CLEVELAND — The oldest and first Middle Eastern church in Cleveland is still holding strong to those Arab roots as a place filled with faith and history.
At Saint Elias Melkite Greek Catholic Church pass the altar, candles and stained glass, in the back office, you’ll find Kaleel Abdalla and Joseph Ade.
“I’ve been here since 1956, matter of fact, before the church is built here, we are on Scranton Road at the church events,” said Kaleel Abdalla, a parishioner and staff member at the church.
“I've been a perisher since 1952,” said Jospeh Ade a parishioner and staff member at the church.
When Abdalla and Ade first came to Cleveland, they were in a foreign land, but they found the church as a place for their spirits to feel at home.
“If we didn't have the church, I don't know what I would have done,” said Ade.
St Elias has been a place of Middle Eastern community and tradition for more than a century.
“It has the foundation of all the Middle Eastern people here,” said Father Georges Haddad, Pastor of St Elias.
It was in the 1900s when Middle Eastern Christians first started immigrating to Cleveland, but had no place to worship. So, in 1906 a group of Syrians founded Saint Elias Melkite Church. More than a century later their Arab Christian roots have taken hold in the heart of Northeast Ohio with 99% of their congregation Middle Eastern.
Over the years the Syrian community that founded the church, has embraced other Middle Eastern families of faith.
“What shocked me about this, is the fact that they are all together it's not like you're from Palestine. Okay, I don't want to talk to you or you're from Syria. No, I’m from Lebanon. It doesn't matter where you're from. They get together and enjoy each other, it's important to show the people that we are united, we are Christians, and Christ comes first,” said Haddad.
Today, sermons are done in English with sprinkles of Arabic for one simple reason.
“As our bishop called it, we are a universal church. So, it's everybody's welcome,” said Haddad.
Haddad says though they may be evolving their deep-rooted history will never change.
“We can't lose our foundation, we can lose where we’re from seriously, otherwise we'd have no identity.”
They continue to give parishioners like Abdalla and Ade a sense of pride, faith and belonging.
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