St. Mary Macedonian Orthodox Church, Reynoldsburg, Ohio

St. Mary (Macedonian: Пресвета Богородица), also known as the "Dormition of the Virgin Mary" (Macedonian: Успение на Пресвета Богородица) is a Macedonian Orthodox Church located in Reynoldsburg (Columbus area), Ohio. It is one of the oldest Macedonian Orthodox communities in the United States and in the American-Canadian Diocese.^[1]

History

In 1914, fewer than two thousand Macedonian Americans resided in Ohio.^[2] Most Macedonians settled along Lake Erie, especially in Cleveland, where they found low-paying jobs in factories or worked as day laborers, but the majority of Macedonians who came to Ohio settled in Akron, Cincinnati, Lorain, Canton, Massillon, and Columbus. Long before the Macedonian Orthodox Church was declared autonomous, early Macedonian immigrants and their descendants founded churches that were under the jurisdiction of the patriarch in Bulgaria and Serbia. In 1958, the Macedonian Orthodox Church was granted her autonomy, and during the same year members of the Macedonian community of Columbus submitted an application to the city for establishing a new church under its jurisdiction.^[3] Early church parishioners were T. Pashovich, P. Christoff, and B. Bozhin, with A. Stoicheff as the first president of the church committee. In 1960, a property was purchased and the church building was finally completed in 1965.

In 2001, the parish community relocated and purchased a new 14-acre (57,000 m²) property just east of Columbus in Reynoldsburg. A new church was built along with banquet hall facilities.

Footnotes

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3. ^{^ [3]}

External links

• Official Church Website
• Official Website of the American-Canadian Macedonian Orthodox Diocese
• Official Website of the Macedonian Orthodox Church