Saint Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral • Washington, D.C.
A campaign to preserve and renew the Cathedral our Lord has entrusted to us
$500,000 campaign goal
Give to the Campaign“O Lord, I love the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwells.”
Psalm 25:8
Sunday after Sunday, feast after feast, the Lord Jesus Christ gathers His people in this place. Here the Gospel is proclaimed, the Holy Mysteries are celebrated, and generations of faithful have offered their prayers, labor, and sacrificial gifts. They established, built, adorned, and preserved this Cathedral so that the Orthodox faith would have a beautiful home in the nation’s capital. We have received what their love made possible; it is now our responsibility to care for it and hand it on faithfully.
Saint Nicholas Cathedral serves parishioners, friends, patrons, pilgrims, neighbors, visitors, diplomats, and seekers in the heart of Washington. Some come for the Divine Liturgy, some to light a candle, and some encounter Orthodox Christianity here for the first time. Whether you worship here every week or have come to love the Cathedral through a visit, a friendship, its architecture and iconography, or its witness in the nation’s capital, we invite you to share in preserving its sacred beauty and strengthening its ministry for generations to come.
One program of work
These four projects belong together. Each one protects the Cathedral’s worship, its pastoral presence, or its ability to serve for years to come.
The Cathedral’s aging heating and cooling system will be replaced with an efficient system that regulates humidity as well as temperature. Uncontrolled moisture is already damaging the iconography of the dome; the affected areas will be repaired, replastered, and repainted.
Selected furnishings in the altar space will be updated as the next step in its beautification, replacing aged items and introducing solutions that make better use of limited space. The hall beneath the Cathedral will receive new flooring, fresh paint, and a more welcoming layout for coffee hour and fellowship, lectures, charitable work, gatherings, and parish ministries.
The Cathedral owns a rectory that has stood unoccupied for roughly fifteen years. Necessary updates will return it to its original use as the residence of the Dean. Having the Dean nearby will greatly benefit the life of the Cathedral by ensuring that one of its priests is readily available for pastoral emergencies, appointments, visitors, and other needs that arise throughout the week.
The small gravel parking area beside the rear entrances of the Cathedral and annex is limited in both capacity and usefulness. A thoughtful expansion and durable new surface will make better use of the available property, and provide additional practical parking.
The $500,000 campaign goal is based on estimates the Cathedral has received for the work described above. We are raising for the whole program rather than project by project, so that the work can be sequenced responsibly as funds arrive.
Words of encouragement
“The Church is built of living stones — the faithful themselves, joined to Christ the chief cornerstone. Yet in His love for mankind the Lord has also given us houses of prayer, where the Gospel is proclaimed, the Mysteries are celebrated, and the beauty of holiness turns the heart toward Him. For generations, Saint Nicholas Cathedral has offered this witness in the capital of our nation, receiving faithful, pilgrims, and strangers alike. Those who came before us gave sacrificially that it might stand. I encourage the faithful and friends of the Cathedral, and all who love it, to take up this work of preservation and renewal, so that Christ may continue to be glorified in this place for generations yet to come.”
His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon
“Day by day our Lord Jesus Christ gathers His people in this church. At this altar we celebrate the Divine Liturgy and receive His Body and Blood. Here we baptize and chrismate, crown and anoint, hear confessions, bury our dead, and pray with everyone who comes carrying joy or sorrow. The care of this holy place cannot be separated from the pastoral life it shelters. To repair the temple, to renew the hall where we meet one another after the Liturgy, and to bring the rectory back into use so that the church may be open more often — all of it serves one thing: that Christ may be met here by everyone who walks through these doors.”
The Cathedral Clergy
“Those who founded this Cathedral gave well beyond what was comfortable, and we live today inside their sacrifice. Good stewardship now asks something ordinary of us: to care for what we have been given, to do necessary work before it becomes far costlier, and to return an unused Cathedral property to service. This is one plan, one goal, and one accounting. With broad participation from parishioners, friends, and patrons, and with leadership gifts carrying the largest share, we can hand on a Cathedral that is sound, beautiful, welcoming, and free to serve its mission.”
Sebastian Negrusa • Parish Council President
Beyond annual support
We are deeply grateful to the many parishioners whose annual pledges sustain the Cathedral’s worship, pastoral ministry, staff, utilities, maintenance, and daily operations. That regular support remains indispensable. The present operating budget, however, cannot absorb extraordinary projects of this scale without diminishing essential ministries.
This campaign therefore asks parishioners who are able to make an additional commitment beyond their annual pledge, while also inviting friends, patrons, pilgrims, visitors, and neighbors to share in the care of this treasured Cathedral.
Parishioners, friends, and patrons
A campaign of this size depends on generous leadership gifts and broad participation. The examples below begin at $100 per month and may be fulfilled over twelve months.
If $100 per month is beyond your circumstances, please know that every gift is received with gratitude. In the offering of the widow’s two mites (Mark 12:41–44), Christ reveals to us that generosity is measured not merely by the amount given, but by the love and sacrifice with which it is offered.
Campaign progress
Updated [DATE] • [NUMBER] households and friends participating
Make your gift
Please join parishioners, friends, and patrons in supporting this necessary work.
For gifts of securities, donor-advised funds, please contact the parish treasurer, Mr Andrew Kirkpatrick, at treasurer@stnicholasdc.org. Contributions to the campaign are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Make Your GiftQuestions we have been asked
“Remember, O Lord, those who bring offerings and do good in Thy holy churches.”
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Please pray for this work, and for all who labor and give for it.
3500 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20007
Email us: office@stnicholasdc.org