Wide-ranging influence
Father Soroka’s influence extended far beyond his own parish.
He authored or co-authored — sometimes with a brother, the Rev. Vladimir Soroka — a half-dozen books of liturgical music, which have been widely used in the Orthodox Church in America. They provided settings for Englishlanguage services such as the Divine Liturgy (communion) and morning and evening prayer.
Some still refer to these liturgies as the “Soroka red book, blue book and green book,” said Archbishop Melchisedek.
“The Soroka brothers were serving the church at a very critical time when a transition was being made to the use of English,” Archbishop Melchisedek said. “They led the way, and in certain cases they’ve not been surpassed or replaced.”
To help make the liturgy more accessible, Father Soroka said he created musical settings and harmonies for English translations of the archaic Slavonic-language liturgy.
The goal was to “have more people singing, and praying, because singing is praying.”
That work began even before he was ordained a priest, during years when he led parish music programs. He was so busy with music that he put off ordination until his early 30s. “I was always a little mad at myself that I didn’t get ordained sooner, yet sometimes how things work out,” he said. Also, he said, the experience helped him as a priest to understand the needs of lay people better.
Family tradition
The clerical life is a Soroka family tradition. Father Soroka was born in McKees Rocks, the son of a Russian immigrant priest, the Rev. Gregory Soroka, and his wife, Anastasia. His father would see three of his sons — Igor and the late Leonid and Vladimir — fulfill his wish that they go into the priesthood. Father Igor Soroka’s nephew, the Rev. Thomas Soroka, is also a priest at St. Nicholas Church in McKees Rocks.
As Father Gregory Soroka worked at various parishes around Western Pennsylvania, young Igor often accompanied him on visits with parishioners, where he saw firsthand their struggles to make ends meet during the Depression.
“I did a lot in the church even when I was growing up, with the choir, singing, helping with the services, so it became a part of me,” he said.
Not that his repertoire was limited to church music. It also included Russian folk songs and American show tunes. At his father’s request, he would sing for houseguests, performing tunes like “Old Man River.”
Eventually his father settled into a long-term pastorate in Charleroi, where Igor graduated from high school. He then went to St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in eastern Pennsylvania. Father Soroka still displays a photo in his office of an especially influential monk there, a reminder of “what it means to belong to God.”
After graduating from St. Tikhon, he began a series of jobs directing parish music programs in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan. He also earned an undergraduate degree at Duquesne University and sang in its Slavic cultural ensemble, the Tamburitzans. While serving a Detroit parish, he met his wife, Irene, who sang alto in the choir.
The tone of their church-centered marriage was set on their honeymoon trip, which included a visit to a monastery in New York state.
Father Soroka also formed a Cathedral Choir, which for more than half a century has gathered Orthodox singers from Western Pennsylvania for special events.
He organized many choral conferences for the Orthodox Church in America, and he was the first director of its department of liturgical music. The church made him one of the inaugural recipients in 2014 of its St. Romanos Award, honoring those who made significant contributions in liturgical music.
Dimitro Petro, who was both the Soroka family doctor and, for the last half-century, director of the parish choir, said Father Soroka’s pitch was so precise that he often didn’t need a tuning fork to cue the choir.
Dr. Petro recalled attending a liturgy conference with Father Soroka in New York, during which they went to dinner at a Russian-themed restaurant, complete with a instrumental trio playing folk music from the old country. Father Soroka, with an extensive knowledge of the repertoire, sang along for an impromptu set to the applause of patrons throughout the restaurant.
Father Soroka led numerous local and regional clergy associations, yet he kept busy at his little parish, leading youth groups in everything from Russian lessons to Christmas caroling to Halloween parties to blessings of homes and graves.
“With all the positions he’s had on the national level and in the archdiocese and then in the community, first and foremost was his dedication to serving our church here and the local parishioners,” said his son, Mark Soroka, who lives with and assists him. “The other things were important but secondary to what he wanted to do with the parishioners. At the same time he was a very humble person.”