| Ukrainians began immigrating to Boston at the turn of the twentieth century because of extreme economic and political hardships in their native Ukraine. Finding it very difficult to survive the drastic conditions in Ukraine under the foreign rule of the Russian as well as the Austro-Hungarian Empires, when the opportunity emerged to come to the "New World"', many Ukrainians gathered their meager belongings and sailed to the United States. Boston was one of the first places that Ukrainians landed. Lacking a solid industrial or farming base, many traveled further west to the coal mining regions of Pennsylvania or the farm lands of the midwest.
For those Ukrainians who chose Boston as their new homeland, one of the first important tasks was to establish a Ukrainian Church where they could come together to pray and gather in community. Holy Trinity Ukrainian Church was established in 1914 and was located on Arlington Street in Boston. The vast majority of the new parish members were from Galicia in western Ukraine. Around this time a second Ukrainian Church was formed in Cambridge. St. Nicholas Church was formed by Ukrainians from Bukovyna, the Ukrainian territory which was under Romanian rule. Both parishes established schools, choirs, theatrical groups, Sunday schools and were committed to continuing the sacred and traditional practices of the Ukrainian people.
When a second immigration came from Ukraine to Boston, there was an urgent need to expand to larger quarters. This second immigration arrived from Ukraine which was controlled by Soviet forces which destroyed all remaining religious practices in Ukraine. In 1954, under the spiritual leadership of Father John Danylevich, Saint Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Boston was formed. This new parish gathered the parishioners from Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas Churches as well as the new immigrants from Ukraine. Land was purchased in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston and architectural plans drawn to build a new church in a traditional Ukrainian style. In 1958 the new edifice was blessed by His Eminence Archbishop Mstyslav, later Patriarch of Kyiv and all-Ukraine of the Ukrainian Orthodox Archdiocese. The church stood as a reminder that although the Ukrainian Orthodox community in Boston was small and the members financially strained, the need to gather to thank God for His many blessings was of primary importance. |
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