Rev. Dave Urban

CRANBERRY TWP — A Pittsburgh-based Orthodox church is offering weekly religion classes with the hope of starting a congregation and one day building a church in the township.

St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church on Pittsburgh’s North Side will hold religion classes from 7 to 8 p.m. each Wednesday starting Jan. 27 in the conference room at the Hyatt Place hotel, 136 Emeryville Drive.

The classes will be taught by the Rev. Dave Urban and will seek to answer the question of “what is Orthodoxy?” for both Orthodox churchgoers and anyone else interested in learning about the church. There also will be activities for children.

Cranberry has a growing population but does not have an Orthodox church, leaving a void for some residents, Urban said.

If the classes have a good turnout, the church may start services and planning for a building.

“God willing this is a precursor to a church,” he said.

St. John the Baptist has had many of its members move from the city to suburban areas such as Cranberry in recent years, Urban said.

While some families are willing to drive into Pittsburgh to attend services every weekend, it is impractical to make that drive several times a week for other church activities.

“You can only be so active in a church community when you live 45 minutes away from it,” he said.

The closest Orthodox churches to Cranberry are St. Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral in Allison Park, Allegheny County, and the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in McCandless Township, Allegheny County, Urban said.

He said people often have misconceptions about what the Orthodox church teaches. It is not a faith that has strict rules and traditional interpretations of scripture, he said.

“We live in a culture, we live in a society that has a sense of emptiness. Orthodoxy fills that emptiness within,” Urban said about what the church offers to people.

For information, call Urban at 412-766-4691 or e-mail fr.sleepless@icloud.com.