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| Holy Trinity Orthodox Church History |
| Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church by, Robert John Klancko, CAAS |
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church was initially organized by a group of immigrants who wished for a church to observe their faith and traditions. This small church community was established on August 16, 1916 with Reverend Constantine Buketoff as the founding priest. As time progressed, Holy Trinity grew and became established. The membership was limited in numbers but their great devotion and hard work ultimately would produce a beautiful and self-sustaining church. In the beginning a two-story building was acquired to accommodate the needs of this slowly expanding church. This first building was located on 226 Valley Street. The building was remodeled, beautified and then transformed into an Orthodox house of worship. The membership worked tirelessly to improve the structure, interior furnishings and upgrade of the exterior property. The rectory was also built during this construction phase. After renovation and furnishing, the first full-time pastor, Rev. Joseph Kurila, relocated to Holy Trinity rectory to guide the new congregation and continue the expansion of the church.
The history of the church continued there were many upgrades, changes and improvements. A single thought that drove the membership to progress was the idea of a permanent and self-sustaining church. The loyal members of Holy Trinity worked unselfishly to accomplish their goals in conjunction with the direction of their pastors. In November 1948, under the guidance of the Very Reverend Prokopy Radiuk, Holy Trinity obtained property on the corner of Valley Street and Mansfield Ave. It was during this year that construction of the current church was begun in earnest. The membership of Holy Trinity made many financial sacrifices to pay for the church building. After a period of ten years, the current church was finished and ready to be consecrated. The members of Holy Trinity had accomplished this undertaking, which was nearest to their hearts, an established church that was open full-time to those who sought to pray in their long-held faith and a place to practice their cherished traditions.
The final closing of the first church property occurred on September 7, 1958. It was during this final Divine Liturgy at 226 Valley Street that the members finally bid farewell to their original house of worship. After the Divine Liturgy was completed, many of the Church's sacred vessels and interior decorations were withdrawn in a solemn and very stirring procession. At the head of this procession was the current pastor at that time, Archpriest Eilias Adamoff. The members and their clergy proceed to the new church property, which was ready to be occupied. On September 13, 1958, one week after taking leave of their original church building, His Eminence, Metropolitan Leonty, solemnly consecrated Holy Trinity Orthodox church at the present location. The Rectory was still incomplete at this time and it took until February 1966, for the building to be finalized. Throughout the years all the members, working together in each era with their pastors, contributed to the success of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church. Without their pious dedication and sacrifices the church would never have come into being. One majestic golden cupola (dome) graces this church and is quite noticeable from a long distance. The brick material of light tan and red on the church offers a beautiful contrast to the main cupola. Holy Trinity Orthodox Church is a jewel that is an everlasting memorial to all members, past and present, who devoted themselves to the building and upkeep of this house of worship.
Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church
Willimantic, Connecticut
A Perspective
by, Robert John Klancko, CAAS
One of the best ways of recapturing the history of Holy Trinity parish is to go into the old FROC Journals and yearbooks (Kalendars) of such organizations as the Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society. In the news sections, there are many articles regarding the activity in Willimantic. First of all there needs to be some perspective regarding the early years. The parish was founded by Galician-Russians, the leading families being the Lucas family (Charles Lucas, Thomas Lucas and Kaplik family (Joseph Kaplik). The Lucas family were cousins of the Klancko’s in Ansonia who belonged to St. Peter and St. Paul Ruthenian – and now Ukrainian Catholic Church. Why the Russian Orthodox Church was the first in Willimantic – which was not the case elsewhere – was perhaps due to the active missionary efforts of the Russian Orthodox clergy. According to the records in the Willimantic City Hall, the original property was bought on 9/9/18 by Maksim Lukaszzyk, Michael Rusniak, Andrew Chupak, and Wasyl Furlic.
However, records at city hall indicate that Koschio Lulaszik was married on 10/24/08 and Barasius Lukashish was married on 6/10/11. Fr. Bodnarchuk married Harold A. Lucas and Tillie Pyrley in 1919.
The parish was founded during times of strife. It was during World War I. There was revolution in Russia, the Patriarchate was reestablished under Metropolitan Tikhon, who was imprisoned. Archbishop Evdokim never returned to the U.S.A. after the Russian Sobor and became a Metropolitan in the revisionist ‘Living Church’. Bishop Alexander was unable to handle the financial and political challenges and left for Europe. Metropolitan Platon, who had been Bishop here some 15 years before, returned and was appointed by Patriarch Tikhon as Metropolitan of America. St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York was lost to the ‘Living Church’ which also tried to grab the Meriden parish. St. Platon’s Church in Danbury burned down and the insurance money never made it from Metropolitan Platon to the parish. As a result St. Nicholas Ruthenian and Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox were formed. Holy Trinity became part of the Carpatho-Russian Bishop Adam’s jurisdiction – as did Seymour. In Ansonia, the priest sold off some church property, was pursued to Niagara Falls and jumped.
After the Russian Revolution, the Ukrainians wanted their own free church. However there were no bishops who would create a hierarchy for them. Finally, there was one bishop, who died before the consecrations could be performed. Not to be undaunted, they placed the dead bishop in his vestments on the throne and used his hands to create a new hierarchy thereby creating the ‘samo-svatyy’ or ‘self consecrated group’; with their own bishop, John Theodorovich being assigned to the U.S.A.
There were also Syrian Orthodox in Willimantic. They were a small parish; some old timers said that they came to Holy Trinity. However, other records indicate that they had their own priest, who had twin children who drowned in a nearby lake. After which, he left for Brooklyn, N.Y. where he served as an assistant priest for many years. The parish could not afford another priest and because they we taking Americanization lessons at the Episcopal Church on Valley St. – the same church that bought the original Holy Trinity parish house church at 226 Valley St, built in 1916, from Holy Trinity in 1961 - they joined the Episcopal parish en-masse. The former parish secretary at St. Paul’s was named Haddad. In checking with the Antiochian Archdiocese, they could not find a record of this parish – so its affiliation is unknown.
There was also a Ukrainian Orthodox house church on Pleasant St. The original priest was Rev. Peter Turiansky (Turansky)– who it was said – was a widower who served Holy Trinity. While at Holy Trinity, he met Anna Lucas and married her. This created a modicum of dissention and in 1932 the Pleasant St. parish was created. This church existed until the mid 1970’s. It was under the Ukrainian ‘self consecrated’ group. The Ukrainian Sts. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church of Willimantic bought the Pleasant St. property on 4/26/33.
When Rev. Turiansky and following him Rev. John Koretzky, were the priests at Holy Trinity, the church in Willimantic was closely aligned with the Hartford parish where Fr. Wasilieff was pastor. In the early 30’s the Stratford, Willimantic and Hartford parishes were under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox North American Diocese led by Archbishop Appolinary along with Bishop Tikhon and Bishop Ioasaph. This was the group that was aligned with the émigré bishops led by Metropolitan Antony headquartered in Stremski-Karlovczy, Yugoslavia. It is unclear whether there was a jurisdictional change when Fr. Kreta came to Willimantic. At the Russian Days, co-sponsored by both parishes, Frs. Wasilieff and Kreta did concelebrate with the émigré bishops. This alignment may explain why the relationship with the Norwich parish – which was geographically much closer, was much weaker than that with the Hartford parish.
On the other hand, the independent Carpatho-Russian Bishop Adam Philippovski, had the parishes in Danbury (at this time the Danbury parish was known as St. Nicholas, which became the Byzantine-Rite Ruthenian church and Holy Trinity became the existent Orthodox parish) and Seymour
(which ceased to exist in 1936) under his jurisdiction. The remaining parishes, Ansonia, Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwich, Waterbury, Terryville, New Britain, and Meriden were under Metropolitan Platon of the North American Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church – Russian Patriarchate
(as noted in the ROCMAS Kalendar). The affiliation of the Chapel at Churaevka in Southbury is unknown. There was also the other "Moscow" group, the ‘Living Church’ which was in residence at the 97th St. Cathedral but it could obtain a firm foothold in Connecticut.
