the present day, including its path to North America. The themes of empire, romantic nationalism, anti-Westernism, and Communism that have historically shaped this faith are explored specifically in Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine, the home countries of my Orthodox-born participants. I analyze the Orthodox Church’s response to globalization and how this may affect the future of the Church in North America. I further consider encounters between converts and Orthodox-born immigrants within the walls of North American Orthodox churches, examining how Orthodox Christian communities meet the needs of these different groups. I argue that those who convert to Orthodox Christianity create exoteric folklore about ethnicity in terms of those who have cultural connections with the faith. iii In my last two chapters, I address theory and practice in the lives of Orthodox Christians, with specific emphasis on how women navigate this patriarchal faith in a society in dialogue with feminist ideas. Themes include understandings of clerical authority, spiritual obedience, and the interpretive agency of parishioners. I offer a theory of vernacular feminisms, in which women create strategies of empowerment within a patriarchal system. By creating these choices for themselves, they simultaneously subvert and support a system that limits them on the basis of gender. iv Acknowledgements I owe thanks first and foremost to my supervisor, Mariya Lesiv. Thank you for challenging me to be a better thinker and theorist while still being compassionate and encouraging. A sincere thank you to my supervisory committee members—Cory Thorne, and Diane Tye. Your patience and rigorous attention to detail in reading my thesis is greatly appreciated. My doctoral degree would not be possible without the financial support provided by a Graduate Fellowship from Memorial University of Newfoundland. My gratitude extends to the American Folklore Society, where I was able to workshop some of my dissertation chapters. Thank you for providing excellent networking opportunities, but also the minds of so many brilliant folklorists who continue to inspire my research questions. I would like to thank my cohort of fellow grad students in the Folklore Department at Memorial University, especially those who became my roommates. To Noah Morritt, Klara Nichter, John LaDuke, and our “honorary roommates,” ethnomusicologists Maile Graham- Laidlaw and Molly McBride—I learned so much from all of you, not only in our theoretical debates, but also in play. Thank you to Hadi Milanloo and Saeede Niktaab for engaging me with new ideas and challenging me to think outside my own context. Each and every one of you has given me the priceless gift of your friendship, and I am a better folklorist because of it. Kevin Mellis, I thank you for broadening my horizons in the world of Orthodox Christian theology. Because of our conversations, I learned what tremendous breadth of interpretation exists in this tradition. You continue to be an endless font of information, theologian, and friend. v I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Doris and Dan Weisman, who let me live with them while I did fieldwork. I am also indebted to Brian and Jenifer Pletcher who lent me their car for a week so that I could both work and interview more people. Your kindnesses touched my heart and made this research possible. Thank you so much to the church communities who allowed me into their lives. It was a privilege to interview each and every one of you. This research, and my doctorate, would not be possible without you. You humbled me, challenged me, and above all, allowed me to witness the mysteries and contradictions of the human heart. Thank you for allowing me to interview you. To my best friends, Jenn Osborne, Madeline Daily, and Melanie Rentsch, you have seen the seasons of my growing up. Thank you for letting me cry on your shoulders, dance with you, sing with you, and laugh with you. Thank you for reminding me to go outside and play sometimes. I love you all fiercely. I would like to thank my mother and grandmother for their unflagging support for my research and their interest in the material, including proofreading. Thank you for feeding me, clothing me, letting me borrow your vehicles, and above all, for loving me unconditionally. I don’t know who I would be without you. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my partner, James, for believing in me. Thank you for assuring that I will never starve with your fantastic culinary creations. Thank you for encouraging me to do be artistic and creative as well as analytical. Above all, thank you for loving me through light and shadow. vi Table of Contents Dedication……………………………………………………………………………………...….ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………...iii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………….….v Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………….…..vii List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………...viii Chapter 1: Introduction………..…………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 2: From Empire to Diaspora: A Brief History of the Orthodox Church………………..38 Chapter 3: Globalization, Identity, & Tradition……………………………………………….....86 Chapter 4: Orthodox Christianity & Community……………………………………………....122 Chapter 5: Orthodox Christianity & Cultural Heritage…………………………………..……..156 Chapter 6: Gender Roles as a Path to Humility………………………………………………...195 Chapter 7: Vernacular Theologies about Gender…………………….………...…………….…235 Chapter 8: Cleanliness is Next to Godliness: A Case Study in Clerical Authority & the Price of Obedience…………………………………………………………………………………..…..266 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...301 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………305 Appendix A: Timeline of Orthodox Christianity……………..………………….……......……331 Appendix B: Glossary of Terms………………………………………………..………………338 vii List of Figures Figures Page Figure 1 Nave of St. Parascheva Romanian Orthodox Church. 25 Figure 2 A priest, deacon, and acolytes in procession at St. Parascheva. 26 Figure 3 Pew Research Center poll of the religious landscape of Central 55 and Eastern Europe. Figure 4 Meme depicting Matthew Heimbach assaulting a counter- 89 protestor with an Orthodox cross at the University of Knoxville in Tennessee. Figure 5 Free speech stone at the University of Knoxville. An Orthodox 89 cross is depicted alongside symbols for the Traditionalist Workers Party and various white power symbols. Figure 6 Matthew Heimbach at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, 91 Virginia, wearing a t-shirt glorifying Corneliu Codreanu. Figure 7 Blessing the cars at St. Parascheva in the summer of 2015. 96 Figure 8 Icon of Christ crucified and Christ the Good Shepherd on a 169 donated Romanian altar cloth at St. Parascheva. Figure 9 Icon of St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre on a donated Romanian 169 altar cloth at St. Parascheva. Figure 10 St. Parascheva of Iaşi, on the iconostasis at St. Parascheva. 172 Figure 11 St. Nicholas, in the basement fellowship space at St. Parascheva. 172 Figure 12 St. Herman of Alaska, on the iconostasis at St. Parascheva. 174 Figure 13 Icon of the saints of North America, in the narthex at St. 174 Parascheva Figure 14 Iconostasis at St. Parascheva. 175 Figure 15 The author wearing a headscarf at a Russian Orthodox church in 208 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Figure 16 Russian and Mongolian women worshipping in the same church 208 in Ulaanbaatar. Figure 17 Archbishop Job serving communion at St. John’s, assisted by 272 two female parishioners. xviii Chapter 1: Introduction This thesis examines how Orthodox Christianity is being adapted in twenty-first century North America. I engage with the following broad questions: Why and how does Orthodox Christianity remain a relevant faith in twenty-first century North America, where it is relatively new and “foreign”? What does belonging to an Orthodox Christian community mean for both North American converts and Orthodox-born immigrant believers? How is this faith culturally adapted and negotiated in a context where it may appear to many to be counter-cultural? I will illustrate that such adaptation becomes possible at least partly due to the interpretative strategies of what I call
Recommended publications
  • Archdiocesan History FINAL

