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St. Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Church
Russian: Церковь Св. Великомученика Пантелеимона
St. Panteleimon church and bell tower as viewed from the northeast, winter 2018.
Location	2210 Franklin Avenue SE Minneapolis, Minnesota
Country	United States
Denomination	Russian Orthodox
Previous denomination	Greek Orthodox (until 1909) Norwegian Lutheran (until 1932) Swedish Baptist (until 1945)
Website	https://www.stpanteleimon.org/
History
Founded	1956
Dedication	St. Panteleimon
Consecrated	April 22, 1956
Architecture
Style	Greek Revival
Years built	1905–1906 1912 moved, new foundation 1941 addition 1956 onion domes added
Specifications
Length	50 feet (15 m)
Nave width	23 feet (7.0 m)
Materials	timber, stucco
Administration
Archdiocese	Mid-America and Chicago
Parish	St. Panteleimon
Clergy
Archbishop	His Grace Peter
Priest(s)	Antony Alekseyenko
Archdeacon	Basil Gilliland

St. Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Church (Russian: Церковь Св. Великомученика Пантелеимона) is a Russian Orthodox church and parish in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The building has served four different denominations in two locations, and is today a contributing property to the Prospect Park Residential Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

The church was built between 1905–6 by the city's first Greek Orthodox congregation on a site where the University of Minnesota Weisman Art Museum stands today. A few years later, the University bought the land and the congregation went on to found St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church in South Minneapolis. The building then stood empty until purchased by Norwegian Lutherans, when it was moved to its present location in 1912. Ownership was transferred to a Swedish Baptist congregation in 1934. After 1945 the congregation merged with Bethlehem Baptist Church in downtown Minneapolis and the little church stood vacant again.

In 1956 a community of Russian Orthodox immigrants, who had been worshiping in a Prospect Park home, bought the building. It was consecrated that same year to the Great Martyr Saint Pantaleon. Three onion domes, a free-standing bell tower, an iconostasis, and other decorative features were added, including re-installation original stained glass windows. Today the church continues to serve the Russian community in the Twin Cities, with services held in Church Slavonic and English. It is a member of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, with jurisdictional headquarters in New York and patriarchal headquarters in Moscow. The current priest, Rev. Fr. Antony, has led the congregation since 2012.

History

Greek Orthodox Church of Minneapolis (1906–1909)

By 1905, the growing Greek American community of Minneapolis had collected sufficient donations to buy property for their first Orthodox church. The cornerstone was laid in November of that year on a commanding site near the University of Minnesota, on the East Bank of the Upper Mississippi River near the Washington Avenue Bridge. The modest timber frame structure was finished in June, 1906. Its Greek revival facade echoed that of the Church of the Holy Trinity in New Orleans, the first Eastern Orthodox congregation established in the Western Hemisphere.

Plans to expand the University campus, developed by Minnesota state architect Clarence H. Johnston Sr., resulted in a purchase agreement for the church's land in 1908 with rent-free use until June, 1909. The congregation then bought a site on Lake Street in South Minneapolis. The altar and stained glass windows from were moved to the newly consecrated St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church and the original building stood empty until 1912.

Prospect Park Norwegian Lutheran Church (1912–1932)

The former Greek Orthodox Church was purchased from the University of Minnesota by the Protestant community of Lutherans in 1912. The building was moved from its site on Washington Avenue to its current site at 2210 Franklin Avenue in Prospect Park. It was remodeled and positioned on a new basement. The first Lutheran Service at the church occurred on Sunday, June 30, 1912.

Prospect Park Community Baptist Church (1934–1956)

Ownership of the little church was transferred to a Baptist congregation in 1934. Curtis Akenson became pastor in the Fall of 1937. The congregation was a subgroup of the Bethany Baptist Church of the Swedish Conference. Upon his departure from Prospect Park in 1939, the congregation rejoined the larger Bethany Baptist congregation, and the church building again stood empty. Dr. Akenson bought the church.

