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Dear Brothers and Sisters, Pascha and Bright Week are coming up very soon and we will say ‘Christ is Risen!’ with joy to each other! Do your Pascha shopping in our Cathedral shop this week so you can congratulate your loved ones with souvenirs and gifts. Our dear Lana Gerich ordered lots of beautiful Easter eggs, lovely hand painted antique eggs and items, festive cards, magnificent icons, intricate jewelry for you to enjoy! We look forward to seeing you this week!
Pascha Flowers - Lilies for Pascha will be placed by the Dormition Guild. If you would like to donate toward them in memory of a loved one, please use the "Special Offering/Easter Flowers" envelope provided in your member envelope packet. You may also turn in a check to the candle counter or church office by April 8, 2018, with your donation in an envelope marked “Pascha/Easter Flowers." Please include name(s) you wish to memorialize or honor. Donors and their remembrances will be listed in the April 22, 2018, Sunday Bulletin. For questions contact: andrealutov@gmail.com
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Doing Good For a Lenten project on March 25, church school students assembled 50 health kits that will be distributed to children and families in need by the International Orthodox Christian Charities. The kits include basic items that many of us take for granted, like soap, a comb and bandaids, but that make a huge difference to people who have lost everything. Special thanks to Susan Rudy for organizing the project, and to Susan and Matushka Kathy Siljegovic for purchasing the supplies. Also on March 25, St. Nicholas members helped give care packages to homeless people in Washington, D.C. The project, organized by the pan-Orthodox Mission and Outreach program coordinated by St. Katherine’s, provided a sandwich, drinks and other food, socks and other necessities to 300 people. For more information on mission and outreach efforts, contact Candice Johnson, ceinarjohnson@gmail.com.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters, we are blessed to have Igumen Iona from St. Danilovsky Monastery (Moscow, Russia) to serve at St. Nicholas Cathedral on Sunday April 29. He is the head of "Metania", an Orthodox Recovery Program at Danilovsky Monastery. Metania is an Orthodox program for people suffering from different dependencies: alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling; and for their relatives. You can find out more on their website: http://metanoia.msdm.ru/o-nas/metanoia-english-version.html
Igumen Iona will conduct two presentations, one after each Divine Liturgy, on April 29.
Please show your support and invite people to come. It is open to anyone.
"I [Lord Jesus] was ill and you cared for me" Matthew 25:36
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Presentation on Orthodox Mission in Guatemala
On Sunday, April 15, Elizabeth Manual will give a presentation and answer questions at coffee hour following the English Divine Liturgy. Elizabeth and her husband will be going to Guatemala as long-term missionaries through the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, a pan-Orthodox organization that works to spread the Orthodox faith throughout the world. Read more about that work here: https://www.ocmc.org/about/view_missionary.aspx?MissionaryId=46
Since 2010 several thousand Mayan people in Guatemala have joined the church, through the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Mexico. The DC-VA-MD Mission and Outreach committee, with participants from many area Orthodox Churches and coordinated by St. Katherine’s Greek Orthodox Church in Falls Church, is helping to sponsor the Manuals.
Betty Slanta, from our parish and St. Peter and Paul, will join a medical mission to Guatemala later this year.
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PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR PLEDGE FOR 2018!!!
"O Lord, sanctify those, who love the beauty of Your house!
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 2018! 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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OCA Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministries Survey
The OCA’s Department of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministries is working on a new project and could use your help!
And, if you know teens and young adults who would be willing to help us – please share the link so we can hear from them as well.
Please Help Temour Nizharadze
Dear Friends,
Our parishioner Alla Nizharadze’s son Temour Nizharadze suffers from liver disease - cirrhosis - and is in urgent need of a liver transplant for which he is on a waiting list. His insurance, though, covers only 70% of the cost of the surgery and comes $60,000 short of the total amount needed.
Friends and supporters opened a special account for his medical bills in order to raise money so that when he is called for surgery, he is able to cover the financial costs; otherwise, he will not be taken in. Please, help as much as you can to save his life (see the link below)!
St. Nicholas has an online prayer group. You don't have to meet anywhere, you just send your email to Peter and Helen Evans at we2roneph@comcast.net and you will be put on the list to pray for others. Of course, if you or someone you know is in need of prayers (they do not have to beOrthodox or members of St. Nicholas, but we do ask that you know them personally; otherwise, the list might become much too large and people might not respond well to it), send in the request to the above email address. You may include the nature of the request and can be specific as to the name or affiliation, or just name the first name of the person to be prayed for. We pray for 30 days for the living and 40 days for the reposed. Of course, if the need is still there, ask for the prayer request to be renewed. All recipients and requests are kept confidential if you so desire.
It is up to you as to how many times a day you pray for the list, there is no specific time, but many on the list find that they feel a very special connection to others on the list even though they might not know them personally.
Join the list by sending your email to we2roneph@comcast.net and "add to prayer list please" in the subject line.
Parish Visitation Ministry
“I [Lord Jesus] was sick and you visited me…” Matthew 25:36
Our parish has a number of elderly, homebound, and ailing parishioners who could benefit from visitation and assistance. For decades, clergy and individual parishioners have reached out to parishioners, who could not participate in the liturgical life and fellowship of the parish. The Cathedral is consolidating all visits of ill and homebound parishioners under a single Parish Visitation Ministry coordinated by Father Deacon Igor Panyutin. He is compiling a list of the parishioners who require assistance to better match them with volunteers who can visit them. The new Parish Visitation Ministry will track the existing efforts and enhance them, when necessary, to provide comprehensive coverage. If you would like to be a visitor or want to add the name of a homebound parishioner to the list, please contact Father Igor at panyutin@comcast.net or 301-367-3851.
With love in Christ,
Fr. George
Fr. Valery
Christ House Ministry
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…" Matthew 25:34-36
Many thanks to our Christ House donors and volunteers, through whose efforts more than 11,000 people have been served delicious and healthy homemade meals over St. Nicholas Cathedral’s 17 years of service!
We need more volunteers! All it takes are a few hours twice or three times per year on the second Sunday of the month. Each team buys and brings healthy ingredients—fish or meat, vegetables, salad, and fruit for dessert—and carpools to Christ House to spend about an hour and a half after liturgy preparing the meal and serving an average of 45-55 individuals.
Volunteering is a “win” for St. Nicholas and a “win” for Christ House! Volunteers enjoy getting better acquainted with their St. Nicholas teammates, serving their community in DC, and sharing the feeling of fulfillment that results from serving those who are less fortunate. Christ House is grateful for our service because our volunteers always prepare delicious and healthy lunches.
Christ House (www.christhouse.org), in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood of DC, is the only facility in the District of Columbia that offers comprehensive and compassionate health care to homeless men and women.
Pennies for Alaska
From the "Pennies for Alaska" donation canister collection on the last Sunday of November, 27 canisters were turned in, plus checks and paper cash yielding $623.60. Many thanks for your generous support! When added to the previous test-run collection of $170, this makes a GRAND TOTAL of $793.60 to be sent to St. Herman Seminary. In this "Month of Charitable Giving," as we anticipate the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, please take home an empty canister from the specially marked box at the back of the church to fill with pocket change. Your enthusiastic participation in this ongoing project is very encouraging. As it says on the pretty green canister: "Little Change - Big Difference." The next "Last Sunday of the Month" canister collection will be December 31. Watch this space for progress in monthly donation totals.
Andrea Lutov
Potential Choir Members
St. Nicholas Cathedral Choir welcomes new singers. Please contactsergeromanchak@gmail.com if you are interested in singing with us. Rehearsals are held on Mondays at 7PM in the church choir loft. You are welcome to come and observe a rehearsal if you would like before you commit. Please introduce yourself to Choir Director Serge Romanchak so you can meet other choir directors and singers. Our schedule of services is demanding so we always need singers of all voice parts. When you make the commitment to join the choir please give your name and email address to a choir director to add you to the choir email list so you can fully participate. Thank you.
Key Events and Fellowship & Education Classes
New! Religious Education Class for High School Age Students Forming
The next young adult education class for high school students ages 15 + will be held with Father George onNov. 12 in the annex (first level library room). The class will meet with Fr. George or other clergy once a month, with teachers providing instruction/support during other weeks. In the meantime, contact Candice Johnson at ceinarjohnson@gmail.comwith questions or if any student needs the text, "The Faith We Hold."
Adult Education class by Father George via Skype on the Liturgy and Scripture
Let's learn about our Faith! Join Father George online from 7:00 PM till 8:00 PM each Wednesday to learn about the Liturgy and Scripture. Download (or UPDATE) the free Skype application at https://www.skype.com/en/.
Adult Education Classes by Reader John Slack on the Holy Scripture
St. Nicholas Cathedral will offer adult education classes on Jannuary 14th. We're going to take a brief break from surveying the Old Testament to study the Epistle to the Hebrews. We'll cover this book in depth over several classes to help us acquire an understanding of how the Apostles and earliest Christians understood the relationship of the Old Testament to their own lives, to Jesus Christ, and the Church. This Sundaywe'll review the context of the book, discuss its authorship, and review the structure of the work.This class is primarily intended for Orthodox Christians who are interested in deepening their understanding of the faith, and non-Orthodox who wish to learn more about Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Church. However, anyone is welcome to join. We invite you to join us for worship at the Divine Liturgy, grab a cup of coffee and a bite to eat downstairs, and then head to the Annex for discussion and questions. Class begins at 11:15 am (11:45 am on days with bilingual services) and typically lasts between 45-60 minutes. Please join us as we work to grow together in our faith in Jesus Christ. We hope to see you there! Here is the link to the Google Drive folder with past material for the Psalms and Epistles.
Sunday School Classes have Begun
We are excited to have started our new school year, and we encourage you to enroll your children for this upcoming year if you have not yet done so. Please register using the form on the St. Nicholas Cathedral website (http://www.stnicholasdc.org/information_for_parents.html), and please find the fall schedule here. We need to arrange the schedule of providing snacks on Sundays before classes; please let me know what dates you are willing to cover. Please express your opinion as to whether we should organize any field trips this fall.
Thank you and look forward to hearing from you,
Ksenia Panomarenko, Sunday School Coordinator
Choir Rehearsals
Choir rehearsals are held every Monday evening at 7PM in the church choir loft.
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Gift Corner: Please come and easily find something for everyone on your gift list. There are books for children as well as adults, a new collection of amber, honey and beautiful new icons painted by our very own master iconographer Alexander Moskalionov. Our book room in the annex has hundreds of new volumes that are $1 each unless marked otherwise.
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Amazon Smile
We encourage everyone to register with Amazon Smile which will donate 0.5% of your purchase price to our Cathedral. Please designate our church - "Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas" (legal name of our Cathedral) - as your charity of choice. Instructions on how to join can be found here. Thank you for your help!
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)