Orthodox Christian dating in Rhode Island
Orthodox Christian dating in Rhode Island: Antiochian and Greek parishes in Pawtucket and Cranston, and Romanian and OCA ones in Woonsocket and Cumberland.
Create your profileAn illustration, not a data map.
- Antiochian
- Greek
- Romanian
- OCA
Short answer
On a hilltop in Cumberland that was once called Russian Hill, the Holy Dormition parish still prays in the church its immigrant founders built with their own hands in 1908. Its history names the missionary who guided its founding, Father Alexander Hotovitzky, who was later killed in Stalin's purges and canonised in 1994.
Three of the other parishes on this page are nearly as old, and all of them are close together: St Mary in Pawtucket was founded in 1910 by immigrants from the Middle East, the Romanians of Woonsocket organised their parish in 1912, and the Greek Annunciation in Cranston records its first Liturgy on Pine Street in 1921. Five places are listed below with an address and a link to their own website, none more than about twenty minutes from the next.
This page belongs to cana.love, a free site for people who want to marry. Not everyone on it is Orthodox, and a later section explains what that means.
Orthodox Christians in Rhode Island
The Romanian parish of St John the Baptist in Woonsocket keeps the notice that called it into being: a meeting on Sunday, 17 November 1912, at Butcher Hall on Cumberland Street, to discuss building a church where people could hear the Liturgy in their own language. It now belongs to the Romanian Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America and says it welcomes all Orthodox Christians.
St Mary in Pawtucket describes itself the same way: founded by immigrants from the Middle East, now a multi-ethnic parish of the Antiochian Archdiocese that welcomes all Orthodox people, with an Arabic Liturgy on the first Saturday of each month as well as its Sunday services.
Orthodox Studies Institute, 2024; national figures, not Rhode Island's
The Annunciation in Cranston keeps an archive of the Greek community reaching back to 1905, with photographs of that first Liturgy on Pine Street on 25 March 1921.
For today's converts there is a national study. The Orthodox Studies Institute looked at twenty parishes across six jurisdictions and fifteen states and found that of those received since 2013, two thirds were under forty, the thirties were the commonest decade, and 44 percent were single when received.
That is not Rhode Island's figure, and nobody has counted the state separately. What we checked instead were five addresses, each against the parish's own website on 24 September 2026.
Where the community gathers
The five places fall into two parts of the state: Providence and its neighbours, and the Blackstone Valley to the north.
Providence and its neighbours
Providence and its neighbours hold three. St Mary, the Antiochian parish, is on High Street in Pawtucket, and the Assumption, a Greek parish, is on Walcott Street a mile away; the Annunciation is on Oaklawn Avenue in Cranston, a quarter of an hour south-west. Pawtucket has two more Orthodox churches on the map, but one has no website and the website linked to the other belongs to a same-name parish in West Virginia, so neither has a card.
The Blackstone Valley
The Blackstone Valley holds two: St John the Baptist, the Romanian parish on East School Street in Woonsocket, and Holy Dormition on Manville Hill Road in Cumberland, seven minutes apart. Newport also has a Greek parish, St Spyridon on Thames Street, but its website was unavailable when we checked.
Cathedrals and parishes worth knowing
Founded in 1910 by immigrants from the Middle East and now a multi-ethnic parish, with Orthros at nine and the Divine Liturgy at ten on Sunday, and an Arabic Liturgy on the first Saturday of the month at six.
249 High StreetPawtucket
RI 02860
The Greek parish of Pawtucket, a mile from St Mary.
97 Walcott StreetPawtucket
RI 02860
A parish of the Greek Metropolis of Boston whose first Liturgy, on Pine Street, was in 1921; Orthros at a quarter past eight and the Liturgy at half past nine on Sunday.
175 Oaklawn AvenueCranston
RI 02920
Founded in 1912 by the Romanians of Woonsocket, now in the Romanian Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America; its service times are on its calendar.
501 East School StreetWoonsocket
RI 02895
A parish of the Orthodox Church in America worshipping in the church its founders built in 1908, on the hill once called Russian Hill.
71 Manville Hill RoadCumberland
RI 02864
Distances that decide everything
A diagram, not a map. Driving times, as in the text.
