Our Journey in the Orthodox Church Begins
In which Teófilo remembers and ponders his entrance into the Orthodox Church
Our arrival to Johnstown led to our entrance into the Orthodox Church. As you know, I already had developed an interest for the Eastern Churches and their liturgy. In fact I'd discovered them in High School, in a book I'd found in the library. No one understood my discovery when I tried to explain it. The fact of non-Latin liturgical rites was too foreign for my classmates. Besides, most teenagers had other things to think about besides church rites. I was the oddball.
As it happened, Christ the Saviour Cathedral was - and remains - located in Johnstown's West End. The church's beautiful architecture enthralled me the first time I saw it. Its twin bell towers, the golden domes, its clean, straight lines, the mosaic above its doors, were inviting me to look inside.
By then I had decided to set aside my affiliation to the Anglican Old Catholic Church. It had become clear to me that I had nowhere to go. We were a church of one; I was a single cleric in a new, unknown place. I felt isolated, and my hunger for the Eucharist was unmet. I needed the Bread of Angels, but returning to the Catholic Church was out of the question. I remained determined to walk the road away from her that I've come to know.
I'm not sure if I met Seminarian Mark before I got to visit Christ the Saviour, or afterwards. He lived a few doors down our home on Blaine Street. Both meeting him and visiting the church are events now blurred in my mind as taking place at the same time.
I found the interior of Christ the Saviour, dazzling. White was the predominant color. I've seen the icons on the icon-wall dividing the inner altar from the people in other contexts. One I had seen in Titi Gloria's old St. Joseph's Missal of 1962. A rendition of DaVinci's Last Supper crowned the frame of the Royal Doors. The sacred decor gave testimony of the church's former Catholic connection.
Christ the Saviour's Cathedral was also - and remains - the seat of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, or ACROD. This church used to be a "Ruthenian" Catholic Church whose faifthful hailed from the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine. The Ruthenian faithful used the Byzantine Rite and Old Church Slovenian in their liturgy. Their Church discipline allowed for married priests.
Conflict arose as the Latin-rite bishops began to pressure the Ruthenians into adopting Latin usages. The bishops specially objected to the Ruthenian married clergy. Latinization of the Byzantine Rite and architecture became an intolerable norm.
When the pressure became intolerable, a good part of the Ruthenian faithful voted to return to the Orthodox Church. They petitioned the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople to recognize them. The Patriarch accepted the return petition, and granted the ACROD canonical recognition. Thus, the ACROD became an Orthodox jurisdiction independent from other established Orthodox churches. As the ACROD had parishes in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
Metropolitan Nicholas Smisko headed the ACROD as its Ruling Hierarch when we joined. He was a very paternal, accesible man. When I talked to him I felt as if I had his complete attention. Timed stopped, as we talked.
After consulting with Mercie, and prayerful reflection, we decided to join the ACROD. On May 1, 1994 Metropolitan Nicholas received us into the Orthodox Church. I became a tonsured reader not long afterwards, and joined their seminary as a part-timer. My journey in the Eastern Orthodox Church had begun.