    Archdiocesan History FINAL

    A History of the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania Kristie Bosko Mertz, Ph.D. “…the more I study the history of the Orthodox Church in this land, the more convinced I become that our task here is God’s task, that God Himself helps us.” 1 — St. Patriarch Tikhon, Farewell Address, March 7, 1907 Introduction The history of our archdiocese is inextricably bound to the larger history of Orthodoxy in America. What is now known as the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania began in 1916 with the tonsuring and consecration of Fr. Alexander Dzubay as Bishop Stephen, within the former North American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. His situation, in terms of being an immigrant of Carpatho-Russian ethnicity and a convert to Orthodoxy from the Byzantine Catholic (Greek Catholic) faith, was in no way unique at that time. However, it provides us with a glimpse of the evolving religious landscape and the foundation that was laid for the creation of the archdiocese and for its subsequent development. The Beginning of Orthodoxy in America Orthodoxy in America began in 1794, when Russian missionaries from Valaam Monastery arrived at Kodiak Island in the Aleutian Islands.1 The beginning of Orthodoxy in this country was found mainly in the future state of Alaska (which was a part of Russia) and in California, but very quickly grew up in the industrial areas of the United States such as Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, and West Virginia. The entirety of North America and Canada was one large diocese with very scattered Orthodox communities.
  • Lutheran Forum Vol. 43, No. 2, Summer 2009

