Buffalo Before Chicago
I am posting this because Matthew is very busy and traveling about today (although I suppose posting it myself risks vanity). I am honored to have been invited to be a guest of the pan-Orthodox clergy...
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Bishop Joseph Zuk: A brief biographical overview
Bishop Joseph Zuk 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...
View ArticleAtlas Excerpt #1: Orthodoxy in Colonial Virginia
Recently, Holy Cross Orthodox Press published the Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches, edited by Alexei D. Krindatch. I contributed several pieces to the Atlas, including the article “Ten...
View ArticleYet Another Priest is Taken to Court
In the middle of the twentieth century, Fr. Boris Burden (+1973) played important roles in American Orthodoxy. It was he and Fr. Michael Gelsinger who rallied behind the attempt in the late 20s and...
View ArticleAtlas Excerpt #3: The First Two Convert Priests
Recently, Holy Cross Orthodox Press published the Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches, edited by Alexei D. Krindatch. I contributed several pieces to the Atlas, including the article “Ten...
View ArticleCollected Works of Nicholas Bjerring available for $1.00
Last week, we introduced the first issue of the Journal of American Orthodox Church History (JAOCH), which is available from Prairie Parish Press (PPP). In addition to publishing JAOCH, PPP has begun...
View ArticleNewly-discovered documents on Fr. Raphael Morgan
We’ve devoted a fair amount of attention here at OrthodoxHistory.org to Fr. Raphael Morgan, the first black Orthodox priest in America. Very briefly: Morgan was born in Jamaica, traveled widely, and...
View ArticleA Virginian Apostle: The First Orthodox Catechism in the Americas?
Editor’s note: We’re extremely pleased to present another article by Nicholas Chapman, who continues to excavate the very earliest origins of Orthodoxy in America. To read more about Nicholas and his...
View ArticleReginald Wright Kauffman
Matthew has mentioned the first English speaking Transfiguration parish here: http://orthodoxhistory.org/2010/01/26/the-first-english-speaking-parish/ One of the converts he mentioned was a gentleman...
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The mystery of Irvine’s funeral
Photo from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle obituary for Fr. Ingram Nathaniel Irvine, January 24, 1921 I’ve written more words about Fr. Ingram Nathaniel Irvine than about any other historical figure. Irvine...
View ArticleThis week in American Orthodox history (January 16-22)
January 16, 1924: Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow — former Archbishop of North America, and future canonized saint — issued an ukaz removing Metropolitan Platon Rozhdestvensky from his post as primate in...
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Nicholas Chapman’s new lecture on Philip Ludwell now available
Click the image to order a copy of Nicholas Chapman's lecture on Philip Ludwell III. Nicholas Chapman recently gave an hour-long talk on Philip Ludwell III, the first Orthodox convert in American...
View ArticleROCOR to offer an annual memorial service for Philip Ludwell III
Today being a Monday, I normally would publish the next edition of my “This week in American Orthodox history” series (in which I would say, among other things, that today marks the 97th anniversary of...
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St. Patrick’s Day with Fr. Patrick Mythen
Fr. Patrick Mythen, October 1920 We here at SOCHA would like to wish you and yours, Irish or not, a happy St. Patrick’s Day! And who better to portray those wishes than a figure we have written quite...
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This week in American Orthodox history (March 19-25)
March 25, 1886: The future Greek Archbishop and later Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras Spyrou was born. Athenagoras led the Greek Archdiocese from 1930 to 1948, when he was elected Patriarch of...
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Two Memorials served for Colonel Philip Ludwell III – Tuesday March 14/27
Tuesday, March 14/27, 2012 marked the two hundred and forty fifth anniversary of the repose of Colonel Philip Ludwell III, a native of Williamsburg, Virginia. The metrical books of the Russian Orthodox...
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Author & Hollywood screenwriter Elliot Paul converts to Orthodoxy
Photo from the Abilene (TX) Reporter-News, April 7, 1958 On March 5, 1958, the New York Times ran the following article: AUTHOR ADOPTS FAITH Elliot Paul, in Hospital, Joins Greek Orthodox Church...
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Fr. Kyrill Johnson, 1897-1947
Fr. Kyrill Johnson, 1930. This is the only photo I've seen of Johnson taken while he was an Orthodox priest. (Ipswich Historical Society) A lot of us at SOCHA happen to be really busy right now...
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St Raphael Hawaweeny & Spanish language Orthodoxy in the Americas
St. Raphael Hawaweeny 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...
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Thanksgiving at St. Nicholas Cathedral, 1921
New York Tribune, Wednesday, November 23, 1921 Thanksgiving Day as it is constituted as a civil holiday in the United States (and Canada) is not specifically found on the Orthodox liturgical calendar,...
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