Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church

Tetyana Hollands Log

Creator: Jeremy Compton

Subject: Russian Orthodox Community in Asheville

Keywords: Russia, Orthodox

Description: Tetyana Hollands talks about her life in the Ukraine, and how she has adapted to the life in America.  

Format: 1 90-minute audio cassette; 2 CDs

Interview Date: 3-18-2008

Interview Location: University of North Carolina at Asheville Ramsey Library, Asheville, NC

Biography:  Tetyana was born and raised in the Ukraine.  She attended college in the Ukraine and in Alabama.  Now graduated and married, she works for the state as a librarian in Asheville, North Carolina.

Introduction: As part of a Public History class project, members of the Russian community in Asheville were interviewed.  Mrs. Hollands, an immigrant from the Ukraine, was interviewed to understand her adaptation to America and the differences of the church from Ukraine to America.

List of names:

[09:32] [14:17] Father Onouphry

[05:50] Hollands, Matthew

[18:45] National Aviation University

[00:20] Tetyana is 25 years of age.

[00:36] Tetyana explains how she first moved to America, and what she studied in college when she arrived here.  She explains that she likes America, and found the economy better, and easier to live here.  

[01:30] Tetyana summarizes her career and how nice it is to live in America.

[02:17] Tetyana states she has a cousin in Houston

[02:36] Tetyana explains where and how she met her husband and how long they dated.

[03:00] Tetyana talks about her family in the Ukraine, and how they respected her choice to come to America.

[03:48] Tetyana explains her church and how it is different than the European church with the oppression of the religion under the Soviet regime.

[04:41] Tetyana explains that she was baptized and has always been orthodox since she was a baby.

[05:30] Tetyana explains how initially she was in Alabama for an easier job access, before moving to Asheville, and how this change came around due to her husband’s mother’s illness.

[06:32] Tetyana explains how amazed she was when she first visited Western North Carolina, and how the nature and beauty was significant to her, such as rivers, woods, mountains.  She talks about how she lived in Jackson county and nothing was really there, but it is worth staying.

[07:35] Tetyana talks about how, if not for the living cost being so high in Western North Carolina, she would love to stay here as long as possible.

[08:00] Tetyana talks about her experience with her at-the-time, fiancé, how she wanted to be married in an orthodox church. She continues explaining how important it was to her, and how she felt she belonged in the church and it was very traditional in the Ukraine and her family.

[08:47] Tetyana explains searching for an orthodox church here and finding one, and becoming part of the parish and being married in the church.  She explains her surprise to finding an orthodox church here in Asheville, as this is not a huge city compared to others.  She explains this is how she met Father Onouphry.

[09:39] Tetyana explains how she likes to try to do extra activities for the church, as the parish is so small and the church has little money, so she donates and participates as much as she can.

[10:30] Tetyana explains how she has never felt out of place not being Protestant in the Bible belt, and how she does not like to engage in discussions with people who believe that she should convert to Baptist or another religion.  She overall feels little to no pressure living here.

[11:25] Tetyana says she has never felt any discrimination while living here.

[11:40] Tetyana has a degree as an accountant.

[11:58] Tetyana did have some trouble finding a job initially in America, as she had to go through a lot of paper work, but she found it to be a normal procedure for everyone.  So she was able to find a job in her field.  Tetyana explains how her degree is equal to a masters here in America.

[13:35] Tetyana explains how her husband’s family was Catholic and how he did research on the Russian Orthodox faith and church, when they were to be married.  They visited the church here in Asheville, and it helped him influence her husband to become converted into the parish.  Her husband now knows more about the church than Tetyana now.

[15:00] Tetyana’s husband now is very happy with the church and is friends with all members of the parish.

[16:10] Tetyana explains her childhood.  She says that by American standards she didn’t have a good child hood, but she believes she did have a good childhood.  Her parents loved her, and she got a good education.  She talks about being a child during the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the economy was not good.  There were uses of drugs and heavy crime in Ukraine during this time.

[17:20] Tetyana talks about the town she lived in, how it was small and conservative.  She also talks about how there was no private schools growing up there, and she went to public schools there. 

[18:20] Tetyana did 2 years of college before coming to America.

[18:45] National Aviation University was the name of her college in Ukraine.  She briefly talks about her high school, and how the college was the choice due to no tuition cost for her.

[19:45] Tetyana talks about the entry exams for her college in Ukraine, and how these exams led to her choice at the National Aviation University.

[20:20] Tetyana went to the same school when she returned.

[20:50] Tetyana makes a joke about how Asheville doesn’t have too much of an accent, compared to Alabama where she went to school.  She talks about how she thought she knew English, but didn’t know Alabama English.

[21:30] Tetyana explains how many members in the Parish there are, and that some don’t attend regularly.  She compares this to the Soviet reign over the church in Europe.  She thinks this is a hold over from the Soviet regime, when many people did not attend church.

[22:20] Tetyana talks about her friends that goes to church with her, and how she does things with some people outside of church. She talks about what kind of people are in the parish, and the variety of professions and ages.

[24:05] Tetyana talks about how the Ukraine church and American church are much different.  American parishes are smaller and you get personal attention from your priest, and you get to put in work for the church.  In Ukraine the infrastructure and church are large and already set up and you get a impersonal touch from there. She believes that the church here is much better and she feels she belongs here.

[26:00] Tetyana talks about how the church has increased in Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how monasteries are rebuilt.  Sometimes the rebuilding of churches is done as a political act for advertisement for themselves.

[28:35] Tetyana talks about her job for the state, and how she was surprised she didn’t have to be a citizen to work for the state.

[30:20] Tetyana talks about Vespers, and other church activities and how she looks to them as social activities with other people.  She talks about going to dinners with members of the parish and hang-out.  Orthodoxy isn’t just a religion it’s how you live your life.  Tetyana talks about how pride is glorified in America, and how in Ukraine she was raised that to think pride was sinful.  This makes it easier to be with other parish members, as they believe what she believes about pride.

[33:00] Tetyana talks about moving back to Huntsville, Alabama, but it doesn’t have as established a community for Russian Orthodox as Asheville.  Wherever she were to move to, would have to have some sort of community of Russian Orthodox there.

[35:05] Tetyana talks about how her husband has been affected by the church, how his personality has changed and become a better person for it.