    Lutheran Forum Vol. 43, No. 2, Summer 2009

    FROM THE EDITOR STILL LIFE WITH BAPTISM Sarah Hinlicky Wilson In commemoration of the five hundredth anniversary American congregations on the east coast, baptized me. I of the beginning of the Reformation was his first grandchild and born the day after his birthday. and in gratitude to God for Martin Luther, Years later on his deathbed he would bless me to take up Confessor of the Christian faith the mantle of Christian ministry, to the surprise of us both. But the greater blessing was the baptism. “Sarah Ellen,” he said, scooping the water out of the shallow bowl set in the 1976 font, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the “My faith does not make baptism; rather, it receives baptism.” Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” And the congregation said: I don’t remember the event I am about to report. I was “Amen.” only thirty-seven days old at the time. Then my young mother had the dubious honor of being St. Lucas Evangelical Lutheran Church, its name an the very last woman to undergo the churching of women Americanization of the Slovak Svätý Lukáš (Saint Luke), rite at my grandfather’s hands. “I don’t think I’m going to had blue windows. No stained-glass images of the good do this anymore,” he said afterward. Maybe it was the look shepherd or Moses with his curly snake, just drifting shades on her face. of blue. They cast a cooling tint over the sanctuary and When it was all over, I am told, there was an epic party.
  • Justice of God in Damnation

    Justice of God in Damnation

    THE JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE DAMNATION OF SINNERS “That every mouth may be stopped” (Romans 3:19). By Jonathan Edwards Online Edition by: International Outreach, Inc. PO Box 1286, Ames, Iowa 50014 (515) 292-9594 THE JUSTICE OF GOD IN THE DAMNATION OF SINNERS By Jonathan Edwards "That every mouth may be stopped." (Romans 3:19) The main subject of the doctrinal part of this epistle, is the free grace of God in the salvation of men by Christ Jesus; especially as it appears in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. And the more clearly to evince this doctrine, and show the reason of it, the apostle, in the first place, establishes that point, that no flesh living can be justified by the deeds of the law. And to prove it, he is very large and particular in showing, that all mankind, not only the Gentiles, but Jews, are under sin, and so under the condemnation of the law; which is what he insists upon from the beginning of the epistle to this place. He first begins with the Gentiles; and in the first chapter shows that they are under sin, by setting forth the exceeding corruptions and horrid wickedness that overspread the Gentile world: and then through the second chapter, and the former part of this third chapter, to the text and following verse, he shows the same of the Jews, that they also are in the same circumstances with the Gentiles in this regard. They had a high thought of themselves, because they were God's covenant people, and circumcised, and the children of Abraham.
  • Changing Landscapes of Faith: Latin American Religions in the Twenty-First Century

    Changing Landscapes of Faith: Latin American Religions in the Twenty-First Century

    Thornton, Brendan Jamal. 2018. Changing Landscapes of Faith: Latin American Religions in the Twenty-First Century. Latin American Research Review 53(4), pp. 857–862. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25222/larr.341 BOOK REVIEW ESSAYS Changing Landscapes of Faith: Latin American Religions in the Twenty-First Century Brendan Jamal Thornton University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US [email protected] This essay reviews the following works: The Cambridge History of Religions in Latin America. Edited by Virginia Garrard-Burnett, Paul Freston, and Stephen C. Dove. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xii + 830. $250.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780521767330. Native Evangelism in Central Mexico. By Hugo G. Nutini and Jean F. Nutini. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014. Pp. vii + 197. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780292744127. New Centers of Global Evangelicalism in Latin America and Africa. By Stephen Offutt. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Pp. viii + 192. $80.18 hardcover. ISBN: 9781107078321. The Roots of Pope Francis’s Social and Political Thought: From Argentina to the Vatican. By Thomas R. Rourke. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016. Pp. vii + 220. $80.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781442272712. Latin America today is much more than simply Catholic. To describe it as such would obscure the complicated cultural history of the region while belying the lived experiences of believers and the dynamic transformations in the religious field that have distinguished the longue durée of colonial and postcolonial Latin America. Diversity, heterodoxy, and pluralism have always been more useful descriptors of religion in Latin America than orthodoxy or homogeneity, despite the ostensible ubiquity of Catholic identity.
  • Purgatory--Purification After Death by Fire Heb. 12:29

