Orthodox Christian dating in Pennsylvania
Orthodox dating in Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, the coal valleys with St Tikhon's, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, and how to find a spouse. Free, no subscription.
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- Greek
- OCA
- Carpatho-Russian
- Serbian
- Monastery
Short answer
If you are Orthodox and single in Pennsylvania, you are in the state where Orthodox America was built: the first Orthodox parish of Pittsburgh was organized by steel-mill immigrants in 1891, the monastery at South Canaan was founded in 1905 and counts, by its own history, five canonized saints among those who walked its grounds, the coal valleys of the northeast filled with parishes in the 1900s, and in 1938 the Carpatho-Rusyns of Johnstown made their town the seat of a diocese. Today the Orthodox Church in America alone keeps two dioceses and two cathedrals here, the Greek Archdiocese has cathedrals in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the Serbian diocese has its cathedral south of Pittsburgh, and two seminaries train priests in the hills.
This page leads to cana.love, a free dating site for people who want marriage; the questionnaire asks which church you attend and how often, what you do about fasting, and which of twelve Orthodox jurisdictions you belong to, so a Carpatho-Rusyn from Johnstown and a Greek from Pittsburgh can find each other by practice rather than by a box that says "Christian".
Not an Orthodox-only site; who else is on it is said plainly further down.
Orthodox Christians in Pennsylvania
Orthodoxy came to Pennsylvania with the mills and the mines. In 1891 the eastern European immigrants who had come for work in the Pittsburgh steel mills organized the first Orthodox parish in the city, the seed of what is now St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral; in 1904 Russian immigrants from Galicia founded St Nicholas in the coal town of Olyphant; in 1909 thirty families of Slavic and Russian descent built Holy Annunciation in Berwick; and in 1913 Carpatho-Russians built the Assumption of the Holy Virgin at 28th and Snyder in South Philadelphia. In 1905 St Tikhon of Moscow, then the bishop of North America, founded the monastery at South Canaan that bears his name, which calls itself the oldest Orthodox monastery in this land and in the western world. And in 1935 thirty-seven Carpatho-Rusyn parishes, refusing further latinization, petitioned to return to Orthodoxy; on 19 September 1938 their diocese was received by the Ecumenical Patriarch, and in 1950 Christ the Saviour Cathedral made Johnstown its seat.
Since then the largest change has been the converts: adults who came to the faith with no Orthodox family behind them. It has been counted: in twenty parishes across six jurisdictions and fifteen states, the Orthodox Studies Institute found that two thirds of the people received since 2013 were under forty, that the thirties were the largest single age group, and that 44 percent came into the Church unmarried.
Orthodox Studies Institute, 2024; national figures, not Pennsylvania's
Pennsylvania was not counted on its own, but the person in those figures is the one at coffee hour in Harrisburg or Allison Park: an adult who chose the faith, often from a Protestant upbringing, and who has not yet married. The parish of Christ the Saviour in Harrisburg was founded in 1963 as the first in the capital region conceived as pan-Orthodox, multi-ethnic and English-serving; the old parishes of the coal towns and mill towns are still there, with their Slavonic and their Greek, and the door beside them is open to people who speak neither.
Four jurisdictions account for most of the parishes, and several more have a presence. The Orthodox Church in America has a Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania with its cathedral of St Stephen in Philadelphia and an Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania with St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral at Allison Park, and between them parishes from the anthracite valleys to the Monongahela; St Tikhon's Monastery and Seminary belong to it as well. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has its Metropolis of Pittsburgh, seated at St Nicholas Cathedral in Oakland, covering western, central and northeastern Pennsylvania, while Philadelphia and its cathedral of St George belong to the Metropolis of New Jersey. The American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, has its cathedral and its seminary in Johnstown. The Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America has Holy Trinity Cathedral in Pittsburgh and parishes from Aliquippa to Elkins Park. Romanian, Albanian and Antiochian parishes exist as well, and the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops keeps the directory that lists them all.
Where the community gathers
Pennsylvania is four Orthodox worlds set along the Turnpike and I-81: Philadelphia, the anthracite country of the northeast with St Tikhon's, the Susquehanna around Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh with its mill towns.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia has three cathedrals of three kinds within a few miles. St George, the Greek cathedral, stands on South 8th Street in a Greek Revival church of 1822 that the Greek community bought in the 1920s; St Stephen, the OCA cathedral, is on Verree Road in the northeast of the city and the seat of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania; the Assumption of the Holy Virgin has stood at 28th and Snyder in South Philadelphia since 1913, and the Serbian parish of St Nicholas is in Elkins Park. It is the one part of the state where the parish you choose is a matter of taste, not of distance.
