St. Elias Orthodox Church - New Castle PA

In 1913 a group of Syrian immigrants (from modern day Lebanon), of the Orthodox Christian religious faith, organized themselves and began meeting at various locations along East Long Avenue. They were officially chartered in early 1919 as the St. Elias Church with a stated mission being “the worship of God according to the Greek-Syrian Orthodox Church.” Sunday services were provided in Arabic and also in English in later years. The congregation soon occupied the old Italian Methodist Church on Howard Way, and then purchased the former Hungarian Baptist Church on East Reynolds Street in December 1933. A recreation/social hall was opened on Long Avenue in 1957. At the same time a fund-raising effort, fueled in part by the selling of Syrian bread by the women of the congregation, was also instituted to finance a new church building. In August 1968 work was began on a new brick church (shown above) on Lynn Street, which was opened for services in late December 1969. The Reverend George T. Brunish took over as pastor in 1973 and led the congregation for the next three decades. A new Fellowship Hall was opened alongside the church in 2008. The congregation, albeit no longer of strictly “Syrian” heritage, is still going strong today. (Aug 2013) Full Size

The altar area of the St. Elias Orthodox Church on Lynn Street. (c1995) Full Size

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