About Shrine of Mariapoch [Ruthenian] · Burton, Ohio
The Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch is a Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic outdoor shrine in Troy Township, Geauga County, Ohio, dedicated to the miraculous Weeping Icon of Máriapócs in Hungary. Located off Route 422 on a wooded property at 17486 Mumford Road, Burton, the shrine draws pilgrims from across the United States and Canada during its season from the last Sunday in May through the first Sunday in October. It is owned by the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma and cared for by the Social Mission Sisters (and, since 2009, situated across the street from Christ the Bridegroom Monastery). Byzantine Divine Liturgy is celebrated at the open-air pavilion chapel every Sunday of the season, with an annual hierarchical pilgrimage around the Dormition of the Mother of God (August 15).
- Established
- 1955
- Patron
- Our Lady of Máriapócs (the Weeping Madonna)
- Rector
- Deacon Gregory Loya (Administrator)
- Diocese
- Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma (Ruthenian)
Why belong here
The Shrine of Mariapoch is the only place in North America where the Ruthenian (Byzantine) Catholic faithful — and anyone drawn to Eastern Christian spirituality — can venerate the Weeping Icon of Máriapócs in a dedicated pilgrimage setting. During the season (last Sunday in May through the first Sunday in October) pilgrims can attend a full Byzantine Divine Liturgy each Sunday at the outdoor pavilion altar, walk the Stations of the Cross and the Stations of the Sorrowful Mother, pray at the Lourdes Grotto and wayside shrines, share a meal in the café after liturgy, and visit the Eastern Treasures Gift Shop. The annual August pilgrimage around the Dormition, the ByzanTEEN vocation camps for teens, and days of reflection hosted for parishes and organizations make it both a popular Marian pilgrimage site and a quiet retreat in rural Geauga County.
Mass times at Shrine of Mariapoch [Ruthenian]
Weekly Mass schedule
History of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch
The American shrine is the direct spiritual descendant of the Hungarian Basilica of Máriapócs, home of the miraculous Weeping Icon of the Theotokos. The original icon wept in the village church of Pócs from November 4 to December 8, 1696, was taken to Vienna and enthroned in St. Stephen's Cathedral in 1697, and was joined by a weeping copy in 1715 and a third miraculous weeping in 1905. Pope Pius XII raised the Hungarian shrine to minor-basilica status in 1948, and Pope John Paul II visited it in 1991. After the icon was lost to Vienna, copies of it spread throughout the Hungarian-Carpathian (Ruthenian) diaspora. Hungarian Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholics who settled in the Cleveland area longed for a North American shrine of their own, and in 1955 anonymous donors purchased the wooded Burton property. The grounds were dedicated in August 1956 by Bishop Nicholas T. Elko, head of the Ruthenian Exarchate in America.
- Original weeping: November 4 – December 8, 1696, at the village church of Pócs
- Icon transferred to St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, December 1, 1697 by order of Emperor Leopold I
- Weeping of the copy at Pócs: August 1–5, 1715
- Third miraculous weeping: December 3–19 and 30–31, 1905 (declared miraculous by an episcopal commission, January 12, 1906)
- Máriapócs raised to a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII, 1948
- Visited by Pope John Paul II, 1991
- American shrine property purchased by anonymous donors, 1955
- Grounds and brick chapel dedicated by Bishop Nicholas T. Elko, D.D., August 1956
- Eparchy of Parma erected by Pope St. Paul VI, 1969
Founding Director and the Social Mission Sisters
From its earliest days the shrine was shepherded by Father Alexander Bobak, S.T.D., its founding director, together with the Social Mission Sisters. The Sisters developed the grounds, welcomed pilgrims, and provided the prayerful, devotional atmosphere that has characterized the property for nearly seven decades. Two of those Sisters — including Sister Flora, who served for forty years — continued to care for the shrine into recent times and witnessed what they describe as miraculous healings on the grounds, including healings of infertility, paralysis, and cancer.
- Father Alexander Bobak, S.T.D. — founding director of the shrine
- Social Mission Sisters — developed the grounds and welcomed pilgrims
- Sister Flora — Social Mission Sister from Hungary, served the shrine for 40 years
The Shrine Grounds
The Mariapoch property is laid out as a walking devotional landscape rather than a single church building. Pilgrims move between a brick year-round chapel, the open-air pavilion chapel with its three arched brick gateways and wrought-iron gates, the tabernacle with the shrine's three principal icons, and a series of smaller shrines. A mosaic cross marks a central gathering point, and the Lourdes Grotto hosts the Mystery of Holy Anointing during the annual pilgrimage.
