Archeparchy of Pittsburgh
A traveler coming by ship into the great harbor of New York City cannot help but be awe-struck by the imposing sight of the Statue of Liberty. Standing proudly atop a pedestal some 306 feet tall, with broken chains of vanquished tyranny and oppression beneath her feet, majestically arrayed with a diadem and thrusting a massive torch out to the open sea, this powerful and moving symbol has inspired travelers and voyagers for more than one hundred and twenty years.
"Lady Liberty" in particular has beckoned the outcasts of the old world-the immigrants. One can only imagine the excitement and the thrill of these newcomers, who were described so poignantly by Emma Lazarus in her memorable poem, the "New Colossus," as "the tired," "the poor," "the huddled masses yearning to breathe free," as they caught their first glimpse of the mighty Statue.
The journey of the immigrants to America was truly a difficult one. The crossing of the Atlantic Ocean was a three-to-four week voyage made in steerage. The ships utilized for their long voyage were often overcrowded and unsanitary. Death at sea was not an uncommon occurrence.
Upon arrival, the immigrants were ferried along the New Jersey side of New York Harbor to their first destination in America: the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service processing center on Ellis Island. In the great hall of the main building, these nervous foreigners with their strange dress and language stood in long queues waiting to undergo processing by stern faced immigration officials.
The immigrants' thrill of arrival in the New World soon changed to anxiety and trepidation as their processing began. The newcomers were poked, prodded and probed as part of a medical examination, a procedure which was frequently new to them; they were peppered with questions concerning their medical history, their contacts in America and many other matters by makeshift interpreters speaking a garbled, fractured mix of their native tongue and other languages. On occasion, the immigrants even received new last names as officials, unsympathetic or simply impatient with their strange sounding names, hurried to complete the processing.
Having survived the hurdles of the health inspection and the questioning of the immigration officials, the immigrants received papers with a stamp of approval. The newcomers were then led from the registration area to the foreign currency exchange on the first floor of the main building. With their new "American" money, they were able to purchase tickets for ferries which transported them to New York City or to the Hoboken, New Jersey train terminal for connections to friends, relatives or prospective employers and their new life in a new country.
In the three decades prior to the First World War, these "huddled masses," numbering more than twelve million strong from all over eastern and southern Europe, passed through the waiting rooms of Ellis Island to a land of opportunity and hope. One of the many groups making the arduous journey to America was a people from a remote mountainous area in the sprawling Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. They were known as "Ruthenians," "Carpatho-Russians" or "Slavish." In their own language they were hailed as "Rusin" or "Rusnak", depending on the district. They are our ancestors. And this is their story.
It is a story of hardship and struggle; it is a story of turmoil and tragedy; it is a story of striking achievement and success.
But most of all, it is a journey of faith; a faith which supported a decision to leave family and village to venture to an unknown and faraway land; a faith which sustained their fierce determination to preserve and hold fast to the traditions of their Eastern Catholic heritage.
Byzantine Catholic
What Eastern/Byzantine Christians Believe
The Mystery that God is with us is a fact in our lives. His presence has been experienced by people from the beginning right to our own day. People have reflected on this mystery and tried to express it in words: what we call Theology. Some of these teachings have been recognized by the Church as authentic reflections of its experience of God. These are the doctrines of the Church, which serve much like route markers for us, keeping us along the right road to God. Chief of these are those summarized below: the core teachings of our Church.
THE MYSTERY OF GOD
God's inner life is unknowable, because it is beyond our capacity to understand. He is the Holy One: so unique and perfect that He cannot be compared with others. Using our own reasoning, we can only assume that He is the most excellent perfection of everything we know to be holy, true, good and beautiful. But how He is we do not know, because He is beyond all our experience, even beyond existence as we know it. As the Divine Liturgy expresses it, He is 'beyond our grasp or understanding, beyond sight or comprehension.'
GOD REVEALS HIMSELF
God, who is so far beyond us, has reached out to us, revealing to us something of Himself Everyone can look about and see in the wonders of nature the Creator whose very Word causes them to be. More especially we catch a glimpse of Him by looking at people, made in His image and likeness, But we get our clearest picture of God because He has directly communicated Himself to us in what we call Divine Revelation. He has freely opened Himself to us so that we may share in His divine life. Forming a people, Israel, God dealt with them through judges and kings, priests and prophets. He fed them, protected them, liberated them, loved them, corrected, punished and forgave them. He taught them that He alone is God, compassionate and true to His promises. He showed Himself, not only as the Holy One, but as our Father as well.
