The reception which featured the church choir, the speeches of the clergy as well as dance and singing performances by the church groups.
One of the organizers told Sputnik that the event gathered at least 370 people. The parishioners — who are the nationals of various countries including Russia, the United States, Ethiopia, and Kazakhstan among others — celebrated the anniversary event at Saints Peter & Paul Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, several miles outside of Washington DC.
Archpriest Victor Potapov, the rector of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, told Sputnik earlier that while the parish holiday, the Beheading of John the Baptist, is celebrated on September 11, since this year it falls on a working day, the celebrations are held on September 7 and 8.
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR), Metropolitan Nicholas, three bishops – Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada, Bishop Luke of Syracuse and retired Bishop Jerome (Shaw) as well as priests from different cities of the United States have participated in the event.
Father Victor also told Sputnik that they were preparing a book about the history of the parish, richly illustrated with photographs of famous parishioners, and they are preparing a special film. In addition, they have begun restoration of the large iconostasis.
The Washington parish is the only one in the United States that was created by St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. In 1949, he came to the American capital to convince Congress to pass amendments to immigration laws and allow entry into the country of several thousand Russian immigrants who, after fleeing communist China, found shelter in a camp in the jungle of the Philippine island of Tubabao.
Saint John founded the parish on September 11, 1949, when he celebrated the first liturgy in the private apartment of one of the parishioners.
Father Victor noted that at first the parish rented a chapel in the Washington National Cathedral, and in 1958 it acquired the land on which the current church was eventually built, made in the traditional Moscow-Yaroslavl style of the 17th century.
The priest noted that over the past 40 years, the parish has been joined by many Americans who became interested in Orthodox Christianity and became Orthodox Christians. According to him, in this regard, most services are conducted in two languages — English and Church Slavonic.
The parish of St. John the Baptist in Washington is part of the Russian Church Abroad, also known as the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), which has over 400 parishes around the world.