The
question, “What was the first Orthodox parish in America?” is surprisingly
difficult to answer. A big part of the problem comes from that word, “parish.”
What is a parish? When does a collection of Orthodox people become a “parish”?
It’s a matter of interpretation, and particularly in the early years of
Orthodoxy in America, the lines are quite fuzzy.
Holy
Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in New Orleans is considered by many
(including me, in past writings) to be the first Orthodox parish in the contiguous
United States (i.e., outside of Alaska). Here’s how the New Orleans parish
website describes its early history:
In 1860, Mr. Nicholas Benachi, a businessman
and Consul of the Royal Government of Greece, spearheaded an effort to secure a
site for the construction of the Church, which was also unsuccessful. Finally,
in 1864, Mr. Benachi offered his personal property for a temporary location for
worship, at which time he and a few cotton merchants the Church. Until 1866,
services where held there as well as other locations, with the Very Reverend
Agapios Honcharenko serving as the first priest of the Community. During that
year, Mr. Benachi sold a parcel of property to the Community (for $1,200) on
1222 North Dorgenois Street and, with the assistance of generous donations by
Mr. Benachi, Mr. Demetrios Botassis and Mr. John Botassis, Holy Trinity Church
was erected.
There are
some issues with that account — most especially the reference to the supposed
“first priest” of New Orleans. This man, Agapius Honcharenko, was a rogue
Ukrainian deacon who seems to have been ordained a priest in Greece (under
unclear circumstances) and showed up in New York City in early 1865. He got
word of an Orthodox community in New Orleans and went down for a visit, but
based on his public statements in the New Orleans newspapers at the time, he
only intended to visit for a couple weeks — he never planned to stay as the
resident priest of the parish. After his visit, he returned to New York, but
once news spread of his sketchy past, he left the city and ultimately settled
in the San Francisco area and lived the rest of his life as a kind of oddball
farmer, outside of Orthodoxy.
The
actual first priest of the Holy Trinity community in New Orleans was Fr.
Stephen Andreades, who arrived in 1867 from the Church of Greece. So when did
the New Orleans parish begin? 1864, when lay services were held on the Benachi
property? 1865, when Honcharenko visited and served the first Divine Liturgy?
1866, when a parish building was constructed?
Or 1867, when the first parish priest arrived?
And then
there’s the other contender for the title “First Orthodox Parish in America” —
Holy Trinity, the OCA cathedral in San Francisco. It’s gone through many name
changes over the years, but this San Francisco parish was established right
around the same time that the New Orleans community was organizing itself.
The
website of the San Francisco parish declares, “Established in 1857, Holy
Trinity Cathedral is the oldest Orthodox parish in the contiguous United
States.” The parish history, written by the late Fr. Victor Sokolov, says this:
Holy
Trinity Cathedral Parish traces its history to December 2, 1857, when the first
Orthodox Society was founded in San Francisco. Ten years latter, on September
2, 1867, it was incorporated as the Greek Russian Slavonian Orthodox Eastern
Church and Benevolent Society. During these years, the Orthodox population of
the Bay Area was spiritually and sacramentally served by chaplains from Russian
Navy ships that frequented San Francisco Bay. During the Holy Week of 1868, an
Orthodox Priest was sent to the City from Alaska to conduct the Paschal
services here.
So,
again, there’s the question, when did this parish begin? 1857, when the first
Orthodox benevolent society was founded? 1867, when the society was
incorporated (and, late in the year, requested a priest and a church building)?
Or 1868, when the first parish priest arrived?
It all
depends on your premises — on how you define “parish.” And it might depend on
specific facts that we don’t necessarily have, such as what exactly that
Orthodox Society in San Francisco was doing, as a practical matter, in the
years 1857 to 1867. Were they holding regular services? Or was this more of a
typical “benevolent society,” where individuals with a common background (say,
being Orthodox) would contribute to the organization, which would then give aid
to members in need? One small bit of evidence to consider, in this case: at the
General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1862, an Episcopalian priest from
San Francisco reported that “some” of the 300-400 Orthodox people in San
Francisco were “under his charge” (although not receiving communion) and “were
about to build a church of their own and become organized into a parish.” (From
the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, 12/6/1862.) It’s just one source, but
this suggests that, at least in 1862, the Orthodox in San Francisco weren’t yet
a parish, although they were definitely moving in that direction.
Of
course, which was the first parish doesn’t really matter, does it? Both of
these parishes began as informal or semi-formal groups of Orthodox laypeople
and evolved to the point that they were able to have a church building and
obtain a parish priest. They did these things at pretty much the same time,
getting their first priest within months of each other. I’m fairly comfortable
calling this a tie — the two Holy Trinity Cathedrals are the first Orthodox
parishes in the contiguous United States.
Source: http://orthodoxhistory.org/2015/02/13/what-was-the-first-orthodox-parish-in-america/
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