An interesting fact is that both All Saints in Hartford and Holy Trinity in Willimantic both ended up in the Russian Metropolia of America (now the O.C.A.) which was the successor of Metropolitan Platon’s Jurisdiction. However, when he retired from All Saints in the early 60’s, Fr. Wasilieff, returned to the jurisdiction of the émigré bishops and helped to found their parish – St. Pantleimon’s in South Hartford.
In the mid thirties, these three jurisdictions, Metropolitan Platon, Archbishop Appolinary, and Bishop Adam did unite for a while. Metropolitan Platon had fallen asleep and Metropolitan Theoplilus was elected to lead this fragile union which lasted until the early 40’s, if that.
In the late 40’s the Ukrainian Catholic parish was created, mostly by new immigrants displaced by the war. It was not in existence when the other 3 Orthodox parishes were functioning.
The sister parishes of Holy Trinity were the parish of St. Nicholas in Norwich and the monastery in Woodstock (which existed in the 80’s and early 90’s). There was also deanery land in Willington which was only held for a small amount of time in the 60’s and then sold.
It is this perspective that creates the reference point of the following history:
The first identified reference to the ‘R’ Club in Willimantic was in 1933. It was the 69th chartered Club. The original officers were Stephania Klapick
(who was the first president and chief organizer – she returned to New York shortly after her election), Andrew Baranovsky, Ann Juzak, Helen Dzvonchik, and Mike Kaplik. The next year the officers were Michael Kaplik, Helen Dzvonchik, Anna Dudik, Anna Juzak, Julia Chupik, Andrew Baronski (this may be a miss-spelling), and George Marco. The spiritual advisor was Fr. Peter Kreta. They held an annual Russian New Year’s Eve frolic and dance which is usually very successful. There is also a very active bowling team. Their first dance was held in March of 1933 and Ansonia sent a contingent to it. In 1933, the R-Clubs from Connecticut in the Atlantic District were Ansonia and Willimantic.
It is apparent that Fr. and Matushka Kreta are much loved as is their young son. At their 1933 Christmas party, Mary Baranovsky was voted the prettiest girl and Fr. Kreta the handsomest man. Helen Dzvonchik was voted the most popular girl and Andy Baronosky the most popular man. Michael Twerdy served as one of the waiters at the party. It must be remembered that during this time, Count Ilya Tolstoy, the son of Leo Tolstoy, fell asleep and his burial was from the New Haven church. The pall bearers were Col. Peter Zuboff, the painter Ivanoff, the writer George Grebenschikoff of the Churaevka colony in South Britain, G. Somoff who was Rachmaninoff’s secretary, and Serge Glandilin, director the Russian Balalaika Orchestra.
The parish and R Club were heavily involved in theatrical presentations which were directed by Fr. Kreta. In March all members were to go to communion en-masse and if they did not a one-dollar fine was imposed. The R Club in Willimantic was officially chartered in March of 1933. In Feb. of 1934 they received the official document which was unveiled by Matushka Kreta, Mary Olshenski and John Naumec. Following the unveiling Matushka Kreta read a paper entitled "The Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs". There was a strong connection with the community. Fr. Kreta was the chairman of the 1934 Youth Week celebrations sponsored by the parish and the American Tread Co. reserved a portion of their recreation park for the activities. In 1934, the R Club and parish gave a surprise birthday party to Fr. Kreta at which time, they showered him with many gifts. This was real evidence of the love and respect the parish for him. However, this respect was not local. The parish in Hartford celebrated its 20th anniversary with Bishop Tikhon celebrating. At the banquet, Bishop Tikhon and Governor Wilbur Cross spoke with Fr. Kreta serving as toastmaster.
Not only was the leadership of Fr. Kreta important, but also was the involvement of Matushka. For example, in October of 1934 she chaired a very successful card party and when the Club journeyed to Hartford to celebrate the Hartford R Club’s anniversary, Matushka won the prize for her performance of Kol Slaven Nash. As they did for Fr. Peter, a surprise birthday party was also given to Matushka at the American Thread hall. In 1934, Liturgy, once a month, was partially in English in order to make it more user friendly for the English speaking youth. After this Liturgy a social is held in the American Thread hall. At this time American Thread was the industrial giant in the northeastern corner of the State. It employed the majority of eligible workers in Willimantic.
