Zyrovicy Mother of God Belarusian Orthodox Cathedral

Belarusian Cathedral of the Zhyrovichy Icon of the Mother of God

A tiny jasper image of the Mother of God, about six by four centimeters, by tradition shone in 1470 on the branches of a pear tree in Belarus, and it is to this image that the cathedral in Strongsville is dedicated, where a Belarusian community of Cleveland has gathered since 1951.

Tradition tells that shepherds found the shining little icon and brought it to the owner of those lands, but he locked it in a chest and it vanished, and then it was found again in the same place. This time he received it with reverence and vowed to build a church on the spot. Around 1520 the church burned down, and the icon, according to the life, was found unharmed on a stone. Today it is kept in the Dormition Cathedral of the Zhyrovichy Monastery in Belarus, and this parish bears the name of Zhyrovichy as well.

The community appeared in Cleveland in 1951 in the Tremont neighborhood: at first it met in a rented building at the corner of West 14th Street and Starkweather Avenue, then it bought a house and lot at the fork of Pearl Road and Scranton Road, where a church was built and consecrated in the late 1950s. In 1999 the parish moved to Strongsville. Since March 2024 the cathedral has belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and is in communion with the other local Orthodox churches.

Services are held on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings, and the doors are open to everyone who feels close to the Belarusian spiritual tradition in Ohio.