5601185 ACR 21-34, The Saint Sophia Cathedral Consecration Recognition Resolution of 2015

A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION

 

21-34 

 

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA   

 

April 14, 2015   

 

 

To honor Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral on the occasion of its Consecration and its 60^th anniversary at 36^th Street & Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.  20007, and to declare May 10, 2015, as “Saint Sophia Day” in the District of Columbia..

 

 

            WHEREAS, The Community of Saint Sophia was established in 1904 by Greek immigrants and is the oldest Greek Orthodox Church Community in the District of Columbia area, the 7th oldest Greek Orthodox Church community in the United States, and elevated to the rank of cathedral on February 18, 1955;

 

            WHEREAS, Saint Sophia Cathedral serves 800 stewards representing 1,200 adult parishioners, for a total of about 2,000 souls, including children;

 

            WHEREAS, Saint Sophia Cathedral was the first Greek Orthodox Church community in the western hemisphere to be named Saint Sophia;

 

            WHEREAS, Saint Sophia Cathedral is the episcopal throne in the nation’s capital of the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America exarch to the western hemisphere of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the spiritual head of 300 million world Orthodox; and

 

            WHEREAS, during its 111-year history as a Greek Orthodox faith community, Saint Sophia Cathedral has helped transform the lives of many thousands of Greek Orthodox communicants throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, serving as the mother church of several other Greek Orthodox Church communities.

 

            IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, that the Council of the District of Columbia salutes and congratulates Saint Sophia Cathedral on the occasion of its Consecration and its 111 continuous years of inspired service to the Greek Orthodox faithful of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and declares May 10, 2015, as “Saint Sophia Day” in the District of Columbia.

 

            Sec. 2. This resolution may be cited as the “The Saint Sophia Cathedral Consecration Recognition Resolution of 2015”.

            Sec. 3.  This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.