The anthracite country and St Tikhon's
The anthracite country is the old heart. The valleys around Scranton and Wilkes-Barre have Orthodox parishes in mining town after mining town, most of them founded between 1900 and 1920 by immigrants from Galicia and Carpathian Rus': St Nicholas in Olyphant from 1904, Holy Annunciation in Berwick from 1909, Holy Trinity in Wilkes-Barre, the seat of a deanery, from 1967. Half an hour from Scranton, at South Canaan, St Tikhon's Monastery has stood since 1905 with its seminary beside it, and its Memorial Day pilgrimage is the one weekend of the year when the whole state comes to one place.
Harrisburg and the Susquehanna
The Susquehanna and Harrisburg are the middle. Christ the Saviour on Old Locust Lane was founded in 1963 as the first pan-Orthodox, English-serving parish of the capital region; the Serbian parish of St Nicholas is a few miles south in Oberlin. Two hours from Philadelphia, two from Scranton and three and a half from Pittsburgh, Harrisburg is where a person from any of the other worlds is halfway.
Pittsburgh and the mill towns
Pittsburgh and the mill towns are the older world. St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland, in a church of 1904 that has been Greek since 1923, is the seat of the Metropolis of Pittsburgh; St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral at Allison Park descends from the parish of 1891; Holy Trinity Serbian Cathedral is on Maxwell Drive south of the city; the Holy Assumption of St Mary has kept its building on South 19th Street since 1917; and St Sava in McKeesport is one of a ring of Serbian parishes in the mill towns along the rivers. An hour and a half east, Johnstown has the Carpatho-Russian cathedral and seminary, and an hour north, the Monastery of the Transfiguration at Ellwood City is the women's community of the west.
Cathedrals and parishes worth knowing
The Greek cathedral of Philadelphia, in the Metropolis of New Jersey, in a Greek Revival church built in 1822.
256 South 8th StreetPhiladelphia
The cathedral of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania, founded in 1971.
8598 Verree RoadPhiladelphia
On its original site since 1913, founded by Carpatho-Russian immigrants.
2101 South 28th StreetPhiladelphia
Founded in 1904 by Russian immigrants from Galicia in the anthracite valley.
600 East Lackawanna AvenueOlyphant
Founded in 1967, the seat of the Wilkes-Barre deanery.
401 East Main StreetWilkes-Barre
Founded in 1963 as the first pan-Orthodox, English-serving parish of the capital region.
5501 Old Locust LaneHarrisburg
The cathedral of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese since 1950, with the diocesan seminary beside it.
300 Garfield StreetJohnstown
The seat of the Metropolis of Pittsburgh, in a church of 1904 that has been Greek Orthodox since 1923.
419 South Dithridge StreetOakland
The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, descended from the first Orthodox parish of Pittsburgh, 1891.
8290 Thompson Run RoadAllison Park
The cathedral of the Serbian Diocese of Eastern America in the west of the state.
450 Maxwell DrivePittsburgh
On the South Side, in a building that has been an Orthodox church since 1917.
105 South 19th StreetPittsburgh
One of the Serbian parishes of the mill towns along the Monongahela.
901 Hartman StreetMcKeesport
The coal valleys and the mill towns hold many more parishes than these twelve; the directory of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops lists all of them.
Distances that decide everything
A schematic, not a map. Driving times as given in the text.
Pennsylvania is wide, and the numbers are honest: Philadelphia to Scranton is about two hours on I-476, Scranton to Harrisburg two on I-81, Harrisburg to Pittsburgh three and a half on the Turnpike, and Philadelphia to Pittsburgh five. Johnstown is an hour and a half from Pittsburgh and two and a half from Harrisburg; Erie is two hours north of Pittsburgh; St Tikhon's is half an hour from Scranton and two and a half from Philadelphia. Inside each world the calculation is subtler: the mill towns around Pittsburgh are half an hour from the city and from each other, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton are one valley, and Philadelphia's three cathedrals are a car ride apart in traffic that decides more than the miles.
Set a search radius by the Sunday you would actually spend, the liturgy, the lunch and the drive back, not by the width of the state. For most Pennsylvanians that is one world: Philadelphia, the coal valleys, the capital or Pittsburgh and its mill towns. Searching the whole state finds more people and makes every first meeting a day on the Turnpike or I-81; that suits some people and not others, and the profile is the place to say which.
The Orthodox year in Pennsylvania
Memorial Day at St Tikhon's
Every year at the end of May the monastery holds its pilgrimage, and all are invited: services, the seminary, the cemetery where the saints of the place are remembered. People from Philadelphia, the valleys and Pittsburgh who would never otherwise meet stand in the same field that weekend.
Parish festivals
The Greek and Serbian parishes of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia keep their festivals from spring to autumn, and the parish sites announce the dates. Underneath the food a festival is the parish's reunion, and it is the one weekend of the year when a newcomer is expected and not merely tolerated.