In 1935 the officers of the R Club included, Andrew Baron, Anne Juzak, Anna E. Dudick, Mary Baron, Helen Dzvonchik, Nicholas Proborchik, Mary Shuba, Helen Talaronak, and William Kaplik. Their New Year’s Dance was held at the Polish National Hall. Sunday vespers were served partially in English along with a sermon in English. They also held a Christmas dinner at the Paradise Den, and exchanged gifts, Fr. Kreta was given a new robe.
Of particular interest was that Lauriston Scaife, a friend of Fr. Kreta and an Episcopal priest, came to Holy Trinity in 1934. He is an instructor of Greek at General Theological Seminary in New York. He spoke about the ‘ Unity of Churches". This is significant because Scaife became the Episcopal Bishop of Buffalo and for 15 years published a ‘Directory of Eastern Churches’ which was a compilation of all the Eastern (Orthodox, Monphysite, Nestorian, and Polish National Catholic) churches in the U.S.A. For years (1956 – 72) it was the authoritative reference on the subject.
At this point it is perhaps appropriate to provide some perspective regarding the Russian community in general.
The thirties were interesting times for the Russian Orthodox Church in Diaspora, the United States and Connecticut. Metropolitan Platon fell asleep in the early part of the decade, Bishop Theophilus of San Francisco was elected Metropolitan. There was an attempt to unite the American Metropolia, the European Metropolia under Metropolitan Evlogii and the Dispersion Metropolia under Metropolitan Antony. Such attempts were short lived, and the result which manifested itself in 1946 were independent American and European Metropolias, with the Dispersion Metropolia becoming the Synod of Russian Bishops in Exile with parishes throughout the world and with some even on the turf of the first two. Lastly, the Moscow Patriarchate reached out and created parallel jurisdictions in the same geographic areas.
In the United States, the Metropolia under Platon claimed all of the Russian parishes. However there was dissidence and a Carpatho-Russian group was formed under Bishop Adam Philippovsky (he later joined the Moscow Patriarch jurisdiction). Through the Russian ‘Living Church’ a series of parishes were formed, which eventually became the American Patriarchate under Patriarch Joseph Klimovich with his cathedral being Sts. Peter and Paul on Carew St. in Springfield, Mass.(the Patriarch died in 1959 and his group dispersed or joined other dioceses). A group of Ruthenian Uniates led by a widowed priest Orestes Chornok, of Bridgeport, left the fold and joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. This Carpatho-Russian Diocese became aligned with the Greek Archdiocese. Former Metropolia Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh consecrated Joseph Zuk as bishop for the Ukrainians. Zuk died and was succeeded Bishop Boghdon Spilka who was also aligned with the Greek Archdiocese. There were now two major Ukrainian Jurisdictions – one under the Greeks and the other the ‘self consecrated’ group. These joined together under the Greek Archdiocese in the 1990’s. It should be noted that Bishop Adam and Bishop Orestes led parishes of different political orientation and they never united. Bishop Adam’s group was mainly those from the north western slope of the Carpathian Mountains – the Galicians, where-as Bishop Orestes’ group were from the south western slope – the Slovaks, Czechs, and Magyars.
In Connecticut, the center of Russian operations continued to be the Seymour – Ansonia – Bridgeport corridor. The second most active was the Waterbury – Terryville – New Britain – Hartford corridor. These areas were strong Galician strongholds. The church in Stamford was more aligned with the New York influence. In Stamford, there was a strong Ukrainian Catholic community and it became the seat of their regional bishop, seminary, and museum. It must be remembered that the decision that the Unia had made was that those parishes of Galician majority were to become Ukrainian and those of Slovak/Czech majority were to become Ruthenian. As a result, because of the Galician identification with the Ukrainians, the Stamford church was more ‘Great Russian’ as were the New Haven (influenced by the Russian military contracts with Winchester), Stratford (supported by Sikorsky and his associates) and South Britain (the literary – intelligentsia – colony of George Grebenschikoff) parishes. Holy Trinity in Danbury and the Meeting of Our Lord in the Temple in Seymour were aligned with Carpatho-Russian Bishop Adam. Holy Trinity returned to the Metropolia for a short time during mid-century and is now under the Carpatho-Russians (formerly Bishop Orestes’ jurisdiction). The Seymour church folded in the late 30’s. Hartford did have a ‘Great Russian’ segment due to the previous existence of the Russian American Insurance Company of St. Petersburgh. (the granite lions still exist and the roof adornment which was the bronze statue at top the Russian Lady bar across from the Civic center).
