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Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church

Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church located in Olyphant, Pennsylvania. It is situated along the bank of the Lackawanna River on North River Street, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

History

Around 1880, Greek Catholic settlers from Red Ruthenia began to arrive in Northeastern Pennsylvania and concentrated themselves near Olyphant, Pennsylvania due to work in the nearby coal mines. At the time, they came from Ukrainian localities in the province of Galicia, a part of the Hapsburg Empire of Austria-Hungary on the north and south sides of the Carpathian Mountains. Most of these early Ruthenian immigrants came from Lemkivshchyna, meaning "Łemko land", and later called themselves Ukrainian. Some came from villages in the Prešov region, which is considered to be the westernmost part of ethnic Ruthenian territory and generally called themselves Rusyn. The Prešov region is commonly known as Priashivshchyna. Others came from as far north as present-day Belarus.

The First Church

On the corner of River Street and Grant Street, a very small wooden chapel facing River Street was built. Much of the labor that went into the building of the first church was provided by the men of the parish who came to the construction site after a hard day of work in the coal mines. The structure was completed in 1888, and its bell tolled for the first time, summoning parishioners to the first Divine Liturgy celebrated in their own Eastern Catholic Church. Within a few years, the growing congregation outgrew its small wooden chapel, and it became necessary to consider building a much larger structure. Plans began during the brief stay of Rev. Gabriel Wyslotsky in 1891. It was during the pastorate of Rev. Theofan Obuskewich (July 1891 - November 1897) that the new wooden edifice was built. 

The plan to build a completely new edifice could not be realized, and the old chapel was expanded into a larger, more accommodating structure by the addition of a nave and a vestibule at the entrance of the church.  The modified and expanded structure was 75 feet long and 28 ½ feet wide. It had ten windows - each 12 feet high - with colored glass in the upper part. The two cupolas had twelve small windows, the sanctuary had two, and there was one circular window in the choir loft with a blue and gold cross painted on it. In the front of the belfry were three bells with mechanical wheels for ringing them. The sanctuary contained a Greek altar, and a tabernacle which was imported from Dimet in Lviv.  Off the sanctuary were three sacristy rooms.  On the left side of the sanctuary was the prothesis on which the offertory gifts were prepared before the beginning of each Divine Liturgy.

The iconostas was partly gilded and partly lacquered in white and rose, and decorated partly with mirrored glass. The iconostas and altar were made by the Ukrainian sculptor Ivan Zakhariyash. The liturgical books, Gothic style tabernacle, vestments, church banners, candelabra, and other articles were obtained from the Michael Spozharsky Co. in Lviv. The kadylo, chalice and candelabra were purchased in New York. The total cost of enlarging the original chapel into a church came to $8,700 and was completed on September 7, 1893. The old building was sold, moved across the street, and converted into a private dwelling.

Present-Day Church

By 1906, plans had begun for the construction of a new church which would be larger and more physically durable than the previous two churches.  The third and completely new church was to be constructed of concrete, brick, and steel. The actual construction of the present church edifice was started in 1908 under the direction of Rev. Basil Hriwnak. He began a collection campaign for building funds to which parishioners responded immediately and generously. 

Ceremonies of the grand dedication of the new church were held on May 30, 1910. The church was solemnly blessed by the Most Reverend Bishop Soter Ortynsky. In September of that year, the parish was honored by a visit of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1901 until his death in 1944. The cornerstone of the present church was blessed by Rev. John Sandecky.

School Building

Under the guidance of Rev. Michael Guryansky, and with the cooperation and assistance of an increasingly active board of trustees, a new three-story brick school building, adjoining the rectory, was constructed. The building contains an auditorium with a seating capacity of 800, a large ballroom and hall with a kitchen and bar on the third floor, and six classrooms on the second floor. The building was completed and dedicated on September 4, 1927.

Choir

The oldest parish organization, the choir of Ss. Cyril and Methodius sings in Church Slavonic, Ukrainian, and English. Primarily singing the Divine Liturgy and religious hymns, they also sing Ukrainian folk music, appropriate songs at weddings, funerals, concerts, and special occasions, and continue the ancient Slavic tradition of Christmas Caroling (koliada) to the homes of parishioners, nursing homes, and annually-varying locations in the region.

The choir's mission is to perpetuate the Church Slavonic a cappella tradition, primarily through pilgrimages to early Ukrainian Catholic churches in America, and to reintroduce it to areas where it has succumbed to the English vernacular.

During the 1930s, the choir thrived and reached its peak of fame and acclaim under the direction of Professor Lev Sorochinsky, who studied under the renowned Ukrainian National Chorus director and composer Alexander Koshetz. Choir membership once numbered to approximately 100 voices. Activities included not only singing, for which it earned national acclaim at the 1939 New York World's Fair, but also annual concerts and theatrical performances, some of which were original compositions.

The choir frequently performed liturgical services and folk music concerts throughout the United States and Canada.

