Church or Synagogue? Yes.

Yes, depending when and where. The East Village of Manhattan has been home to Eastern Europeans for well over 100 years. Currently within its disputed boundaries are six active Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches of Slavic origin.

The two-way East 14th St. in Mahattan is a bustling thoroughfare both day and night.

Between 2nd Ave. and 1st. Ave on the southside of East 14th St. stands an imposing structure capped with three onion domes midblock amidst the (probably) unliscensed street vendors, endless pedestrians, cabs, busses, and cop cars whizzing down the always busy street. Just a half a block to the east is the massive Stuytown development. And a block to the west is Stuvesant Square Park which is anchored by St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church, famous for its modern architecture.

So what is the structure? Today it's Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synogogaue. Constructed in 1900, this stone building became St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the mother parish of the three current Ukrainian Orthodox parishes in Manhattan. It served as a Ukrainian Orthodox church until the final service in January 1962 when Torahs in procession called this sacred space their new home.

The Ukrainian Orthodox contentiously fractured with some of the congration becoming St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral on W. 82st in the tony Upper West Side. Concidentally, this landmark and gorgeous cathedral is a former synogogues. Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History are just a block away.

The other part of the congregation stayed in the East Village neighborhood. All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with it's magnificent exterior mosaic, stands a few blocks south on E. 11th St. and right off of 3rd Ave. The building is a former Hungarian Protestant church and has been home to All Saints since the end of 1962.