The seminaries
St Tikhon's at South Canaan has trained priests since 1938 and Christ the Saviour at Johnstown since 1951; their feast days and graduations draw the faithful of their dioceses, and their students are the future clergy of the parishes on this page.
Pilgrimages
Beyond St Tikhon's, the west has the women's Monastery of the Transfiguration at Ellwood City, founded in 1967. A pilgrimage weekend brings people from different parishes together with nothing to sell and nothing to perform.
Sunday of Orthodoxy
On the first Sunday of Great Lent each city's parishes gather for one Pan-Orthodox Vespers, clergy and faithful of every jurisdiction together; the host parish changes each year and is announced on the diocesan sites.
Diocesan gatherings
The dioceses hold their own assemblies, young-adult retreats and clergy-laity meetings, posted on the sites above; they are where Philadelphia meets Pittsburgh and the coal valleys meet both.
Dating across jurisdictions, and with converts
A Carpatho-Rusyn from Christ the Saviour in Johnstown and a Greek from St Nicholas in Pittsburgh are both Orthodox, and what they need to know first is what that means at the table on a Wednesday. The cana.love questionnaire was written to open that conversation.
Practice, not labels
It asks which church you attend and how often you are actually there, what you do about fasting, and whether you want marriage or someone to write to. Orthodox members choose from twelve jurisdictions listed one by one, the Carpatho-Russian diocese among them alongside the OCA, ROCOR, Greek, Antiochian and Serbian, and Catechumen is an option in its own right.
Five languages, Russian included
English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian, all fully translated. In Pennsylvania that reaches the Spanish the cities speak at home and members who write in Russian; an optional AI feature translates a message between two members who write in different languages.
Checked before it is visible
Every profile and every photo is reviewed before it is visible to anyone else, and anything doubtful goes to a person. Asking members for money is a permanent removal, with no warning.
Free, with no paid tiers
There is no subscription and there are no paid tiers; who viewed you and who liked you is free to see, which on most sites is what you pay for. The optional AI extras use credits; you receive 150 when you register, and for now there is no way to add to them. You sign in with a one-time link or code to your email, so no password exists to leak.
What cana.love is and is not
cana.love is not an Orthodox-only platform.
It is open to Christians of other traditions and to people who hold the same values about marriage without a confession of their own, and every member sets their own filters for whom to see. In the state where Orthodox America was built we would rather say so before you register than have you discover it after. What the site promises is that your jurisdiction, your practice and your intention are asked on the form and answered by everyone you meet; the About page has the full account.
Meeting safely
- Never send money to someone you have not met in person; on cana.love asking for it is grounds for permanent removal.
- Meet in a public place, let someone know where you are going, and keep the conversation on the site until you are comfortable moving it.
How profiles are reviewed, how reports are handled and how to appeal a decision are set out on the guidelines page.
Common questions
Is cana.love available in Pennsylvania?
Yes. It is a web application open to adults anywhere, Pennsylvania included, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian; it runs in the browser, with nothing to install.
How far should I search in Pennsylvania?
By the Sunday drive you would actually make for a liturgy and lunch: one world for most people, Philadelphia, the coal valleys, Harrisburg or Pittsburgh. Widen to the whole state only if the Turnpike before a first meeting does not put you off.
Which jurisdictions have cathedrals in Pennsylvania?
On this page: the Greek Archdiocese in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the Orthodox Church in America in Philadelphia and Allison Park, the Carpatho-Russian diocese in Johnstown, and the Serbian Church in Pittsburgh.
Are there Orthodox monasteries in Pennsylvania?
Yes; St Tikhon's at South Canaan, founded in 1905 as the first Orthodox monastery in the country, is the one every Orthodox Pennsylvanian knows, and the section on the Orthodox year describes its Memorial Day pilgrimage.
Where is the oldest Orthodox presence in Pennsylvania?
Pittsburgh's first Orthodox parish of 1891, now St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and St Tikhon's Monastery at South Canaan, founded in 1905 as the first Orthodox monastery in the western world.
Where can I find every Orthodox parish in Pennsylvania?
In the directory of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, kept with every jurisdiction, and on the sites of the OCA Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania and Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, the Greek Metropolis of Pittsburgh and Metropolis of New Jersey, the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese and the Serbian Diocese of Eastern America.
Next steps
Create a profile at cana.love, read the community guidelines before your first message, and read the About page if you want to know who runs the site and on what terms. Then find your world of the state, find its calendar, and find the person.
Reviewed on September 19, 2026.
Photographs, all Wikimedia Commons: Christ the Saviour Orthodox Cathedral, Johnstown — Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0 · St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland, Pittsburgh — Lee Paxton, CC BY-SA 4.0 · St Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral, Allison Park — Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, Pittsburgh — Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0