Holy Dormition Orthodox Parish, Cumberland, Rhode Island, was founded on March 25, 1907, by immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires, as a community of the North American Ecclesiastical Mission. It was organized by the Archpriest Jacob Grigorieff, under the pastoral guidance of the Archpriest Alexander Hotovitsky, who was canonized in 1994, as Missionary to North America and New-Martyr of Russia. The temple in which the parish worships today was consecrated on September 3, 1908, by Most Reverend PLATON (Rozhdestvensky), Archbishop of North America and the Aleutian Islands, later Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church of North America. Holy Dormition Parish is committed to the evangelical mission of the Orthodox Church in America, according to the vision of the Holy Elder and Wonderworker Herman of Alaska, the Holy Apostle to America Innocent, and the Holy Confessor Tikhon, Patriarch of All-Russia. Holy Dormition Parish abides under the omophorion of the Most Blessed HERMAN, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All-America and Canada.

The Orthodox Churches in America and Russia officially acknowledged archpriest Alexander Hotovitzky, an Orthodox missionary priest from Russia, as a saint, during canonization services at Moscow’s ancient Dormition of the Virgin Cathedral in the Kremlin on December 1994. From 1896 to 1914, Father Hotovitzky was a key figure in the organization of several thousand East European, Greek, Arab and Russian immigrants into at least 12 Orthodox parishes in the New England and North Atlantic states. Renowned among his contemporaries in America and Russia as a zealous missionary, splendid preacher, brilliant man-of-letters and watchful pastor, he succeeded in gathering the support of Orthodox Christians in America and Russia for the unique missionary opportunities of the young North American Orthodox Church. He was instrumental in the founding of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church in Cumberland, and participated in its consecration on September 3, 1908. After returning to his native Russia in 1914, Father Hotovitzky was pastor of the famous Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, which was dismantled and destroyed by the Soviets in the 1930s. He was also a most trusted adviser to Patriarch Tikhon, then leader of the Orthodox Church in Russia and former Archbishop of the North American Mission, who perished in 1925 under house arrest at the hands of the Soviets. As result of giving religious instruction to children and preaching the Word of God, Father Hotovitzky was sentenced to exile and harsh labor in an infamous concentration camp on the Solovetzky Islands above the Arctic Circle in the White Sea. He perished anonymously as a Christian martyr, among the camp’s many thousands of victims.

Holy Dormition Parish is blessed with a small, but actively participating and sincerely friendly body of faithful believers. Its total active membership of nearly 150 persons spans equal numbers of all age groups, and embraces many cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The parish conducts a regular and traditional cycle of Orthodox liturgical worship throughout the course of the year. Church School classes for children meet twice each month from September through May. Choir rehearsals are conducted as announced, during the Sunday social hour. General parish religious education sessions are conducted seasonally, following the Divine Liturgy. The parish council meets regularly ten times a year, under the guidance of the parish rector to maintain and promote the wholesomeness, stability and well-being of the parish. Each Sunday Divine Liturgy is followed by a time of pleasant fellowship and hospitality, as an expression of Eucharistic unity. Once each month the parish serves a buffet brunch, which the benefits the parish materially and morally. These social gatherings help bring people together and foster good will among them, as members of the Body of Christ. Holy Dormition Parish participates regularly in several community charitable ministries: monthly lunches for inner-city homeless people, grocery collections for a local food pantry, and personal care items collections for a local hospice. All these initiatives are supported by the free-will offerings and volunteer assistance of the parishioners. The parish publishes a quarterly newsletter, which contains a complete schedule of divine services, didactic articles, and news announcements, and regular periodic bulletins. An historical-catechetical journal entitled A Legacy of Faith, was published to mark the parish’s 90th anniversary in 1997, and a biographical brochure about its rector on the occasion of his 25th anniversary of pastoral ministry, in 2001. Holy Dormition Parish is a member of the Rhode Island Fellow.

The Most Blessed JONAH
Archbishop of Washington
Metropolitan of All America and Canada.

Most Reverend PLATON (Rozhdestvensky), Archbishop of North America and the Aleutian Islands, later Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church of North America, who consecrated the temple on September 3, 1908.