    Purgatory--Purification After Death by Fire Heb. 12:29

    Purgatory--Purification After Death By Fire Heb. 12:29 - God is a consuming fire (of love in heaven, of purgation in purgatory, or of suffering and damnation in hell). 1 Cor. 3:10-15 - works are judged after death and tested by fire. Some works are lost, but the person is still saved. Paul is referring to the state of purgation called purgatory. The venial sins (bad works) that were committed are burned up after death, but the person is still brought to salvation. This state after death cannot be heaven (no one with venial sins is present) or hell (there is no forgiveness and salvation). 1 Cor. 3:15 – “if any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” The phrase for "suffer loss" in the Greek is "zemiothesetai." The root word is "zemioo" which also refers to punishment. The construction “zemiothesetai” is used in Ex. 21:22 and Prov. 19:19 which refers to punishment (from the Hebrew “anash” meaning “punish” or “penalty”). Hence, this verse proves that there is an expiation of temporal punishment after our death, but the person is still saved. This cannot mean heaven (there is no punishment in heaven) and this cannot mean hell (the possibility of expiation no longer exists and the person is not saved). 1 Cor. 3:15 – further, Paul writes “he himself will be saved, "but only" (or “yet so”) as through fire.” “He will be saved” in the Greek is “sothesetai” (which means eternal salvation).
  • An Old Believer ―Holy Moscow‖ in Imperial Russia: Community and Identity in the History of the Rogozhskoe Cemetery Old Believers, 1771 - 1917

    An Old Believer ―Holy Moscow‖ in Imperial Russia: Community and Identity in the History of the Rogozhskoe Cemetery Old Believers, 1771 - 1917

    An Old Believer ―Holy Moscow‖ in Imperial Russia: Community and Identity in the History of the Rogozhskoe Cemetery Old Believers, 1771 - 1917 Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Doctoral Degree of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Peter Thomas De Simone, B.A., M.A Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2012 Dissertation Committee: Nicholas Breyfogle, Advisor David Hoffmann Robin Judd Predrag Matejic Copyright by Peter T. De Simone 2012 Abstract In the mid-seventeenth century Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow, introduced a number of reforms to bring the Russian Orthodox Church into ritualistic and liturgical conformity with the Greek Orthodox Church. However, Nikon‘s reforms met staunch resistance from a number of clergy, led by figures such as the archpriest Avvakum and Bishop Pavel of Kolomna, as well as large portions of the general Russian population. Nikon‘s critics rejected the reforms on two key principles: that conformity with the Greek Church corrupted Russian Orthodoxy‘s spiritual purity and negated Russia‘s historical and Christian destiny as the Third Rome – the final capital of all Christendom before the End Times. Developed in the early sixteenth century, what became the Third Rome Doctrine proclaimed that Muscovite Russia inherited the political and spiritual legacy of the Roman Empire as passed from Constantinople. In the mind of Nikon‘s critics, the Doctrine proclaimed that Constantinople fell in 1453 due to God‘s displeasure with the Greeks. Therefore, to Nikon‘s critics introducing Greek rituals and liturgical reform was to invite the same heresies that led to the Greeks‘ downfall.
  • Republic of Moldova - at the Confluence Between East and West 78

    Republic of Moldova - at the Confluence Between East and West 78

    www.ceswp.uaic.ro Volume IX, Issue 2, 2017 EDITORIAL BOARD SCIENTIFIC BOARD Doina BALAHUR, Professor, Faculty of Philosophy, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania Daniela Luminita CONSTANTIN, Professor, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania/ President of the Romanian Regional Science Association Gabriela DRAGAN, Professor, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Gheorghe IACOB, Professor, Faculty of History, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania Corneliu IATU, Professor, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania Ion IGNAT, Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania Vasile ISAN, Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania Gheorghe LUTAC, Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania Cosmin MARINESCU, Professor, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Dumitru MIRON, Professor, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Gabriela Carmen PASCARIU, Professor, Director of Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania Carmen PINTILESCU, Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania Alexandru-Florin PLATON, Professor, Faculty of History / Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania Victor PLOAE, Professor, Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania Ion POHOATA, Professor,
  • Lapratt Faculty of Religious Studies Mcgill University Delores.Lapratt@Mail.Mcgill.Ca

