About St. George Macedonian Orthodox Church
-
The Macedonian Orthodox Church, "St. George," in Syracuse, NY was founded in the early 1960s by twenty Macedonian immigrant families. In 1964 the church was incorporated in New York, and "St. George" was chosen as the patron saint after the St. George Monastery in the village of Velusina, Macedonia, which is where most of the parishioners are from. The church was immediately registered under the jurisdiction of the Mother church, the Macedonian Orthodox Church and the Holy Synod of Bishops in Skopje, Macedonia. April of the following year (1965) will always remain as a golden date in the history of our church. During that time, a distinguished church delegation led by the recent archbishop Dositej, who re-established the Ohrid Archbishopric and whose canonical successor is the Macedonian Orthodox Church, visited the Macedonian community in Syracuse and served the first Divine Liturgy in Macedonian. Not long after in 1966, a small Protestant church on Gillespie Ave. in Fairmount was purchased. The church was consecrated on July 1, 1968 by the Metropolitan Kiril, and the first parish priest, Fr. Ilija Kaninski, was appointed.
As the parish grew in numbers, there was a need for a larger and more substantial area to serve the members. The arrival of the new parish priest in 1976, Very Rev. Branko Pacemski, further intensified the desire to build a new church. It was finally decided in 1979 to begin construction of a new church to better serve to needs of the parish. By Thanksgiving 1981, the church hall was finished and available for use. In 1982, the new parish priest Fr. Lazo Stefanov arrived, and the following year the old church and parish home were sold. In 1984, the new church was erected and consecrated by the Metropolitan Kiril on September 15, 1985.
The current parish priest, Protopresbyter Father Branko Postolovski, was appointed in 1988 and was guided by the desire to continue the positive trend of the church. Thus, in 1994 the church hall went under construction and was expanded. In order to beautify the church, stained glass windows were installed in 1997. Throughout the ages, it has become tradition that all Macedonian churches be decorated with fresco iconography. By God's will, we started the fresco iconography at our church in 2001. This project was entrusted to one of the best iconographers around, Fr. Andrei of Holy Trinity Russian Monastery in Jordanville, NY.
Our St. George Macedonian Orthodox Church in Syracuse, NY currently has about 200 families and still continues to grow. We are strongly determined to do the will of God here on Earth and to preserve the Orthodox truth and our Macedonian customs and traditions.
