Cathedral

Published by The National Herald, December 10, 2004

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Celebrates its 100th Year

By Bill Broadway

WASHINGTON, D.C. - 2004 is but a blip on the timeline of Orthodox Christianity, which traces its beginnings to the Apostles, its unification to the Roman Emperor Constantine in the Fourth Century, and its liturgy to Saint John Chrysostom.

As it happens, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Washington area’s oldest Orthodox congregation, St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Northwest Washington.

What’s important is not how old a congregation is, but its connection to a tradition whose beliefs and practices have remained virtually unchanged for nearly 2,000 years, said Archbishop Demetrios of America, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America.

"There is a direct substantive and organic connection" between every congregation in the past, present and future, the Archbishop said on Sunday, November 21, after a special Divine Liturgy at St. Sophia’s, located at 36th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW. "The spiritual tradition is like a tree that produces new branches but with all of them feeding from the same source."

All Christian churches and denominations share a common origin, but not all can say that a Christian time traveler from the First Millennium would feel at home in a 21st Century worship service. That’s exactly the assertion of Orthodox Christians, said Demetrios, 76, who was born in Thessaloniki, Greece and celebrates Divine Liturgy the way he experienced it as a child, and the way it was celebrated 1,500 years ago.

At St. Sophia’s, the Greek spoken and sung through most of the liturgy is translated into English in a printed version available to worshipers. Scriptural verses are often chanted in English, and the sermon typically is given in both Greek and English - a bilingual practice which may not be followed by other Greek Orthodox congregations, or by Orthodox Christians of different ethnic backgrounds (i.e., Russian, Armenian or Coptic).

And the surnames of those in the pews no longer are just Greek names, such as Stephanopolous, Economides, Koutsandreas and Koines. They also include Siegel, Walsh, Rafferty, Smith, Goodrich and Kardona - a range of Christian and non-Christian names resulting from interfaith marriages which today represent 95 percent of the weddings held at St. Sophia’s.

"If I do a Greek-to-Greek wedding, it’s only one or two times a year," said the Rev. John T. Tavlarides, Dean of St. Sophia’s for 48 years. To be married in the Greek Orthodox Church, non-Orthodox brides or grooms must have been baptized in the name of the Trinity, either at another church or through conversion to the Orthodox faith, he said.



Volume 6 Number 50 - Tuesday, December 14th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY