Memory Eternal! Vicnaja Pam'yatʹ!

It is with a heavy heart that I pass along the news of the falling asleep in the Lord of Metropolitan Basil Schott, Archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolia of Pittsburgh (July 9, 2002 – June 10, 2010). Metropolitan Basil died 3:45 a.m. on Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at UPMC Passavant Hospital in Pittsburgh from cancer that he had been diagnosed with last year.

Metropolitan Basil was born in Freeland, Luzerne County, Pennsylvainia and ordained to the priesthood in 1965. Metropolitan Basil was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Pittsburgh on May 3, 2002 by Pope John Paul II and was enthroned as Metropolitan Archbishop of the 'Byzantine Catholic Church in America' on July 9th, 2002.

The Byzantine Catholic Church is the American sister church of the one formed in 1649 in the Carpathians, as a result of the merging of the existing Orthodox Church with Roman Catholic Church of the then ruling Austro-Hungarian empire. Carpatho-Rusyn members are still the majority of this church, but this is decreasing as the church expands in the USA.

The arrangements are as follows:

Wednesday, June 16:

• 1:00 p.m. reception of the Archbishop’s body at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Munhall, PA


• 7:00 p.m. Funeral Service for a Priest - Part I

Thursday, June 17:

• 1:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Archbishop to lie in state.


• 7:00 p.m. Funeral Service for a Priest - Part II

Friday, June 18:

• 10:00 a.m. Funeral Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Munhall, PA


• Internment: Mount Saint Macrina, Uniontown, PA

In blessed repose, grant, O Lord, eternal rest to your departed servant, the high priest Metropolitan Basil, and remember him forever.

Memory Eternal! Vicnaja Pam'yatʹ!