Sunday, February 14, 2010

A Name Change

It was announced today (2/14/2010) at the end of the 9:30 am Divine Liturgy that effective immediately the title of the Eparchy of van Nuys is changed to "Holy Protection of the mother of God Eparchy of Phoenix"

In short, the Eparchy of Phoenix.

As such, our parish, the first established in the Southwest, elevated to Cathedral status in 1981 with the establishment of the newly created Eparchy of Van Nuys, is now the Proto-Cathedral. The formerly titled Pro-Cathedral, St Stephen in Phoenix, AZ, is now the Cathedral (Bishop in residence).

There are still four eparchies for the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church in the US.
Eparchy of Pittsburgh, PA (est 1924-the original eparchy)
Eparchy of Passaic, NJ (est 1963)
Eparchy of Parma, OH (est 1969)
Eparchy of Phoenix, AZ (est 1981 as Eparchy of Van Nuys, renamed 2010)

The Eparchy of Pittsburgh, established in 1924, was split into two eparchies in 1963 with the establishment of the Passaic Eparchy. Later in 1969, the Pittsburgh Eparchy was split with the establishment of the Parma Eparchy. At the same time, the Metropolia of Pittsburgh was created. In 1981, the Parma Eparchy was split with the establishment of the Eparchy of Van Nuys. The Eparchy of Van Nuys is re-named to the Eparchy of Phoenix in 2010.