There was some interesting Russian presence in the Northeastern corner of the State. A Russian restaurant of questionable politics existed in Plainville and supposedly it was written about in Yankee Magazine. Some people have used the term ‘seedy’ in referring to it. An American Colonel living in Putnam published the ‘Russian Facist’ newspaper. It was all in Russian and was very revolutionary and controversial. Only a few copies are known of. A Russian restaurant – the Samovar – existed in Coventry and the Willimantic church held many affairs there. In fact the building still exists and was recently up for sale. Ukrainian Orthodox churches also existed in Colchester and in Chesterfield. The Chesterfield church burned down in the early 80’s, its site and cemetery still exist. The Colchester church was won over by the Unia and is under their Bishop of Stamford.
The Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs – the R Club – was a Galician Russian organization. It did encompass all the Russians however its founder – Vladimir Prislopsky (later Fr. Vladimir) was of Galician lineage and the motto – ‘Pray, Study, Toil, and Be Temperate’ was created in the 19th century by the Galician patriot Fr. John Naumovich. The R-Clubs were growing at a fast rate and much of Willimantic’s contact with its fellow Russian Orthodox was due to statewide R-Club activities. In 1934 the national organization presented President Roosevelt with an honorary membership.
Also, during the late 30’s the Connecticut Russian American Political Club was formed. It was headquartered in New Britain, however its impetus, leadership and support centered in Seymour with Dimitry Karliak and Constantine Wislocky. It spanned Orthodox and Uniate membership, but was essentially an Orthodox group. This group incorporated the various ‘Russian Citizen Clubs’ in the State and also had representation from the Russian Brotherhood Organization, the United Russian Orthodox Brotherhood Association, and the Russian Orthodox Mutual Aid Society. It was short lived but did a lot to unite the Russian people and to maintain their self pride.
Now, back to Willimantic: In 1935 they hosted a Russian New Year’s Dance with celebrants coming from Seymour, New York, Hartford, Meriden, Waterbury, Ansonia, Terryville, and Bridgeport. The next day the visitors were entertained at Wood’s Smoke Shop and the American Thread Hall. The bowling match was won by Seymour. On June 9th of 1935, Willimantic in conjunction with Hartford sponsored a Russian Day at Charter Oak Park in West Hartford. Liturgy was served by Archbishop Vitaly, Fr. Kreta and Fr. Wasilieff. Due to rain about 2,000 attended. It concluded with a dance at which the Carlton Club Orchestra played. The park was converted into a Russian Village. The honorary chairman was Governor Wilbur Cross, among those giving speeches was the Mayor of Hartford. The admission cost was 35 cents.
Fr. Peter Kreta was reassigned to McKeesport, Pa and became the editor of the newspaper ‘Russky Vistnik’. A farewell dinner was given in honor of his dedication to the parish at the Russian Samovar in Coventry. The first donation to the ‘New Church Building Fund’ was made by the R-Club. The donation was $50.00 (note that 26 years later, 1961, the new church was built). As a follow-up a Russian Festival was sponsored to assist the building fund. Governor Wilbur Cross was honorary chairman. He came and praised the work of the Russian people. A reception was held at the Russian Samovar in Coventry. Fr. Ewanonko was appointed the new priest and so, 1935 proved to be a very active and dynamic.
About the Author: Bob Klancko is looking for assistance to perform his research. He continually seeks Kalendars-Yearbooks-Directories from brotherhoods and fraternal organizations such as the Greek Catholic Union, Lemko Association, Russian Brotherhood Organization, United Russian Brotherhood Organization, Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society, American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Youth and Patriarchial Exarchate. He is also seeking newspapers and magazines from these and similar organizations. If anyone has these publications and wishes to offer them so Bob can continue his research, he can be reached at Box 121, Seymour, CT. Bob can also be reached at his fax number: 1-203-393-2539.
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