LYNDORA — A mortgage burning, a Ukrainian dance group and a visit by two church hierarchs will help the congregants of SS. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church mark its 90th anniversary.

The Rev. Paisius McGrath, pastor of the church at 21 Evergreen St., said observances will begin in church.

“Friday, Oct. 12, at 6:30 p.m. we have a service called Great Vespers and that will be followed by a wine and cheese reception in the Ukranian Hall,” McGrath said.

“I would expect around 100 people to attend the service and reception,” said McGrath. “And then on Saturday the 13th, we will have a Divine Liturgy service at 9:30 a.m. which will be celeberated by two bishops, Archbishop Antony, the ruling hierarch of the easten eparchy and Bishop Daniel, the ruling hierarch of the western eparchy.

“We here are actually part of the western eparchy. Western Pennsylvania is the easternmost part of the western eparchy,” said McGrath.

Archbishop Antony has been to Butler several times, said McGrath.

“He was born and raised in Sharon, so he's a local boy,” said McGrath.

It will be the first trip to Butler for Bishop David since becoming bishop in 2008.

“The Heirarchal Divine Liturgy is different from the regular Sunday Divine Liturgy because it is celebrated by the bishops. There are special hymns and special features that we only do when the bishop is serving,” said McGrath.

“We expect 150 to 175 people for the service,” said McGrath.

“We will then have at 1 p.m. at the Atrium the anniversary dinner. We will start with a little ceremony where we will burn the church mortgage,” said McGrath.

The church took out the mortgage in 2000 to build two parking lots.

“And then we will have the anniversary dinner, speeches from the honored guest bishops and special Ukranian dance program from the Poltava Ukrainian Dance Group of Pittsburgh” McGrath said.

In honor of the anniversary, the church has produced an 80-page book of church history, compiled by Karen Sheptak, and containing pictures and accounts of events in SS. Peter and Paul's history.

The book details how the parish was formed by Ukrainian immigrants who came to Lyndora to work building rail cars or forging steel.

“The founders of the church attended St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church on Hansen Avenue. There was a division and a group of them came up the hill and founded this church,” said McGrath.

The new parish later applied to become part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

McGrath said, “In the Eastern Rite, historically the churches were divided by nation, so you have Ukrainian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and so on, and when they came to this country they set up the same way”

He said that while some details may vary from church to church, the rites and practices are the same.

McGrath said most of his church's 85 members “have a Ukrainian background, but it's third or fourth generation. A few of our oldest parishoners are second generation.”

“And we have some non-Ukrainians including myself,” he added.

In 1922, the congregation members began building the church themselves to save on construction costs and finishing late in the year.

John Ostwinch, financial secretary of the church, said the building was assembled from stone trucked up the hill by horse and buggy.

The church's key to survival was forged in those early years, McGrath said.

“Dedication of the members, willingness with even a small number to work hard,” said McGrath. “In its early history, during the Depression, the church lost the deed to a bank, but the church was able to buy it back through faithfulness and the grace of God.”

Ostwinch agreed.

“Well, I think it's due to the hard work of the parishioners,” he said. “They came through with the finances that the church needed and also the labor that they put into the building.”

As for the future, McGrath said the congregation has slowly been growing.

The increase, he said, is coming from births as well as “new families moving into the community, families who convert to Orthodox and families coming back to the church.”

Ostwinch said, “I'm sure there's going to be some expansion that will be needed in the future.”

“We don't want to do that for a while yet. We want to settle down and give Rev. McGrath time to think what he wants done,” Ostwinch said.