Monks Present at Saint Nicholas Cathedral

- October 27, 2014

by Brother Stavros

Brothers Christopher and Stavros spent Columbus Day weekend in Washington, DC as guests of St. Nicholas Cathedral parish and made slide presentations during the two-day Fall Bazaar festival. Br. Christopher, our prior and a priest-monk, also served the Sunday Divine Liturgy with the Metropolitan and cathedral clergy, during which he was blessed by His Beatitude to preach the homily.

Our National Cathedral is small in floor space but was built in the lofty Novgorod-Vladimir style, and the entire interior is covered in very handsome early Russian style frescoes. It has a very prestigious location at the height of Massachusetts Avenue, a mere half block from the Vice-President’s residence at the Naval Observatory and a short walk from the Episcopal National Cathedral on Mount St. Alban, which has a commanding view of the Nation’s Capital, and across the avenue from St. Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

The main campus of the Russian Embassy is also a short distance away, and this may explain part of the popularity of the bazaar. It was heartening to see so many children present at the services and participating in the folk dancing under a tent at the north portico of the Cathedral under the bell tower.

Dr. Mary Jane Maxwell, until her recent move to DC the Assistant Professor of History and Religious Studies at nearby Green Mountain College and a member of New Skete’s parish community, served as coordinator for the bazaar and graciously served as host for the monks.

The brothers enjoyed the chance to meet many of the Cathedral’s parishioners, especially the women who prepared the terrific food specialties for the event and, following the brothers’ presentations, many interested visitors with eager comments or questions.

Br Stavros, a DC native who used to attend St. Nicholas before the upper structure was built, was glad see Fr. Denis Bradley, who is attached to the cathedral; they have been acquainted from earlier days as Georgetown University. This was the monks’ first opportunity to get to know Archpriest George Kokhno and Fr. Valery Shemchuk, and they very much enjoyed their company. On Monday, before the brothers had to take a flight home, Fr. George kindly drove them to visit the Viet Nam memorial and the National Gallery of Art.

We look forward to building a dynamic association with St. Nicholas, which seems fitting given that New Skete had a close friendship with the former rector, Fr. Dimitry Grigorieff, at the time of our entry into the OCA; that our former prior, Br Luke, sang with the cathedral choir for many years and held office on the parish committee; and that as a stavropegial monastery we are directly subject to the Metropolitan, who is the archbishop of Washington.