From the church website (with some edits for length): (
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"From the Beginning: A History of St. Nicholas Cathedral by Marilyn Swezey
“This parish was founded in 1930 for the purpose of religious worship and to perpetuate the memory of all Russians who gave their lives for their country and their faith during the tragic years of World War I and the Russian revolution”. From the dedication plaque at the entrance of the cathedral
Within decades the St. Nicholas parish has grown from a small home church to the primatial cathedral of the Orthodox Church in America.
St. Nicholas Cathedral was born of the vision and dedication of a small group of émigrés fleeing persecution in their homeland. Following the war and revolution in Russia, a small band of refugees reached Washington in the 1920s and settled in the capital. Most of them were Tsarist officers and members of the nobility who were forced into exile to escape the Bolshevik terror. Along with diplomats of the Russian Embassy, they managed to find a new life and work. But they all brought with them their most treasured legacy, their Orthodox faith. About twenty in number, they would gather in private apartments to pray for the liberation of their homeland.
In 1930 the small congregation officially incorporated their church community, dedicating it to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of the last tsar. The new parish was officially known as “The Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of St. Nicholas”. It was founded with the idea that eventually they would build a memorial church in the Russian tradition of perpetuating the memory of victims of the Russian revolution and World War I.
At first, services were held in the home of one of the founders, but by 1936 the small congregation was able to purchase a row house at 1768 Church Street, NW. Rev. John Dorosh was the first pastor of the new parish, followed by Rev. Paul Lutov, whose family is still active in the parish today.
For nearly twenty years, the Russian colony in Washington was centered at the Church of St. Nicholas on Church Street. Services were conducted in Church Slavonic according to the Julian Calendar still used in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Following World War II, a second and much larger wave of Russian émigrés arrived in Washington. With the additional influx of other Orthodox faithful attracted by government opportunities during the war, the facility on Church Street became inadequate.
In 1951 a site was purchased on Massachusetts Avenue at Edmunds Street and blessed by Metropolitan Leonty (Turkevich), head of the then North American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. By this time, there were more than 100 members of the parish and the concept of building the new church as a memorial in the Russian tradition, to “those who gave their lives . . . during the tragic years of World War I and the Russian revolution”, began to take hold. Later that year Metropolitan Leonty appointed the first Orthodox Bishop of Washington, the Rt. Rev. Jonah (Stahlberg), a former Tsarist officer who undertook theological training late in life.
Bishop Jonah, took up residence in Washington, 1951-1955, and became head of the parish as well as director of the national campaign to raise funds for the building of the St. Nicholas National War Memorial Shrine. With soil from Russia in its foundation, the basement of the church was completed in May 1955 and blessed by Bishop Jonah just a few months before his death. Services were held there for the next seven years. Bishop Kiprian was the next bishop assigned to Washington, from 1961-1964.
In 1961 construction of the church was begun under the spiritual guidance of Archpriest Arkady Moiseyev, beloved pastor of St. Nicholas from 1952 until his death in 1986.
Anatoly Abramov-Neratoff, a specialist in Russian medieval church architecture, was engaged and prepared a design patterned after one of the architectural treasures of Russia, the 12th century Cathedral of St. Dimitry in Vladimir. On November 25, 1962 the $260,000 structure was consecrated by Metropolitan Leonty assisted by Archbishop Iriney of Boston (later to become Metropolitan), Archbishop John (Shahovskoy) of San Francisco and Bishop Kiprian (Borisevich).
The new church was formally dedicated on May 19, 1963 as the National War Memorial Shrine. This was the Sunday closest to the May 22nd Feast of St. Nicholas according to the Julian calendar.
Through all these years, the growing parish of St. Nicholas was part of the surviving North American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. Having lost communication with the church center in Moscow following the revolution in 1917, this diocese had become a temporarily independent metropolitan district known simply as the “Metropolia”. This ambiguous status lasted until 1970 when the Metropolia was officially granted autocephaly – or fully self-governing status – by the Moscow Patriarchate and became the Orthodox Church in America - the OCA. Metropolitan Ireney (Bekish), who headed the church from 1965-1977, was the first Primate of the OCA. Bishop Theodosius (Lazor), the 2nd Primate, elected in 1977, was the first to be American-born.
