History
The parish was organized, in 1896, when the tide of immigration of Eastern Europeans to the United States was at an all-time high, by Rusin immigrants, living in Tremont, who had immigrated from Galicia and Carpathian Ruthenia.
The congregation that founded the parish was formed from a group of disgruntled former worshippers at a Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Church, conflicts led 23 men to form the St. Nicholas Society on September 28, 1896.
That society led to the formation of an organized parish As the first Orthodox parish in Cleveland, it served the spiritual needs of ethnic groups of Orthodox Christians which had not yet established their own ethnic churches. The Baptism of the first known Romanian child born in the United States, Aurelia Zeicu, has been recorded in the parish.
The first church structure was a light-frame construction building, at Literary Rd. and W. 6th St., built in 1896.
The Russian Missionary Fund established by Czar Nicholas II provided financial assistance.
The second church structure was the former Sisters of St. Joseph Convent. In 1902, the parish bought the former Sisters of St. Joseph Convent and sold 80 individual lots from the convent land to parishioners for $125 apiece to raise funds.
In 1909 the parish purchased land in Brooklyn for a cemetery. The property had a wooden barn on it and one of the monks from St. Theodosius used to come out there on Saturdays to teach the Russian language to the children who lived too far away to attend Russian classes at the church.
The current cathedral is the parish's third church structure. It was completed at an estimated cost of $70,000.
The cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Alexander (Nemolovsky) on Sunday, July 20, 1913.
Starting in 1917, world events affected the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Revolution abolished the Most Holy Synod and restored the Patriarchate. The Most Holy Synod administered all church property and controlled the expenditure of churches and monasteries. A new synod elected Tikhon of Moscow patriarch. Russian Civil War violence devastated the Russian Empire. Church publications were prohibited.
February 25–28, 1919, hosted the Second All-American Sobor which set a precedent, by electing Alexander (Nemolovsky) to the rank of Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America, for future elections of the Church's primates by later councils. This made him the first primate to be chosen locally in North America.
The Russian Orthodox Church was weakened again and further dissociated in 1922, when the Living Church, a Soviet government supported movement, dismissed the Patriarch and restored a Synod to power.
November 20–23, 1934, hosted the Fifth All-American Sobor which elected Theophilus (Pashkovsky) of San Francisco primate.
November 26–29, 1946, hosted the Seventh All-American Sobor which broke ties between the Orthodox Church in America and Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.
The cathedral was rededicated on October 3, 1954.
Since the late 1950s, the clergy celebrated the liturgy in both Church Slavonic and English languages. Today there is only one Sunday liturgy and it is in English.
On January 18, 1974, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Cleveland Landmark.
In the summer of 1977, it served as the site for the depiction of an authentic Rusyn wedding in the film The Deer Hunter. An actual priest was cast as the priest at the wedding.
Read more about this topic: St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral
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