MERCER Orthodox church has traditional design

The building is a replica of wooden churches in Europe.
MERCER, Pa. -- Sts. Cyril & amp; Methodius Church, a new $1.4 million Orthodox church with a traditional European design, will be consecrated next weekend at Camp Nazareth.
The camp is the youth facility for the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A.
The church takes its name from the Orthodox emissaries to central Europe.
The building is a large-scale replica of the wooden churches. The diocese said that under the Austro-Hungarian Empire's laws for almost 400 years, the churches -- including the domes, gutters, fences and gates -- could be made only of wood. Many of the churches in Czechoslovakia were destroyed during World War II, and the communist government moved many of the churches from villages to serve as museums for tourists.
An estimated 75 of the original churches remain. Several wooden churches have been built in the United States in recent years.
The church at the camp is four times as large at the typical village church.
It can accommodate 30 priests serving at the altar and seat 300 people in the church and enclosed porches. A total of 48,000 special wood shingles were imported from Slovakia for the new church.
The bottom of the building will be used as a Carpatho-Russian Heritage Center.
The church was designed by architect Joseph Parimucha of Alexandria, Va., formerly of Hermitage, Pa. He now works at Huelat Parimucha Ltd., which specializes in designing health-care facilities.
The Rite of Consecration will be at 1 p.m. next Saturday, followed by a banquet at the Normandy Banquet Center in Hermitage. The first Hierarchical Divine Liturgy will be at 10 a.m. Aug. 17, followed by a catered lunch at the camp.