Deacon candidate says finding Alaskan Byzantine church a homecoming

Published: 2007-10-10

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNS) -- When Stephen Vrabel discovered St. Nicholas of Myra Ruthenian Byzantine Church in Anchorage, it was a homecoming, one that he said has brought him deeply into the heart of his Catholic faith. Now studying to be a deacon, Vrabel and the rest of the St. Nicholas community, led by Father Michael Hornick, parish administrator, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Byzantine Catholic Church in Alaska in September. The rustic church building with its stunning lighted dome is something of a well-kept secret. If a stranger were to visit St. Nicholas of Myra, he might mistake it for an Orthodox church. The interior is covered in icons with sparkling chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. While Eastern Catholic churches such as this one have maintained the liturgical and spiritual heritage they share with the Orthodox churches, they are fully in union with Rome. St. Nicholas of Myra, with about 45 families, is the only Eastern-rite parish in Alaska. On its Web site, parishioners boast that "Alaska is our parish -- all 586,412 square miles of it."

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