1980 - Ascension of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church, Clairton, Pennsylvania
Posted by: 
sherpes
N 40° 17.694 W 079° 52.908
17T E 595038 N 4461088
Modern brick building in an economically-depressed community
Waymark Code: WM6WC0
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 07/27/2009
Views: 4
Modern red brick building complex which includes classical architectonical elements such as the simple arch as decorative backdrop in a semi-closed courtyard.
The building looks beautiful and well maintained. Ironically, the year it was built, the steel industry collapsed and the township never recovered economically.
from the church website: (
visit link)
Ascension of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church was founded in 1907 in the bustling new industrial town of Clairton by Ruthenian immigrants from the Carpathian Mountains of the AustroHungarian Dual Monarchy, specifically, from the Kingdoms of Hungary and Galicia. These Ruthenians, also called CarpathoRussians, spoke mostly East Slavic dialects and were Greek Catholics: They worshiped according to the Greek or Byzantine rite, followed the Julian Calendar and used the Cyrillic alphabet, but they were under the Pope of Rome. As their language of liturgy and scripture, they used Church Slavonic. For literary purposes they employed a Ruthenian recension of literary Russian. The Ruthenians are noted for a large repertoire of semifolkloric hymns, often set to hauntingly beautiful melodies. These are still sung before or after Divine Liturgy or during the communion of the faithful.
The present church was built in 1981 on the site of the 1907 church. It boasts an imposing marble iconostasis and extensive iconography, arranged according to Byzantine canons. These icons were written by noted San Diego iconographer Mila Mina.
Byzantine iconography sees the church as a microcosm of heaven and earth, united through the divine economy of salvation. At the highest point of the dome-like ceiling there is the monumental icon of Christ - Pantocrator (upholder of all creation). He is the apocalyptic Alpha and Omega. Also, high above the place where the faithful receive communion hangs the icon of the Rublev Old Testament Trinity, representing the moment when the Holy Trinity decided through the incarnation of the Second Person to begin the salvation of the human race. In the curved part of the apse is depicted the Blessed Mother of the Sign with arms outstretched in prayer for all her children. At the back of the sanctuary is the mystical communion of the apostles: Christ nourishing his Church with his eucharistic body and blood. This scene is filled out on either side by the great fathers of the Church. High on the side walls in two rows are the major feasts of the Church, while lower down are the great women saints - left side, and the great men saints -- right side. (In Byzantine churches in Europe and the Middle East, women and girls traditionally stand on the left and men and boys on the right.) The back wall is dedicated to the final things: the dread judgment and heaven and hell. The whole ensemble is united by skirting, representing the wedding feast of the Lamb and his Church, of which Byzantine worship is a foretaste. The iconostasis that separates the altar area from the nave of the church has four great icons: These are read from left to right: St. John the Baptist, who points to the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, the Blessed Mother holding the Christ Child, Christ the Teacher, and the patronal icon of the church, namely, the icon of the Ascension. The royal doors of the iconostasis show the scene of the Annunciation with the archangel Gabriel announcing to the Blessed Virgin that she will become the mother of the Savior. The two deacons' doors depict the holy archangels Michael and Raphael, representing, respectively, victory over evil and divine healing.