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Set Your Clocks Forward this Weekend
Please remember to set your clocks FORWARD one hour on Saturday night before you go to bed, so that you are not late for the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning. Daylight Saving Time returns on Sunday, March 9th at 2:00AM!
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Schedule of Services
Services at the Cathedral are conducted in English (E) and Church Slavonic (S).
Saturday, March 8 – Commemoration of St. Theodore the Recruit
- 9:00 am – Divine Liturgy (E,S)
- 5:00 pm – Vigil (E,S)
Sunday, March 9
- 9:00 am – Divine Liturgy (E)
- 10:45 am – Divine Liturgy (S)
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Pastoral Care
Clergy are available by phone and email for spiritual care as needed. If you want to set up an appointment, please find clergy contact information below. You can find the website Pastoral Care page here.
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Scripture Readings for March 9
Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-12:2
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. 32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented – 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. 1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
John 1:43-51
43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
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Currently at St. Nicholas | |
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Employment Ministry News - A Presentation
On Sunday, March 9, at 11 AM in the Annex, Rob Henderson will do a presentation on job hunting in D.C.
Retired since 2022, Rob is dedicating time to helping in Job Search, Career Development, and Institution Building in the U.S. and overseas. Rob is a successful team leader, grants developer, writer, and technical assistance provider with strategic planning and project management experience in the U.S. Government, the United Nations, and nonprofit exchange and education. He has had assignments in 44 countries, and has extensive experience with writing, consulting, and hands-on transition management through collaboration, team building, and building new organizational capacities.
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Aid for Ukraine
Dear brothers and sisters,
This week marks three years since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Despite ongoing peace talks, the Ukrainian people continue to suffer from daily missile and drone attacks.
Now, more than ever, Ukraine needs our help. Let us show our solidarity by providing those in need with medicine and other humanitarian aid.
You can refer to our Amazon List or purchase over the counter medication at better prices at local pharmacy stores and bring them to the church.
Once again, thank you very much for your support!
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Sunday of Orthodoxy
This year's Sunday of Orthodoxy celebration will take place on Sunday, March 9, at St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church located at 3149 Glen Carlyn Rd, Falls Church, VA. Great Vespers will begin at 5 pm, and a reception will follow in the church hall. His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon will offer the homily.
His Beatitude encourages the clergy and faithful of the Archdiocese of Washington to attend.
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Potluck Dinners
After Presanctified Liturgies on Wednesday evenings during Lent, we enjoy a potluck meal together in the fellowship hall. Please join us and bring something Lenten to share with everyone!
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Receive Daily Meditations During Great Lent
Great Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is a spiritual journey we all undertake as we prepare for the fulfillment of Pascha.
Unfortunately, we can become distracted by the world around us, which is why the Church invites us to meditate on the significance of Pascha.
As you prepare for Great Lent, take time to reflect, pray, fast, attend services, and praise God for the miracle of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the salvation it means for us.
St Vladimir's Seminary would like to present you with a gift to help you focus on your own Lenten journey.
Great Lent Meditations is a collection of daily spiritual writings and scriptural readings that we have prepared for you. Sign up now, and you'll receive daily meditation emails March 2 through April 20.
Once you sign up, please forward this email to friends and family who might also find encouragement in the meditations.
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Would You Like to Participate in a Study?
Dear St. Nicholas congregation,
I have been coming to services at the cathedral for a couple of months now as part of a research study on worship, memory and hope.
At this point, I would like to invite you to take part in that study through interviews. This is an opportunity for you to reflect on your engagement with worship and share with me what it means for you to participate in rituals that remember events and people from the past.
Interviews can take place online or in-person and are audio recorded; recordings are deleted after they have been transcribed; and all transcriptions will be de-identified (that is, names of all persons will be changed and any information that would identify you taken out).
Please get in touch with me if you would like to learn more about this study or would like to participate.
Many thanks!
Lena Maria Lorenz
Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Georgetown-Howard Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice
Lena.Lorenz@georgetown.edu
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Please Consider Helping
After suffering a series of medical setbacks, our own James Stowell has been forced into medical retirement, leaving him and his wife Victoria as a single-income household. Victoria has had to carry the fullness of their financial burden.
Please consider visiting the below GoFundMe page to help the Stowells, who have given so much to St. Nicholas through their work at the candle counter and the gift corner, among other activities, by relieving some of the financial strain off of Victoria. It would be such a tremendous blessing to them, and they thank you so much for your consideration.
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Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry News | |
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OCPM Seeks a Church Programs Manager
As the national prison ministry of the Orthodox Church in the United States, OCPM partners with churches and local communities —inside and outside of prison— to support the restoration of those affected by incarceration. Church Programs Manager will inspire, train, and support Orthodox churches to get involved in prison ministry and implement OCPM's programs locally. This is a remote position.
The Church Programs Manager will lead and expand OCPM’s outreach to Orthodox churches interested doing prison ministry. This individual will lead the development and implementation of innovative programs, working closely with churches to determine which OCPM program model fits best with the resources and engagement level of that specific community. The Church Programs Manager will drive the growth of parish-based ministries by conducting in-person and virtual training sessions with churches and provide ongoing coaching services as parishes develop local ministries. The Church Programs Manager will cultivate and maintain relationships with local ministry leaders, ensuring a strong, cooperative relationship between local and national initiatives.
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Orthodox Christian Missions Center News | |
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OCMC Agape Canister
Thank you! Donations totaling $50.50 were made in the OCMC Agape Canister at the candle counter. The OCMC spreads the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout the world.
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Addictions Recovery Support Network News | |
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At At St. Nicholas we care about you and want to help you find the resources that will relieve the pain of addiction or co-addiction
This is why we have created the Addictions Recovery Support Network (ARSN). The ARSN recognizes Science/Counseling, 12 Steps and 12 Traditions Recovery Programs and Religion are separate entities. The ARSN Ministry also recognizes that these entities are bridgeable and compatible, when it comes to achieving and maintain relief from addiction or co-addition.
The ARSN Ministry is not a 12 Steps and 12 Traditions program. We are Orthodox Christians who stand ready to offer resources and solutions to the problem of achieving and maintaining sobriety. Our ministry is open to all persons who are looking for resources.
To learn more, pick up an ARSN Brochure from the Recovery Rack located in the coffee hour hall, text or join us on the monthly ARSN Zoom meeting.
The monthly meeting is held on Zoom, on the last Monday of each month from 7:00 to 8:15 PM. There is freedom from addiction/co-addiction, and there is joy in recovery. Join us.
Meeting ID: 210 068 7480
Password: 208156
Samantha Cath (in recovery) coordinates the ARSN Ministry. Feel free to call or text her or Father George with questions about recovery choices and/or the ARSN Ministry.
Father George (703) 801-9911
Samantha Cath (703) 919-6334
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Spiritual, Cultural and Fun Opportunities | |
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Lenten Mini-Retreat
When: Saturday, March 15th, 12PM-4PM, followed by Great Vespers
Where: St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, 4335 16th St NW, Washington, DC
St. George Men's Fellowship of Washington, DC is hosting a Lenten mini-retreat with V. Rev. Charles Baz, Pastor of St. John the Baptist in Levittown, NY titled: "Why the Old Testament?"
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Free Webinar Series
When: Sundays at 8PM from now through the Feast of Pentecost
Where: On Zoom
OLTV and the new Orientale Lumen Institute are pleased to announce a FREE webinar series every Sunday evening from now through Pentecost. The series will consist of pre-recorded homilies by Metropolitan +Kallistos, of blessed memory, and an open-floor discussion via virtual Zoom meeting. The series is open to all: laity and clergy, Catholics and Orthodox. After listening to each homily, we will have a round-table discussion to include anyone who wants to ask a question, make a comment or offer a short reflection. We ask everyone to be respectful to all participants and limit their time to 1 minute.
To sign up, send an email, and you will receive an invitation with the link to use to connect. Please sign up as soon as possible as space is limited to 100 persons.
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Appalachia Service Project
When: June 22 - 28, 2025
With Holy Apostles Church in Dulles, VA and St. George Church in Bethesda, MD. This is an opportunity for adults and teens to participate in a service project in Appalachia. ASP is a Christian organization which repairs homes in the poorest areas of the Appalachia regions of VA, WV, TN, NC and KY.
Teams of nine people will be set up, each including two adults and seven teens (the teens must have completed 8th grade.) Once you register you will be assigned a team. The cost is $375 per person which goes to ASP; each church must raise additional funds to cover transportation, meals, and housing costs. Contact Athena Kaiser to sign up for the Appalachia service project.