Today, the choir sings the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in Church Slavonic with approximately 15 voices. Many of the hymns sung are composed by Dmytro Bortniansky, Mykhailo Verbytsky, Artemy Vedel, Maksym Berezovsky, Alexander Arkhangelsky, and other liturgical composers predominantly from Western Ukraine (Halychyna). It is currently under the direction of Patrick J. Marcinko III, successor to Maestro Patrick J. Marcinko II.

Shrine to Our Lady of Zhyrovytsi

Father Michael Guryansky, pastor from 1920 to 1935, first proposed the idea of erecting a shrine to the Blessed Mother. Having a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, his dream was to build a shrine in the front yard of the rectory. When the present school was being built in 1926, the plans even provided for installing a water line from the school plumbing into the rectory yard in preparation for two fountains that would have graced the shrine. Circumstances of the time did not permit Father Guryansky to realize his plans. However, two women of the parish, Mrs. Lubow Swallow and Mrs. Nellie Wysochansky, kept the dream of the shrine alive in their memories long after Father Guryansky's death in 1935. In 1952, they informed Monsignor Hrynuck - the newly appointed pastor - of Guryansky's dream.

Monsignor Hrynuck eagerly embraced the idea to fulfill the dream for a special reason, namely to thank God for peace and unity in the parish following a period of dissension among parish factions. Over a period of many years, several attempts to obtain episcopal approval for plans to erect a shrine in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary were rejected. Approval was finally granted in 1979. Msgr. Hrynuck submitted preliminary ideas for the future shrine to Mr. Persico, owner of the Hazleton Memorial Company, which began to draft design specifications. Monsignor included three possible choices for the dedication to the Blessed Mother: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Zarvanytsia (well known in Galicia), and Our Lady of Zhyrovytsi. At the time, Monsignor Hrynuck did not know that Fr. Guryansky wanted Our Lady of Zhyrovytsi as the central figure for the shrine.

While blessing the home of the Polinsky-Chiricos family, Monsignor found to his amazement a picture of Our Lady of Zhyrovytsi on the wall of one of the rooms. On inquiring to the origin, he was astonished and elated to learn that the icon had been given to them by the late Father Guryansky, who had a great veneration to the Blessed Mother under this image. Since the Hazleton Memorial Company had already begun sketching the design of the shrine with the icon of Zhyrovytsi, Monsignor Hrynuck was very pleased that he had made the right selection.

After the design work was completed, a contract was made for its construction. Mr. Persico arranged with an Italian iconographer to produce the mosaic icon. Construction began in the fall of 1979 and was completed before winter. The mosaic icon was installed, and the dedication and blessing was planned for May 1980.

The stonework of the shrine is made of marble from Georgia. The main wall is semicircular and arched at the top. Seated on the center top is a single-bar cross of granite. A grey granite slab just under the icon protrudes from the wall and serves as an altar top supported by two granite pillars that slant at a 45-degree angle. Recessed step-shelving to the left and right of this altar in the lower part of the wall base serve as repositories for votive candles. The shrine edifice sits on a large patio that connects by a concrete walkway to the street sidewalk. Along the sidewalk is a three-foot-high stone wall of the same granite. Just forward of the shrine's wall on either side are two rectangular granite enclosures housing electrically illuminated fountains.

The Icon itself shows Our Lady adorned in a red gown, covered by a deep blue tunic from the head down. She holds the infant Jesus in her right arm clothed in a white robe. Similar gold crowns with embedded pearls or white stones and a small cross on top adorn their heads. The Greek letters for Jesus Christ and Mary the Mother of God appear to the left and right, respectively, of the figures. Inscribed in an oval ring around the figures are the immortal words, written in Church Slavonic, of the Hymn to the Blessed Virgin (Достойно єсть) taken from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom:

Честнѣ́йшую херꙋві́мъ и сла́внѣйшꙋю без сравне́нїѧ серафі́мъ, без истлѣ́нїѧ Бо́га сло́ва ро́ждшꙋю: сꙋ́щꙋю Богоро́дицꙋ Тѧ̀ ве́личаємъ

More honorable than the Cherubim and beyond more glorious than the Seraphim, who, a Virgin, gave birth to God the Word, you, truly the Mother of God, we magnify

Beneath the Icon engraved in gray granite are the words:

Пресвята Богородице, спаси нас.

Most Holy Mother of God, save us.

The solemn dedication of the shrine took place on May 18, 1980. The Divine Liturgy was celebrated with Rt. Rev. Mshr. Stephen Chehansky as homilist. The church choir sang the responses under the direction of Patrick Marcinko. A procession followed to the shrine where Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Msgr. Victor Pospishil, Rt. Rev. Msgr S. Chehansky and Msgr. Hrynuck blessed the edifice of the shrine and the Icon itself, an artistic mosaic executed in Italy. The entire celebration was broadcast by a local radio station. A banquet was then held in the school auditorium. The first part of the program consisted of renderings by the Choir, and a tableau of children presenting the Living Icon and Its History.