GOD ACTS IN CHRIST
These signs of God's presence and revelations of His love find their climax in the coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, into the world. 'God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him may not die. but may, have eternal life' (Jn 3:16). The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the supreme expression of God's revelation to us. In Christ we see God as the Lover of mankind, emptying Himself for us. We see Him as the victorious Lord, trampling upon Death and giving life to those in the tomb of separation from God. We see Him as the King of Glory, fully alive and in union with His Father - the definitive and irrevocable communication of God to us.
THE HOLY SPIRIT: GOD IS WITH US
At the close of His earthly ministry Christ promised His followers that He would send them Another in His place who would be with them forever, 'the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father' (Jn 15:26). This Spirit came upon the Church at Pentecost and remains with us as the Seal and Guarantee of the Kingdom to come, the power of God working among us. It is the Holy Spirit who 'provides every gift. He is the One who inspires prophecy and perfects the priesthood; it is He who grants wisdom to the illiterate and turns simple fishermen into wise theologians. Through Him divine order comes into the organization of the Church' (Vesper Hymn for Pentecost).
THE HOLY TRINITY
And so God the Unknowable has reached out to us in love, revealing Himself in the process as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus mankind's deepest experience of God has shown us something of the Living Reality of God which we could never have discovered on our own. We see that God is One, and yet at the same time Three. He is one in essence and being, one in activity and power, but three in person. The Fathers of the Church described this mystery as the Holy Trinity, the sacred Community calling us to share in the riches of God-life. They recognized that, by God revealing Himself in this way, we have been given a glance at the very nature of the Unknowable One, so that we might desire fellowship with Him.
THE CHURCH
This fellowship with the Holy Trinity comes to us in the Church, the assembly of those whom God has called to be His people. While the Holy Spirit is the continuation of Christ's divine presence among us, the Church is His Body, the extension of His physical presence in the world. The Church is thus the Temple of God in which the Spirit dwells, as the human body is the dwelling place of the human spirit. The Fathers called the Church 'the communion in the Holy Spirit', the fellowship He builds which joins us to God in a divine community. Our mission as Church, our purpose for being, is 'to proclaim the wonderful acts of God' (I Pt 2:9): to be a witness of God's revealing love to all mankind. As members of the Church, we are part of Christ's Body, inseparably Joined in Him to the Trinity, the living stones which make up God's temple. In this is our life.
THE HOLY MYSTERIES
We take this life from the Church through many ways. Most prominent of these ways in which the Spirit enlivens us are the holy mysteries or sacraments. A mystery is a prayer of the Church in which we ask the Lord to transform a natural situation into a vehicle of His saving grace: a prayer which, because it is made in His Body's name, is unfailingly answered. Thus water and the reenacting of Christ's death and resurrection become a way of entering into an intimate relationship with Christ (baptism). In the same way, invoking the Holy Spirit over bread and wine enable us to achieve a physical union with Him in His Body (Eucharist). Through all the mysteries and the Church's other prayers of blessing, every aspect of our life can be transformed and set apart as a means of praise to the One who calls us to share His life.
THEOSIS
The greatest gift of God to us is the gift of sharing His life. We have been made 'partakers of the divine nature' (2 Pt 1:4): a process begun in us at our christening. When we live a life of faith, this relationship is deepened, furthering the process of our divinization or theosis. This movement continues in us through life and death and will not be complete until the resurrection of all mankind on the last day. Then our risen bodies as well as our spirits will share in the resurrection life and partake in glory. 'We know we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is' (I Jn 3:2).
THE THEOTOKOS
In our worship special honor is continually given to the Virgin Mary. This is not simply a matter of pious devotion. In honoring her as Theotokos (Mother of God), the Church is affirming two basic aspects of Christian faith:
a) that the Jesus whom she bore is truly the Son of God incarnate, dwelling in our midst as true man; and
b) that the journey of theosis which was opened to us with her assent to Gabriel's message (Lk 1:26-38) has been realized in her person 'for this all ages to come shall call me blessed' (Lk 1:48).
