Washington, DC’s St. Nicholas Cathedral to celebrate 75th anniversary

St. Nicholas Cathedral, Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, DC [OCA Communications] — His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, will preside at the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Saint Nicholas Cathedral here on Sunday, December 4, 2005.

Established in 1930, the cathedral has served as the seat of the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America since 1980.

The anniversary Divine Liturgy will begin at 9:00 a.m. A banquet will follow at Saints Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church hall, Potomac, MD.

In addition to numerous clergy and faithful, ambassadors and representatives from the Vatican, Greece, Russia, Georgia, Byelorussia, and Finland will attend the celebration.

The present cathedral was built in 1962 on land purchased eleven years earlier on Massachusetts Ave., atop Embassy Row and near the official residence of the US vice-president. Modeled after the famous Cathedral of Saint Demetrius in Vladimir, Russia, the cathedral was dedicated as the National War Memorial Shrine to commemorate soldiers who gave their lives in service to their country. A bell tower was added to the cathedral complex in 1988. In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Orthodox Christianity in North America in 1994, the interior of the cathedral was adorned with magnificent Byzantine style frescoes.