Who we are
We are a Byzantine Catholic parish: fully Catholic, in communion with the Pope of Rome, and praying the way the Christians of the East have prayed for fifteen centuries. The Divine Liturgy is sung from beginning to end, the icons are windows, and nobody minds if your child wanders up to kiss one.
Our grandparents came from the Carpathian mountains to make steel. Today the parish is their great-grandchildren, converts who walked in one Sunday and stayed, and families who arrived recently from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan and found the chant they grew up with. You are welcome here — Roman Catholics may receive the Eucharist with us, and everyone may stay for coffee.
Through the years
The parish was founded in 1903 by Carpatho-Rusyn steelworkers who met in a rented storefront and sang the Liturgy from memory. They built the present church with their own hands between 1911 and 1914, three onion domes of hammered tin gilded a little more every decade since. When the mill closed in 1986 half the parish moved away, and the half that stayed kept the lamps lit. The iconostasis was repainted in 2008 by an iconographer from Lviv; the plainchant — prostopinije, the 'simple chant' of the Carpathian villages — has never stopped.
Shepherds & servants
Very Rev. Michael Hrabar
Pastor
Fr. Michael grew up three streets away and was ordained for the parish in 2001. He and his wife, Pani Anna, have four children, all of whom have served at the altar.
Deacon Paul Sopko
Deacon
A retired steel-mill electrician, Deacon Paul chants the litanies, visits every shut-in in the valley, and keeps the parish's recipes in his head.
John Ihnat
Cantor & Choir Director
John learned prostopinije from his grandfather and now teaches it to anyone who stays after Liturgy on Sundays. No experience needed; the tones come by ear.
Natalia Volkova
Newcomers & Russian-language Ministry
Natalia came from Yekaterinburg in 2016. She welcomes Russian-speaking families, runs the Saturday Bible study in Russian, and translates the bulletin every week.
Serve & belong
Prostopinije Choir
The simple chant of the Carpathian villages, sung by whoever shows up. Practice Sundays after the 9:00.
Pyrohy Makers
Tuesday mornings in the hall, September to Great Lent. Potato-cheese, sauerkraut and prune; every dozen pays for the domes.
pyrohy@pokrova-demo.org
Myrrhbearers
The women's society named for the women at the tomb: altar linens, funeral lunches, the Pascha table.
Русскоязычная община
Bible study, Liturgy explained, help with paperwork and English — in Russian, Saturdays at 10.
Natalia Volkova
Altar Servers
Boys and girls from age seven carry candles and fans; older servers hold the censer. Training after Liturgy.
Iconography Circle
Egg tempera and gold leaf on Thursday evenings, with prayer. Beginners paint a first icon in twelve weeks.
In pictures
