Hi Alexis,

I am sure that you will see the National Cathedral at 3101 Wisconsin Avenue NW, (near the corner of Massachussetts Avenue) if for nothing else, because it is a must see 'site' in Wash. D.C.

When you do, walk one block down at 36th Street and Massachussetts Ave. NW, and you will find the St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The Liturgy is in almost all English, and one of the chanters ('enchantress--as the priest likes to call her) is a woman with an amazing voice that is able to chant the Byzantine hymns in English along with the male chanter who chants them in Greek.

http://www.saintsophiawashington.org/services.php

A block down from there at 3500 Massachussetts Avenue NW (LOL--it is a very 'religious' neighborhood) is the OCA Cathedral of St. Nicholas. The priest, Father Constantine White is very nice, and he is the Orthodox chaplain at Georgetown University.

http://www.stnicholasdc.org/contact.html

I have been given a tour by Father, but have not managed to attend a service there, so I don't know in what language they do the services. Perhaps there is somone on this board who can tell us.

Alice

Alice,

St. Nicholas has the Liturgy in English in the morning, and then in Slavonic later in the morning. I've been to the Slavonic Liturgy - when the Metropolitan of Krasnoyarsk (I believe) was visiting - and it really seemed like a trip to Russia.

Alexis,

St. Nicholas and St. Sophia are excellent places to visit (the icons in both places are stellar). I think that if they were in Eastern Europe they'd be in the tourist books. But, for better or worse, they're in America and are ignored........

Alexis,

I want to additionally recommend making the trip to McLean if possible to attend Holy Transfiguration. You'd be surprised how easy it can be to find rides/cars around here. For example, there is a service (I think it's called ZipCar) that rents cars by the hour and a number of people in the city use it.

A couple other recommendations that I haven't heard yet:

Cathedral of St. Matthew, the cathedral church of the archdiocese, offers a beautiful Norvus Ordo Mass at 10am each Sunday in Latin, and during the school year it includes the Schola Cantorum, Gregorian Scholars, and organ.

St. Mary, Mother of God offers a Tridentine Mass according to the 1962 Missal each Sunday.

St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church is a beautiful Armenian church I recently visited for Vespers.

Each of these parishes is near a Metro stop, I believe.

Alexis,

Glory to Jesus Christ!
While you are in the DC area, please visit us at Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church in Annandale, VA.

The church is just off the Gallows Rd exit of the Virginia Beltway. Divine Liturgy is at 8 am and 10:30 am.

Have a most blessed stay in the DC area.
Deacon El

Francis,

Thanks! Last time I was in D.C. (Presidents' Day Weekend, 2007), my mother and I actually attended the 10 AM Latin(ish) Novus Ordo at St. Mary's.

Alexis

I would also say that a trip to Mclean is well worth it, I was there about three weeks ago, although I must confess I found the chairs in rows to be disruptive.

Also, if you get the chance a trip to Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown is well worth it, it is Harvard's Byzantine collection and there are some nice icons, but the silver vessels are extraordinary in their beauty and size. Also, it is free.

The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore also has an enviable collection of Byzantine materials.

Fr. Serge

Well, this morning I am staying in for the Wimbledon final, and then going to the Nat'l Gallery of Art, so I will, for today, find a simple late Sunday Novus Ordo Mass somewhere in the city.

I would've missed even Wimbledon to get to St. Sophia's Greek Orthodox Cathedral the OCA church on Massachusetts NW, but unfortunately neither are close to any Metro line, and I simply don't have the money today to be paying for taxis.

Alexis

The National Gallery is awesome. I enjoyed visiting it two summers ago...

Alice

So I visited St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral today for Divine Liturgy. I will try and find a Catholic Mass to fulfill my Sunday obligation later today.

A couple of very gracious posters had offered to take me to Holy Transfiguration Melkite in McClean, VA but unfortunately my Internet went out and so that's what led me to St. Sophia's.

The liturgy was very well done, and the church is very beautiful, inside and out. A large portion of the liturgy was in Greek, of course, but that was to be expected.

