A P P E A L – Please Join Us in a Holy Project

This is an appeal to individuals and families with Bulgarian backgrounds or an interest in Bulgarian traditions in the greater Washington, DC area, interested in organizing a Bulgarian Orthodox Church Mission parish, to be formed under the Washington, D.C. Archdiocese of the Orthodox Church of America (OCA). The idea to start a new parish originated at a church service on March 09. 2002 attended by former parishioners of St. George Church and other Bulgarians in the Washington area. This core group wished to start a new parish with a Father Dimitar Neytchev, their former priest, with a desire to extend Orthodoxy to all persons with Bulgarian backgrounds in the Washington, D.C. area and beyond. Numerous parishioners of St. John of Rila parish, about to be closed, are joining with us in this effort.

As a parish in the Orthodox Church of America, our church mission would:

Have an independent church, belonging to its Bulgarian congregation, under the spiritual direction of its priest, managed by a church board following a church constitution determined by the congregation.
Be financially independent, with own budget and accounts. All the donations would belong to the church and accounting would be transparent. The church mission would not transfer its funds to the OCA Synod, but the OCA Synod would help the church to get established.
Have a future church building belonging to the church congregation. The OCA Synod would not sell anything belonging to the church congregation.
Support and encourage Bulgarian culture by organizing celebrations of religious and national holy days, music and dance events and learning activities.

5. Serve as a fulcrum of Bulgarian life in Washington.

We are seeking approval for the formation of our parish by His Holiness Metropolitan Herman, Bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington and head of the OCA. To that end, we are collecting names of church founders and electing a Patron Saint for the church! We have already provided documents for instatement of Father Dimitar as our priest. We have the support of two local Orthodox churches willing to offer us space to hold services and events.

To join the church founders list, please email us your names, home addresses and office and home telephone numbers. Include a statement. “I/We wish to become [a] member/s of a new Bulgarian language parish in the OCA Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.” Please include your votes for favorite saints or feasts (examples, St. Prohor Pecinski, Nativity of the Virgin, St. Anthony of the Desert, St. Elvis of Ireland – yes there is one!- , Presentation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Temple, etc.) to name the church and have a preference for old or new calendar. A final name for the church will be chosen by vote among those proposed. Include names of all members of your family that will be joining, and include ages of all children under 21 years. Please give us any ideas that you think will help us.

Time is of the essence. Those who join with us now will be considered founders of the church.

Anguelov, Evgeniy evgeniyanguelov@yahoo.com

Assenov, Assen assenov@american.edu

Aydanian, Toni aayda001@umaryland.edu

Matev, Matthew cmjmat@aol.com

Schneider, Galina, spasi@erols.com