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Birthdays and Anniversaries
March Birthdays
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5 - Wayne Paige
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10 - Marina Samkharadze
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11 - Lydia Tingstrom
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12 - Virgil Nemoianu
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14 - Samantha Cath
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19 - Lana Gerich
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20 - Tatjana D'Arcangelo
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20 - Tatyana Son
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21 - Iryna Hartman
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24 - Glenn Hartman
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30 - Megan (Maria) Salazar
March Anniversaries
- 2 - Fr. Yaroslav Sudick ordination to the Holy Priesthood - 1959
- 5 - Katya and Dan Haines
- 28 - James and Victoria Stowell - 2009
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Remembering Vladimir Tolstoy
Count Vladimir Tolstoy, grandnephew of the author Leo Tolstoy, and long-time resident of Washington, D.C., died on March 6th, 2020 at the age of 93. The cause of death was pneumonia aggravated by congestive heart failure.
Vladimir’s mother, Princess Helene Wolkonsky—a lady in waiting to Alexandra, the last Empress of Russia—was able to flee Russia in 1922 after spending several years imprisoned by the Soviets. She met and married her husband, an officer in the White Army, Sergei Tolstoy-Miloslavsky in Czechoslovakia. They spent time in Germany before finally settling as displaced persons in Nice, France where their second son Vladimir was born in 1927.
During World War II, Vladimir and his mother were living in Dresden, Germany and narrowly escaped the firebombing by the British RAF in which, ironically, his elder brother Michael served. In the late 1940’s, Vladimir’s mother was recruited by Alexandra, Leo’s daughter, to help manage the Tolstoy Foundation in Nyack, NY. Vladimir followed after completing his degree at the St. Sergius Theological Institute, a recognized arm of the Sorbonne. While in Paris he was a regular at the home of future French President Valery Giscard-D’Estaing and his brother Olivier, with whom he traveled to Russia in the mid 1950’s.
Once in the United States, Vladimir attended and graduated from Hobart College with a degree in Philosophy and received a Master’s Degree in Theology from Columbia University. A serendipitous encounter with the Russian wife of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt lead to his appointment as a professor in Russian and French language, culture, and history at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. He taught there for 29 years and launched the Academy’s International Ball to teach midshipmen how to behave socially as officers and gentlemen and to expose them to foreign cultures. He often hosted midshipmen at his home in DC and even gave them personal waltzing lessons in Bancroft Hall. Professor Tolstoy also studied and taught linguistics at Georgetown University, History and Russian at American University, and was instrumental in establishing the Russian Department at Howard University. He hosted the first Russian Language instructional TV show on WTOP for which he received an Emmy Award.
Vladimir also did interpreting and in 1959 he was one of those at the so-called “Kitchen Debate” between then Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow at the American National Exhibition. During the early 60’s his summers were spent teaching at the Institute for Russian Studies in Munich, Germany. It was there he met his future wife, Suzanne Bolasco. They were married in 1975 at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in Tuckahoe, NY.
Perhaps in his eyes, his most significant accomplishment was the care and nurturing of St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral on Massachusetts Avenue where he served as Sub-Deacon. Although it started out as merely an underground bunker and some dreams, Vladimir worked tirelessly to collect funds for the cathedral’s construction and aided in the selection of the architect and making design decisions. Many decades after the construction, he helped spearhead the effort to bring several iconographers from Russia to hand paint the frescoes which make the interior so striking. These icons, he would often explain, are windows into the soul—a fact he would repeat when he taught at the church’s Sunday School which he and his mother founded.
While very proud to have become an American citizen, Vladimir’s core beliefs were firmly entrenched in all things Russian. He was a great supporter of the Russian community in both Washington and abroad. Whether it was the idea of holding Maslenitsa—Russian Mardi Gras—at the Russian Embassy for 22 years to collect funds for the needy or being a founder and Governor of the Russian Cultural Center, he used his social position as well as his vocation as a teacher and mentor to cultivate and expand the awareness of all things Russian. He even partook in the clandestine dissemination back into Russia of Pasternak’s manuscript for Dr. Zhivago.
His joie de vivre made it easy for him to befriend people of all walks of life—including the likes of Mstislav Rostropovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Vladimir Ashkenazy—and his home became a center of Russian culture, history and art. For his efforts he was officially recognized by the Russian Foreign Ministry under then Ambassador to the US Yuri Ushakov.
Professor Tolstoy, as he preferred to be called, is survived by his wife Suzanne and sons Nikolai and Alexandr.
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Parishioner Memorial Project
Each month we hope to highlight the memory of a departed parishioner or friend of St. Nicholas Cathedral. If you have a loved one or friend that you would like to have featured, please send a short biography with their contributions to our Cathedral life, no matter how great or small - with a digital photo if available - to Lisamik56@gmail.com with the words "Memory Eternal" in the subject line. Please include the date and year of death, as we will try to highlight the departed around an anniversary.
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ADDRESS
3500 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Telephone: 202 333 5060
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