Thus it is that we place the icon of the theotokos containing Christ in her womb on the eastern wall of our churches. This image, placed as it were between heaven and earth, recalls that it is through the Theotokos that God and mankind are Joined in Christ.
We have been brought to experience God's self revelation and to become sharers in His very nature. This is our glory and our joy. This is also the core of the Christian message, the Good News we proclaim at our christening and reaffirm whenever we confess the Nicene Creed. This is the heart of our faith and the source of our confident assurance and trust in God who will complete what He has begun in us as He leads us to an ever greater intimacy with Him.
The Eastern Church in union with Rome.
Byzantine Spirituality
by Archbishop Joseph Raya.
The characteristics of Byzantine spirituality may be summarized under four qualifications...
Universal ¤ Traditional ¤ Popular ¤ Mystical
Universal
The Church is Christ continuing to live in his Mystical Body. The Sacrifice and prayer of the Church are the sacrifice and prayer of Christ, Prototype of the Cosmos. The Greek Fathers are so clearly aware of this doctrine that all their prayers bear it's stamp. This universal (or Catholic) largeness of the Fathers' views faithfully rendered in the prayers of the Byzantine Church is a reason why this Church is both so attractive and so modern in its theology.
When St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of the single universe, he does not limit it to the material creation, since everything outside the inner activity of the Blessed Trinity proceeds from the single will of God. In this sense, the Kingdom of God contains everything that participates in his being. the only thing that is outside this Kingdom is darkness, non-being, evil, sin. The frequent use of the supplication, "Lord, have mercy," in the Liturgy of the Byzantine Church is an application of this universality.
Traditional
Tradition is the permanent and living presence of the Holy Spirit continually inspiring, enlightening, teaching and sustaining the Church in truth. Holy Tradition, therefore, is the truth of God in the life and voice of the Church, part of which is recorded under the inspiration of God and constitutes the "Word of God" in Holy Scripture. Another part, not recorded in the Scriptures, has been passed down from generation to generation in an ongoing Tradition. There is, then, one source to the living inspiration of God, running in two parallel streams: the word of God recorded in Holy Scripture, and the conservation and transmission of the truth of God passed on to us by the Fathers of the Church. Together they transmit to us one truth; for, as St. Nicephor of Constantinople says, "Everything in the Church is Tradition, including the Gospel, for Jesus Christ consigned nothing to writing, but planted his word in our hearts."
Since it claims its origin from Christ and his Apostles, the Church proves the authenticity of its teaching with the teaching of the living Spirit, the uninterrupted faithfulness to the word of God, by always referring to it as the Faith of the Fathers, the Teaching of the Fathers, the Tradition of the Fathers, the Apostolic Tradition, an so forth. All the prayers of the Byzantine Church are taken from this tradition, thus forming mosaics of quotations from the Word of God, the writings of the Apostles, and the teachings of their successors.
Popular
The word "liturgy" (from the Greek meaning "work" or "occupation") is the name given to the act of taking part in the solemn corporate worship of God by the priestly society of Christians, the Body of Christ. As members of Christ, they share in his priesthood; they must, then, share also in his prayer and immolation. The Liturgy is a common action of the people of God, with and through their priests -- with and through the High Priest, the Man-God, Christ. St. John Chrysostom describes with joy and enthusiasm the part the people play in the performance of the mysteries of salvation: I mention and insist on these things to excite the vigilance of those who are in an inferior state of life, that we may learn that we are all one body. We differ only as one member may differ from another; and therefore we should not cast all upon the priests, but should be concerned in the care of the whole Church as one common body. Echoing this idea of Chrysostom, Pope Pius XII declares, The faithful should be aware that to participate in the Eucharistic Sacrifice is their chief duty and their supreme dignity
Byzantine ceremonies are to the worshipers not a duty to be discharged but an experience to be lived. They unfold in action the meaning of the Church as the Body of Christ. In them there is constant motion and personal participation. The celebrants -- even in the divine and Holy Liturgy of the Sacrifice of Christ -- do not stay at the altar; they come out of the sanctuary and walk in the midst of the congregation, first to incense, then to carry the Gospel Book, finally to transfer the oblations in a solemn procession. The faithful are, as it were, in another world. Around them the saints are wrapped in their icons with a mantle of eternity; candles flicker in a thousand hues of light; incense creates a warm atmosphere of prayer; music swells from every corner of the assembled congregation. The deacons move around and between the people and the priest. In the middle of the sanctuary stands the "Pontiff" -- the pirest in the image of Christ -- presiding over and performing the Liturgy. Every act, gesture and movement of the priest has its meaning and points to a spiritual reality. The envoys of the Prince of Kiev to the Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople summed up the Liturgy well in their final report: We did not know if we were on earth or in heaven; for there is no such splendor to be found anywhere upon earth. Describe it we cannot; we know only that it is there that God dwells among men.
