Fr. Theodore Jurewicz (russian: Феодор Юревич; born 1953,

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

) is a

Polish-American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Poles, Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing abou ...

Orthodox old-rite priest and artist specializing in painting

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

s and

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es. Father Jurewicz is also an archpriest of the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...

, and serves the parish of the Nativity of the Lord in

Personal life

Fr. Theodore was born Frank Jurewicz in 1949 into a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

family in

. As a child he attended church assiduously and often visited the Old Believer parish of the Nativity of Christ in Erie. From these visits he developed a deep interest in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

, and, while still a teenager, converted to Orthodoxy and joined the

. He married and attended the

Holy Trinity Seminary Holy Trinity Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary residence in Irving, Texas, United States, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Diocese of Dallas, Texas that is located within the University of Dallas campus, founded in 1964. It is headed ...

as a married seminarian. In January 1974, Theodore Jurewicz was ordained priest. Theodore Jurewicz is the father of noted

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-based iconographer John Jurewicz.

Art

Fr. Jurewicz is held to be one of the most renowned icon painters in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

today, and has painted about a dozen

Eastern Orthodox churches The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

across

. He was a student of the late Archimandrite Cyprian, founder of the Russian school of iconography outside of Russia. One of his more famous works was his commission to paint the entire church at

New Gračanica Monastery New Gračanica Monastery ( sr, Манастир Нoва Грачаница, Manastir Nova Gračanica) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery complex is located in Third Lake, Illinois, United States, a suburb of Chicago. The complex houses a scaled-up ...

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, a faithful replica of the original

Gračanica monastery Gračanica () may refer to: Places Bosnia and Herzegovina *Gračanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a town and municipality in Tuzla *Gračanica (Bugojno), a village in Central Bosnia *Gračanica, Gacko, a village in Republika Srpska *Gračanica, Proz ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

, which is listed on the

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as an endangered example of medieval monuments. Done over the span of three years, it is painted in a

style and features richly colored designs and religious scenes covering the

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...

s, vaults,

pillars A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression (physical), compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column i ...

and

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

of the church. The

es are painted in acrylics on dry

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for Molding (decorative), moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of ...

. Another notable commission of Fr. Theodore is the Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in Merrillville, Indiana where he painted the original frescoes lining the walls and a fresco of the Virgin Mary and the Christ child over the center altar. In Canada, the most notable Father Jurewcz's work can be seen at St Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church, 1401 Barton St E, Hamilton ON. This work was done in the early 2000's and took approx 5 years to complete. The work has been captured in pictures by Historical Hamilton, as the church is the oldest Serbian Orthodox Church in Eastern Canada. Pictures can be viewed at http://historicalhamilton.com/special-features/favourite-locations/st-nicholas-serbian-orthodox-church/p-4460-st-nicholas-serbian-orthodox-church.html. This church is open to visit and to admire the work. Fr. Theodore has also mastered the art of Coptic Orthodox iconography. His Coptic iconography can be seen at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

References

Sources

* http://directory.stinnocentpress.com/viewclergy.cgi?Uid=46&lang=en
иерей Феодор Юревич

External links

Video interview on the Byzantine ForumDaily News article on Fr. Theodore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurewicz, Theodore Icon painters 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century American male artists 21st-century Polish painters Eastern Orthodox Christians from Poland Eastern Orthodox priests in the United States Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists American people of Polish descent Living people Old Believer movement Priests of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Fresco painters Russian Orthodox Christians from the United States 21st-century Eastern Orthodox priests 20th-century Eastern Orthodox priests Year of birth missing (living people) Polish male painters