Blueprints, dated October 1941, were produced showing plans for a Sunday School annex to the Prospect Park Baptist Church building. Construction of the addition proceeded to basement and stone base level as per the drawings. Thereafter the superstructure seems to have varied from the intended design, for reasons unclear. The addition we see today differs at first floor level from that intended in the 1941 blueprints.

Dr. Akenson bought the property prevent its use becoming something which in his opinion was contrary to the thrust that his congregation had tried to put to the community through their neighborhood church. The building stood vacant until he approached by a Russian professor from the University of Minnesota

St. Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Church (1956–present)

In 1956 the church was purchased by a small immigrant Russian Orthodox congregational community, and consecrated in that same year. It is part of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia, an independent order with headquarters in New York. The church was named after St, Panteleimon, meaning "all-merciful". Saint Panteleimon dedicated his life to the sick, needy and misfortunate. The congregation was meeting in a member's home in the Prospect Park neighbourhood four years prior to officially calling the church building theirs.

Very little exterior change other than maintenance has been done to the building since it was purchased in 1956, other than the addition of some features that reveal that St. Panteleimon's is Orthodox. These featured changes include the addition of a bell tower, and two onion domes, one above the pediment and a large one mounted to the main roof of the building. A windstorm toppled the larger dome from the roof in March 2012, causing some structural damage to the roof. Religious text is painted adorns the architrave on the front façade.

Stained glass windows were removed from the original building's east and west façades, and built into the structure of the new Greek Orthodox church on Lake Street. Four of these were returned home to St. Panteleimon when St. Mary's Lake Street was razed in 1955, and have been reinstalled. Clear glass fills the remaining windows.

The interior reveals apparent adherence to tradition with numerous Russian Orthodox features. The walls feature murals and framed portraits of religious icons. The mural on the wall above the alter depicts Jesus Christs and the angels, Michael and Gabriel. The church has only four pews lining the perimeter of the building, provided for the elderly during the liturgy. The majority of the congregation stand for the duration of the service.

Services are held in English and Church Slavonic. The building lost its main dome in a windstorm in 2012. A future expansion is planned.

St. Panteleimon Church was consecrated on April 22, 1956 by Archbishop Gregory (Borishkevich) of Chicago-Detroit Diocese of Russian Orthodox Church. The building is located in the heart of the Twin Cities: Minneapolis and St. Paul, (FACEBOOK)

Sources

• Andreev, Aleksandr (2014). "ROCOR Parish and Clergy Directory". Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. St. Innocent Press. Retrieved 2018-03-01.

• "History of St. Mary Greek Orthodox Church". Minnesota Eastern Orthodox Christian Clergy Association (MEOCCA). Retrieved 2017-07-10.

• "Our Parish". St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church. 2016-11-11. Retrieved 2018-03-01.

• "Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral: History". Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Retrieved 2017-07-03.

• Boarini, Cristeta (2012-04-03). "'Act of God' mars Prospect Park icon: Minneapolis Russian Orthodox church loses its dome". Twin Cities Daily Planet. Retrieved 2018-03-11.

• James E. Fogerty (2000-03-21). "Oral history interview with Curtis Burdette Akenson, March-April 2000". Minnesota Historical Society. pp. 8–10. MNHS OH74. Retrieved 2018-03-07.

Unconfirmed Sources

• Saint Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Church: 60th Anniversary, Copyright St. Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2016.
• The First One Hundred Years. St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church of Minneapolis, Copyright St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2000

• "First Service Tonight in new Lutheran Church." Minneapolis Journal, June 30, 1912.
• Harris, Daisey. "Centuries-old Tradition is kept at St. Panteleimons." Minneapolis Tribune, Sunday December 7, 1980
• Blueprints, "Prospect Park Baptist Church Sunday School Additions" dated October 15, 1941. (Northwest Architectural Archives).

• First Service Tonight in New Lutheran Church; Hudson’s Dictionary, 98. A photograph dated 1935 shows the building as

the Prospect Park Baptist Church;

• Under the Witch’s Hat, 70.

Categories

Church buildings converted to a different denomination Churches in Minneapolis Churches in Minnesota Churches completed in 1906 Churches completed in 1956 Former Lutheran churches in the United States Russian Orthodox Churches in the United States