Holy Apostles Church - Beltsville

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Pascha at Holy Apostles Orthodox Church Mission Parish in Beltsville, Maryland

This was the ninth Pascha for our little mission parish.  We were founded with the purpose of bringing the Gospel and Divine Services of the Russian Orthodox Church to the people of America in the English language.

In the last year, our parish has been vouchsafed to witness a pure miracle.  On the day of Saints Constantine and Helen, we were given a beautiful, but disused, historic church on two acres of land not far from our current location in Beltsville, near the University of Maryland. 

For now, we are worshipping in the office park where the Lord has given us our temporary home, as with hope and love, we prayerfully await the day when the Lord will open the doors of our new temple, consecrating it as an Orthodox church to His glory and the glory of our patron saints, His holy apostles.

Our office park church is located on Route 1, the oldest North-South highway in America.  Route 1 carries its travelers all the way from Maine to Florida.  For our Holy Friday and our Paschal processions, we walked out the front door, around a corner, and up to “the Boulevard” – Route 1.  There, in the midst of the noisy traffic and the neon signs, our little parish, members of the Church Militant, walked down the sidewalk, around the corner into the Chevy Chase Bank parking lot, and up an embankment back to our church. The whole trip covers about a block.  The embankment is covered by our “Pascha bridge,” two large pieces of plywood and a length of carpet to make the trip up the hill easier for our parishioners for whom the climb might be difficult.

On Holy Friday, in procession we chanted “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.”  On Pascha night, we chanted, “Thy Resurrection O Christ, Saviour, the angels hymn in the heavens.  Vouchsafe also us on earth, with pure hearts to glorify Thee.”

Our Paschal procession of 47 souls was led by our warden Silas Diaz, carrying the Cross of our Lord.  Following Silas were our rector, Fr. George, our deacon, Fr. Damian, sub-deacons, servers, parishioners, and inquirers, some of whom had never experienced Orthodox Pascha.

We take the following words of the Holy New Martyr Patriarch Tikhon to heart:

Holding to the Orthodox faith, as to something holy, loving it with all their hearts and prizing it above all, Orthodox people ought, moreover, to endeavor to spread it amongst people of other creeds. Christ the Savior has said that “neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candle stick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” (Matthew 5, 15) The light of Orthodoxy was not lit to shine only on a small number of men. The Orthodox Church is universal; it remembers the words of its Founder: “Go ye into the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Luke, 16, 15), “go ye therefore and teach all nations.” (Matthew 28, 19) We ought to share our spiritual wealth, our truth, light and joy with others, who are deprived of these blessings, but often are seeking them and thirsting for them....

- Holy New Martyr Patriarch Tikhon, Sermon on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, 1903

With great joy, on Pascha night, we carried the Light of Christ in our procession; the procession of the Church Militant, planted by our Lord in this little corner of the world in Beltsville, Maryland.  After three trips up to Route 1 and around the block, we arrived back at our little church, where we heard the words, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life.”

We went back into the church and celebrated the Paschal Matins and Divine Liturgy.  After the services, we broke the fast with wonderful tasty Pascha food.  Later in the day at 1:00 PM, we celebrated Paschal Vespers, and then went to the rectory for a potluck celebration and an Easter egg hunt for the children.   The pure joy of Pascha lit up the faces of our children; and those who are old felt their youth being renewed as the eagle’s.

It is said that Orthodox Christians live from Pascha to Pascha.  We are grateful to the Lord for all that He has given to us in our little parish; for the gift of being able to be in church to celebrate His Holy Pascha; for the love that exists in our parish family, and for the opportunity to be workers in His vineyard.  The fields are white already to harvest.  We hope and pray that the Lord will send us more laborers, and that through our humble parish many souls will be saved; that many will find salvation, the True Faith, the Faith of our Fathers, the Holy Orthodox Faith. 

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