[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 131 (Wednesday, September 16, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF THE THEOKOTOS

                                 ______
                                 



                         HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 16, 2009

  Mr. DOYLE. Madam Speaker, I rise to observe the 85th anniversary of 
the Church of the Nativity of the Theokotos, a Serbian Orthodox Church 
in Clairton, Pennsylvania.
  For those of us who may be unfamiliar with Orthodox Christianity, 
Theokotos is Greek for ``God-Bearer'' or ``one who gives birth to 
God,'' and it is the Greek title for Mary, the mother of Jesus. 
Consequently, the Church of the Nativity of the Theokotos is also 
sometimes referred to as St. Mary's Serbian Orthodox Church.
  Serbs began settling in southwestern Pennsylvania in large numbers 
about 100 years ago. Until they obtained their own church, the Serbs in 
Clairton attended services as the Serbian Orthodox Church in 
McKeesport. But once the number of Serbian families in Clairton 
exceeded 40, they established their own parish and began working to 
establish their own church. In 1924, the nascent congregation purchased 
a Presbyterian church, and moved it to its current location in the 500 
block of Third Street in Clairton. Work on the church was completed and 
it was consecrated 2 years later.
  Soon Serbian Orthodox Christians from the nearly communities of 
Elizabeth, Monongahela, and further up the Monongahela River came to 
worship at the church and eventually the parish came to include these 
communities as well.
  The church hall was substantially expanded in 1941, and in 1945, the 
parish purchased a rectory across the street.
  On September 19, the congregation will celebrate the 85th anniversary 
of the church and the Slava celebration, or feast day of their patron 
saint, with a Holy Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at 10 am.
  This will be a bittersweet occasion as it will be the last such 
celebration at the Church of the Nativity of the Theokotos. The 
congregation has shrunken from 600 people 50 years ago to less than 50 
today, making it the smallest parish in the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of 
Eastern America. The church is closing after the last liturgy there on 
Sunday, September 27, 2009, bringing to a close nearly a century of 
serving as a place of worship and community fixture for the Serbian 
Orthodox faithful in Clairton and the surrounding communities.
  I want to recognize this occasion by congratulating the congregation 
and friends of the Church of the Nativity of the Theokotos on 85 years 
of the Serbian Orthodox community of the Mon Valley.

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