I have been feeling like Christmas went past too fast this year. I didn’t get to look at enough trees or holiday lights and I am still listening to the Christmas station on Pandora. I just posted a photo from New Years Eve to the IheartPGH Instagram account and realized I had not posted any holiday photos of Pittsburgh at Christmas since December 12. I was trying to capture a panorama of the perfectly Pittsburgh scene at Pennsylvania Macaroni Co, and happened to snap a guy wearing a Santa hat in the photo.
Thankfully for me, there are a few more days left to celebrate the holiday season. While I was raised Presbyterian in Sq. Hill. My fathers side of the family is Ukranian Orthodox from McKees Rocks. As a kid, I thought this was the best thing ever because I got to celebrate Christmas and open presents in both December and January. My fathers side of the family still celebrates Russian Christmas, but now on the Saturday that is most convenient for everyone to get together.
I have become more and more interested in local churches and church services. These church buildings are beautiful structures that are steeped with Pittsburgh history and the filled with stories of the people who have been worshipping there. Each year the Post-Gazette writes an article about Orthodox Christmas and every January 7th, I read the article I pledge to attend a service the following year. Yesterday, I remembered that it wasn’t quite yet the 12th day of Christmas and started searching for a Christmas service to attend. It turns out, and I suppose this is telling sign of change in this city, it is not easy to find out the time and location of these Orthodox Christmas services. The churches that hold these services are not necessarily the ones that posting weekly updates on Twitter and Facebook.
One of the things I have learned from blogging about the ‘burgh is that I am probably not the only one searching for this information. Thankfully there is a very comprehensive list of Pittsburgh Orthodox Churches at PittsburghOrthodox.com. I don’t know anything about who put this site together, but I am thankful for this list. I rather enjoyed visiting the websites for these churches. There is some impressive architecture and iconography to see. I am also eager to learn more about this tradition of burning of the Yule log. I am hoping I can make it to one of these services tomorrow.
Pittsburgh Area Orthodox Christmas Services
I read all of the past articles about Orthodox Christmas and I visited each of the websites for the churches on the PittsburghOrthodox.com list and here are the Christmas Services I could find. There are many more churches that don’t have websites, so I suspect this is only a partial list, but it is a start. If you know of any other services, please leave the details in the comments below.
| Carnegie |
St. Peter & St. Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church 220 Mansfield Boulevard- Carnegie, PA 15106 |
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Monday, January 18, 2016
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
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| Homestead | St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Homestead 903 Ann St., Homestead, PA 15120Phone: 412-461-3264 (rectory); 412-804-8865 (mobile) |
Services for the Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas):
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McKeesport
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Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church 330 Shaw Avenue, McKeesport, PA 15132 |
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Whitehall
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Wednesday, January 6, 2016 – Christmas Eve 5:00 P.M. – Cutting of the Badnjak at the Picnic Grounds on Hamilton Road. 7:30 P.M. – Blessing and Burning of the Yule Log. 9:00 P.M. – VIGIL SERVICES Thursday, January 7, 2016 10:00 am – CHRISTMAS – NATIVITY OF OUR LORD – DIVINE LITURGY Saturday, January 9, 2016 10:00 am – ST. STEPHEN ARCHDEACON, PROTOMARTYR, DIVINE LITURGY AT 10:00 A.M. |
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Monroeville
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Wednesday January 6,
(Confession begins at 8:30PM on the 6th for those planning on takling Holy Communion on January 7th during Christmas Day Divine Liturgy starting at 10:00AM.) |
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Aliquippa
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St. Elijah Serbian Orthodox Church
1198 22nd St, Aliquippa, PA 15001
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Complete Holiday Schedule is available here. Wednesday, January 6, 2016
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Other Orthodox Events of Interest
I found this event on the website for Saint Anthony Orthodox Church in Butler and thought it was interesting that they are doing a service at Lake Arthur.
Sunday, 10 January, 1:30 pm: Outdoor Blessing of the Waters. After Divine Liturgy, we will gather at Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park, joining the parishes of Sts Peter and Paul and St Andrew, as well as the nuns at Transfiguration Monastery. The blessing of waters will “expand” our celebration of the Lord’s Baptism by bringing the blessing of the Jordan to all of creation.