Soliloquy for St Sophia's Greek Orthodox Church

St Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral has always been a part of my life. It's the church my family didn't attend. At least, not very often. My grandparents were all in from the get-go and rarely missed a Sunday, but my mother was not Greek which meant she and my father couldn't get married at St Sophia's unless she converted. Plus they both worked at Churchills, our family diner, often until 2 a.m.  And Churchills was open on Sundays.

Still, my dad literally paid his dues to St Sophia's, and we went there for all the important rituals like christenings, funerals and bazaars. A lot of bazaars. My dad always bought raffle tickets for the Cadillac even though in over fifty years he never won and had to buy his own.

Driving down Wisconsin Avenue, it's easy to miss Saint Sophia sitting quietly in the shadow of the National Cathedral on Massachusetts Avenue. The bigger cathedral has held many a state affair, but the staff at St Sophia have waved over a few presidents starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower who laid the cornerstone in 1956.  A time capsule was included and will be opened in 2056. (I'm probably going to miss that event just like I missed this one.)

St Sophia's has seen the likes of Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Clinton. Plus a few football players.

(That's Father John- the one without a football or plaid pants)

The church began humbly enough back in the early 1900s when a few hundred Greek immigrants scraped together enough money to rent a room downtown and to hire an itinerant priest. A Washington Star article in 1904 reported "in the heart of the Nation's Capital dwells a community of nearly 500 souls whose lives, customs, religion...are utterly alien to our institutions. It is the Greek colony. They are among us, but not of us."

Wonder where they got that idea?

By 1908 the parish was organized enough to have its own priest and to rent the upstairs of the former Adas Israel Synagogue at 6th and G NW where it remained for 13 years awaiting the construction of their own digs at 8th and L NW.

Though the congregation was small, differences of opinion soon brought on strife courtesy of the Balkan Wars. Father Alexopoulos asked the congregation to take a stand by separating- the Loyalists  had to sit on one side of the church and the Royalists on the other. (talk about division in the aisles) This is why even before St Sophia had its own building, another church, St Helen and Constantine came into being in at 6th and C Street SW.  Father Lambrides, one of St. Sophia's early priests, was so passionate about politics that he vowed to his congregation that he would rather die than celebrate the return of the throne to King Constantine. He had a heart attack that night and died the next day according to his obituary. Wow.

St Sophia finally did land at 8th and L in 1921 and stayed put for 34 years. The convention center has swallowed those blocks now- including part of 8th Street.  A commemorative marker stands nearby on 7th Street and was blessed by Father Steve last fall in a ceremony held in room 140A exactly where the original nave of the old St Sophia's was.

Even the sign got baptized.

photo by Bill Petros

The new Cathedral was dreamed up in the late 1940s as the congregation grew. Property was bought at 34th and Massachusetts, and the ground was blessed in 1950, though the church wouldn't be ready until 1955, and the plain walls would take many more years to adorn.

The founders in the weeds of the new site of St Sophia

This weekend St Sophia will celebrate its 60th year on Massachusetts Avenue and will be consecrated with as much hoopla as only Greeks can muster complete with saint's bones, incense and a whole lot of chanting. If you have ever been to a Greek ceremony you know this will take all weekend. Every inch of the cathedral has been transformed into a beautiful work of art, built with many years of hard work and long term dreams.