Longtime New Kensington priest deeply involved in parish

The Very Rev. Paul Richard Ziatyk of Brackenridge, who served 42 years as pastor of St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church in New Kensington, died Monday at age 81.

Father Ziatyk is remembered as a pastor who was deeply involved in parish life, whether it was presiding at liturgies or helping make pierogies for church sales.

“He was a very devoted priest and very devoted to his parishioners,” said church member Valerie Kennedy, whose daughter was the first person he baptized upon his arrival at St. John. He went on to baptize, marry and bury many members of her family and other parish families.

When it came to activities like those pierogies, “he could be a taskmaster,” she said with a chuckle. “He’d want you there on time and make sure you were busy, busy, but he did it in a nice way.”

Father Ziatyk remembered everyone’s birthday and anniversaries, Ms. Kennedy said: “He prayed for everybody every day. He must have had a list a mile long for everybody he prayed for.”

Father Ziatyk continued to help out in the parish after his retirement in 2012, and he did so in a supportive way, said his successor, the Rev. Nikolai Breckenridge.

“I am grateful he was wise in the way he took his retirement,” Father Breckenridge said. “He was always of the opinion, ‘You’re the priest now. If you need my help, I’m glad to help.’”

Father Ziatyk served in many roles in the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania in

Orthodox Church in America, including as chancellor from 1996 to 2012.

He also served on the board of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania and as Orthodox chaplain at the Veterans Affairs hospital on Highland Drive.

He was born Jan. 22, 1937, in Northampton, Pa., to John and Pauline Ziatyk.

He graduated from Lehigh University, earned a master’s degree in sacred theology from St. Vladimir’s Theological Seminary in Crestwood, N.Y., and a master’s in pastoral counseling from Iliff School of Theology in Denver.

Ordained a priest in 1964, he served seven years at a Denver church before coming to New Kensington. He oversaw the paying off of the parish mortgage and the decorating of the church exterior and interior with Orthodox iconography.

He leaves his wife of 56 years, Helen M. (Radon) Ziatyk; children Mark and Paul Ziatyk and Julianne Daily; and five grandchildren.

The funeral is at 9 a.m. Friday at St. John Orthodox Church, 150 Elmtree Road, New Kensington.