Sacred Traditions – The Byzantine Catholic Faith of My Ancestors

Between 1900-1940, approximately 225,000 Carpatho-Rusyns, along with significant numbers of Slovak and Ukrainian Byzantine Catholics, preserved ancient Eastern Christian customs while adapting to American life.¹ Among these immigrants were my maternal grandparents’ parents: Vasil and Anna Marcisak (my maternal grandmother’s parents), who came from Litmanova, Slovakia, and Paul & Julianna Dubinsky (my maternal grandfather’s parents), who emigrated from Dubne, Poland, all arriving in the early 1900s from the economically devastated regions of Austria-Hungary.

My maternal grandmother’s parents both originated from Litmanova, a tiny mountain village in what was then the Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia), where economic conditions had become desperate by 1900. Even after the 1848 abolition of serfdom, nobles still owned more than 90% of arable land, while peasants—who comprised 90% of the population—worked plots smaller than five acres, far too small to support a family. Landless agricultural workers earned less than 25 cents per day under often harsh conditions, with heavy taxation consuming up to two-thirds of agricultural yields.² These crushing economic realities, combined with aggressive Magyarization policies that systematically suppressed Slovak culture and language, drove approximately 500,000 Slovaks to emigrate to America between 1880 and the mid-1920s.

My maternal grandparents, George & Eva Dubinsky, passed these traditions to my mother, however, by the time my mother was growing up in that church in the 1940s and 1950s, some traditions may have become more “Americanized,” blending Old World customs with American Catholic practices. These adaptations centered around distinctive sacramental practices and four major celebrations that defined the liturgical year.

Growing up Roman Catholic, I was always fascinated by the difference in church services when we attended my grandparents’ Byzantine Catholic church, St. Mary’s, for major holidays. While I don’t remember much about the ritual and traditions themselves, I remember they spoke Slovak during the service, so I didn’t understand most of it, but I was fascinated by the elaborate use of incense and the distinctive Eucharist where everyone received both bread cubes and wine. I also remember St. Nicholas Day parties after mass where we met with St. Nicholas and received stockings full of small gifts, and “Little Christmas” which was really the Epiphany — these customs were different from those of my friends in my Roman Catholic grade school and church, even though both churches were fully Catholic.

I stopped attending their church when I was about twelve when we moved from New York to Ohio, and I never had the chance to really talk to my grandparents about their religious traditions—something I deeply regret now.

Sacred Mysteries: A Different Approach to the Sacraments

Through my research now, I can see that the most fundamental distinction between my ancestors’ faith and Roman Catholicism lay in their approach to the sacraments. These theological differences manifested in practical ways that would have been immediately apparent to anyone visiting a Byzantine Catholic home.

Baptism and Initiation represented the most striking difference. Unlike Roman Catholic practice, Byzantine Catholic tradition administered all three sacraments of Christian initiation—Baptism, Chrismation (Confirmation), and Holy Eucharist—in a single ceremony performed on infants.³ The baptismal ceremony featured triple immersion in blessed water, representing Christ’s three days in the tomb. Chrismation followed immediately, with the priest anointing the child with holy chrism on multiple body parts while declaring: “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

However, my mother’s experience at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Manhattan shows how some American parishes adapted these ancient practices. While she received confirmation at the same time as her baptism as an infant, following traditional Byzantine practice, she still made her First Communion in second grade, similar to Roman Catholic custom.⁴ This suggests that by the 1940s, some Byzantine Catholic parishes in America had modified the ancient practice of infant communion to align more closely with American Catholic expectations, though they maintained the early confirmation tradition.

Marriage ceremonies showcased the most elaborate differences. The Holy Mystery of Matrimony, also called the Mystery of Crowning, combined two originally separate rites: the Rite of Betrothal and the actual crowning ceremony.⁵ Unlike Roman Catholic theology where the couple administered the sacrament to each other, Byzantine tradition viewed the priest as the minister who “crowned” the couple. My parents’ 1968 wedding at St. Mary’s included both the betrothal ceremony that included the blessing of their rings, the distinctive crowning ceremony, where ornate crowns were actually placed on their heads, and the Dance of Isaiah—walking three times around the altar.⁶ My mother also recalls the priest placing part of his vestment over her head during the ceremony, though the symbolism of this gesture remains unclear to the family. I’ve looked through their wedding photos, but unfortunately have not found a photo of the crowning – that would be an amazing photo to see!

