Holy Trinity Orthodox Church (c. 1958)

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America · founded about 1958 · active, November 2026

Fort Wayne has had two churches named Holy Trinity, and they are kept apart throughout this record. This is the Russian one: a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, in the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America. The other is the Greek Orthodox parish of the same name, long at 110 East Wallen Road, whose present church was consecrated on October 24 and 25, 2025, with Archbishop Elpidophoros presiding.

The Russian parish stood at 2402 Smith Street, Fort Wayne, in 46803. That address, missing from the sources this gazetteer could first reach, is given by the diocese itself in a 2007 retreat flyer and is carried by the Orthodox directory listings, which also give the parish telephone as (260) 432-9742 and its priest, in the directories' last updates, as Father Andre Korolenko.

Its founding date rests on a single remark. On June 22, 2008, the Sunday of All Saints and the Sunday after the parish's patronal feast of Holy Spirit Day, Bishop Peter of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America served the hierarchical Divine Liturgy at Holy Trinity. Parishioners and guests from the Holy Virgin Protection parish in Goshen, Indiana, filled the church. The bishop was greeted with bread and salt by the parish treasurer, Helen Lazanowski, identified in the diocese's report as a founding member of the church in Fort Wayne. Mrs. Lazanowski observed that in the half century since the parish was founded, a hierarch had served there only three or four times. Counted back from 2008, the founding falls about 1958. Who the other founders were, and whether the parish began among Russian displaced persons who reached Fort Wayne after the Second World War, the reachable record does not say. [OPEN ITEM]

The clergy named in the 2008 report mark the parish's generations: its retired rector, Father Andrey Korolenko; its dean, Archpriest Andre Papkov; its rector of that year, Father Daniel Marshall; and Deacon Alexander Kitchikov, who had traveled with the bishop from Chicago. Korolenko did not live long past his retirement. The report of the diocese's Great Lenten clergy retreat, held March 20 to 22, 2011, records the clergy offering condolences to the parishioners of Holy Trinity Church in Fort Wayne on the repose of Father Andrey Korolenko, so the founding generation's priest died in or before the early months of 2011.

The parish then thins in the record. The diocese's annual collection letter of March 2, 2018, still carried Holy Trinity Church, Fort Wayne, on its assessment table, assessed $520 for 2018, though the same table shows no payments from the parish across 2013 to 2017. In the summer of 2018 the end came, and it is documented by the community that replaced it. On August 6, 2018, the new St. Paisius Orthodox Church announced its inaugural liturgy in these words: "Archbishop Peter closed Holy Trinity Parish in Fort Wayne and lovingly did not leave us without a spiritual home and opened a new mission parish of the Russian Church Outside of Russia." The new mission, named for St. Paisius Velichkovsky, began regular liturgies on Sunday, August 12, 2018, meeting at St. Mary Romanian Orthodox Church, 2902 Evans Street. The hierarch who closed the parish was the same man who, as Bishop Peter, had served the 2008 liturgy there, by 2018 Archbishop Peter of Chicago and Mid-America.

So the Russian Holy Trinity's life runs from about 1958 to 2018, roughly sixty years, and the earlier form of this entry, which carried the parish as active, does not stand against the diocese's own paper trail. What became of the Smith Street building after the closure, the reachable sources do not say. [OPEN ITEM] In the current year the diocese's own map directory lists no Holy Trinity in Fort Wayne. The city's ROCOR congregation in 2026 is St. Paisius Mission Parish at 2902 Evans Street, the mission Archbishop Peter opened as the Smith Street parish closed. Any present-day account of Orthodox Fort Wayne that lists Holy Trinity as an active Russian parish is working from directories that were never updated.

Sources:

1. Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America (ROCOR), "Bishop Peter visits Holy Trinity Parish in Ft. Wayne, Indiana," visit report, June 22, 2008 (chicagodiocese.org): the hierarchical liturgy, Helen Lazanowski as treasurer and founding member, the half century remark and three or four hierarchal visits, the clergy named, guests from Goshen.
2. Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America (ROCOR), flyer for the 2007 Spring Young Adult Retreat (chicagodiocese.org): "Holy Trinity Church, 2402 Smith St, Ft Wayne, IN 46803."
3. Orthodox-World directory and JoinMyChurch directory entries for Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church, Fort Wayne (accessed 2026): 2402 Smith Street, telephone (260) 432-9742, Father Andre Korolenko as priest; directory data last updated years before the closure.
4. Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America (ROCOR), "Diocesan Retreat held at Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in Chicago," March 2011 (chicagodiocese.org): condolences to the Fort Wayne parishioners on the repose of Father Andrey Korolenko.
5. Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America (ROCOR), annual collection letter, March 2, 2018 (chicagodiocese.org): Holy Trinity Church, Fort Wayne, assessed $520 for 2018, with nil payments shown for 2013 to 2017.
6. St. Paisius Orthodox Church, "Our Inaugural Liturgy," August 6, 2018 (orthodoxfw.com): Archbishop Peter closed Holy Trinity Parish and opened the St. Paisius mission; regular liturgies from August 12, 2018, at St. Mary Romanian Orthodox Church, 2902 Evans Street.
7. Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America (ROCOR), Map Directory of the Diocese (chicagodiocese.org, current year): St. Paisius Mission Parish, 2902 Evans Street, Fort Wayne, is the diocese's Fort Wayne listing; no Holy Trinity appears.
8. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, remarks at the consecration banquet, October 25, 2025 (goarch.org): the consecration of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Fort Wayne, the distinct second parish of the name.