A few interesting things I noticed...

First of all, as Alice had pointed out, the female cantor was amazing. She did a terrific job throughout.

Secondly, and this is something I've noticed in quite a few Orthodox churches I've been to (and I haven't been to that many), is that a large portion of the congregation comes in very late. Liturgy was at 10 AM, and I was running behind a little. Being Catholic, where we get to church on time, and being raised Methodist, where we REALLY get to church on time, I was kind of freaking out that I'd get there about ten or fifteen minutes after. Turns out, about 50%-60% of the congregation came in after I did. Some people were still coming in after the Creed, which I imagine had to be around 10:45 or later. Is there a reasoning behind why it seems so many Orthodox don't get there even close to when the liturgy starts? This is not at all a criticism, just a curiosity for me.

Also, everyone knelt on the kneelers for the Consecration. I know this is common among Greek Orthodox, but I still found it sort of interesting. In the hand missal, it even had an asterisk by this "kneel" command saying that between Easter and Pentecost, the "Resurrection posture" of standing was to be observed. This, to me, indicates that for the rest of the year, kneeling is expected, even in the official hand missal.

There were also interesting Latin/Western terms in the hand missal such as "paten" and "host."

At the end of the liturgy, organ music was played for a while.

Also at the end, the elderly and likable priest talked about the Greek Orthodox conference going on here, how the Church is experiencing growing pains, and how he didn't like it that many new/(young?) Orthodox priests seemed to define Orthodoxy by beards and robes, neither of which he wore (he was bare-faced and wears simple clerical suits, apparently). He stressed that, while the Greek Orthodox Church in America should hold dear to some of its Hellenic traditions, "yiayiaology" was something they need to get away from, given that more and more members of GOA are not ethnically or culturally Greek.

All in all an interesting and worthwhile experience!

Alexis

Oh, Father also said that the black robes and "stove-pipe hats," as he put it, were a result of the mourning shown for the Fall of Constantinople, and that they are, in his opinion, perhaps not entirely appropriate here in America. Is his explanation of the genesis of these non-liturgical vestments accurate? It struck me as odd, but then again so did the idea that the sakkos only came about after around the 15th century, something which is apparently a fact.

Alexis

Dear Alexis,

I will post later.

Thanks for the observations!

Got to go now....

Regards,
Alice

Dear Alexis,

I *believe* that I once read (Frederika Mathews-Greene, I think) that the reason which Orthodox are not concerned about going to church late is because the services at one time were extremely long, so people came and went at different times. That brings to mind the famous Paschal sermon of St. John Chrysostom:



Keep in mind, however, that our priests are trying to get us to Divine Liturgy on time by reminding us about it every so often from the pulpit!

As for wearing black as appropriate or inappropriate, I have no real opinion--- but my husband does, so I will share his view! He feels that since we are not an autocephalous church in the USA, but are under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, that the wearing of black to mourn Constantinople is indeed appropriate.

I am glad that you enjoyed the female chanter and the service in general. Did you happen to see George Stephanopoulos? I have seen him there with his children on the communion line.

Regards,
Alice

P.S. The good Father and his generation of priests, along with the blessing of the adminstration of the time, tried very hard to mainstream the Greek Church into American society. Thus, they abandoned rassa and beards in favor of clerical suits and being clean shaven. I do not condemn them. It was needed at the time to put us 'on the map', as it were... At the time they were trying very hard to shed the 'immigrant' image of the Greek Orthodox church, and the times were such then that such externals did not appeal (to say the least) to the American sensibilities. It is interesting that the young priests today are *choosing* (there is no mandate) to adapt these traditional externals. American society is much more accepting of cultural diversity today than it was decades ago.

I won't quite condemn the priests who shaved and adopted "clergy suits" but I will disagree with them! Even in places like Canada, the USA, and Ireland it's startling to dress properly and notice how many people come up spontaneously and ask for blessings.

Fr. Serge

I just had to note that I really laughed at this comment. I have the same background (Methodist to Catholic) and I can affirm that I have the same attitude about being late to church as you, Alexis.