Do you have photos of Byzantine Catholic wedding ceremonies showing the crowning ritual? I’d love to see how these traditions were celebrated in different parishes and time periods – please share in the comments below!

Death and memorial practices emphasized ongoing connection between living and dead. Rather than the formal doctrine of purgatory as a distinct place, Byzantine tradition emphasized purification as a gradual process. Funeral practices in my mother’s experience included three-day wakes at the funeral home—though this may have been a general American Catholic custom of the era rather than specifically Byzantine.⁷ The extended time allowed for elaborate community gathering, with families spending entire days at the funeral home, creating opportunities for children to explore the ornate, velvet-draped rooms, and apparently “peek in” at others who were lying in state in the funeral home, while adults maintained vigil with the deceased.

These sacramental differences created households that operated on entirely different religious rhythms from Roman Catholic neighbors. The theological emphasis on mystical participation rather than conscious understanding, and the elaborate memorial traditions extending for forty days after death marked Byzantine Catholic families as distinctly different in their approach to faith and family life.

Holiday Traditions: Preserving Ancient Customs in America

The liturgical calendar created the most visible distinctions between Byzantine and Roman Catholic households. Byzantine Catholics traditionally used the Julian calendar for liturgical purposes, creating a 13-day difference that placed Christmas on January 7 according to the Gregorian calendar used by Roman Catholics.⁸ Four major fasting periods—Great Lent, Nativity Fast, Apostles’ Fast, and Dormition Fast—created a calendar marked by discipline and spiritual preparation unknown in Roman Catholic practice.

Easter, called “Pascha,” represented the supreme celebration that overshadowed all other holidays—even Christmas. The theological foundation emphasized Christ’s victory over death rather than the crucifixion’s suffering. The midnight Easter Vigil featured dramatic elements unknown in Roman Catholic practice: the priest removing the burial shroud from a symbolic tomb at midnight, processing outside the church while chanting “Christ is risen from the dead, by death He trampled death!” The priest would strike the church doors three times while making the sign of the cross, symbolizing Christ breaking the gates of Hades.⁹

Family customs centered around the Easter basket blessing, the most distinctive tradition distinguishing Byzantine Catholic households. In my mother’s childhood, parishioners designated one house in the neighborhood as the gathering place where everyone brought their Easter baskets before Easter, and the parish priest would come to that house to bless all the baskets together. She particularly remembers going to “Mr. Heideck’s house” for this blessing, where she first tasted lobster salad served by his teenage daughters.

The blessed baskets probably contained foods abstained from during the 40-day Great Lent: paska (Easter bread), colored eggs, ham, and beets. My grandmother made a distinctive dish she called “pashka”—a large, flat bread filled with potatoes and cheese that my mother and uncle would slather with butter.¹⁰ There was also a cold meatloaf, possibly called “Štefani pečenka” made with ground beef and pork, seasoned with marjoram, caraway seeds, and black pepper, with hard-boiled eggs inside, that could be sliced and eaten cold.¹¹ Unlike the elaborate pysanky (intricately decorated eggs) of some Ukrainian traditions, my mother’s family simply colored eggs rather than creating the complex artistic patterns.

Christmas observance began with the 40-day Nativity Fast from November 15 to December 24, immediately distinguishing Byzantine Catholic households from Roman Catholic neighbors who observed only a four-week Advent season.¹² Christmas Eve featured special foods including my great-grandmother’s mushroom soup, made with small wooden baskets of mushrooms purchased from the grocery store specifically for the occasion. However, by my mother’s generation, the family also celebrated “traditional American Christmas” on December 25th alongside the Byzantine “Little Christmas” on January 7th for Epiphany, showing how immigrant families adapted to maintain both old and new traditions.

St. Nicholas Day on December 6th maintained authentic bishop traditions rather than the commercialized Santa Claus developing in broader American culture. As I remember from childhood, parishes held special parties after mass where children met St. Nicholas dressed in authentic bishop’s vestments and received stockings filled with small gifts. These celebrations often included polka dancing, with my mother fondly recalling being swept onto the dance floor by a large man who was such a good dancer that her feet never touched the ground.

Epiphany on January 6th, called Theophany, focused on Christ’s baptism rather than the Western emphasis on the Magi’s visitation. The Great Blessing of Water represented the most distinctive ceremonial element, with families taking home holy water for consumption during illness and annual home blessings by the parish priest.¹³ For families like mine, this “Little Christmas” provided an additional gift-giving opportunity, though as we got older, my mother eventually stopped participating in this tradition.

