“The past winter will long be remembered by the majority of Russians as marking the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment on the western hemisphere of the Eastern Orthodox Church—an event fittingly celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the Russian Empire.

It was exactly a century ago that a Russian Church mission arrived on one of the Aleutian Islands of the North Pacific Ocean and built the first house of worship devoted to their creed. Since that period the work has steadily gone on, so that at the present day the Russian Church in North America embraces within its fold many thousands of American citizens and residents of the United States, under the spiritual authority of a bishop, having his headquarters in San Francisco. Almost every large city in the northern part of this country, with the exception of New York, has its Russian Orthodox house of worship, and by the time these lines appear in print even the Eastern metropolis will be provided for in this particular.

The truth of the matter is that the celebration of this great anniversary has given a tremendous impetus to the efforts of Bishop Nicolai, of San Francisco, in the direction of solidifying his church in this country by the proselytization of the numerous elements that have drifted hither of late years from the Orient….Bishop Nicolai, on the other hand, commenced an extended missionary tour throughout the United States late in the fall of last year, and paid prolonged visits to those sections of the country where the Uniates abound, His efforts, it is claimed, have been amply repaid by the incorporation .within the fold of the Eastern Orthodox Church of hundreds and hundreds of these semi-Catholics. A new Russo-Greek Church was consecrated by him at Streator, 111., ninet\’flve miles from Chicago, on the Chicago and Alton Railroad, where many Galician Uniates are employed among the neighboring coal This church, by the way, was formerly the beautiful Russian pavilion of the Manufacturers’ Building at the World’s Fair, and was presented by the Imperial Russian Commission. The architecture is purely Slavonic, and the materials used are fragrant tchen wood and pine. Father Ambrose, the pastor of the Russian Orthodox Church in Chicago, will officiate at Streator for the next few months, after which he will be replaced by one of the bishop’s assistants of San Francisco.

When Bishop Nicolai reached Xew York he discovered to his intense satisfaction that the Orthodox citizens of the great metropolis had anticipated his desires, for a delegation of members of the Virgin Mary Brotherhood, a local Slavonic benevolent association, at once presented him with a petition for official authorization to construct a Russo-Greek chapel. Consul General Olarovsky is the honorary president of the brotherhood, the actual chairman being Nicolas Murzitch, and it reckons among its members a number of Russian citizens of NewYork. The bishop duly endorsed the petition and forwarded it on to the Holy Synod, which passed favorably on the same, and in due time dispatched Father Yevtikhi Balanovitch to open a temporary house of worship at No. 325 Second Avenue. It should be added that the successful termination of this undertaking is largely due to the efforts of Mme. Barbara MacGahan, wife of the celebrated American war correspondent of the same name. She herself is the American correspondent of several Russian periodicals, and has exercised all her influence to bring about the result in question. Without her efforts but little would have been attained.”
The American magazine, Volume 40. 1895
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