Mystical
When Byzantine theologians describe the reality of the love of God, they always turn to expressions of admiration, amazement, awe and wonder. To define this love is to limit it. It must remain unlimited, boundless, indefinable, unexplainable. The explainable has only limited value and trasient interest. The true is always wondrous. The Mother of God has a high place in Byzantine devotion because she participates, in an intimate way, in the very life of God. She is the creature, the human medium, by which God is communicated to man through the Incarnation. Because of this, the Byzantine Church never ceases to sign her praises, or regard her veneration as anything less than essential.
In a sharp departure from the principles of Roman Catholic spirituality, Byzantine spirituality makes no distinction between private and public prayer. There is continuity between the prayers Christians recite in the assembly of the church, and the interior life by which each of them unites in the divine mystery. The Byzantine Liturgy offers to each one the seeds of contemplation he needs. In return the Church expects of each one a close participation in its prayers of praise and thanksgiving (E. Lanne, "La prière des Chrétiens d'Orient"). According to St. Nilos the Sinaite, prayer, or spiritual activity, is the conversation of the intelligence with God, the green branch of sweetness and the liberation from evil, the exteriorization of joy and gratefulness. Prayer is the elevation of the intelligence to God, not in order to learn about God but to discover God; not to know about Him but to know Him, to experience God in one's own life.
Mission Statement
We, the people of God,
at St. Stephen's Byzantine Catholic Church are called…
To be life long Apprentices of Jesus Christ
within the rich school of Eastern Christianity by
Welcoming (Koinonia)
our neighbors and one another with radical hospitality,
Nurturing (Kerygma & Eucharistia)
our relationship with the Holy Trinity
by embracing the Mysteries with true Passionate Worship,
and at every phase of life choosing intentional faith formation
Transforming (Diakonia)
our world with risk-taking mission and service, as well as, extravagant generosity.
Saint Stephen's Parish's three-year plan falls under the four main categories of the parish's mission statement: Koinonia -- community building, Diakonia -- service/outreach, Kerygma -- proclamation of the word and Eucharistia -- worship.
The parish will continue programs and activities currently in place.
Welcoming (Koinonia)
our neighbors and one another with radical hospitality,
KOINONIA
Goal #1: Increase the number of parishioners who readily volunteer to organize and/or assist in parish activities. Work toward a better implementation of the time and talent aspects of stewardship.
Activities:
#1 – Have an annual parish picnic: 2010, 2011, 2012
#2 – Monthly Event which celebrates Parish Birthdays and follows the themes of the Church's Liturgical Year: 2010, 2011, 2012.
#3 – Continue the ECF Programs in place: 2010,2011,2012
Goal #2: Make the parish youth program more than just religious education, working together with other parishes whenever possible.
Activities:
#1 – Nine Events are planned, one for each month of the Program. 2010 will be based on celebrating the Mysteries, 2011 on the Saints and 2012 on TBA
Nurturing (Kerygma & Eucharistia)
our relationship with the Holy Trinity by embracing the Mysteries with true Passionate Worship, and at every phase of life choosing intentional faith formation, and...
KERYGMA
Goal #1: Improve the adult education program and get better participation.
Activities:
#1 – Improve the times programs are offered and make them more interactive.
Goal #2: Plan and implement programs of spiritual enrichment such as retreats, days of prayer/recollection and presentations.
