Holy Apostles Orthodox Church is a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), Eastern American Diocese, 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. We invite you to come to any of the Divine Services or events at our mission church. In 2009 we were gifted a beautiful, historic chapel and two-acre campus by the Christian Brothers. Our vision is to establish the parish in its new home, from where the parish can continue to thrive and grow as a living icon of Orthodox missions in America.
Two thousand years ago, after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the apostles of Christ went out from their native Israel to bring the Christian Faith to all the far reaches of the world. The ancient Christian Faith, founded so long ago, remains unchanged today and is found in the Orthodox Church.
Through a providential gift in June of 2009, Holy Apostles Orthodox Church became the steward of an historic chapel in Beltsville, Maryland. Situated on two acres of beautiful grounds, in the midst of a parcel of land where President Ulysses S. Grant once walked, the chapel is on the National Historic Register. This is our future parish home, which we hope to grow into a divine oasis and spiritual haven for the salvation of many.
Matushka Deborah's memories: Learn about our formative years and the founding of Holy Apostles.
The following pages present our parish history in reverse chronological order, focusing since 2009 on our restoraton of our historic chapel and the building of our new parish hall:
Rector
Priest Christopher Johnson
Phone: (443) 472-0512 (Rectory)
Email: frchrisjohnson@holyapostlesorthodoxchurch.org
Webmaster
Email: Apostlebird@aol.com
Build Holy Apostles!
OUR VISION is to establish the parish in its new home, from where the parish can continue to thrive and grow as a living icon of Orthodox missions in America. Read our full Purpose and Vision Statement here, and join us as we Build Holy Apostles!
Read the classic message: 'St John of Shanghai and San Francisco, Zealous Builder of Churches'
"In building churches here on earth, we create for ourselves eternal habitations in heaven."
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Met. Hilarion at our parish, 2016 |
The blessing for the foundation of Holy Apostles Orthodox Church was given by Bishop Gabriel of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, on April 28th, 2001, on the eve of the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, [but there was an earlier blessing from Bishop Hilarion] in the spring of 1995, for us to openly pray for and work towards the eventual establishment of the new mission parish... Read the rich and edifying early history here...
Our first house church, followed by our move to Twin Chimneys Office Park, leading up to the gift of the Historic Chapel. Learn more here...
Since 2009 we have been restoring our beautiful chapel, gifted to our parish that year by the Christian Brothers.
To date, we have received and administered grants of approximately $400,000 so far, and continue to apply for the grants as they become available. Learn more here...
In October 2017, after spending two days with us and our beautiful chapel campus, noted Orthodox architectural designer Andrew Gould shared with us his vision for an attractive parish hall echoing the "Queen Anne" style of our historic chapel.
For the launch of our Capital Building Fund in mid-2018 Andrew provided us with a lovely watercolor of his design, and since that time we have been fundraising and moving towards building the parish hall, raising and administering approximately $300,000 in pre-construction costs. Once we complete the parish hall, we can begin holding the divine services in it, while we continue to work on the restoration and beautification of the chapel. Learn more here...
Our Dual-Timeline Display shows the progress of BOTH the Restoration & Renovation of our Historic Chapel, AND the Building Project for our New Parish Hall, projecting each out to completion.
Get up to speed quickly with this helpful overview, and see more detailed recent updates here...
Renowned Orthodox architectural designer Andrew Gould designed our parish hall and will also be involved with the design of the interior of our historic chapel.
Check out this special feature page with videos and more about the architect and our future parish home.