    Lapratt Faculty of Religious Studies Mcgill University [email protected]

    69 Childbirth Prayers in Medieval and Early Modern England: “For drede of perle that may be-falle.” Delores LaPratt Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University [email protected] A woman, when she travaileth, hath sorrow, for her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she thinketh no more of the anguish, for joy that man is born onto the world. I beseech thee therefore in the dangerous time of my travail, grant me speedie delivery, and joyful holding of my child.1 Such a prayer might be recited by a woman with child in early modern England before her ‘travail.’ Childbirth is an integral part of life but in medieval and early modern England, childbirth occurred within an almost exclusively female domain. It was a complex event involving a number of rituals, including the use of prayers and charms, a ‘lying-in’ period of confinement following childbirth, and a subsequent ‘churching’ of the woman as she was reintegrated into the broader community in a church ritual. Through a study of childbirth prayers and rituals, one may get an impression of how childbirth was viewed by, and experienced by, its participants. Childbirth prayers and rituals also reflect societal beliefs and ideology. Thus, in comparing childbirth prayers and rituals used in pre-Reformation England with those used after the Reformation, one would expect changes in the types of rituals and prayers performed. Despite many changes in official ideology during this period, an analysis of childbirth prayers will demonstrate that this change was not so easily implemented by the Church and was, at times resisted by lay participants.
  • Assumption Greek Orthodox Church 430 Sheep Pasture Road Port Jefferson, New York 11777

    Assumption Greek Orthodox Church 430 Sheep Pasture Road Port Jefferson, New York 11777

    ASSUMPTION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH 430 SHEEP PASTURE ROAD PORT JEFFERSON, NEW YORK 11777 631-473-0894 430 SHEEP PASTURE ROAD PORT JEFFERSON, NEW YORK 11777 THE WORD "ICON" AS IT OCCURS IN THE SCRIPTURES CALL OUR OFFICE FOR DONATION TO SPONSOR THIS ICON Iconography (from Greek: εικoνογραφία) refers to the making and liturgical Saint John the Evangelist (Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Εύαγγελιστής) use of icons, pictorial representations of Biblical scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, historical events in the life of the Church, and portraits of the saints. Images have always been a vital part of the Church, but their place was the subject of the Iconoclast Controversy in the 8th and 9th centuries, especially in the East. The icons found in Orthodox Churches are a celebration of the fact that Jesus Christ is indeed the Word of God made flesh and that anyone who has seen Jesus has seen the Father (John 12:45 and 14:8-12). As the 7th Ecumenical Council held in the city of Nicea in 787 AD proclaimed, icons are in color what the Scriptures are in words: witnesses to the incarnation, the fact that God has come among us as a person whom we can see, touch and hear. In fact, in the traditional language of the Church, icons are not painted but written and an iconographer is literally "one who writes icons." "Written" or "Painted"? The most literal translation of the Greek word εικονογραφία (eikonographia) is "image writing," leading many English-speaking Orthodox Christians to insist that icons are not "painted" but rather "written." From there, further explanations are given that icons are to be understood in a manner similar to Holy Scripture—that is, they are not simply artistic compositions but rather are witnesses to the truth the way Scripture is.
  • Globalization and Orthodox Christianity: a Glocal Perspective

