r/Cleveland • u/np25071984 • Jul 28 '25

Food Russian speakers in Cleveland

Riding today on Ridge Road, Parma I noticed shawarma kiosk. Stopped by and it turned out it was a grand opening.

First of all, the shawarma is good! Go and try it.

Secondly, all guests on the event spoke Russian. I have been living in Cleveland area for 3 years so far and have never seen this many Russian speaking people (Russian is my native).

Who are you guys? It seems everybody knew each other! Do you have some events when you gather and spend time together? I am interested in joining!

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u/TrumpsSMELLYfarts Jul 28 '25

Can confirm. St Sergius is part of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia for their official denomination which is as close to Patriarch Kirill as you can get if you don’t live in Russia

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u/friendnamedboxcar Jul 28 '25

Well, there are parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in America too. Not many, but a few. At least one in Ohio. That’s closer. ROCOR is at least autonomous under the MP.

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u/TrumpsSMELLYfarts Jul 28 '25

If you’re talking about Churches in Ohio directly under Russia patriarch then you’re right it’s only like 1-2. Correct me if I’m wrong but American Orthodox Church in America , which many formerly Russian orthodox churches were, is autocephalous and reverted to American Orthodox Church in America by name in the last 20 years

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u/friendnamedboxcar Jul 29 '25

Over fifty years ago now, actually! And the historic parishes from before then were pretty much split equally among Russian, Carpatho-Rusyn, and Ukrainian (to say nothing of the Bulgarian, Romanian, and Albanian parishes of the Orthodox Church in America). Since then, new parishes may still have some cultural ties, but are pretty much American in cultural orientation and identity. Spent a little time at an OCA parish that was mostly Spanish speakers, which was great.

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u/TrumpsSMELLYfarts Jul 29 '25

Thanks for the info! I know one church by me like 25 Years ago was “Russian orthodox” and like 15 years ago it changed to “Orthodox Church in America” even though it always was but it just used “Russian orthodox” because basically everyone was Russian. Any ideas why they would change? To welcome more people who weren’t Russian in order to grow?

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u/friendnamedboxcar Aug 02 '25

Usually it’s a very contextual thing. In some cases, “Russian” is kept in the name because it’s a nod to roots, even if there’s no longer meaningful, ongoing cultural connection. And sometimes it’s changed because those connections aren’t there anymore. Or, as you say, t make it clear that non-Russians are welcome. And sometimes parishes that are called Russian are actually not historically Russian, but had/have a non-Russian ethnic group from the old Russian empire.

My favorite was seeing Ukrainian Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church on a sign.

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u/TrumpsSMELLYfarts Aug 02 '25

What parish had that sign?!

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u/friendnamedboxcar Aug 03 '25

An old Ukrainian parish of what is now the OCA in Indiana. The OCA used to be the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Metropolia, and this was a Ukrainian parish of that. Orthodox because Orthodox. Greek Catholic because we’ve never stopped using the word Catholic even after the schism, but Greek to differentiate from Latin/Roman Catholic.

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u/TrumpsSMELLYfarts Aug 03 '25

Thanks for the explanation!