Our Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Sunday, March 8th at noon.  Information about this meeting will be posted on "Announce" and in upcoming Sunday Bulletins.

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On Saturday, January 31 at 3:00 PM, in the St. Nicholas Annex, Sister Rebecca of New Skete Monastery will present a lesson on reading icons in "The Liturgical Feast Day Icons of Jesus Christ." Please plan to attend this inspirational conversation as Sister Rebecca shows us how through form, color, and symbol these icons proclaim the message of the Gospel. Learn how contemplation of these important icons invite us to an encounter with Jesus through a call to metanoia and the transformation of our inner selves. 

Sister Rebecca has been a nun since the 1960s and has served God in Canada, Hong Kong, France and New Skete in Cambridge, New York. She is a revered iconographer, an inspirational teacher, and a beloved spiritual mother to hundreds of women. 

Please R.S.V.P. via email to Mary Jane Maxwell at maxwell.maryjane@gmail.com or by phone or text to 802-342-1823 by Thursday, January 29. We plan to serve coffee and New Skete Kitchens cheesecake during the presentation!

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Abbot Sergius of St. Tikhon's Monastery will be giving a talk at St. Luke's Church, 6801 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA on Saturday, February 7 at 5:45pm. The talk is entitled " "Confession and Depression: Finding the True Self in Christ." All are welcome! More information on St. Tikhon’s Monasry: http://sttikhonsmonastery.org More information on St. Luke’s Parish: http://stlukemclean.org

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Start off the New Year with prayer. St. Nicholas Cathedral will be open on New Year’s Eve for any who stops by - Orthodox or not, before or after the party - for reading of the Psalms or silent prayer. Come and go as you please. Everyone is welcome. If you have a special concern for yourself or someone you care about, please let us know and we will pray with you. The Massachusetts Ave. (North) door will be open from 9pm, December 31st to 2am, January 1st. Email Peter and Helen Evans <we2rone@cox.net> with any questions or to schedule a time to read the psalms. Make it a New Year's tradition for the family to start the year in prayer.

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Christmas celebration (“Yolka”) for children

Saturday, January 17th, 2015 9:30 – 10:30 - Liturgy with participation of the children’s choir

10:30 – 11:00 - Discussion about Nativity and St. Nicholas

After the Children’s Liturgy, there will be a meal in the fellowship hall followed by a Christmas and New Year performance. Christmas Gifts are available for $10 per child. Dear parents, we need your help in organizing the celebration! For more information about how to participate or help with this event please contact Ksenia Panomarenko: ks.panomarenko@gmail.com In order to sign up your child for Christmas gift, please contact Alla Lowe: stanlowe@verizon.net or tel. (202) 285-0033.

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Having considered the interest that parishioners and their friends/family expressed this fall in attending volunteer led classes in basic Russian and English at St. Nicholas, we are prepared to schedule weekly hour long lessons, beginning on Sunday, January 4, 2015. They will be held in separate rooms in our annex building. Classes in basic English will be led by Stefanie Slack and will meet every Sunday in the Annex at 1:30 PM. Classes in elementary Russian will be taught by Irena Ananjana and will begin at 2 PM. If you filled out a form expressing interest in the classes or contacted the church office by phone or e-mail, the teacher will already have your name and contact information and will be expecting you on January 4th. If you are now interested in joining the group but never filled out a form or contacted our office, you are still welcome to join the classes. In that case, please arrive at the appointed time on January 4th and give your name and contact information to the volunteer teacher. Thank you for joining this St. Nicholas initiative.

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"O Lord, sanctify those, who love the beauty of Your house!Reward them with Your rich and heavenly gifts, given them heavenly things for the earthly ones, eternal things for the temporal ones, incorruptible things for those that perish" from St. Basil the Great Liturgy

 

Pledge Letter in MS Word  or  in PDF

PLEDGE FORM  in MS Word   or   PLEDGE FORM in PDF

            St. Nicholas Cathedral is grateful for every donation received throughout the year.  Your generous support enables the Cathedral to spread the teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ, serve regular Divine Liturgies and Sacraments and provide spiritual nourishment to our faithful, their families and  those in need.  Your pledge of support is a sign of your heartfelt participation in the life of our parish family and it plays a vital role in enabling us to meet our financial responsibilities.  Please, download and read the letter, which explains the importance of the timely pledges.

            We pray that everybody who attends St. Nicholas Cathedral and cares for it financial security will make a pledge for 2015!

            If you don’t have a pledge form, you can download it from the link bellow or pick up a hard copy either at the candle counter or by calling the office at 202-333-5060.  Please take a few minutes to fill out the pledge form and submit it to either the candle counter or mail it to

St. Nicholas Cathedral

3500 Massachusetts Ave., NW

Washington DC 20007
Thank you for your support and keeping St. Nicholas strong and a place we can be proud of!

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Adult Education:

The class “Orthodoxy through the Liturgy” began on Saturday, October 4^th from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. in English in the Annex.

Classes will be held biweekly. The next class is on February 14th .

All are welcome to attend!

St. Nicholas Cathedral is pleased to announce a 2014/2015 schedule of Adult Education Classes focused on the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church, which will take place in our social hall. Next talk by Fr. Paul Harrilchak on the Sacrament of Confession will take place on December 10th at 7pm. These will continue through February, 2015. Fr. Valery Shemchuk will discuss pastoral and spiritual aspects of the Sacrament of Marriage in December (dates will be announced). This series will be followed by lectures in January on the Sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation conducted by Fr. Denis Bradley (dates will be announced).

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Saint-Nicholas Cathedral is considering scheduling classes for parishioners and friends who wish to improve their basic skills in Russian or English. Led by volunteers, these sessions will help Russian speakers work on familiarity with English or introduce English speakers to elementary Russian. We ask that parishioners and their friends desiring to take such classes phone (202-333-5060), or e-mail (office@stnicholasdc.org) the Church office in order to leave their contact information (name, telephone and/or e-mail) so that perspective volunteers can determine whether there is sufficient interest to form these sessions. Please note whether you are interested in the Russian or English classes, and which of the following categories best fits your reason for attending the sessions:

1) conversation topics only – led by the volunteer to improve oral fluency (no instruction in writing or reading);

2) written and oral exercises useful for travel and sightseeing (e.g., "Where is the nearest restaurant?", "Where and when can I board the bus/metro that will take me to…?");

3) elementary comprehension of the written language (emphasis on learning alphabet, grammar and vocabulary). If none of the three choices describes your purpose for taking the class, please provide your own response, which will guide our volunteers in structuring these prospective lessons. Thank you for your interest.

Michael Haldas, author of  Sacramental Living: Understanding Christianity as a Way of Life (see www.sacramentalliving.net), will be speaking at St. Nicholas’s Cathedral in on Saturday, March 29, following Vespers at 6 pm. The purpose of his book is to teach about Christianity in the context of real life, real world issues and to explain misconceptions. The common theme is how to live sacramentally and grow ever closer to God. His talk will be based on his book, and he will be sharing an in-depth understanding of what sacramental living really is and how we should understand and live our Christian faith on a daily basis.

Next week on Wednesday evening (March 19th) and Friday evening (March 21st), following the Presanctified Liturgy, several members of the Strategic Planning Working Group will be in the Church Hall during the Pot Luck meal. They will be holding a discussion about the ideas developed in the Strategic Plan Framework.  As Metropolitan Tikhon mentioned at the Parish meeting last Sunday, we now want to hear your reactions and your ideas about the direction and development of St. Nicholas Cathedral's purpose and mission.  Everyone is invited to participate.

If you have not yet taken a look at the Strategic Framework, you can find it on the St. Nicholas Website or you can call the church office during business hours and a copy can be prepared for you.

This Friday, March 14 at 6 pm, we will have a potluck Lenten dinner and a talk in the church fellowship hall by Archpriest Paul Harrilchak (OCA) "Sacrament of Confession in Orthodox Church."
 
Father Paul, the compiler and editor of the book Confession with Examination of Conscience and Common Prayers, is a knowledgable and engaging speaker, who will challenge your assumptions and answer your questions related to this important sacrament. His past talks at St. Nicholas received high praise from all who attended.

On March 9, 2014 at noon, Saint Nicholas Cathedral will hold its Annual Parish Meeting and, according to the St. Nicholas Parish Bylaws, will elect new members of the Parish Council. This year we will be electing two alternates/deputies, each for a one-year term.
 
The purpose of the Parish Council is to assist His Beatitude and the clergy of St. Nicholas in fulfilling the task entrusted to the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28.19-20).
 
Serving on the Parish Council requires dedication, time and energy. The Parish Council is under the spiritual guidance and authority of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, assisted by Father George, and Father Valery.  “No activities in the parish can be initiated without [the Rector’s] knowledge, approval, and blessing” (OCA Statute, Article 10, section 4).
 
As president of St Nicholas Cathedral, let me encourage you to consider becoming a candidate for the Parish Council this year. I would ask those parishioners in good standing who are considering the position of deputy on the Parish Council, to contact Candice Johnson no later than March 1, 2014 and to fill out and send a “candidate” form to the Chairperson of the Nominating Committee, Candice Johnson at: cjohnson@cwa-union.org  so we can set up an appointment to discuss your interest in this important service to the Church. More information about this meeting will be posted on "Announce" and in upcoming Sunday Bulletins.

Claire Nobles
Parish President

If you are aware of a parishioner who is ill or for some reason can not attend church services regularly, it is possible they might benefit from a card sent by our Dormition Guild or a phone call or visit from clergy.  In such case, please notify Andrea Lutov for the Dormition Guild (andrealutov@gmail.com), Fr. George (gkokhno@gmail.com)  or Fr. Valery (shemchukv@gmail.com)

Dr. Sr. Vassa Larin of the University of Vienna in Austria, and host of the weekly YouTube-program "Coffee with Sister Vassa,"is visiting the United States!
She will give a talk on "Living the Church Calendar in the 21st Century" at St. Nicholas Cathedral
Saturday January 25th - 6:00 PM
Sunday - January 26  
10:30 AM - English
12:30 PM - Russian

If you haven't seen it click here or search for Coffee with Sister Vassa in Youtube, and don't miss this talk!