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St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral

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Country
  
United States

Elevation
  
207 m

Phone
  
+1 216-741-1310

Function
  
Cathedral, Church

Architect(s)
  
Frederick C. Baird

Opened
  
1911

Added to NRHP
  
18 January 1974

St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Location
  
733 Starkweather Ave., Cleveland, Ohio

Denomination
  
Orthodox Church in America

Founded
  
September 28, 1896 (1896-09-28)

Address
  
733 Starkweather Ave, Cleveland, OH 44113, USA

Diocese
  
Orthodox Church in America Diocese of the Midwest

Similar
  
Pilgrim Congregational Church, Old Stone Church, Hope Memorial Bridge, St Michael the Archange, West Side Market

St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox cathedral located on Starkweather Avenue in the Tremont neighborhood, on the near west side of Cleveland, Ohio. It is considered one of the finest examples of Russian church architecture in the U.S. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Contents

The parish is the first Orthodox parish in Cleveland and is currently under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of the Midwest of the Orthodox Church in America.

St. Theodosius is perhaps best known for its appearance in the 1978 film, The Deer Hunter with Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep.

St theodosius russian orthodox cathedral


Dedication

Saint Theodosius of Chernigov, the patron saint to which the cathedral is dedicated, was born in the early 1630s in Podolia.

The name given to him in baptism is unknown.

He was educated at the Brotherhood Monastery in Kiev.

He became a monk at the Kiev Caves Monastery and named Theodosius, in honor of Theodosius of Kiev.

He was later ordained as a celibate priest at the Saint Nicholas Krupytskyi Monastery near Baturyn.

In 1662, he was appointed hegumen of the Korsun Monastery in Kaniv.

In 1664, he was appointed hegumen of the Vydubychi Monastery in Kiev.

In 1680, he established a small skete on the island of Mikhailovschino or Mikhailovschina.

In 1688, he was appointed archimandrite of the Yeletskyi Dormition Monastery in Chernigov.

On September 13, 1692, he was consecrated archbishop in the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.

In 1694, a skete was founded near Liubech.

Saint Theodosius died on February 5, 1696 and was buried in the Cathedral of Saints Boris and Gleb in Chernigov.

History

The parish was organized, in 1896, when the tide of immigration of Eastern Europeans to the United States was at an all-time high, by Rusyn immigrants, living in Tremont, who had immigrated from Galicia and Carpathian Ruthenia.

The congregation that founded the parish was formed from a group of disgruntled former worshippers at a Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Church, conflicts led 23 men to form the St. Nicholas Society on September 28, 1896.

That society led to the formation of an organized parish As the first Orthodox parish in Cleveland, it served the spiritual needs of ethnic groups of Orthodox Christians which had not yet established their own ethnic churches. The Baptism of the first known Romanian child born in the United States, Aurelia Zeicu, has been recorded in the parish.

The first church structure was a light-frame construction building, at Literary Rd. and W. 6th St., built in 1896.

The Russian Missionary Fund established by Czar Nicholas II provided financial assistance.

The second church structure was the former Sisters of St. Joseph Convent. In 1902, the parish bought the former Sisters of St. Joseph Convent and sold 80 individual lots from the convent land to parishioners for $125 apiece to raise funds.

In 1909 the parish purchased land in Brooklyn for a cemetery. The property had a wooden barn on it and one of the monks from St. Theodosius used to come out there on Saturdays to teach the Russian language to the children who lived too far away to attend Russian classes at the church.

The current cathedral is the parish's third church structure. It was completed at an estimated cost of $70,000.

The cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Alexander (Nemolovsky) on Sunday, July 20, 1913.

Starting in 1917, world events affected the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Revolution abolished the Most Holy Synod and restored the Patriarchate. The Most Holy Synod administered all church property and controlled the expenditure of churches and monasteries. A new synod elected Tikhon of Moscow patriarch. Russian Civil War violence devastated the Russian Empire. Church publications were prohibited.

February 25–28, 1919, hosted the Second All-American Sobor which set a precedent, by electing Alexander (Nemolovsky) to the rank of Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America, for future elections of the Church's primates by later councils. This made him the first primate to be chosen locally in North America.

The Russian Orthodox Church was weakened again and further dissociated in 1922, when the Living Church, a Soviet government supported movement, dismissed the Patriarch and restored a Synod to power.

November 20–23, 1934, hosted the Fifth All-American Sobor which elected primate Theophilus (Pashkovsky).

November 26–29, 1946, hosted the Seventh All-American Sobor which broke ties between the Orthodox Church in America and Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

The cathedral was rededicated on October 3, 1954.

Since the late 1950s, the clergy celebrated the liturgy in both Church Slavonic and English languages. Today there is only one Sunday liturgy and it is in English and parts in Slavonic.

On January 18, 1974, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Cleveland Landmark.

In the summer of 1977, St. Theodosius served as the site for the wedding scene in the film The Deer Hunter. According to the film credits, the parish's own Father Stephen Kopestonsky, was cast as the priest in the scene. On June 16, 1961, it also appeared in an episode of the TV series Route 66 ("Incident On a Bridge").

Architecture

The cathedral was built in a recognizable Neo-Byzantine style; a type of Russian church architecture with one large, four medium, and eight small copper onion domes, symbolic of Christ and the twelve apostles. The cathedral is considered one of the best representatives of Russian church architecture in the U.S. with design features, by Cleveland architect Frederick C. Baird, based on photographs of the original Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia.

The iconostasis, separating the sanctuary from the larger portion of the cathedral accessible to the faithful, contains the following icons imported from Russia:

above – Crucifix with the Blessed Virgin Mary and John the Baptist; top tier – the Twelve Apostles to either side of an icon depicting the Holy Trinity; middle tier of smaller icons – various saints to either side of an icon depicting the Last Supper over the Royal Doors; bottom tier (left to right) – Saint Nicholas, Archangel Michael, Mother of God, the Royal Doors, the Savior, Archangel Gabriel, Saint Theodosius of Chernigov.

In 1953 the church commissioned murals by noted Russian fresco painter Andrej Bicenko. Included in a mural is the likeness of an early pastor, Jason Kappanadze.

References

St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral Wikipedia