Orthodox Churches in Nebraska

A state-by-state survey at Orthodox History lists a Syrian parish at Kearney, dated 1903, as Nebraska's first Orthodox parish. The survey adds that Syrian parishes were then technically part of the Russian Mission. St. George's own history says Arab Christian families from Syria and Lebanon moved to the Kearney area between 1889 and 1903, organized as the St. George Society, and founded the church in 1903. One of the settlers, Fr. Nicola Yanney, was ordained the following year. The parish calls him the first resident Orthodox priest to serve an Arab Christian community west of the Mississippi River.

Greek immigrants reached Omaha in the early 1900s, drawn by the meatpacking industry. A Greek Orthodox congregation formed in 1907, and in 1908 the community built the first St. John the Baptist Church, at 16th and Martha Streets. In 1951 the parish bought the former Temple Israel building, a Byzantine-style structure of 1908 designed by John Latenser Sr. and now a city landmark. The new church was consecrated in 1958. In western Nebraska, Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Bayard dates its beginning to 1925.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has parishes in Omaha, Lincoln, Elkhorn and Bayard. The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese has St. George in Kearney, along with St. Mary and St. Vincent of Lerins in Omaha. Lincoln also has St. John of Kronstadt, an Orthodox Church in America parish, and Omaha has St. Nicholas, a Serbian Orthodox parish.