St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral of Brooklyn, the Mother Cathedral and oldest parish of the Archdiocese, celebrated her 110th anniversary June 4-5, 2005. The anniversary coincided with the spring meetings of the Local Archdiocesan Synod of the Self-Ruled Archdiocese, the Archdiocese Board of Trustees and the Governing Council of the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch. All three meetings proved to be very productive, historic and fruitful.

Click here to see pictures from the banquet and the historic Hierarchical Divine Liturgy.

 

For lots of information about St. Nicholas and churches that are dedicated to his patronage throughout the world, click here.

Having just celebrated the 125th Anniversary of our Mother Cathedral in 2020, it is important that we know our history and where we came from. With that in mind, in addition to the history section of our webiste, you can download a brief life of St. Raphael of Brooklyn who founded our community in 1895. Please click on the following links below to download the Cathedral booklet about St. Raphael's life:

1. Cover
2. Inside of Booklet

Save the date for the Sons of Antioch Byzantine Music Concert on Saturday, December 14th at 7:00pm. Sponsorships and tickets are now available. The members are professional musicians trained in the ancient art of Byzantine chant from throughout the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. This will be their first appearance in the greater New York area. Please be sure to join us as part of our annual St. Nicholas Day/Christmas concert. 

Click here for the sponsorship form.

You can purchase tickets or become a sponsor by clicking here.

Attached is the 2024 version of our Cathedral brochure that we give our to visitors. Click here to view the brochure and feel free to share it with others. 

Cathedral faithful and others from the community gathered on Friday, May 11 to celebrate our mothers, grandmothers and Godmothers and to honor Cathedral Dean, Fr. Thomas Zain, on his 30th anniversary in the holy priesthood. The celebration took place at Dyker Heights Golf Course with more than 200 people attending. It was the first big social function held by the Cathedral since the pandemic and was a great success. 

Click here to see photos from the gala.

St. Nicholas Day Services for 2024 are as follows:

The Feast Day falls on Friday, December 6. we will celebrate the evening of Thursday, December 5 with:

Orthros at 6:00pm
Divine Liturgy at 7:00pm

Christ is Risen! Please enjoy photos from this solemn and joyous time of year. This year was very special in that we received 9 catechumens into the Church on Great and Holy Saturday and one the following Saturday. God grant them many years!

We will celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of Christ (Christmas) on the evening of Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24th as follows:

Tuesday, December 24:
Royal Hours at 11:00am

Tuesday, December 24
6:45pm Festal Orthros
8:00pm Divine Liturgy for the Feast 

You should fast from the noon meal if you plan to receive Holy Communion. Please make every effort to celebrate the birth of Christ liturgically before other types of celebrations!

Please join our new text reminder group for last minute notifications, changes of schedules, deaths, etc. This will be used sparingly. Please send a text to 81010 to join and put the following in the body of the messge:

#stnickcath

Christ is Risen! - المسيح قام - Христос Воскресе! - Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!

We pray you had a Blessed Pascha and were able to pray with us this past week. Click here for some photos from last night and the previous week.  Enjoy! If any of you have other photos to add, please send them along!!!

Christ is Risen!

Fr. Thomas

Join us the weekend of October 19-20, 2019 for a weekend of anniversaries and celebrations.  We will celebrate several anniversaries and occasions including the kick-off for both the 100th anniversary of our State Street Cathedral and the 125 anniversary of the founding of our community by St. Raphael of Brooklyn in 1895, both of which will take place in 2020. We will also celebrate Fr. Thomas’ 25th anniversary in the holy priesthood that Saturday evening and Fr. Adrian’s elevation to the dignity of Archpriest at the liturgy that Sunday. We will be hosting the fall meeting of the Archdiocese Board of Trustees and the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch that weekend and on the evening of Saturday night there will be a banquet in downtown Brooklyn at a new venue most of you have never been to, the top floor of the Brooklyn Law School with sweeping views of New York Harbor and Downtown Brooklyn. As of September 28, 2019, the banquet is sold out except for a few remaining sponsorship slots. Thank you to everyone for his support. 

The schedule of services for the weekend is as follows:

Saturday, October 19th at 5:30pm: Great Vespers with Metropolitan Joseph and our Antiochian Hierarchs in the Cathedral.

Sunday, October 20th: 

9:15am Orthros
10:30am Hierarchical Divine Liturgy and Elevation of Fr. Adrian Budica to the dignity of Archpriest. His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH and His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolampsk (Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church), along with our Antiochian hierarchs will preside at the service. 

