Holy Assumption to celebrate 125th anniversary in Marblehead

MARBLEHEAD – Ohio's oldest Orthodox church, located in Marblehead, will celebrate its 125th anniversary with a special liturgy and banquet next week and is inviting the public to join them.

Holy Assumption Orthodox Church, at 110 East Main St., will celebrate 125 years of witnessing to the Apostolic Faith on the Marblehead peninsula at a Hierarchal Divine Liturgy at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23.

Holy Assumption's new leader, Father Tomas, and his wife Michelle, joined the Marblehead peninsula community about three months ago and are looking forward to welcoming people of all faiths to join them in celebrating this historical occasion, they said.

Clergy from the church's past will attend service

Priests and clergy from years past will be present. His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of All America and Canada who is Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, and His Eminence Archbishop Daniel of the Diocese of Chicago and the Midwest will preside at the 10 a.m. service.

It will be their first time visiting with the congregation, Father Tomas said.

Following the 10 a.m. liturgy, a banquet at St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church hall at 506 East Main St. will cap off the celebration.

Austro-Hungarian immigrants settled in Marblehead in 19th Century

Immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire brought their faith with them when they settled in Marblehead in the late 19th century, and in 1898 they founded Holy Assumption Orthodox Church.

They were from the Carpathian Mountains in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where the countries of Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine now exist.

The present location of the Holy Assumption temple was consecrated in 1906, after moving several locations around Marblehead. The Tsar of Russia sent gifts, including four large icons for the iconostas, a communion set, and a personal check for $1,200. In today’s money, it was the equivalent of $38,688.

So in 1905, after a day of hard work in the quarries, the men of the parish came with picks and shovels and began building the temple. By the following year, 1906, it was completed.

"We have parishioners who are descendants of the founders of Holy Assumption," parishioner Bobbie Royhab said.

Father Tomas and Michelle have traveled around the world for their faith, from Tomas' home country of Slovakia, to Canada, to their new home parish in Marblehead.

"It is a very rich, traditional faith," Father Tomas said of the Orthodox Church.

While Holy Assumption church is small, it is part of a large faith around the world. Today there are approximately 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.

For more than 60 years, the parish has hosted its annual Halupki Festival on the third Sunday of August. The festival celebrates the Carpatho-Russian heritage of its founding members with delicious foods such as halupki (cabbage rolls), halushky (cabbage and noodles), perohi (pierogies), and kolbasi (smoked sausage), plus ethnic baked goods, refreshments, polka bands, a craft show, a demonstration of the art of psanky (egg decorating), and tours of the historic church. Thousands come each year from near and far for this event.

In April 2023, the Church received a historical marker from the State of Ohio honoring the immigrants who founded Holy Assumption in 1898.

"This is huge for our parish," Michelle said of next week's celebration. "And for Marblehead. We are so blessed."

Holy Assumption's long history

In the late 19th century, Rusyn immigrants from the territories of Slovakia and Moravia settled on the Marblehead peninsula. They were also known as Ruthenians, Uhro-Russians, and Carpatho-Russians. Most found work in the stone quarries.

In 1897 the Greek Catholic Church of the Dormition (Assumption) of Mary was founded in Marblehead.

Around this time, many Carpatho-Russian Greek Catholics sought to return to the Eastern Orthodox Church of their forefathers. This movement to Orthodoxy occurred both in Europe and in North America.

In America, the movement was begun by Greek Catholic priest Father Alexis Toth, whose difficulties in dealing with the Roman Catholic hierarchy here inspired him to seek to have his parish in Minneapolis, Minnesota, received into the Orthodox Church, which at that time in the USA was under the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow.

That event became the catalyst for many other Greek Catholic parishes to return to the Orthodox Faith. Marblehead was no exception.

A number of Greek Catholics here appealed to the Russian Orthodox bishop in San Francisco, Bishop Tikhon, and he traveled to Marblehead to work with them. Father Victor Toth, brother of Father Alexis, also came to Marblehead to encourage the people.

Finally, in 1898, the parish, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Dormition (or Assumption), was received into the Orthodox Church. Three lots were purchased on Alexander Pike, and a church was built. Father Victor Stepanoff of St. Theodosius in Cleveland was the first supply priest.

Sadly, a deep division soon arose among them. A faction of the flock decided to leave the Orthodox Church and return to the Greek Catholic Church, also called the Unia, under Rome. The problem arose when they decided that they wanted to take the church with them.

The controversy ended up in court, and in 1901 the church property was ordered sold at sheriff’s sale and the proceeds divided between the two groups.

The church was without a building until the Congregational Church in Marblehead had decided to sell a building, also on Alexander Pike, that they used both for services and as a social hall. Holy Assumption purchased it, but circumstances again intervened, and the stone quarry wanted the property. They offered to exchange a prime piece of real estate on Main Street in the village for the land, and they accepted the offer.

So in 1905, after a day of hard work in the quarries, the men of the parish came with picks and shovels and began the building of the new church. By the following year, 1906, it was completed. Archbishop Tikhon, who is now a Saint in the Orthodox faith, consecrated the church and celebrated the first Liturgy.

The icons are on display to this day in the temple, telling the story of Jesus and the Orthodox faith.

This article originally appeared on Port Clinton News Herald: Holy Assumption to celebrate 125th anniversary in Marblehead