His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon and His Eminence, Archbishop Mark of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania led the 100th Anniversary celebration at Saint Michael the Archangel Church, Wilmington, DE November 7 and 8, 2015.
Priest Barnabas Fravel, Rector, welcomed the hierarchs for the celebration of Great Vespers and the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, at which Archpriests Timothy Hojnicki and James Weremedic, Archdeacon Joseph Matusiak, and Deacon James Carpenter served. A banquet followed in the parish hall. during which the children’s choir sang.
It was in 1913 that the community’s seeds were planted as a small group of Orthodox Christian immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia and Ukraine met to consider the formation of a parish in Wilmington. Two years later, a larger group, under the guidance of Priest John Zloben, purchased a row house at 431 South Claymont Street and converted it into a house of worship. By 1930, ongoing growth necessitated the addition of living quarters for a priest and Church school facilities.
In 1950, under the spiritual leadership of the beloved Archpriest Basil Anziferoff, the row house chapel was demolished and replaced with a new church building. In 1962, six acres of farm land on Kirkwood Highway were acquired. By this time, most of the parishioners had moved to the suburbs. In anticipation of the construction of a new church, a rectory was purchased in nearby Newark in 1975.
It was under the spiritual leadership of Priest Joseph Chupeck that the parish built its present structure. The Claymont Street church was sold in 1978 and ground was broken for the new church on Kirkwood Highway. During the period of construction, services were temporarily held at the McCrery Funeral Home. In 1980 the new church was completed and dedicated. A rectory adjacent to the church was acquired in 1985, while a cupola and cross were added to the church in 1990. The iconostasis was completed in 1996. In the same year the church was consecrated.
With ongoing growth, the faithful of Saint Michael’s undertook a major program to construct a large social hall with kitchen and handicapped-accessible restrooms. Eventually, the physical size of the church building also was expanded. A successful Capital Campaign was launched in May 2004 with $374,000.00 in pledges. With these pledges and a mortgage from the Russian Brotherhood of America, the social hall was completed in late summer 2010. The new building was dedicated on October 10, 2010, in conjunction with the parish’s 95th anniversary.
Today, the growing parish offers a full cycle of liturgical services, numerous educational programs, and a variety of ministries.
