Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral (Chicago, Illinois)

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Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral serves as the cathedral church for the Diocese of Chicago and the Midwest of the OCA, of which His Grace, the Right Reverend Job, a Chicago native, currently serves as archbishop. Holy Trinity was built under the leadership of Fr. John Kochurov, and was consecrated in 1903 by Bishop Tikhon of the Diocese of Alaska, Orthodox Church of Russia.

Fr. John served in Holy Trinity until 1907 when he returned to Russia where he continued as a priest and educator and eventually was martyred early in the Bolshevik takeover. Bishop Tikhon returned to Russia in 1907, and was elected Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Russia in 1917, the first Patriarch elected since the time of Tsar Peter the Great.

Holy Trinity became a cathedral in 1923 when its rector, Fr. Theodore (Pashkovsky) was elected bishop. Bishop Theophilus, as he was named following his monastic tonsure and consecration, would later be elected Metropolitan of the young church in America.

Resembling provincial Russian churches, Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral was designed by Louis Sullivan to serve as a center of a Russian neighborhood on Chicago's Near-North Side. Its construction was partially funded by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. As the years have progressed, the neighborhood has changed, and Holy Trinity is situated in an area of Chicago now known as Ukrainian Village, though the population of the area is now very diverse. For this reason, services are almost completely in English, though sometimes Old Church Slavonic is retained for some passages of the Divine Liturgy.

Holy Trinity was designated a Chicago Landmark on March 21, 1979, and has also been designated a National Historic Landmark, and a Historic Point of Interest.

External links

Further reading

  • A History of Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Chicago, 1892-1992 (ISBN 0963274309)