Programming note

Just a quick note to our readers to apologize for the lack of new material recently. As it happens, all of our regular writers are very busy with other obligations. Personally, besides the usual demands on my time, I'm gearing up for law school final exams. And with Holy Week...

Fr. Sava Matanovich: the first Serbian Orthodox priest in America

Just a brief note today: I had always assumed that Fr. Sebastian Dabovich was the first Serbian Orthodox priest in America, but apparently he wasn't. The first Serbian priest in America -- and probably the first Serbian priest the California-born Dabovich had ever seen -- was Fr. Sava Matanovich. From...

Scandal and murder: the story of Fr. Parthenios Kolonis

The following item appeared in the Washington Post (among other papers) on July 6, 1933: Martins Ferry, Ohio, July 5 (A.P.). – The Rev. Parthenios Colonis, 72, pastor of the Martins Ferry Greek Orthodox Catholic Church, died today from hatchet-inflicted wounds. He was found unconscious in the basement of the...

What is a parish?

In my recent lecture on Orthodoxy in Chicago, given at Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church in Westchester, Illinois, I cautiously addressed the still-controversial issue of the 1897 split in Chicago's Greek Orthodox community. Let me go over the basic details very briefly, before moving onto the broader question of what...

On blogging history: a response to some critics

On March 15, I published a short article entitled, "Bishop Joseph Zuk: A brief biographical overview." I opened the article with this paragraph: Joseph A. Zuk was the first Ukrainian Orthodox bishop in America, but little has been written about his life. I don’t know a lot, but from the sources...

Programming Note

It will be pretty quiet here at OH.org this week, as I'm traveling to the Chicago area to speak at Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church. For all the details, see this post. I hope to see some of our readers there. I've got a lot of other irons in the...

Reduced registration fees for SOCHA symposium at Princeton

Just a reminder: Our inaugural symposium at Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary is coming up on September 30 - October 1, 2011. More information is available at a web page set up by Princeton's Florovsky Society. Thanks to some additional funding, we've been able to cut the registration fees...

Bishop Joseph Zuk: A brief biographical overview

Joseph A. Zuk was the first Ukrainian Orthodox bishop in America, but little has been written about his life. I don't know a lot, but from the sources I've collected, we can piece together a brief biographical sketch. This isn't much, but I thought it might be worthwhile to get...

Bishop Nestor appeals to President Hayes, 1880

The following article appeared in the New York Times on March 23, 1880, detailing an early communication between Nestor Zass, the Russian Bishop of Alaska and the Rutherford B. Hayes, the President of the United States. WASHINGTON, March 22. -- On Saturday last the President received a letter from Bishop...

Chicago-area lecture on March 23

I've mentioned this before, but I wanted to let readers know that I'll be speaking in the Chicago area on Wednesday, March 23. My lecture, which will focus on the early history of Orthodoxy in Chicago (roughly the mid-1880s through the mid-1890s), will take place at Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox...