St. Paul’s Syracuse, the Downtown Episcopal Church, will hold a July 4 Morning Prayer service commemorating the day 250 years ago when the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, marking the birth of our nation.

The 11 a.m. service is free and open to the public at the church with the large red doors located at 220 E. Fayette St.

Portions of the Declaration of Independence will be read during St. Paul’s July 4 Morning Prayer service, along with readings from Frederick Douglass’s reflections on “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”.