Historic Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral

State Register 5/14/1997, 5DV.771
They look so proud, the entire congregation all dressed up and assembled in front of the church, Russian Orthodox Church, Transfiguration of Christ, about 1905. For this group of immigrants, building their own church was an amazing accomplishment and the culmination of a long journey. 
In the late 19th century, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, Serbians and Croatians began leaving Europe after their homelands had been annexed by the Austrian-Hungarian empire. (their passports would designate them as citizens of Austria) Their Orthodox religion had been suppressed by Roman Catholic Austria or Protestant forces in Hungary, their language forbidden and their culture nearly annihilated. Denied self rule and treated as second-class citizens, they were nonetheless required to serve in the army of their conquerers. Longing for religious freedom and economic opportunity, they would begin emigrate to industrial cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland, making their way to Globeville by the 1880s. 
Working in the three large smelters in the area, men would save enough to send for wives, sweethearts and family members from the Old Country and a small community of Czechs, Slovaks, Poles and Carpatho-Russians had formed in the area around Argo Park. By 1898, they were meeting for services in Globeville's only existing church, lent by a German-Russian congregation, and making plans to build a parish of their own. Founding members, George Pristash, Stephan Kulick, John Cintala, Sr., George Slovak, John Mindzak, Michael Kohut, Panko Homyak, Peter Kohut, John Wysowatcky, George Lesko, and Michael Dugan each contributed $50, a lot of money for men who were laborers. Others like John Kohut made bricks for the building and contributed hours of time to construct the temple.
The parish would survive revolution in Russia (their source of funds), prejudice, dissention, questionable pastors, the Depression, highway construction, the 1965 flood and parishioners moving out of Globeville. The arrival of Father Joseph and Matushka Paulette Hirsch in 1984 led to a revival of both the parish and the neighborhood. 
Holy Transfiguration received state historic designation in 1997, just in time for its centennial celebration in 1998. The state register acknowledges Holy Transfiguration's significance as the first Slovak church built in Colorado and the contributions these Eastern European immigrants made to Colorado and the Globeville neighborhood. 
Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral

Photo used with written permission from Steve Klimoski

Lent

Today's Christian congregations might be urged to prepare for Easter by simplifying their lives, giving up FaceBook, Starbucks, a favorite food, television program, movies or beer. Early settlers in Globeville didn't have many luxuries to give up but regarded Lent as an opportunity for spiritual growth with greater prayer, repentance and charity. Lent was also a way to express their faith, which had been suppressed in the Old Country, and to preserve the food, traditions and culture they had left behind. 
On the day before Ash Wednesday, or Fastenacht, a German-Russian cook would serve her family schlitzkuchla, a deep-fried pastry. While the German-Russians didn't observe a strict fast, many families served meatless meals, such as Kaseknepfla,(cheese buttons) during the season. Lent was a time of frequent church attendance, with special services every Wednesday evening, and no dancing, card playing, amusements or weddings. 
Lent began for Catholics from St. Joseph's Polish and Holy Rosary Churches on Ash Wednesday with the application of ashes on the forehead, and a reminder that "dust you are and to dust you shall return". Lenten practices included abstaining from meat on Fridays and observing a fast that required the evening meal to be no larger than the combination of breakfast and lunch, and avoiding eating between meals. (It was understood that the faithful would cut back on beer and wine during the solemn season). Fridays were for the devotion known as the Stations of the Cross, Via Crucis, or Via Dolorosa, recalling the route Jesus took on his way to Golgotha, with incense, candles and Latin hymns like Stabat Mater, Mary is Standing.
Because Russian and Serbian Orthodox observed the Julian calendar, "Great Lent" usually began later than that of Roman Catholics with fasting that included not only abstaining from meat, but also certain kinds of fish and dairy. Inside the church, the royal gates to the altar remained closed to signify man's separation from God through sin, and the priest donned vestments in the somber color of purple. The Vesper service which began the lenten season was called Vespers of Forgiveness where the faithful asked forgiveness and forgave each other.
Many of the descendants of Globeville's earlier residents return to the neighborhood parishes to continue the lenten practices they practiced as children, and use the dark, cold days of Lent to prepare for the joyful resurrection of Easter. 

One of the stained-glass windows at Holy Rosary Church

German Russian Lent
St Joseph's Polish Catholic Church 
Holy Rosary Church
Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral

Orthodox Slavs

Carpatho-Russians came to Globeville for the same reasons as the other Eastern European immigrants: religious freedom and economic opportunity. Living in territory ruled by Roman Catholic Austria or Protestant forces in Hungary, the Carpatho-Russian's Orthodox religion was suppressed and they were treated as second-class citizens. Hearing of jobs in Colorado's mines, smelters and railroads, and of a climate similar to the Carpathian or Tatra mountains of home, many flocked to Globeville in the 1880s. Helen Kohut Capron recalled, “My grandfather Peter got a job at the smelter and it must have been a difficult job because it made him sick. The children would come home from school and find him lying on the couch in pain."

Help for men and their families came from the ethnic fraternal lodges. In Globeville, the oldest of these Carpatho-Russian lodges was the Russian Orthodox Society Transfiguration of Christ, connected to the Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society founded in 1895 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. In addition to providing insurance and moral support, the society’s goals included “the spread and preservation of the Orthodox Faith in America” and members of this lodge founded Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral in 1898. The church has survived and prospered for over 100 years and received state historic designation in 1998.

The church about 1902, photo courtesy of Steve Klimoski.

One of the Orthodox Fraternal Societies, Sjedinjenih about 1905, photo courtesy of Steve Machuga.