The congregation of Three Saints Russian Orthodox Church in Ansonia was officially formed in 1895. Their first church building was constructed at Howard Avenue and Crescent Street in 1899-1900. After the interior of the church was gutted by a fire in 1954, a new church was constructed on Howard Avenue. Completed in 1955, the church was dedicated in 1956. The bells from the earlier church, a gift from Tsar Nicholas II, were installed in the new church.
St. Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Church in Hartford was organized in 1958. It is a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), founded by Russian refugees as a response to the rule of the Bolsheviks. Another Orthodox church in Hartford, All Saints Orthodox Church, is a parish of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), which traces its origins to the church established in Alaska when it was still part of the Russian Empire. St. Panteleimon Church was built in 1972 and was designed by Dimitri Alexandrow with the architectural firm of Austin & Mead. Labor for the construction was provided by members of the congregation. Fr. Dimitri, who was the congregation’s priest and also a master icon painter, taught himself architecture in order to design the church, learning the type of masonry used in constructing Orthodox churches. He was later consecrated a monk, taking the monastic name of Daniel, and in 1988 was consecrated as Bishop at the Russian Orthodox Old Rite Church of the Nativity in Erie, PA. Bishop Daniel, who speaks a dozen languages, also wrote a book called, Selected Fables From the East, Translated by a Russian Priest. (more…)
The congregation of All Saints Orthodox Church was founded in Hartford in 1914. The original church building was on Broad Street, near the State Capitol. In 1956, land was purchased on Scarborough Street for a new church, which was not constructed until 1963-1964. Each November, the church has a Russian Tea Room and Bazaar. Today is Christmas, but some Russian-American Orthodox Christians will celebrate Christmas on January 7, the date of Russian Christmas.
