By Nick Buglione
Forever will Holy Trinity hold the distinction of being the first Orthodox church on Long Island, and they owe it all to the birth and subsequent baptism of just one East Meadow boy.
That boy was Daniel Koshansky, and that boy is now 85 years old.
Born the son of an immigrant farmer in 1918, the Koshanskys lived on Prospect Avenue and, much like many other East Meadow settlers at that time, were devout followers of the Russian Orthodox faith.
Although they lived and worked in East Meadow, the closest Orthodox churches where they could worship were still in New York City -- quite a journey for the faithful every weekend.
After Koshansky was born, his Russian father and Ukrainian mother hoped to save themselves a trip into the city for their child's baptism.
"They brought me into a Catholic church in Hempstead," said Koshansky, who now lives in Uniondale. "The priest said he can only baptize me as a Roman Catholic, and my father said, 'No way, he's going to be Russian Orthodox.'"
With no choice left, his parents and fellow family members had to make their way into the city. On the same day of Koshansky's baptism, his uncle, Daniel Sysak, stopped into a city bookstore and struck up a conversation with a man.
"He met a man in there that was a Russian priest," Koshansky said. Sysak pleaded his case to the clergyman, explaining that in East Meadow there was a sizable Orthodox population looking to start a church of their own.
"The priest said, 'Well, I can come out there if you get some people together,'" Koshansky said.
A deal was struck. The priest, Rev. Maxim Dzemba, traveled to East Meadow to celebrate the Island's first Orthodox liturgical service on May 5, 1918, inside the Koshansky home.
"The priest agreed to come out once a month," Koshansky said. "They had these services going on in my parents' house."
After a few years, arrangements were made to move the services to East Meadow Town Hall, now the present site of the East Meadow Post Office on East Meadow Avenue, then called Newbridge Avenue.
"In the first 20 years, we don't have a lot of records," said Rev. Alexander Garklavs, pastor of Holy Trinity for almost 16 years. "It seems that parish life was much more informal than it is now."
By 1924, Sysak and the other parishioners took steps to formally organize a parish and the Holy Annunciation Church, a name that would be changed to Holy Trinity in 1937, was formed.
"Finally, they got enough money to buy a plot of land on Chestnut Avenue," Koshansky said, in the fall of 1925. It cost $850, and the parishioners were to build the church with their own hands, in a time when horses were used in lieu of bulldozers.
"I remember playing with my cousin in the dirt," said Koshansky, who was about 6 years old when the construction took place. "I still remember those two gray horses they used to dig out the basement."
In 1926, the wooden building was complete and the Orthodox parishioners had themselves a permanent home.
In the beginning
The Orthodox church was established after the Great Schism of the 11th century, when the previously united Christian church was divided into two separate geographic factions. To the western part of Europe were the Roman Catholics, and to the east were the Orthodox, a term which literally translates into "correct" or "accepted."
"In terms of dogma, there's a lot in common," said Garklavs, noting that both the Roman Catholics and Orthodox celebrate the same seven sacraments. "The most striking differences are in terms of church order."
Orthodox clergy, unlike their Roman Catholic counterparts, are allowed to marry provided it takes place before being ordained. Orthodox bishops, however, either lead celibate lives or are widowers, Garklavs said.
"The laws regarding marriage are also a little more liberal," Garklavs said. "Remarriage is permitted. With the bishop's blessing, divorced people are remarried."
The rise of communism in Russia and the suppression of religion that followed meant tough times for the Orthodox faith. With close ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, the shock waves reverberated all the way back to Holy Trinity in East Meadow.
"By 1920, after the revolution, there was a period of chaos," Garklavs said. "There was also a period of confusion and transition."
The disorganization of the time coincided with the creation of ethnic jurisdictions among Orthodox churches in North America. The Greeks, Russians, Syrians, Romanians and other nationalities started to go their separate ways. Even to this day one might notice today that most Orthodox churches still have ethnic names attached before them, such as Greek or Serbian. While those parishes might retain certain cultural customs that are different, the faith practiced there is essentially the same.
Disagreements over the direction of Holy Trinity were prevalent in the community in the 1920s, Koshansky recalled. "They had some tough times years ago, a couple of factions wanted to fight the other," he said. "One liked one priest and they didn't like the other.
"But finally they got settled," he continued. "Then we had a nice little parish."
Moving forward
After World War II, families relocated to East Meadow in droves and Holy Trinity's ranks swelled.
"Probably the peak of parish life occurred in the 1950s when Orthodox people moved out of Brooklyn, Queens and the city," Garklavs said.
A new church was erected in 1962 at 369 Green Ave., the street adjacent to Chestnut, to replace the small wooden structure built decades before.
While certain aspects of Holy Trinity remain the same almost 80 years after its creation -- for one, Koshansky still regularly attends services -- much has changed.
Today 100 families are members of the church, but their ethnic makeup is far more diverse than in previous years.
While it was founded to serve the primarily Slavic residents in turn-of-the-century East Meadow, Holy Trinity now sports parishioners of all backgrounds, including Greeks, Russians, Arabs and Italians.
"The good part is we are Orthodox Christians who are completely American," said Garklavs. "By steering away from our ethnic roots, it's freed us of some of the baggage that sometimes gets in the way of spiritual life."
Diversity was one of the things that attracted Merrick residents Mark Vassilakis and his wife from their former Greek Orthodox parish to Holy Trinity.
"From the very first night, we went everyone was very friendly and we just grew to be very good friends with every one of them," said Vassilakis, who joined the parish in 2000. "A lot of people there are converts, it's a nice mix."
Ironically, though, most of the parishioners do not come from East Meadow anymore. "The majority of them come from within a 20-mile radius of the church," Garklavs said. "Twenty years ago, it was a five-mile radius."
Holy Trinity is currently embarking on a membership drive to attract new members and, according to Vassilakis, have already managed to coax a few interested parties out to the church.
"We've gotten several visitors who have been exploring," Vassilakis said. "We're trying to be open, trying to get the word out."
Church services are open to the public and take place every Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. For more information, call (516) 483-3649.
