MtStMacrina

The history of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great, an international group of women religious, begins in the fourth century with St. Basil, their patron. St. Basil, the Bishop of Caesarea Cappadocia in Asia Minor, known as the Father of Eastern Monasticism, taught three principles for this life: the Gospel as Rule, Community Life, and Service to the local Church. His sister, St. Macrina, his mother, St. Emellia, and other women including their former servants, lived in a monastery for women across the river from the one Basil began for men. After his death, his way of life spread through Greece and into Europe.

Though monasteries arose and declined through the centuries, record keeping and documentation were either poorly done or non-existent. However, records show that the first Sisters of St. Basil came to America in 1911 from a monastery in Europe. A courageous group of four Sisters arrived in Philadelphia under the head of Mother Helen Langevych. Shortly after, Mother Macrina Melnychuk, who had been the Directress of a famous Girls Institute in Poland followed. Mother Macrina became the first Novice Directress in America, and after Mother Helen’s death, she succeeded her as Superior of the Community.

In January 1921, Mother Macrina responded to the request of the Apostolic Administrator, for Sisters to serve the people of Ruthenian descent in America, and founded Our Lady of Perpetual Help Province in Cleveland, OH. The first convent and novitiate there was a ten-room house. Five young women came in the spring of the same year and the community began to grow. The care of orphan children was the initial apostolic work of the small community.