Activities:
#1 – A Parish In-house Day of Recollection will be offered family style. (2010)
#2 – A Parish Retreat off campus will be offered family style. (2011, 2012)
EUCHARISTIA
Goal #1: Increase participation in the daily, weekend and holy day Divine Liturgy.
Activities:
#1 – ECF Monthly Mysteries Program for the whole parish. (2010) Celebrating the Saints (2011) TBA (2012)
Transforming (Diakonia)
our world with risk-taking mission and service, as well as extravagant generousity.
DIAKONIA
Goal #1: As a parish, reach out better to those members who have experienced a tragedy or loss and assist elderly parishioners and Military Personal and their families.
Activities:
#1 – Organize an inter-generational group to visit and bring to church members who are home bound. The group will also have programs of exercise, spiritual development and entertainment outings. This should be organized in 2010 and implemented in 2011 & 2012.
#2 – Outreach to the Military and their familes through the Wednesday Divine Liturgy and sending care packages overseas. (2010, 2011, 2012)
#3 – ECF outreaches to the elderly and poor.
Goal #2: Plan and implement a program to reach out to former and potential church members.
Activities:
#1 – Plan a special weekend in 2010 to learn the customs of our church (v.g. baking, pirohi, Easter baskets) so that the elders teach the younger generation.
#2 – encourage active members to reach out to former and potential membership with love and courtesy (we miss you or we would love to have you!)
St. Mary's Herminie
St. Mary parish was unofficially founded in 1921 in the old Marsh General Store on the corner of Sunshine Road and Church Street, Herminie, Pa. It was incorporated on June 29, 1923, under the title of The Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary Byzantine Catholic Church. The first pastor was Rev. Stephen Loya.
The original by-laws state this church was founded “to worship the Almighty God according to the faith, doctrine, creed, discipline and usage of the Rusin Greek Catholic Church which is united with the Holy See of Rome.” The parish was officially embraced by the Pittsburgh Exarchate in December 1923.
Seven years later in April 1930, the congregation purchased the present church building on Second Street from the Clover Land Company. The property had been previously leased to St. Nicholas Orthodox Greek Catholic Church who built the present structure in 1912.
Over the succeeding decades, the parish community of St. Mary has witnessed and survived many turbulent times: the Great Depression, two World Wars and many periods of both economic stress and prosperity. The times of trial, turbulence and testing, have served to strengthen the resolve and determination of its loyal parishioners. The parish's long history is a testimony to the great strides of progress that have been made, both spiritually and materially.
St. Stephen's North Huntingdon
In 1997, the parish family of St Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church festively celebrated 25 Years of Proclaiming the Lord. In attempting to meet the ever increasing spiritual and pastoral needs of Byzantine Catholics as they moved to the suburban areas of Pittsburgh, Archbishop Stephen Kocisko canonically established St. Stephen Church in North Huntingdon on June 28, 1972.
The property, which includes a church edifice, a parsonage and an educational building, was purchased on July 20, 1972 from the Bethel United Presbyterian Church of Irwin after that congregation was merged with Christ United Presbyterian Church of Irwin. A loan was made to St. Stephen for the purchase through the generosity of St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church in McKeesport. an additional loan for necessary improvements was negotiated with a local bank.
The former Bethel United Presbyterian Church figured prominently in the early history of North Huntingdon. The land for the church was donated in the early 1880's by one of the earliest settlers of North Huntingdon Township, Humphrey Fullerton IV. After his death in 1885, Fullerton was buried on the church property, as were his two children. On June 30, 1972 the Christ United Presbyterian Church received permission from the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County to remove the bodies from the yard of Bethel Church and place them in the Long Run Cemetery.
Rev. Russell Duker was appointed on July 18, 1972 as the organizer and first pastor of the new parish. On August 23 approximately 25 people attended an organizational meeting for prospective St. Stephen parishioners. The first Divine Liturgy was celebrated and with a large attendance the buildings were blessed on August 28. This marked the beginning of a complete schedule of liturgical services for the congregation.
St. Stephen's history is a testimonial to great strides of spiritual and material progress. Looking toward the future, the parish family is confident in their continued prosperity and in working for the coming of Christ's Kingdom.
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