Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection (1980)

There are two Armenian churches in New Britain. One is St. Stephen’s Armenian Church on Tremont Street, which was consecrated in 1925. Due to a dispute among the Armenian diaspora over the church hierarchy at a time when the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church resided in Soviet-controlled Armenia, there was a split in the Armenian Church in America in the 1930s. The Dashnak political party, which opposed Soviet rule in Armenia, formed a different wing of the church, focused on the authority of the Holy See of Cilicia, now located in Antelias, Lebanon. St. Stephen’s is part of that group, while non-Dashnaks formed a separate church. In in 1940 they purchased the former Ukrainian Hall on Irwin Place, which was consecrated as the Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection on March 19, 1941. In the late 1970s, the City of New Britain purchased the Irwin Place property for redevelopment. The church decided to erect a new building, designed by architect Ramon Hovsepian of Worcester, Massachusetts, at 1910 Stanley Street, on land it had acquired in 1969. Ground was broken on April 1, 1979 and the new church was dedicated on September 28, 1980.

St Philip the Apostle Church (1937)

St Philip the Apostle Church, Ashford

St. Philip the Apostle Church, 64 Pompey Hollow Road in the Warrenville section of Ashford, was built of native stone in the 1930s through the efforts of the local farming community. Most were of Slovak descent and the church has a Byzantine copper onion dome. The church was erected through the leadership of Father William J. Dunn, who was sent to the new parish, which originally encompassed nine rural towns in eastern Connecticut, in 1921 and celebrated Masses in the old farmhouse in which he lived until the new church was completed. It was designed by New York architect Paul Chalfin, a summer resident of Warrenville.

SS Cyril & Methodius Orthodox Church, Terryville (1979)

ss-cyril-methodius-orthodox-church

Saints Cyril & Methodius Russian Orthodox Church in Terryville in the town of Plymouth was established in 1908. The parish was formed after a split among the Rusyn/Lemko membership of the St. Michael Brotherhood of Terryville between Greek Catholic and Russian Orthodox factions. The Greek Catholics built St. Michael’s Church in 1910, while the Russian Orthodox built Saints Cyril & Methodius Church on the corner of Fairview and Ames Avenues in 1912. This original church, later enlarged, was replaced by by the current building circa 1979.

St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church, Terryville (1910)

St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church

Ukrainian Catholics first settled in Terryville in Plymouth in 1895. They did come directly from Eastern Europe but initially settled in central Pennsylvania before relocating to Connecticut. They established a voluntary association called the Rus Ruthenian Brotherhood of St. Michael the Archangel in 1902. Having worshiped in New Britain from 1896 to 1904, the Archangel St. Michael Ruthenian Greek Catholic Congregation then began holding services in a school on Main Street in Terryville. The congregation acquired land on Allen Street in March 1905 on which to build their own church. The cornerstone for the new church was blessed on July 4, 1910 and St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church at 35 Allen Street was soon completed. A sacristy was added to the north side of the church in 1944.

St. George Greek Orthodox Church (1951)

St. George Greek Orthodox Church

St. George Greek Orthodox Church was established in 1915 to serve New Britain and surrounding communities. It is the second oldest Greek Orthodox church in Connecticut. Services were held in a building on Beatty Street until the church at 301 West Main Street in New Britain was built in 1951. (Source: Peter Baldwin, “New Britain Church Marks 75th Year,” Hartford Courant, September 29, 1990).

Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Chapel (1995)

Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Chapel

Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Chapel opened in 1995 at 28 Dog Lane in Storrs. Erected in an authentic Byzantine style, the Chapel’s interior has icons and frescoes painted by artists from Greece. The Chapel is part of the Center for Hellenic Studies Paideia at the University of Connecticut. The Center also includes the adjacent Makedonia building, built in 1997, where courses are offered on Greek and Byzantine language, history and culture. These are the first and only Greek Orthodox Church and Center for Hellenic Studies in an American State University.

St. Dimitrie Romanian Orthodox Church, Bridgeport (1961)

Former St. Dimitrie Romanian Orthodox Church in Bridgeport

The church at 569/579 Clinton Avenue in Bridgeport was built in 1961 as St Dimitrie Romanian Orthodox Church. The church was founded by Macedo-Romanian immigrants in 1924 under the name of the Cultural Society of St. Vasile. It became St. James Romanian Orthodox Church in 1928. The church acquired its first building that same year, at 150 Lee Avenue in Bridgeport. The church moved to Clinton Avenue after its Lee Avenue building burned down in 1958. In 2009 the church held its first services in a new building at 504 Sport Hill Road in Easton. The church had rented space at St. Nicholas Antiochian Church in Bridgeport for three years while the new building was constructed. The former St. Dimitrie Romanian Orthodox Church in Bridgeport is now Iglesia Cristiana Renacer Inc.