Descent of the Holy Ghost Romanian Orthodox Church

750 W 61 Ave, Merrillville, IN, 46410

office phone # 219-980-0374

dohgorthodox@gmail.com

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The church is open for attendance

Sunday : 9.30am The Hours; 10.30am Divine Liturgy

Feast days : 10am Divine Liturgy

The priests of the Church are available for confession before or after the services or by appointment .

Please follow all the precautionary measures

We are an English speaking church within the Orthodox Church in America, devoted to the Apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer in Merrillville, NW Indiana, seeking to communicate the ancient Orthodox Christian faith in a relevant manner to our community.

Our Beliefs : We believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God (niceean Creed) who died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures ( I Cor 15:3-4 ).

If you are not familiar with the Orthodox Christian faith &/or worship please feel free to join in or not to the degree that you feel comfortable.  We know that it may feel quite different from what you have experienced in other places. It would be our privilege and honor to answer any questions you may have.  Several parishioners here at Descent are from non-Orthodox backgrounds.

If you have small children we want you to know that the "sound" of children in church is music to our ears.  We believe that children learn how to worship and love God by being in worship services with their parents and family.  We welcome their presence in the church services!

If you are an Orthodox Christian you will feel right at home in our Divine Liturgy.  While there may be some differences in "tradition" there are no differences in "Traditions" that form the backbone of the Orthodox worship experience and culture.

Whatever your background we pray that you will feel welcome here at Descent of the Holy Ghost.  May you know the blessing of the Lord God each and every day!

Fr Alin Munteanu and the Parish Council

Descent of the Holy Ghost Church

IMPORTANT FACTS

#2 largest body of Christians in the world is Orthodox

1,000,000+ Orthodox Christians in United States

1,984 years old ;age of the Orthodox Church (Pentecost 33AD to Present 2017)

300,000,000+ Orthodox Christian Worldwide

over 50 million Orthodox Christian have died for their faith in the first eight decades of the twentieth century

Every Feast Day (marked with RED in the orthodox calendar )

10.00AM Divine Liturgy

Sunday

9.30AM The Hours

10.30AM Divine Liturgy

We are an English speaking Orthodox Church founded by immigrants from Romania.  Our church is no longer made up of only Romanians; we are a diverse gathering of Americans from many ethnic backgrounds.  However, we are proud of the history of our church.  We hope you enjoy this bit of history of our church; Descent of the Holy Ghost Romanian Orthodox Church.

Many Romanian immigrants found their way to Northwest Indiana in the early 1900's. The community of faithful Romanians in Gary soon felt a need to come together and establish the church on October 11, 1908.

The first Divine Liturgy was on December 25, 1908. The work of the church continued and the cornerstone of the new church, located at Hayes and 19th Streets was consecrated on October 31, 1909.

The Gary Romanian Orthodox Community continued their spiritual growth and began looking for a new place to worship. In 1961 they began to organize a building fund drive to raise money for a new church. The fund raising efforts continued and by March 18, 1963 the Parish House at 6075 Harrison Street and the property for the church was purchased at the current Merrillville.  On March 7, 1967 a building committee was formed and the community began planning their new facility. It wasn't too long that the cornerstone was consecrated they broke ground.

The facility finally saw completion with the consecration of the church on September 29-30, 1973 where the faithful community continues to worship.

We continue to pray for those who prepared the way for us at every Liturgy and honor their memory and our Romanian heritage. Today, when you come to visit our parish, you will hear the hymns and prayers of our ancient faith – the Faith of the Apostles – in English.

We pray that God will continue to guide us and grant us victories as Orthodox Christians in North America for many more years.