About Ascension of Our Lord [Ukrainian] · Sayre, Pennsylvania
Ascension of Our Lord is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish serving the small borough of Sayre in Bradford County, northeastern Pennsylvania, just south of the New York state line. Established in 1910 as a mission of Saints Peter and Paul in nearby Lopez, the parish was founded by Eastern European immigrants who came to the Susquehanna Valley for work and wanted a church of their own Byzantine rite and language. Today the parish belongs to the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and gathers regularly for the Divine Liturgy in the Ukrainian tradition. The community is small in number but has remained a visible witness of Ukrainian Catholic faith and heritage in the northern Susquehanna Valley for more than a century.
- Established
- 1910
- Patron
- Ascension of Our Lord
- Rector
- Rev. Teodor Czabala Jr.
- Diocese
- Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia (Metropolitan); geographically within the territory of the Roman Diocese of Scranton
Why belong here
Ascension of Our Lord offers Ukrainian Catholics and anyone drawn to the Byzantine rite a place to worship in the ancient Eastern Christian tradition of the Kyiv-Galician church, right in the Susquehanna Valley. The parish is small and personal, served by a priest who is rooted in both the local Sayre community and the broader Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. For Ukrainian-American families in Bradford County and visitors from the New York border region, it is the home parish where the Divine Liturgy is celebrated regularly, holy days are observed, and the faith and customs brought from Eastern Europe a century ago continue to be lived and passed on.
Mass times at Ascension of Our Lord [Ukrainian]
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Upon request
Parish Identity & Heritage
Ascension of Our Lord is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish of the Byzantine rite, belonging to the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. The parish sits geographically within the territory of the Latin-rite Diocese of Scranton, but is canonically part of the Ukrainian Catholic metropolitan church in the U.S., under Archbishop Borys Gudziak. The community preserves the Eastern Christian liturgical tradition brought to the Susquehanna Valley by immigrants from Western Ukraine (Galicia) in the early 20th century.
- Rite: Ukrainian (Byzantine)
- Jurisdiction: Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia
- Geographic area: Roman Diocese of Scranton
History of the Parish
The parish was established in 1910 as a mission of Saints Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church in nearby Lopez, Sullivan County, PA. Saints Peter and Paul had itself been organized only a few years earlier by Slavic immigrant families, and by 1915, under Father Andrew Ivanyshyn, it was planting daughter missions in surrounding towns — one of which became Ascension of Our Lord in Sayre. For more than 110 years the parish has continued as a Ukrainian Catholic presence in the borough, now part of a tri-parish arrangement with Sacred Heart in Johnson City, NY and St. Nicholas in Elmira Heights, NY.
- Established 1910
- Parent parish: Saints Peter and Paul, Lopez, PA
- Founder pastor (parent parish era): Father Andrew Ivanyshyn
Pastor & Clergy
The parish is currently administered by Rev. Teodor Czabala Jr., pastor of Sacred Heart Ukrainian Catholic Church in Johnson City, New York, who also serves as administrator of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Elmira Heights, NY. Fr. Czabala, who studied in Lviv, Ukraine before coming to the United States, is listed by the Archeparchy of Philadelphia as the clergy contact for Ascension of Our Lord.
- Rev. Teodor Czabala Jr. — Administrator / Pastor
- Also pastor of Sacred Heart, Johnson City, NY
- Also administrator of St. Nicholas, Elmira Heights, NY
Liturgical Schedule
The parish celebrates the Divine Liturgy in the Ukrainian Byzantine tradition. Public schedules posted by the Archeparchy and third-party Mass-time aggregators list a Saturday late-afternoon Divine Liturgy that fulfills the Sunday obligation, with an additional Sunday Divine Liturgy and Holy Day observances. Confession is available on request rather than at a fixed published time.
- Saturday Divine Liturgy: 4:00 PM (vigil, fulfills Sunday obligation)
- Sunday Divine Liturgy: 12:00 PM
- Holy Days of Obligation: 4:00 PM
- Confession: upon request
Contact & Location
The church is on the east side of Sayre on Higgins Avenue, a few blocks from the historic downtown and the Robert Packer Hospital / Guthrie Healthcare campus. Parishioners and visitors can reach the parish office through the Archeparchy of Philadelphia at the parish phone and email, and stay in touch through the parish's official Facebook page.
- Address: 108 N Higgins Ave, Sayre, PA 18840
- Phone: 570-888-1060
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: facebook.com/AscensionUkrainianCC
- Located on east side of Sayre, Bradford County, PA
Sayre & the Susquehanna Valley Ukrainian Community
Sayre Borough was established in 1891 and named for Robert H. Sayre, president of the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad Company. The railroad and the Robert Packer Hospital (now Guthrie Healthcare) drew successive waves of workers, including Ukrainian and other Eastern European immigrants in the early 20th century who built small churches of their own rite in the towns of the northern Susquehanna Valley. Ascension of Our Lord is one of those enduring congregations, and in March 2022 the Shamokin News-Item / SpotOnPA profiled its members praying for relatives in Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
- Sayre Borough established 1891
- Named for Robert H. Sayre, railroad president
- Northern border community near Tioga County, NY
- One of several historic faith communities in the borough
Diocese (Archeparchy) Information
The Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia is the metropolitan see of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the United States, headquartered in Philadelphia and headed since 2019 by Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak. It shepherds Ukrainian Catholic parishes and missions across the eastern United States, including this small Sayre mission, and links the parish to the larger Ukrainian Catholic community worldwide under Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych.
- Archeparchy of Philadelphia (Ukrainian Catholic)
- Metropolitan See: Philadelphia, PA
- Bishop: Most Rev. Borys Gudziak
- Part of the worldwide Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church