On September 7, 2026, the last day of his visit to the Central States deanery, Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, Temporary Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA and Canada, visited the Cathedral of St. Theodosius of Chernigov in Cleveland, Ohio. Like many churches in North America, this holy temple owes its founding to St. Tikhon, the future Patriarch of Moscow; to Hieromartyr Priest John Kochurov, builder and first rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Chicago; and to St. Alexis Toth, the righteous Protopresbyter, an outstanding missionary and co-laborer of St. Tikhon, who played a key role in establishing the first Orthodox parish in Cleveland.
This parish was preceded by the Society of St. Nicholas, founded at the end of 1895 on the advice of Hieromartyr Priest John Kochurov.
At his insistence, the church being built in the Tremont neighborhood was named in honor of the newly glorified St. Theodosius of Chernigov, and in 1902 Bishop Tikhon personally consecrated the land for the construction of the cathedral, which today is recognized as a U.S. architectural landmark.
At one of the conventions, St. Tikhon donated personal funds to establish an orphanage, which subsequently helped in the development of the charitable institutions of the North American Diocese.
The church building is in the Neo-Byzantine style and is crowned by one large dome and twelve smaller ones. It is considered one of the finest examples of Russian church architecture in the USA. Its prototype was the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, photographs of which were given to the architect by the rector of the parish. The icons for the cathedral were brought from Russia.