These holiday traditions created comprehensive cultural systems that maintained ethnic identity while facilitating integration into American society. Home environments displayed distinctive visual markers—icon corners with traditional painted icons, vigil lamps, holy water from Theophany, and Church Slavonic prayer books.¹⁴ The liturgical services themselves felt foreign to Roman Catholic visitors, with everything chanted in Slovak, elaborate incense use, and the distinctive communion of bread cubes dipped in wine distributed to all parishioners, including children.

The successful transmission of these traditions through the challenging decades of 1900-1940 demonstrates their fundamental importance to immigrant identity, even as they adapted to American expectations. My family’s experience shows how Byzantine Catholic traditions could maintain their essential character while accommodating American Catholic practices, providing structural frameworks for preserving distinctive religious heritage while building new lives in America.

I’m definitely more interested in these ceremonies and traditions as an adult than I was as a child. And while I’m a Roman Catholic (although admittedly, not practicing currently), I still occasionally attend mass virtually at St. Mary’s as they live-stream their divine liturgy every Sunday on Facebook.¹⁵ Seeing the church that my grandparents attended, and where my parents were married, gives me a sense of peace I think. Maybe it’s knowing that there is still a physical connection to my grandparents in that church. And when I see the place where my parents were married over 50 years ago, and then look at them today, still very much in love, I feel very blessed.

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1. “Carpatho-Rusyn Americans,” Countries and Their Cultures database (https://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Carpatho-Rusyn-Americans.html : accessed 27 July 2025). ↩︎
2. Cleveland State University, Slovak Americans and Their Communities of Cleveland, “Socio-Economic Conditions,” digital edition (https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/slovak-americans-and-their-communities-of-cleveland/chapter/socio-economic-conditions/ : accessed 13 July 2025); Cleveland State University, Hungarian Americans and Their Communities of Cleveland, “The Great Immigration (1870-1920),” digital edition (https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/hungarian-americans-and-their-communities-of-cleveland/chapter/the-great-immigration-1870-1920/ : accessed 13 July 2025). ↩︎
3. “The differences and distinctions of the Byzantine Catholic Church,” CatholicPhilly website (https://catholicphilly.com/2017/03/catholic-spirituality/the-differences-and-distinctions-of-the-byzantine-catholic-church/ : accessed 27 July 2025). ↩︎
4. Kirsten Max-Douglas, telephone conversation with mother, 27 July 2025; digital recording in possession of author, Blue Ash, Ohio. ↩︎
5. “THE HOLY MYSTERY OF MATRIMONY according to Byzantine Rite practice,” Archeparchy of Pittsburgh website (https://archpitt.org/the-holy-mystery-of-matrimony-according-to-byzantine-rite-practice/ : accessed 27 July 2025). ↩︎
6. Max-Douglas telephone conversation, 27 July 2025. ↩︎
7. Max-Douglas telephone conversation, 27 July 2025. ↩︎
8. “The Old Calendar Orthodox Churches,” CNEWA website (https://cnewa.org/eastern-christian-churches/orthodox-church/orthodox-churches-of-irregular-status/the-old-calendar-orthodox-churches/ : accessed 27 July 2025). ↩︎
9. “Pascha—Resurrection,” St. Michael’s Byzantine Catholic Church website (https://stmichaelsbyzantine.com/our-traditions/pascha-resurrection/ : accessed 27 July 2025).
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10. Max-Douglas telephone conversation, 27 July 2025. ↩︎
11. Max-Douglas telephone conversation, 27 July 2025. ↩︎
12. “The Nativity Fast: Philip’s Fast,” St. Michael’s Byzantine Catholic Church website (https://stmichaelsbyzantine.com/our-traditions/the-nativity-fast-philips-fast/ : accessed 27 July 2025). ↩︎
13. “Theophany,” St. Michael’s Byzantine Catholic Church website (https://stmichaelsbyzantine.com/our-traditions/theophany/ : accessed 27 July 2025). ↩︎
14. “Byzantine Basics,” St. Michael’s Byzantine Catholic Church website (https://stmichaelsbyzantine.com/liturgy-schedule-and-holy-days/welcome-visitors/ : accessed 27 July 2025). ↩︎
15. St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church, Divine Liturgy livestream, 27 July 2025, Facebook video (https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CF8PzezVR/ : accessed 27 July 2025). ↩︎