On Sunday, 9 November [2003], Legacy of Faith: The Story of St. Nicholas Church "10th Street" premiered at its namesake church in Manhattan's East Village, New York City. The 115-minute documentary film, produced, directed and written by Joanne Medvecky, focuses on the parish and its history, but tells a story familiar to most Carpatho-Rusyn Americans.
The film begins with a brief review of the early history of the Orthodox Church – from the original patriarchates and the founding of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Great Schism of 1054. It significantly also delves into the early history of the Greek Catholic Church, describing the Unions of Brest and Užhorod and their impact on the spiritual and daily life of the Rusyns in Europe.
A bit of the history and culture of the Rusyns is also presented to provide a vivid picture of the spiritual and cultural heritage of the parish. St. Nicholas describes itself as a "Carpatho-Russian" church, and so the Rusyns are called "Carpatho-Russians" throughout the film, but it is made clear early on that "Carpatho-Russian" and "Carpatho-Rusyn" are two names for the same thing. The majority of St. Nicholas's original parishioners came from three villages located in present-day Slovakia and footage of the modern face of those villages is also included.
After covering the earliest history of the Church and the Rusyns, the film switches gears and presents the circumstances surrounding the mass emigration of Rusyns from Europe to the United States around the turn of the century. Using archival photographs and interviews with the oldest members of the parish, the film illuminates the conditions the first Rusyn settlers in America faced in their new homeland.
Though most Rusyns came through Ellis Island and New York Harbor en route to Johnstown, Pittsburgh and points westward, the founders of St. Nicholas instead decided to stay close to where they arrived, settling in Lower Manhattan and eventually finding their way to the Lower East Side. The film describes the founding of St. Nicholas parish (originally founded as St. Mary Orthodox Church in 1925) and its early history, which is deeply connected to the mass exodus of Greek Catholic Rusyns (back) to the Orthodox Church early in the 20th century.
The film stands as a major achievement of oral history: it includes extensive interviews with several of the oldest members of the parish who freely share their memories of everything from emigration to Prohibition to World War II to family weddings and funerals. Significantly, several of the parishioners interviewed for the film passed away before its premier, and they are paid special tribute at the film's conclusion. Others interviewed in the course of the film include Metropolitan Nicholas R. Smisko, Very Rev. Fr. John J. Beskid, Bogdan Horbal, Professor Richard Renoff and many others.
One of the many things viewers learn is that while Rusyn celebrations in Europe frequently included performances by Gypsy bands, many early celebrations at this parish included performances by African-American bands.
This is a significant film for St. Nicholas and its families, but it deals with topics close to the hearts of any Rusyn family as well as to many other sorts of American families. This is also a significant film because with it Joanne Medvecky has made a remarkable contribution to Rusyn cinema. She is the latest in an all-too-short line of Rusyn filmmakers, which includes Andy Warhol, Juraj Jakubisko, Joe Keselica and few others. Also, thanks to Medvecky we American Rusyns have our very first Rusyn film, not only the first American documentary about Rusyns but also one made by a Rusyn-American filmmaker.
Legacy of Faith: The Story of St. Nicholas Church "10th Street" is dedicated to Medvecky's father, Joseph, but in many ways it stands as a testament to the courage, dedication, labor and success of the entire Rusyn nation in the United States.
BP. Originally printed in Outpost Dispatch, Volume 1, Issue 3, December 2003.