St. Andrew Orthodox Church - Baltimore City, MD - Orthodox Churches on Waymarking.com

This is a beautiful old church, built during the Civil War era and just before some of the great battles that would embroil this part of the country. A quick survey of the outside revealed the church was built in 1858, according to the white cornerstone I found next to the original entrance. The stone is small, embedded into the original brownstone and hard to find. it is at the western most end of the church low to the ground, to the left of the door, the last edge before the original building ends.

Today, the large church serves Orthodox Christians from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, living in Baltimore City and the surrounding metropolitan counties of Anne Arundel, Carroll, Baltimore and Harford. The church is located in Butcher Hill historic district and is of course a contributing structure but I am unable to corroborate this with the necessary supporting documentation.

I was particularly found of the European-styled bell tower over the newer front entrance, off to the left of the building. The off centered towers always appeal to me. This one is made of great big blocks of stone, is about three stories, has three, long, narrow windows per side and is topped with a pyramidal roof. The Gothic-styled entrance with its huge doors are built into the bottom of the bell tower structure. There is also a smaller, dissimilar tower which rises over the original entrance where the date stone is located. I was less impressed with that one although it is much oder then the tower on the eastern or front end.

The church's website was comprehensive enough to provide important information but not quite to provide information about the origins of the structure. The information was limited to the formation of the congregation: A group of 30 families came together in 1940 and founded St Andrew's parish under the leadership of Rev Fr Theodore Shevchuk within the jurisdiction of the Metropolia (now the Orthodox Church in America). The parish worshipped temporarily at Fayette and Linwood Sts until a permanent building was found. The first Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the current building on Lombard and Chester Sts on Sunday, February 16, 1941. The Vladicon "R" Club (now the "O" Club) was founded in March of 1941, and the Sisterhood formed on May 1, 1941 with 11 founding members. The church building was consecrated on June 29, 1941 by Metropolitan Theophilus. The iconostas was dedicated in 1943, a school and choir were established, and the mortgage was liquidated by the end of the decade. A church cemetery was established in the 1940s but was moved in the early 1950s to its present location on German Hill Rd in Baltimore County. SOURCE

I noticed some of the stones which make up the church were blackened and discovered the church suffered a disastrous fire on Sunday, February 15, 1970. They fixed the damage and it looks as good as new.

Regular Weekly Schedule Sunday
Hours 9:15 am
Divine Liturgy: 9:30 am

Saturday
Great Vespers 6:00 pm
Confession following Vespers

Phone
(410) 276-3422