Category: Orthodoxy in the Americas

Fr. Alexander Schmemann in Detroit, 1962

Recently, I was alerted to several photographs of a visit Fr. Alexander Schmemann made to Detroit in the winter of 1962.  Today would have been Fr. Alexander's ninety-first birthday, so I thought this to be as good an opportunity as any to share these pictures with our readers. 1962 was...

This week in American Orthodox history (Sept. 10-16)

September 11, 1893: The World's Parliament of Religions opened in Chicago. I've written quite a bit about the Parliament in past articles, and you can read all of them by clicking here. The super-short version: In conjunction with the Chicago World's Fair, representatives from every major world religion convened in...

St Raphael Hawaweeny & Spanish language Orthodoxy in the Americas

St Raphael Hawaweeny was a native of Lebanon, who in 1904 became the first Orthodox bishop ordained in the new world. As Bishop of Brooklyn he had oversight over the Syro-Lebanese communities that were beginning to appear in the Americas in the early twentieth century and he worked tirelessly for...

Nicholas Chapman podcast on early 18th century Orthodox catechism in English

As you may (or may not) know, regular OrthodoxHistory.org author Nicholas Chapman -- the man who has single-handedly rewritten our understanding of early Orthodoxy in America -- hosts a podcast on Ancient Faith Radio, called Speaking of Books. For his most recent episode, Nicholas reviewed an intriguing volume: The Russian...

A 5th century Greek church in Connecticut? Nope.

Recently, an article has been circulating among some Orthodox folks on the Internet on a purported Greek Orthodox church in Connecticut, dating to the 5th century. If the article is accurate, it's an absolute bombshell -- it claims that Orthodox monks from North Africa fled persecution in the late 400s...

The Death of Aftimios Ofiesh

I had meant to write something about this yesterday, since July 24 marks the anniversary of the death of Aftimios Ofiesh, the sometime Archbishop of Brooklyn, who departed this earthly life in 1966. Aftimios was briefly the leader of the American Orthodox Catholic Church (1927-33), the first attempt to create...

This week in American Orthodox history (July 16-22)

After a bit of a hiatus thanks to work and a new baby, we're back with another edition of "This week in American Orthodox history." No accompanying podcast yet, though -- one thing at a time. July 20, 1741: According to some accounts, the first Orthodox liturgy in the Western...

The Life of Archbishop Michael Konstantinides

Editor's note: Today, July 13, marks the 54th anniversary of Archbishop Michael Konstantinides, primate of the Greek Archdiocese. Archbishop Michael has been largely (and unfairly) forgotten, for a simple reason: his eight-year tenure was sandwiched in between the larger-than-life Archbishops Athenagoras and Iakovos. But Archbishop Michael was a genuinely outstanding...

Orthodox artifacts on eBay

First of all, let me apologize for being away from this site -- and from the podcast -- for so long. My wife gave birth to our third child a few weeks ago, and I've been buried in gainful employment, so my historical work has been forced onto the back...

Fr. Sebastian Dabovich & the mystery of St. Tikhon’s miter

In 2009, I wrote an article on the miter (crown) which Archbishop Tikhon Bellavin gave to Fr. Sebastian Dabovich at the Dabovich's elevation to archimandrite in 1905, and which Dabovich later auctioned off to raise money for the Serbian war effort in 1912. Today is the anniversary of Dabovich's birth,...