Services in English began in the 1950s and by 1965 Divine Liturgy was served in English once a month. Since 1971, there have been two services every Sunday, the first in English, the second in Slavonic. This has enabled the church to bring the Liturgy to a growing number of American converts as well as the younger generation of émigré families, still preserving the best of the Russian spiritual tradition of the Mother Church. On major feast days there is a single service conducted in both languages.
Although English is now the official language of the Orthodox Church in America and services are observed according to the Gregorian calendar, there are still close spiritual ties to the history and culture of the Mother Church of Russia. In 1988 the bell tower was built in honor of the millennium of Christianity in Russia. Dedicated to St. Prince Vladimir and the baptism of Rus’ in 988, the bell tower was blessed by hierarchs of both the Orthodox Church in America and the Russian Orthodox Church, assisted by cathedral and diocesan clergy. In his sermon at the dedication on December 4, 1988, V. Rev. Sergei Glagolev spoke of the missionary vision of the Slavic legacy as part of the American dream. “The bell tower is raised not simply to remind people from whence we came . . . but for the hope of America’s bright future bathed in the Light of Christ.”
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Orthodox Christianity in America, it was decided to complete the interior of the cathedral with iconographic wall paintings. It was in 1794, during the presidency of George Washington, that the first priests and monks arrived in Alaska from Valaam Monastery and began to preach the Gospel not only among the Russian fur traders there, but also to the native Alaskan peoples. Many were baptized and became followers of Christ. This was the beginning of Orthodoxy in North America.
In 1990 Henry Sawchuk, long time President of the Cathedral Board of Trustees ( now the Parish Council), led a special delegation to Russia to make an arrangement with the Moscow Patriarchate and select a team of iconographers. The artists arrived in Washington in October 1991 to begin the work of painting the cathedral. They designed a program of iconography in the Russo-Byzantine style of the 12th century, in keeping with the architectural style of the Cathedral of St. Dmitry, the model for St. Nicholas Cathedral. Their work was completed in 1994, in time for the official celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Orthodoxy in America.
The iconography has added a remarkable spiritual and artistic dimension to the cathedral. St. Nicholas is now considered one of the cultural treasures of the nation’s capital.
His Holiness, Patriarch Aleksy, took a personal interest in the success of the iconography. He visited and served at St. Nicholas Cathedral in November 1991 and again in February 1996 when he was able to see the completed iconography.
With the appearance of this architectural gem on the Washington landscape, the parish of St. Nicholas entered a new phase in its development, taking up the mission of the North American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church before 1917, which was to bring the Gospel and Orthodoxy to America as well as to serve Russians in the US.
With the political changes in Russia in the 1990s, a new wave of émigré families has come to Washington and become part of the St. Nicholas community. The fall of communism has also opened the door to a new and cooperative relationship with the Russian Embassy, no longer a silent neighbor up the street. The annual galas held at the Embassy for the benefit of the cathedral are elegant affairs hosted by the Ambassador and his wife. The founders of St. Nicholas Cathedral could never have imagined this.
The parish vision is once again expanding with the election of Metropolitan Jonah, the first American convert to become head of the Orthodox Church in America. He is also a spiritual son of Valaam Monastery, having spent more than a year there as a novice - bringing to the OCA a unique spiritual link to the legacy of the first Orthodox missionaries to North America.
His enthronement took place at St. Nicholas Cathedral on December 28, 2008. As Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan Jonah now lives near St. Nicholas Cathedral where he frequently serves and participates in the life of the parish. He is the first metropolitan to reside in the nation’s capital.
Looking back over the years and the remarkable growth of St. Nicholas Cathedral from a home church to the Primatial Cathedral of the Orthodox Church in America, the parish itself has become an icon of unity in diversity – an icon of Orthodoxy in America." [end]