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Come to St. Louis Byzantine Catholic Church to meet, pray, and celebrate with the parishioners. Their faith complements the beauty of the Eastern Liturgy. |
7100 Virginia Ave, St. Louis, MO, 63111. Sunday Liturgies will be held at 2:00 PM. Confessions available upon request
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Sunday Divine Liturgy - 2:00 PM Holy Day Vigil or Holy Day Liturgy - as Announced Fellowship & Coffee in the Hall - immediately following |
| Directions to our Church |
Parish Statement |
Catholic Eparchial Affiliation |
Parish History |
| Directions:
Take I-55 in the City of St. Louis. From the North, take the Loughborough exit. Turn left at the top of the ramp onto Loughborough. Proceed across the highway, then 3 blocks to Virginia Ave. Turn right on Virginia and proceed the length of the School. From the South, take the Loughborough exit. Turn right at the top of the ramp onto Blow St. Proceed 3 blocks. The Church is at the corner of Virginia & Blow |
7100 Virginia Ave |
The St. Louis Byzantine Catholic Parish is dedicated to gathering together those who wish to worship God "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24) in the Byzantine Church tradition. We strive to grow in Faith, to promote the Gospel of Jesus, and to extend assistance to those in need. |
| The St. Louis Byzantine Catholic Parish is within the Eparchy of Parma, Ohio which is headed by the Most Reverend Robert Pipta. The Eparchy of Parma is within the Archeparchy of
Pittsburgh headed by Archbishop Metropolitan William Skurla. The Archeparchy of Pittsburgh is one of the 22 "Sui Iuris" Churches in the communion that is the Catholic Church which is headed by Francis, the Pope of Rome. "The holy Catholic Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, is made of the faithful who are organically united in the Holy Spirit by the same faith, the same sacraments and the same government. They combine into different groups, which are held together by their hierarchy and so form particular churches or rites." (Decree on Catholic Eastern Churches n.2, VATICAN COUNCIL II) |
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A HISTORY OF THE ST. LOUIS BYZANTINE CATHOLIC PARISH
The St. Louis Byzantine Catholic Parish traces its origins to St. Mary's Assumption Ruthenian Catholic Church, founded in St. Louis by immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1904-1905 in the school building of Saint John Nepomuk (Czech) Church. They were a mixture of Ruthenians, White Russians and Ukrainians. In 1908 they purchased an Episcopal Church at 1200 Dolman Street at Hickory.
When separate Ruthenian and Ukrainian jurisdictions were set up in the United States, the parish, though predominantly Ruthenian, was assigned to the Ukrainian jurisdiction, perhaps because the pastor at the time was Ukrainian.
The neighborhood changed greatly in the 1960's as people moved out to the county and there began attending the nearest Latin Rite churches. In the 1970's the buildings were sold and the church moved to Concord Village (Southwest County) as St. Mary Assumption Ukrainian Catholic Church.
In 1977 Mel and Jackie Makara with a few young families applied to Bishop Emil Mihalik of the Parma Eparchy to establish a Ruthenian parish in St. Louis as a continuation of the original St. Mary's Assumption Ruthenian Church and on June 11, 1977 the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Father Patrick Hoffmann in their basement. The small community was designated a mission of Sugar Creek, Missouri under the care of Father Frank McGlynn who often traveled the 250 miles to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the Religious Information Bureau of the Vincentian Fathers on Grand Avenue and Potomac Street. Soon the help of Father Brian Van Hove, S.J. was enlisted so that a weekly Divine Liturgy could be celebrated.
On December 15, 1985 Bishop Andrew Pataki designated the St. Louis Mission an independent parish under the administration of Father Eugene Selzer, a bi-ritual priest of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The following year the community moved into a church building, St. Wenceslaus Church at 3014 Oregon Avenue. At Easter 1994 a move was made to the Marian Chapel in the Cathedral of St. Louis. February, 2013, Fr. Selzer retired and Fr. Joseph Weber was appointed adminstrator, a position he contiues to hold.
In June 2017 we moved to a Chapel in building G on the Campus of the School Sisters of Notre Dame (across from Notre Dame High School). May of 2020 saw us move to share space with St. Mary's Assumption Ukrainian Catholic Church.
The Lord smiled upon us a showed us a church building on Virginia Ave which we were able to purchase in October of 2020 and begin renovations. We held our first Liturgy with Fr Joseph celebrating in OUR BUILDING on Annunciation, March 25, 2021.
In 2008 we added this web-page: http://www.stlouis.byzcath.org/
The parish continues with a weekly Divine Liturgy on Sunday afternoons. Families from both Illinois and Missouri are served by several bi-ritual priests in the area. The parish is part of the Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. The present Eparch is Bishop Robert Pipta.