It is with great joy we look forward to welcoming His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolampsk, Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, who will represent His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia for our 125th anniversary inauguration on Sunday, October 20, 2019 at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral. On this day, we will inaugurate the beginning of the 125th anniversary year in which St. Raphael of Brooklyn arrived in New York from Russia in early November 1895 and began the Syro-Arab Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church. He would later be consecrated the first Orthodox bishop in America by the future St. Tikhon of Moscow and serve under St. Tikhon during his tenure in America. As such, our historical roots in this land are one with the Russian Orthodox Church and we welcome the participation of Metropolitan Hilarion in celebrating our common history together. Orthros that morning will begin at 9:15 and the Divine Liturgy at 10:30.

St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral
355 State Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(Between Hoyt and Bond Streets)

Братия и сестры!

С великой радостью извещаем, что в воскресенье, 20 октября 2019 года, мы ожидаем в нашем соборе Его Высокопреосвященство митрополита Волоколамского Илариона (Алфеева), председателя Отдела внешних церковных связей Русской Православной Церкви, который будет официально представлять Его Святейшество Патриарха Московского и всея Руси Кирилла на открытии торжеств по случаю 125-летия начала служения святителя Рафаила Бруклинского. В этот день мы вступаем в 125-й год с того момента, когда будущий святитель Рафаил прибыл в Нью-Йорк из России в начале ноября 1895 года и впоследствии учредил Сиро-арабскую миссию Русской Православной Церкви. Позднее он будет рукоположен во епископы святителем Тихоном (Белавиным) (первая православная архиерейская хиротония на нашей земле) и понесет служение в Америке под его началом. Таким образом, на американской земле нас и Русскую Православную Церковь связывают единые корни, и мы рады, что вместе с митрополитом Иларионом сможем засвидетельствовать общность нашего исторического пути.

Начало утрени в 9:15, Божественная Литургия в 10:30.

Свято-Николаевский Антиохийский Православный Собор
St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral
355 State Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(между улицами Хойт и Бонд)

After 17 years of effort our Cathedral was approved in September to be on the New York State Register of Historic Places. We thank those involved from our parish and those who prepared the 70 plus page submission to the state for this honor recently announced by our governor. Fr. Thomas was interviewed by various television and print media as a result of this announcement. On November 8th, the Cathedral was approved to be on the National Register of Historic Places. Here are links to some of the news stories that appeared:

National Registry Approval Letter

State Registry Approval Letter

https://netny.tv/episodes/currents/st-nicholas-antiochian-orthodox-cathedral-named-to-historic-place-registry/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=95&v=YBfpYdBw-Cg&feature=emb_logo

https://bkreader.com/2021/09/14/brooklyn-st-nicholas-antiochian-orthodoxcathedral-state-register-historic-places/?fbclid=IwAR3AXOfEnmsEEi_73iDKrnL-fcmclpXJpGf1ckxZq06hV9Sx90fRPkDRdos

files/BDE-091021digital_compressed.pdf (3565kb)

Join us for in person or online adult education classes every Monday  from 7:00pm to 9:00pm  led by Cathedral Dean Fr. Thomas Zain. Email Fr. Thomas for the zoom link. We will have vespers at 6:30 each Monday prior to the class except September 30 and October 7. Note there will be no classes on the following dates:

November 25
December 30

June 6, 2021 marked an historic day in the life of St. Nicholas Cathedral's history. Clergy and elected officials gathered on the corner of State and Bond for the unveiling of the new street sign in honor of our founding priest and first bishop, St. Raphel of Brooklyn. Our block of State street is now "St. Raphael of Brooklyn Place". This was supposed to take place in 2020 when we celebrated our 125th anniversary of St. Raphael's arrival and the 100th anniversary of our State Street location but was delayed because of the pandemic. Thanks to all who helped make today a reality. In addition to His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph's presence today, we had representation from the Russian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in America and several Antiochian Orthodox clergy. Local politicians included United States Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, State Senator Andrew Gounardes, City Councilman Stephen Levin, Assemblywomen Jo Anne Simon, Mr. John Abi-Habib, the Honorary Counsel General of Lebanon in New Jersey and special guest, the new Ambassador of Syria to the United Nations, His Excellency, Bassam Sabbagh.

Click here to see the image gallery

See our photo gallery from Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Pascha 2021

Our Spring Paschal Mother's Day concert was a great success thanks to our talented choir both as individuals as as a group. We thank all those who participated and donated. The proceeds of the concert will go toward the rennovation of our restrooms in the hall to make them handicapped accessable. The project is already underway. God bless you all. 

Click here to see the concert

As we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of our State Street Cathedral location in 2020, we have finished the iconography in the Cathedral nave and altar. Here are some photos of the project. A special thank you to iconographer Vasilis Fatjon and parishioiner Mark Asproyerakas for their hard work installing the new icons and frescos. Click here to take a look at the photos in the gallery.

