From immigrant dreamers to Hollywood stars, St. Theodosius welcomed all

By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer
3/9/2011

The green onion domes of St. Theodosius, icons of a melting-pot city, have warmed the hearts of generations of Clevelanders.

The candle-like beacons drew immigrants, suburbanites and finally Hollywood to narrow Starkweather Avenue in Tremont.

The church starred with Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep in The Deer Hunter in 1978, four years after joining the National Register of Historic Places.

This month, St. Theo turns 100. The faithful plan to celebrate, reminisce and imagine.
“I always tell people, ‘If the walls of this church could talk,'” said Archpriest John “Father John” Zdinak, the dean of St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

Russian immigrants built the church but its services always drew a multilingual crowd. St. Theodosius was the first Orthodox church in Ohio and for years the only one in Cleveland. Orthodox immigrants from around the world walked into its ornate stillness to be married, to baptize their babies, to send loved ones on to the next life.

“A hundred years of lives and weddings and baptisms,” said Zdinak, who took charge of the cathedral 13 years ago. “It was here for so many people, so many different kinds of people.”
After peaking in membership in the 1950s, the church weathered steady decline. It’s down to about 200 adult members and 70 children, Zdinak said.

But a Cathedral Choir still sings a cappella, in the Russian tradition, and tourists find their way to a hard-to-find sacred landmark considered an outstanding example of classic Russian church architecture.

Zdinak is calling the faithful to line up for a panoramic photo in front of the church Saturday morning, repeating the musters of the 20th and 50th anniversaries.

A Centennial Banquet begins at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Ridge Manor Banquet Center in Brooklyn. To RSVP, call 216-741-1310 or email sttheocemetery@yahoo.com.

Meanwhile, religious services and Tremont Art Walks offer an excellent opportunity to view a church that grew up with Cleveland, collected its stories, and maybe can whisper them back. Learn more online at sttheodosius.org

Africa’s freedom fighter: The woman considered Zimbabwe’s best lawyer rarely wins a big case. Even when rulings go her way, judgments are ignored and her clients might be thrown back in jail.
Still, Beatrice Mtetwa keeps fighting, promoting free speech and democracy in a land Robert Mugabe has ruled for more than 30 years.

“I believe in what I’m doing,” she told the Ottawa (Canada) Citizen in 2009. “It brings to the forefront things that otherwise would never have been known.”

Mtetwa, a mother and a human rights lawyer, is being honored for her courage and her steadfastness by the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence at Case Western Reserve University. On Wednesday, she will address an audience at Severance Hall and accept the 2011 Inamori Ethics Prize.

Mtetwa is the fourth winner of the prize, which honors ethical leadership that enhances humankind.
The 5:30 p.m. ceremony is free and open to the public but tickets are required. Call the Severance Hall Box Office at 216-231-1111 .
Black college culture: Step dancing. Show-style marching bands. Football.
Sounds like a fall Saturday at an historically black college. Or Cleveland Browns Stadium this weekend.

The 2011 Cleveland Classic promises a taste of the HBCU experience, beginning with a Greek Step Show at 7 p.m. Friday at Music Hall. On Saturday, Sept. 10, fans are invited to a free Tailgate Party outside the stadium prior to the noon kickoff between Central State University and North Carolina Central University. Halftime will feature a much-anticipated marching band show.
The classic weekend is sponsored by the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission. Tickets to the game start at $15 and are on sale at the Cleveland Browns Box Office.

Rising with music: Can music transform young lives? Cleveland Orchestra violinist Isabel Trautwein believes so and she’s putting her passion to the test.

Trautwein teamed up with Cleveland’s Rainey Institute to design an after-school music program that offers a special opportunity to youngsters in the Asian and African American communities of Cleveland’s East Side.

El Sistema@Rainey is modeled after the Venezuelan El Sistema program, which offers children from poor communities the chance learn music and to play in orchestras. It’s looking for children from first to fourth grade who can commit to daily after-school music lessons, which will be taught by Trautwein and other professionals.

The program begins with a Cardboard Violin Making and Dinner Celebration at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept 7th, at the Rainey Institute, 1705 East 55th St.
RSVP via Sistema@Rainey or by calling 216-881-1766. Learn more about the program at isabeltrautwein.blogspot.com.

9/11 inspires blessed unity: People representing a rainbow of beliefs and cultures will gather on Public Square next Sunday, Sept. 11, to remember the compassion and faith that emerged after a dark and deadly day.

“Out of Many, One,” will recall a time when the nation’s unity was tested and religious groups shined.

“We tried to find a name that would say, ‘This is really who we are,” said Sister Donna Wilhelm, a Catholic nun and an event organizer. “Let’s identify ourselves as both Americans and as members of our religious traditions, as diverse as they are.”

The gathering will present synagogue cantors, Tibet Buddhist bell ringers and a Native American drum circle, as well as speakers who witnessed Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001.

Aiesha Siddiq, a volunteer for the Cleveland chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, sees an opportunity to express the best of American values.

“The interfaith remembrance is a chance for all of us to come together to reflect on the tragedy of September 11 and to try to bring health, hope, compassion and reconciliation to a world that has been forever changed by events of that day,” she said.

It begins at 3:30 p.m. in the atrium of 200 Public Square, the Huntington Bank building.
Happening Sunday September 4: Cleveland Labor Day Oktoberfest, noon to midnight, Berea Fairgrounds.

The Great Slovak Festival, noon to 8 p.m., St. Anthony of Padua, 6750 State Road, Parma.
Kamm’s Corners Greek Festival, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., George Varouh Cretan Club, 3853 West 168th St., Cleveland.

Hungarian Scout Festival, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., German Central Park, Parma. The Rajko Gypsy Orchestra from Budapest presents “A Celebration of Liszt” at 6 p.m.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: rsmith@plaind.com, 216-999-4024
Related topics: beatrice mtetwa, cleveland classic, el sistema, el sistema@rainey, isabel trautwein, St. Theodosius.

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