St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in New York to celebrate 105th anniversary

The following news story is by journalist Kate Perry. Her story was published in The Record in Troy, New York, May 19, 2003. Kate Perry's story about the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church:

The parish, which celebrated its 105th anniversary over the weekend, is rooted in strong cultural unity, yet today it must open its doors to a variety of ethnicities and cultures. While some religions based in ethnicity struggle against the inclusion of other cultures into their parishes, fearing it may dilute their own sense of culture, the congregation at St. Nicholas seems to have a good solution: The emphasis in their culture seems to be on getting everyone involved, and less on what they are doing.

Helen Pershyn, a member of the church who still considers herself a newcomer to the area after 17 years, said she makes it a priority to involve new members of the church in activities. She spent some of her adult life hopping from city to city with her husband, and said while life in a new place can be unfamiliar, she always found a Ukrainian Orthodox Church to go to, and always felt welcome there. Now, she is returning the favor."I know the feeling. I've learned over the years, if they don't come to me, I go to them," she said.

Rev. Paul Szewczuk said when the church opened in 1897, there wasn't such a need to reach out to new faces in church, because they were flocking there by the hundreds. St. Nicholas opened to serve the community of Ukrainian immigrants who had come to work in Troy's mills and foundries, and Szewczuk said it was like many around the country in that swarms of families would flock to the church seeking community and religious solace from the hardships they faced as immigrants.

He added that over the last century, churches like St. Nicholas have lost parishioners to inter-marriage, and that while many services are still done in Ukrainian, many people don't understand it anymore. Today the church has 120 families, and about 30 percent of them are native to Ukraine. Szewczuk said they are still trickling into the United States as a result of the Soviet Union dismantling in the early 1990s. Still, little by little, he said, the ethnicities of the congregation are beginning to vary, and Szewczuk is gladly opening the door. "We have to be open to people in the community. There are only so many that will come over from Ukraine," he said.

Florentina Sapariuc joined the church about three years ago when she moved from Romania to be with her husband Ioan, who was attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ioan attended several Eastern Christian Orthodox churches in the area, but found the liturgy at St. Nicholas to be the most like the one he was accustomed to at home. Despite Florentina's inability to speak any English or Ukrainian, she loved the church immediately. "Right from the beginning, they would come up to you and welcome you and ask you who you are and invite you to become involved," she said.

The story by journalist Kate Perry, published in The Record in Troy, New York, May 19, 2003, about the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church was monitored by the Ukraine Market Reform Group (UMRG) and the www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS) in Kyiv, Ukraine and Washington, D.C.