325 Archives - Saint Sophia

Saint Nikitas the Great Martyr (15 September)

09/15/2025

The Holy Great Martyr Niketas (Nikḗtas) was a Goth (a Germanic tribe). He was born and lived on the banks of the Danube River, suffering for Christ in the year 372. The Christian Faith was already spreading throughout the territory of the Goths at that time. Saint Niketas believed in Christ and was baptized by the Gothic bishop Theophilos, who participated in the First Ecumenical Council. Pagan Goths started to oppose the spread of Christianity,

Church New Year. Beginning of the Indiction: Ecclesiastical New Year

09/01/2025

Commemorated on September 1 The first day of the Church New Year is also called the beginning of the Indiction. The term Indiction comes from a Latin word meaning, “to impose.” It was originally applied to the imposition of taxes in Egypt. The first worldwide Indiction was in 312 when the Emperor Constantine (May 21) saw a miraculous vision of the Cross in the sky. Before the introduction of the Julian calendar, Rome began the

Sunday of The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council

06/01/2025

Introduction The seventh Sunday after the Feast of Holy Pascha is observed by the Orthodox Church as the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. This day commemorates the 318 God-bearing Fathers who gathered in Nicaea in 325 at the request of the Emperor, Saint Constantine the Great, to address the heresy of Arianism together with other issues that concerned the unity of the Church. Commemoration of The Great and Holy Feast of

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Tuesday of Pascha: Saints Constantine & Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles

05/21/2024

This great and renowned sovereign of the Christians was the son of Constantius Chlorus (the ruler of the westernmost parts of the Roman empire), and of the blessed Helen. He was born in 272, in (according to some authorities) Naissus of Dardania, a city on the Hellespont. In 306, when his father died, he was proclaimed successor to his throne. In 312, on learning that Maxentius and Maximinus had joined forces against him, he marched

St. Athanasius the Great

01/18/2024

By Fr. Matthew Swehla, June 10, 2018 Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐνηνθρώπισεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς θεοποιηθῶμεν He became man, that we might be made god. This is perhaps the most quoted sentence from any of the Church Fathers. It was written by St. Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria, in the Fourth Century, in his theological treatise, On the Incarnation. This month we commemorate St. Athanasius, along with his successor, St. Cyril of Alexandria, on January 18. St. Athanasius was

Church New Year

09/01/2022

Athanasios and Cyril, Patriarchs of Alexandria

01/18/2022

In the half-century after the First Ecumenical Council held in Nicea in 325, if there was one man whom the Arians feared and hated more intensely than any other, as being able to lay bare the whole error of their teaching, and to marshal, even from exile or hiding, the beleaguered forces of the Orthodox, it was Saint Athanasios the Great. This blazing lamp of Orthodoxy, which imperial power and heretics’ plots could not quench

The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross

09/14/2021

Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the cross, about the year 325. A temple to Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and cover with oblivion the place where the saving Passion had been suffered. The venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed,

The Twenty-Second Day of Christmas Advent. The Life of St. Nicholas.

12/06/2020

More than 1,600 years ago, in the year 270 AD, St. Nicholas was born not far from Myra, in what is now modern day Turkey. At that time, Orthodox Christians were persecuted for their faith. Many of them were tortured and executed because of their belief in Jesus Christ. Nicholas was taught by his parents to love the Lord with his whole mind, heart, soul, and with all his strength. When they died he inherited

Fifth Thursday of Pascha. Saints Constantine & Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles

05/21/2020

Archive

Saint Nikitas the Great Martyr (15 September)

Church New Year. Beginning of the Indiction: Ecclesiastical New Year

Sunday of The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Tuesday of Pascha: Saints Constantine & Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles

St. Athanasius the Great

Church New Year

Athanasios and Cyril, Patriarchs of Alexandria

The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross

The Twenty-Second Day of Christmas Advent. The Life of St. Nicholas.

Fifth Thursday of Pascha. Saints Constantine & Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles

Categories

Archives

View Our Live Stream Services

Keep In Touch

Stewardship Application

Daily Meditations

Worship Schedule

Light a Virtual Candle

Text-to-Give in 2 easy steps!

1) Text 202-899-7801 to include your donation amount

2) Follow the link to complete the one-time registration