Click here to view a video of the altar area

Click here to view a video of the latest installion of the 20 saints from around the world on the ceiling as you enter the nave.

His Eminence Metropolian JOSEPH celebrated his first service outside the chapel at the archdiocese headquarters at the Cathedral on August 2. See the article and related post by clicking here. 

At the end of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy Mark Asproyerakas, Fadi Broumana and George Zain were presented hand painted icons for their dedication and effort in helping keep the Cathedral up and running and bringing us the beautiful services during the COVID-19 shut-down. God grant them many years!

Thank you to our co-chairs, Norma Khoury and Elaine Khoury and all who helped plan and participated in our “Weekend of Celebrations” last weekend. There were many hours of preparation to get the Cathedral ready and to plan the events of the weekend. Without the entire effort of all those who labored and sacrificed, it would never have happened. Even until the day people arrived, the final touches were being completed. 

It was a beautiful weekend and all of our hierarchs and out of town guests, including our special guest, His Eminence Metropolitan HILARION of the Russian Orthodox Church, expressed their thanks to our parish for a wonderful weekend. 

You can see all the photos from the weekend via this link (Thank you to Khourieh Destinie Winn and Sub-deacon Andre Christoforides for taking these photos. 

Weekend of Celebration Photos

You can read the official press release here:

https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/500

You can read the offical press release of the Moscow Patriarchate here:

https://mospat.ru/en/2019/10/21/news178988/

Watch the video of Orthros and the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWj8bdEgu6E&feature=youtu.be

Thanks be to God, after several years of dreaming and the last 18 months of serious planning, yesterday we signed with an architectural firm and have set in motion our plans to build a small addition in the alleyway of the Cathedral. The highlight of this addition will be an elevator for our elderly and disabled and much needed church school rooms for our children. Once the architectural firm has finalized the plans and the the design is ready, we will hold a parish meeting to explain everything and, after receiving the blessing of Metropolitan JOSEPH, we will kick off our fund-raising efforts. You will hear more and more about this in the days and weeks to come and start seeing work done this summer. Thanks to all who have gotten us to this point and to the generosity of Rose Faris and her brother Edward Faris who left us with a substantial amount to help us start this project. May their memory be eternal!

March, 2019 Update: We just received approval for our ZD-1 from the City of New York. We are able to build everything we wanted including two floors, basement and church leval, in the alleyway. We are now entering Phase II which will entail the plans for the interior details now that our "envelope" of the new addition has been approved. Things are moving along!

His Grace, Bishop Nicholas and Vicar-General Fr. Thomas Zain led a group of 22 pilgrims from throughout the archdiocese (with two from Damascus) on a two week pilgrimage of Russia from August 13-27. After the majority of the group returned home on August 27th, Bishop Nicholas, Fr. Thomas, Fr. Mousa Haddad from St. Mary Church in Palos Heights, IL and Bishop Nicholas' mother, Nadia Ozone, remained until August 30 to celebrate the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos on August 28 (old style) with His Holiness, KIRILL, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. The Divine Liturgy took place in the main historical Cathedral for all Russia, the Dormition Cathedral inside the Kremlin walls. It was in this Cathedral that the Patriarchs and Metropolitans of Russia were enthroned and Czars were crowned prior to the dark years of Soviet rule. Thanks to the efforts of our Antiochian representative in Moscow, His Eminence, Archbishop NIPHON, the delegation was invited to participate in the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy with His Holiness. At the end of the Divine Liturgy, before a packed cathedral, His Holiness presented a reliquary containing relics, a piece of the coffin and a portion of the vestment of St. Tikhon of Moscow as a gift to Metropolitan PHILIP for our mother Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Brooklyn. It was St. Tikhon, during his tenure in the United States, that consecrated the first St. Nicholas Cathedral on Pacific Street in Brooklyn in 1902. It was also St. Tikhon who consecrated St. Raphael as a bishop before returning to Russia to become the first Patriarch since the time of Peter the Great.

Check out the new icons of St. Raphael of Brooklyn by clicking on the bookstore link on the left. They are reproductions of Cathedral originals.

This album contains photos of the faces of just some of our living icons at St. Nicholas who made this Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Pascha special. If you have any candid shots to add, please send them to Fr. Thomas. Many of our parishioners have posted photos of the main "scenes" of the week, the beauty of our Cathedral and the hierarchs and clergy celebrating the services, however, these photos are the candid shots of our faithful without whom we would be celebrating in an empty church. God bless you all. Christ is Risen! المسيح قام

Photos of Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Pascha