- Outdoor pavilion chapel with three brick arches, wrought-iron gates and bench pews
- Central icon: 'Salvation of the Roman People' (painted in Rome, modeled on a St. Luke icon)
- Copy of the original 1696 Weeping Icon of Máriapócs
- Copy of the 1715 Weeping Icon
- Year-round brick chapel dedicated in 1956
- Stations of the Cross
- Stations of the Sorrowful Mother
- Calvary pavilion
- Lourdes Grotto
- Mosaic cross (pilgrim blessing point)
- Wayside shrines: Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Joseph, Holy Family, Sacred Heart, St. Ann, St. Anthony, Infant of Prague
- Café / cafeteria for Sunday community dinner
- Eastern Treasures Gift Shop
Liturgy and Schedule
The shrine operates as an open-air Marian pilgrimage destination rather than a parish church with a daily schedule. Divine Liturgy is celebrated at 4:00 p.m. every Sunday from the last Sunday in May through the first Sunday in October at the outdoor shrine altar. After liturgy the community gathers in the café for dinner, and the Eastern Treasures Gift Shop is open for religious items. The major liturgical event of the year is the Eparchial Pilgrimage on the weekend of the Dormition of the Mother of God (August 15), which features hierarchical Divine Liturgy, Vespers, an Akathist service to the Theotokos, the Paraklis with the Mystery of Holy Anointing at the Lourdes Grotto, and a Jesus Prayer service at the shrine altar.
- Byzantine Divine Liturgy — Sundays at 4:00 p.m. (shrine season)
- Shrine season — last Sunday in May through first Sunday in October
- Annual Pilgrimage — weekend of the Dormition (August 15)
- ByzanTEEN weekend camps — vocation-oriented retreats for teen boys and girls
Annual Eparchial Pilgrimage
Each August the Eparchy of Parma hosts its annual pilgrimage on or around August 15, the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. A Saturday evening Vespers and Akathist service precede a Sunday hierarchical Divine Liturgy celebrated by the eparchial bishop, often with concelebrating Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic bishops, and accompanied by a procession of children carrying flags, the bearing of the symbolic burial shroud of the Theotokos, and incense and chant. Pilgrims walk from the Shrine to Christ the Bridegroom Monastery across the street for Matins and the Sixth Hour, gather at the Lourdes Grotto for the Mystery of Holy Anointing, and finish with a candle-lighting prayer to the Most Pure Theotokos.
- Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with the Eparchial Bishop
- Akathist to the Mother of God with procession
- Paraklis with Mystery of Holy Anointing at the Lourdes Grotto
- Matins and Sixth Hour at Christ the Bridegroom Monastery
- Pilgrim blessing at the mosaic cross
- Theme of 2025 pilgrimage: 'Under the Protection of Your Veil'
Christ the Bridegroom Monastery (Across the Street)
Directly across Mumford Road from the shrine sits Christ the Bridegroom Monastery, a Byzantine Catholic women's monastic community of the Eparchy of Parma. The monastery was born of Bishop John Kudrick's 2008 vision for Eastern monasticism in response to Pope John Paul II's Orientale Lumen; the sisters moved into the former Social Mission Sisters' house on April 3, 2009, were received into the Eparchy in 2010, and were canonically erected as a sui iuris monastery of eparchial right by Bishop Milan Lach on September 27, 2019. Mother Theodora was elected hegumena (abbess) on September 29, 2019. The sisters live a contemplative life of prayer, work, and hospitality, meditating especially on the Song of Songs, and they cantor many of the services at the adjacent shrine during the annual August pilgrimage.
- Established as a Public Association of the Faithful by Bishop John Kudrick — August 2, 2015
- Canonical foundation as a sui iuris monastery of eparchial right by Bishop Milan Lach — September 27, 2019
- Mother Theodora elected hegumena — September 29, 2019
- Address: 17485 Mumford Rd., Burton, OH 44021
- Phone: 440-834-0290
- Email: [email protected]
Jurisdiction and Relationship to the Eparchy of Parma
The Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch is owned and operated by the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, the Ruthenian (Byzantine) Catholic eparchy covering faithful of the Rusyn/Ukrainian/Ruthenian tradition in the United States. Although the shrine lies geographically within the territorial Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, it is canonically part of the Eparchy of Parma, which was established by Pope St. Paul VI in 1969 and currently comprises some 28 parishes spread across 12 states, about 4,309 parishioners, 25 priests, 15 deacons, several religious sisters and two men religious. Byzantine Catholics are in full communion with the Pope and Rome; Roman Catholics may attend and receive Holy Communion at the shrine as at any Catholic church.
- Eparchy of Parma — established 1969 by Pope St. Paul VI
- Approximately 28 parishes across 12 states
- Current Eparchial Bishop: Most Rev. Robert Pipta
- Eparchial seat: Parma, Ohio
- Approximately 25 priests and 15 deacons in the eparchy
- Geographically located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Alexander Bobak, S.T.D.1956–
Founding director of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch; developed the grounds together with the Social Mission Sisters.