This is the Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral in North Denver. This Cathedral is a Cathedral of the Orthodox Church in America, a church which traces its origin to the Russian Orthodox Church after the Russian Revolution. The particular neighborhood this church is in must have been heavily Slavic at one time, as there is a Catholic Church which was built for a largely Polish population all within a couple of blocks, with a third Catholic Church nearby.. Recently I observed a Polish flag, flying with the US flag, on a Catholic school in the neighborhood, but are the area is largely Hispanic today.
There are two bodies that descend from the Russian Orthodox Church in the US today, and I frankly don't quite understand the relationship between the two, but this Cathedral in Denver reflects part of Denver's Russian Orthodox community. The church dates to 1898.
Thank you for the lovely pictures on your blog!
ReplyDeleteThere are actually three Orthodox jurisdictions in the USA today that come directly from the original Russian Orthodox diocese that originally guided Orthodox spiritual life here in North America. The largest is the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), which has been independent since 1970 and is based here in North America. Most of its churches use English in their services, but some still cater to immigrants from Eastern Europe (the former USSR, Romania, et cetera). The second largest is the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), which has three dioceses in the USA and is also based in North America, but includes dioceses elsewhere in the world (Australia, Europe, et cetera). It generally caters to immigrants from the former USSR, but has a number of English-speaking communities as well. The smallest is the patriarchal exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA, generally known as the 'patriarchal parishes.' They function as a diocese directly under the Russian Orthodox patriarch in Moscow, and while they generally cater to immigrants from the former USSR, some of their churches are English-speaking, while others are Macedonian, Ruthenian or of another ethnicity altogether.
And then there are the Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdictions, which are related to the Russians, but split off over national issues a few decades ago. But we won't go there ;-). I hope this was a helpful overview of the situation today!
Thank you very much for your comment and the information. That does indeed help clarify things. One thing I've wondered is how the Russian Orthodox jurisdictions in North America handle the multiple jurisdiction amongst themselves, and if there's any thought of uniting the jurisdictions into a single jurisdiction.
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