St. Nicholas Orthodox Church

Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church is a parish in the Diocese of the Midwest of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). It has been officially serving Joliet, IL since September 1907. Although 1907 is regarded as its founding, services had been held in various homes since 1905. Because of oppression and economic conditions in the early 1900s, many people emigrated from Europe, and it was these immigrants who formed the first St. Nicholas parish, made up primarily of Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks and Serbians. 1905 St. Nicholas parish in Joliet was organized by Carpatho-Russians who came to work in the steel mills. One of the founders, Luke Pinchak, had been converted to Orthodoxy by Father Toth (on May, 1994, Toth was glorified as Saint Alexis of Wilkes-Barre by the Orthodox Church in America) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He told the other settlers about the Orthodox faith and made arrangements in his home for celebration of the first Divine Liturgy by an Orthodox priest in Joliet (1...