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Russian Orthodox church is booming
Cincinnati- The leader of southwest Ohio's only Russian Orthodox church says his congregation is booming and desperately needs more space. (AP)
Associated Press
Cincinnati- The leader of southwest Ohio's only Russian Orthodox church says his congregation is booming and desperately needs more space.
About 200 worshippers usually attend a holiday service at St. George the Great Martyr, which has an 850-square-foot sanctuary. Membership has nearly doubled this year, Father Paul Bassett said.
As is traditional in the Russian Orthodox Church, worshippers stand throughout the service.
"It's worse than a problem," Bassett said. "It's an urgent problem. We're afraid people aren't coming to church because it's just too crowded."
The church gets about 100 parishioners on a normal Sunday.
Bassett is leading his congregation in a $3 million fund-raising drive for a new building in nearby Loveland.
The church has a two-acre plot and a design for a two-story traditional Russian-style building, which members hope to break ground on in the spring.
Russian-born Svetlana Pinkerton of Loveland said the new building will be a wonderful addition to the town.
"The [Blue Ash] building is not traditional Russian architecture, and this will give us the opportunity to show how beautiful it can be," she said.
The second floor will house the church, and the first floor will have a cultural center.
"For a lot of immigrants, the church is like an island of Russian culture," Bassett said.
Families come from Lexington, Ky., Columbus and Middletown to worship at St. George.
Russian immigrant Mariya Prokosheva-Hoyle moved to the United States less than two years ago and still is getting acclimated to American life. But she has a little bit of home in St. George, which her husband, Christopher - an American convert - found.
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