www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall SS Peter & Paul Church - Jersey City

Hello, for many years I have been trying to located interior & exterior pictures of Sts. Peter & Paul’s on Sussex & Green sts.
My parents were married there in 1941 & I visited there in the 1960s. Can you give me any information regarding where I can locate such photos? I noticed from this website that there may be available a 125th anniversary commemorative book available.
Can you give me any information on how to obtain that & if photos from that time period are included? Any help would be greatly appreciated. You were kind enough recently to forward me a copy of their marriage certificate which arrived just in time for their 80th wedding anniversary.
Thank You So Much

HISTORY OF THE PARISH

The Saints Peter and Paul Parish was established in 1907 by immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires as a parish of the North American Ecclesiastical Mission under the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in Russia. On October 15, 1907, His Eminence, Platon, Archbishop of New York and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America received a petition from Orthodox Christians in Jersey City to be received into the North American Ecclesiastical Mission as a parish.

The first Divine Liturgy was celebrated on Sunday, October 24, 1907 by Very Rev. Alexander Hotovitzky (who later died for the faith in Soviet Russia). The parish consisted of 25 married couples and 75 single members. The history of the Orthodox community in Jersey City prior to 1907 is vague. For instance, there was a charter issued on December 10, 1889 for the Saints Peter and Paul Brotherhood; its ledger is in the parish archive as well as several legders documenting finances of the Brotherhood and it’s membership. The parish archive has a photo of the Very Rev. Alexander Hotovitzky pictured with the Brotherhood at an outdoor social in 1908.


Many of the immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who came to America were Eastern Rite Catholics (Uniate, those united to Rome); the religious and political circumstances of the Empire forced these believers under the Church of Rome. When the immigrants came to America, they were affected by a letter written by Pope Pius X in September 1907 that dealt with the governance of the Eastern Catholics in the United States. The letter imposed new restrictions on Eastern Catholics, which created considerable dissatisfaction among Eastern Catholics in the US and, to a lesser extent, in Europe. It, in turn, resulted in many conversions to Russian Orthodoxy, particularly in America; this continued a movement that began in 1892 under Very Rev. Alexis Toth, who was later canonized by the Orthodox Church in America. The Orthodox Church in America claims that by 1916, the Roman Catholic Church had lost 163 Uniate parishes, with over 100,000 faithful, to the Russian missionary diocese. Our parish arose out of these circumstances.


The first church of these immigrants was founded on Chestnut Avenue. It overlooked the present Newark Avenue Cemetery: the cemetery of many and the earliest burials of our parish. Conflicts developed within the church between parishioners, who embraced Orthodoxy and those who wanted to remain in union with the Roman Church. The congregation relocated to downtown Jersey City and built a church at the corner of Green and Sussex Streets. It’s membership was dominated by Ukrainian Catholics, and it was at this time that the Orthodox began to establish their church. Below is a rough timeline of our parish's history: