History of Our Parish

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Holy Transfiguration of Christ Orthodox Cathedral has played an important role in the history of one of the largest ethnic neighborhoods in the State, as well as having importance as a center of the Carpatho-Russian and Serbian ethnic immigrant communities, and as the earliest Orthodox Church in Colorado.

The church is located within the heart of Globeville, an old ethnic community in north Denver. Unlike other ethnic enclaves in the state, Globeville was unique in that it originated as an independent community in the late 1880s. The Globe Smelting and Refining Company was organized in 1889. The company purchased ranch land and platted a small town for its workers. The other nearby smelters and packing houses attracted more workers to the small town. Two years later, Globeville was incorporated with its own city hall, post office, hotel, several stores, and no less than 16 saloons. The old town jail can still be seen incorporated into the structure of the Ingbar Pipe and Steel company on the Northwest corner of 48th and Washington Streets. By 1893, the population of Globeville was 2,550 and the figure grew to 4,000 by 1907. By 1910, much of the community had been annexed by Denver to the south. The various ethnic groups tended to stay together and settle in different areas of the town. For the Carpatho-Russian and Serbian immigrant communities, their ethnic neighborhood consisted of the area immediately surrounding Logan Street and East 47th Avenue.

The smelter workers and other industrial workers who located in Globeville in the late 1880s and early 1900s included immigrants from almost every central and eastern European country. Among these immigrants were Slavic peoples from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, chiefly from the provinces of Galicia and Hungary, who were known as Carpatho-Russians. Although traditionally Eastern Orthodox, these peoples found themselves living under the rule of traditionally Roman Catholic Poland and Austria, and were considered by these governments to be second-class citizens. Many of these immigrants were subject to cultural and religious oppression. Under these circumstances, many found themselves subject to the "Uniate" or "Greek Catholic" church: Eastern Rite Christians under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the late 19th Century, many Carpatho-Russians began leaving their native lands for America to be free of the economic, political and religious oppression and conscription into the armed forces of the Austria-Hungary Empire. Some of these immigrants arrived in Denver, Colorado, and settled in Globeville. Many of these early immigrants were single men without families or those who had left families behind while they searched for work and a good place to settle. When they had earned enough money, these men would bring their wives, children and sometimes parents to this country or they sent enough money home for the families to make the trip alone.

In his article "Czechs and Slovaks in Colorado, 1860-1920," M. James Kedro says of immigrant settlements, "...the ethnic neighborhood was usually a haven where acclimation to a new environment might be achieved with less stress." and "These communities, in conjunction with the church and fraternal benefit societies ... did permit the immigrant to cope with drastically new surroundings" (Colorado Magazine, Spring 1977). In the late 1890's, religious, educational and social institutions were being established to meet the needs of the new community and to help bridge the gap between the Old World cultures and the road to American citizenship.

For the Carpatho-Russians and Serbs, the primary institution became Holy Transfiguration Church. In 1898, a band of "Slavish" people began meeting for services in one of Globeville's two German Reformed Churches. In September of 1898, the parish was incorporated as the "Greek Catholic Church, Transfiguration of Christ". The founding members, each of whom contributed $50.00, were: George Pristash, Stephan Kulick, John Cintala, Sr., George Slovak, John Mindzak, Michael Kohut, Panko Homyak, Peter Kohut, John Wysowatcky, George Lesko, and Michael Dugan.

In that same year, six lots were purchased at the present site of the church (East 47th and Logan Streets) for the sum of $350.00. Work on the construction of the church was begun that same year. The total cost of the lots and of construction of the church amounted to $4,082.00.

The new parish also sent for a priest, Fr. Nicholas Seregely, from Austria-Hungary. Fr. Seregely had been ordained by the Uniates in Europe. The appearance of this new, Eastern Rite parish seems to have initially confused both the Denver press, who at various times identified the church as Croatian Orthodox or as Maronite (Lebanese) Catholic, and the local Roman Catholic Bishop, who was unfamiliar with the Eastern Rite and who cut off Fr. Nicholas' income and sought to close the parish. Fr. Nicholas apparently kept both the problems with the Bishop and his own financial straights from the parish, and continued to serve the parish until his death, which was reported in the Denver Post to have been from starvation, in 1903.

With the death of Fr. Nicholas, the parish found itself confronted with both the loss of a pastor and with an attempt by the local Roman Catholic Bishop to replace their Eastern Rite Liturgy with the Latin Rite. Confronted with these challenges, in May of 1903 a special parish meeting was convened, and the parish decided to petition Bishop Tikhon, Bishop of the Russian Orthodox American Mission, to receive the parish into the Russian Orthodox Church. On June 15, 1903, the request was granted, and Bishop Tikhon sent Fr. John Nedzelnitsky from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to receive the parish into Orthodoxy. Thus, Holy Transfiguration became the first Orthodox Church in Colorado.

According to the Russian Orthodox Almanac of 1905, there were at this time only about 30 Russian Orthodox Churches in the entire United States, not including Alaska and Canada.

Our Temple | Part 2