    Globalization and Orthodox Christianity: a Glocal Perspective

    religions Article Globalization and Orthodox Christianity: A Glocal Perspective Marco Guglielmi Human Rights Centre, University of Padua, Via Martiri della Libertà, 2, 35137 Padova, Italy; [email protected] Received: 14 June 2018; Accepted: 10 July 2018; Published: 12 July 2018 Abstract: This article analyses the topic of Globalization and Orthodox Christianity. Starting with Victor Roudometof’s work (2014b) dedicated to this subject, the author’s views are compared with some of the main research of social scientists on the subject of sociological theory and Eastern Orthodoxy. The article essentially has a twofold aim. Our intention will be to explore this new area of research and to examine its value in the study of this religion and, secondly, to further investigate the theory of religious glocalization and to advocate the fertility of Roudometof’s model of four glocalizations in current social scientific debate on Orthodox Christianity. Keywords: Orthodox Christianity; Globalization; Glocal Religions; Eastern Orthodoxy and Modernity Starting in the second half of the nineteen-nineties, the principal social scientific studies that have investigated the relationship between Orthodox Christianity and democracy have adopted the well-known paradigm of the ‘clash of civilizations’ (Huntington 1996). Other sociological research projects concerning religion, on the other hand, have focused on changes occurring in this religious tradition in modernity, mainly adopting the paradigm of secularization (in this regard see Fokas 2012). Finally, another path of research, which has attempted to develop a non-Eurocentric vision, has used the paradigm of multiple modernities (Eisenstadt 2000). In his work Globalization and Orthodox Christianity (2014b), Victor Roudometof moves away from these perspectives.
  • May 2021 Newsletter Compressed.Pub

    May 2021 Newsletter Compressed.Pub

    Orthodox Church in America SS Peter & Paul Orthodox Church Newsletter May 2021 April Council Highlights Roof repair on the house on Church property is complete Refresh of the interior of the house on Church property is finished Church A/C units had their pre-summer checkouts Discussion held regarding the Our holy Father Alexis, the with the directorship of an or- liturgical celebraons. Natural- return of in-person Sunday defender of the Orthodox Faith phanage. At Presov Seminary, ly, ethnic parishes and non- School and zealous Father Toth taught Lan rite clergy did not fit into worker in the Church History this vision. Thus, when Father Lord’s vineyard, and Canon Law, Toth came to present his cre- was born in Aus- which served him denals, Archbishop Ireland tro-Hungary on well in his later life greeted him with open hoslity. March 18, 1854 in America. Saint He refused to recognize him as into a poor Car- Alexis did not a legimate Catholic priest or to patho-Russian serve long as a grant permission for him to family. Like many professor or an serve in his diocese. SS Peter & Paul Orthodox Church others in the administrator, for As a historian and professor of 1614 E. Monte Vista Rd. Austro- the Lord had a Canon Law, Father Toth knew Phoenix, AZ 85006 Hungarian empire, the Toths different future planned for his rights under the terms of the 602.253.9515 were Eastern Rite Catholics. him. In October, 1889 he was Unia and would not accept www.sspeterpaulaz.org Alexis’ father and brother were appointed to serve as pastor of Archbishop Ireland’s unjust de- www.oca.org priests and his uncle was a a Uniate parish in Minneapolis, cisions.
  • Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich. Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich

    Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich. Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich

    Photo courtesy Alaska State Library, Michael Z. Vinokouroff Collection P243-1-082. Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich. Sebastian Archimandrite Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich. Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich SERBIAN ORTHODOX APOSTLE TO AMERICA by Hieromonk Damascene . A A U S during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, Archimandrite B Sebastian Dabovich has the distinction of being the first person born in the United States of America to be ordained as an Orthodox priest, 1 and also the first native-born American to be tonsured as an Orthodox monk. His greatest distinction, however, lies in the tremen- dous apostolic, pastoral, and literary work that he accomplished dur- ing the forty-eight years of his priestly ministry. Known as the “Father of Serbian Orthodoxy in America,” 2 he was responsible for the found- ing of the first Serbian churches in the New World. This, however, was only one part of his life’s work, for he tirelessly and zealously sought to spread the Orthodox Faith to all peoples, wherever he was called. He was an Orthodox apostle of universal significance. Describing the vast scope of Fr. Sebastian’s missionary activity, Bishop Irinej (Dobrijevic) of Australia and New Zealand has written: 1 Alaskan-born priests were ordained before Fr. Sebastian, but this was when Alaska was still part of Russia. 2 Mirko Dobrijevic (later Irinej, Bishop of Australia and New Zealand), “The First American Serbian Apostle—Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich,” Again, vol. 16, no. 4 (December 1993), pp. 13–14. THE ORTHODOX WORD “Without any outside funding or organizational support, he carried the gospel of peace from country to country….