Parish History

The first Ukrainian Immigrants in Chicago settled on the south side area in the last part of the 19 th century, bringing with them their deep religious spirit and love for their church. For a time these immigrants attended other area churches, but those churches could not satisfy their deep love for the Orthodox Church. In 1907 a loge of the Ukrainian National Association was established and once banded together, they began plans for the establishment of Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was organized and the first Divine Liturgy was served in the fall of 1909 by the Rev. Valentine Balog. The First permanent pastor was the Rev. Volodomyr Petrovsky and it was under his direction that a new church was built in 1911, to service the needs of the Ukrainian Immigrants. Unfortunately on the Feast of the Nativity in 1913, due to an overheated furnace the church burnt down to the ground. Again the parish held the Divine Services in other local churches until a new brick church was built in the fall of 1913, which stands to this day.

Due to the changing neighborhood the parish was forced to search for a new location build a new church, and that search ended in 1976, when a beautiful peace of property was located in Palos Park, IL. The final Divine Liturgy in Burnside was celebrated on March 20, of that same year, by the Rev Serge Holovko the parish then moved into a local school in Palos until the church construction was completed. The consecration of the new church was held on October 7, 1979, and to this very day the parish family worships at the very location.

The parish property consists of a beautiful church, social hall, parish rectory and picnic grounds. The parish is held together by their great faith, and their strong ethnic roots. The parish consists of many organizations which keeps the parish thriving, such as the Sisterhood of St. Anne’s, Sunday School, Seraphim Group (senior citizens club) Ukrainian Dance group, church choir, Ukrainian Orthodox League and of course the faithful altar servers. Over the years, there have been many priests, who have faithfully served the parish, and have in so many ways helped to make a firm foundation of the Orthodox faith for generations to come. With our rector being the V. Rev. Fr. Taras Naumenko, who is a young and energetic priest, we look forward to many more years of service to the Great Church of Christ.