Rhode Island is small enough that distance is rarely the problem. Pawtucket to Cranston is about a quarter of an hour, Pawtucket to Woonsocket under twenty minutes, and Woonsocket to Cumberland seven. Newport is about three quarters of an hour from Cranston, and Boston an hour from Pawtucket.
So two people anywhere in the state can meet after work, and try each other's parishes on consecutive Sundays without much planning. The harder question is not the drive but whether you would move further, to Boston or beyond, if it came to that.
That is on the cana.love form too: where you live and whether you would move, both there before the first message.
The Orthodox year in Rhode Island
The Divine Liturgy
At half past nine at the Annunciation in Cranston and at ten at St Mary in Pawtucket.
Orthros
At a quarter past eight in Cranston and at nine in Pawtucket.
Arabic Liturgy in Pawtucket
St Mary serves it on the first Saturday of each month at six in the evening.
Cumberland's feast
The feast that gives Holy Dormition its name falls in August.
Two calendars in Woonsocket
The Romanian parish publishes a Romanian calendar alongside its schedule of services.
Sunday school and teens
St Mary runs Sunday school from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade and a teen group.
Dating across jurisdictions, and with converts
An Antiochian parish that began with Middle Eastern immigrants, two Greek ones, a Romanian parish and a parish of the Orthodox Church in America founded by immigrants on a hill once called Russian Hill: Orthodox Rhode Island packs four traditions into a few miles. This is how cana.love works with that.
Twelve jurisdictions on one list
On the form, jurisdiction has twelve possible answers: OCA, ROCOR, Greek, Antiochian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Carpatho-Russian, Albanian, Catechumen and Other Canonical. Every place on this page is one of them, and anyone still preparing for reception can answer Catechumen.
Practice, asked outright
Next come questions about practice: how often you are at the Liturgy, whether you fast, and whether you are looking to marry. The site runs in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian.
Checked before it appears
A new profile, and every photo on it, stays hidden until it has been reviewed, first by software and then by a person where the software is unsure. Asking another member for money breaks the site's published rules, and fraud leads to permanent removal without a warning.
Free, and no password
Joining is free and nothing is charged later. There is no password: a one-time link or code is emailed to you each time you sign in.
What cana.love is and is not
cana.love is not an Orthodox-only platform.
It also has Catholic and Protestant members, and people still deciding where they belong, as long as they are looking for the same kind of marriage; you choose who sees you. Rhode Island has only a handful of Orthodox parishes, and a site that admitted one jurisdiction alone would leave most people there with no one to write to. The promise it makes is a checkable one: jurisdiction, practice and intentions are asked on the form, and you read them before you reply. It is run by Cana SpA, a company in Chile; the About page has more.
Meeting safely
- For a first meeting choose a public place and daylight, and agree a time to leave: coffee after the Liturgy, a café on Wickenden Street in Providence or on Thames Street in Newport. Tell a friend where you will be and when you expect to be home. Your address can wait.
- On money there is only one rule. Before you have met in person, send nothing, lend nothing and pay for no one's travel, however pressing the reason. A single report is enough for us to look into it.
How reports are handled, and how to appeal a decision, is in the community guidelines.
Common questions
Can I visit several parishes easily?
Yes. Pawtucket's two are a mile apart, Cranston is a quarter of an hour away, and Woonsocket and Cumberland are seven minutes from each other.
Is there a Liturgy in Arabic?
St Mary in Pawtucket holds one on the first Saturday of each month at six.
Is there a Romanian parish?
St John the Baptist in Woonsocket, founded in 1912, now in the Romanian Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America.
Who was St Alexander Hotovitzky?
The missionary priest who guided the founding of the Cumberland parish. He left America in 1914, was killed in 1938 and was canonised in 1994.
Why does Newport have no card?
Its Greek parish, St Spyridon, had its website unavailable when we checked. Try again before you visit.
Can I use cana.love in Rhode Island?
Yes, anywhere in the state, from eighteen. It is a website; nothing needs installing.
Next steps
Visit two parishes on consecutive Sundays: in Pawtucket, St Mary and the Assumption are a mile apart; in the Blackstone Valley, Woonsocket and Cumberland are seven minutes apart. And if you want to know how someone lives the faith before you meet rather than after, make a free profile on cana.love and read theirs.
Reviewed on September 24, 2026.