Who We Are

Welcome to Saint Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church. We are a parish of the Orthodox Christian Faith which was established on the day of Holy Pentecost in the Year 33 AD. Our parish community is a member of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A. whose presiding bishop is His Eminence, Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa. The American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese is an autonomous diocese under the spiritual protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople of which His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is the Primate.

Our parish was founded in 1908 by immigrants from Eastern Europe, mostly from areas in the modern countries of Slovakia, Ukraine and Poland. Today the congregation has a very mixed ethnic heritage. While the founding members of our parish community emigrated from the Carpatho-Rusyn region of present day Slovakia and Western Ukraine, our present ethnic composition is mixed. Although a large percentage of the parish is of Carpatho-Rusyn descent, there are also people of Italian, German, English, Irish, Ukrainian and other ethnic backgrounds. Our parish community has been in existence for over one hundred ten years.

Our parish community holds firmly to the traditions and beliefs of our Holy Orthodox Christian Faith as passed down to us from our forefathers. Building on the strong foundation of faith instilled in us by our ancestors, we are committed to sharing the Holy Orthodox Christian Faith we love so dearly with all who seek it. We welcome you to our parish web site and hope you enjoy your on-line visit. We cordially invite you to personally visit our parish when you are in the Rankin, Pennsylvania area.