www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Photo Gallery St. Michael OCA, Mt. Carmel, PA

Here are some pictures I snapped this past weekend, on Saturday afternoon.

This parish is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year, after breaking from Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Catholic Church in the same town. Perhaps some of our resident historians could shed light on the reasons. Today the two parishes enjoy good relations. My Roman Catholic parish too - a few years ago, for our Fall Festival, half of our pierogies came from the Greek Catholics and the other came from St. Michael's. That's what I call ecumenism!

The icons were originally the "Western Holy Picture" style, and were replaced in the late 1980s with the ones you see here.

The Altar Cross was a gift of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, to support this new congregation.

My late grandfather, a master carpenter, installed the faux-marble wainscoating, a staircase which went to the basement, and the front doors in the 1950s. Not to brag, but they look as good as the day he put them in!

Enjoy!

See if you can find the trustee ("kuratore") notes for 1907-08 for SS. Peter and Paul's for indications as to what prompted the split. Were St. Michael's members Subcarpathian Rusyns and SS. Peter and Paul's Galicians. Bishop Ortynsky,a Galician, arrived in the US in 1907 and was generally not warmly welcomed by the Rusyns. Did he visit Mt. Carmel, perhaps with divisive results?

Jon,

Thanks for sharing - what a beautiful church

Many years,

Neil

Rich Custer, who has cataloged he Old Country village origins of every Orthodox and Greek Catholic parish in Pennsylvania, tells me that most of the St. Michael's founders were Lemkos from Galicia, as were most of the SS. Peter and Paul's membership, so the causes for the split may be more complex than ethnic differences. I plan to attend St. Michael's Centennial banquet in September and I will try to explore this issue. Do you know whether St. Michael's has a parish historian?

A parish historian I don't know if they have one specifically. However, if I were to ask some people in my neighborhood... I don't know if they could give me accurate or precise info.

My mom's people, who I just recently found out from Rich Custer, were Lemkos, and there were a few people in the extended family who went to St. Michael's during the split. I found this out when my sister and I took our late great-uncle to visit relatives (which we didn't know we had) in St. Michael's cemetery at Merrian Mountain!

My mom remembers a lady, Pearl, who was once from St. Michael's who then became an RC due to marriage. Pearl said that many families - Sts. Peter and Paul history said 1/2 the parish - went to St. Michael's, but then some came back to the "Greek Church" while many stayed at the "Russian Church" - like her own family - because they were 'embarrased.'

The first resident priest in Mt. Carmel, I've read, was Rev. Nestor Dimitriw (sp?). I understand he was in the "American Circle." Would you speculate that his pro-Ukrainian nationalism had anything to do with this split?

"The first resident priest in Mt. Carmel, I've read, was Rev. Nestor Dimitrov (sp?). I understand he was in the "American Circle." Would you speculate that his pro-Ukrainian nationalism had anything to do with this split?"

Could be. Russophilism was very much in vogue among Lemkos and some in the Mt. Carmel community may have been turned off by Fr. Dimitrov's strong Ukrainian sentiments. What does Fr. Evans think happened? St. Michael's centennial is an opportune time to answer such questions.

I'm assuming that Ss Peter and Paul is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and not a Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church? It doesn't really say anywhere.

It is a Ukrainian Catholic church, altho he majority of its parishioners are Rusyns. It could just as easily been a Byzantine Catholic Ruthenian parish. The GC parishes were split in 1916 into Galician and Sub-Carpathian categories; I suspect that the pastor in Mt. Carmel at the time was a Ukrainian, so the parish wound up in the Ukrainian column.

Good thought. Next time I see him and there's time to shoot the breeze, I'll ask him...

Fr. Nestor Dmytriw was avery famous Ukrainian-American pioneer priest. He was also one of the editors of Svoboda and wrote many articles about Galicians and Rusyns that are now available on microfiche to scholars.

He also made trips to Canada in the early days as well. When I was an undergraduate student I remember reading a collection of his articles from Svoboda about his pastoral visits to Canada from the US published as this book:

Nestor Dmttriw. Kanadiis'ka podoroshni spomymy. Sources for the History of Ukrainians in Canada. Volume 1. Winnipeg: Ukrianian Fre Academy of Sciences. 1972.

He was truly a remarkable man. You can see a picture of his grave and tombstone in New Jersey here:
You can see a picture of his grave and tombstone here:

http://www.byzantines.net/immaculateconception/dmytriw.htm

Forgive me for being thick, but I am still confused to the timeline here. What parish came first? St. Michael's or Ss. Peter and Paul's? And was the first parish Greek Catholic and became Orthodox or formed as Orthodox and a group left to form a Greek Catholic parish? I'm fascinated by these histories and stories of formation and re-formation of early parishes. Thanks!

SS. Peter and Paul's was founded in 1891 as a Greek Catholic parish. St. Michael's was formed in 1907-08 as an Orthodox parish by former members of SS. Peter and Paul's. The reasons foe the separation are still not clear.... some of the postings have speculated to what prompted the split. St. Michael's is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, so perhaps its centennial history will shed some light on the topic.

You're right: this is a fascinating subject. Northeastern PA (and Connecticut) have many such parishes, all with their own distinctive stories.

Sts. Peter and Paul (Ukrainian since the 50s) Greek Catholic Church was founded in 1991, mostly by Lemko immigrants. St. Michael's ("Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic" - now "Orthodox Church in America") Church was founded circa 1906-1908. This parish will be celebrating their centennial in September.

Indeed these histories are amazing. I might be biased (cuz I'm from there) but the Coal Region has an awesome ecclesial history!

The Coal Region is the Galapagos Islands of Eastern Christianity in America! A visit to the Galapagos in the early 1800s by Charles Darwin sparked his interest in the diversity of life-forms and led to his "Origins of the Species" magnum opus.

Jon: Fr. Michael Evans has sent me a copy of St. Michael's 50th Anniversary book (1908-1958). It contains some wonderful old photos and ad from Frank Savicki (your grandfather?). The 1950's era ads from Mt. Carmel are priceless.

John