Welcome To St Nicholas Cathedral

The history of the Cathedral located in Los Angeles, California, is truly a story of people of vision, courage, dedication, leadership and religious conviction. It is the story of the needs of many Orthodox families who had settled in the greater Los Angeles area since the turn of the twentieth century. It is a story of those who had devoted their lives to the service of our community, of leaders who are no longer with us but who shall always remain dear in our hearts because of their wisdom, love and accomplishments. Their legacy continues today.

Christmas Service Schedule
Schedule for Services Christmas Eve • جدول الخدمات لعيد الميلاد

Wednesday, December 24, 2025 • الأربعاء 24 كانون الاول

With the angels, the shepherds, the wise men and all the saints, let us come to adore Him Christmas Eve.

8:45 a.m.         Royal Hours of Christmas

10:30 a.m.      Divine Liturgy
(Paramon of Christmas)

While we encourage all to come to both the morning and night services (which are not the same), this may be an excellent opportunity for those who cannot drive after dark, for young children and entire families to celebrate the birth of Christ together.

8:00 p.m.        Christmas Matins

9:30 p.m.        CHRISTMAS DIVINE LITURGY

This is the traditional Christmas ‘midnight’ Liturgy, but we’re starting as early as possible, given that it is winter, and will be dark for a while already.

A reception will follow to break the Fast.

مع الملائكة والرعاة والحكماء وجميع القديسين، دعونا نأتي لنسجد له عشية عيد الميلاد

8:45 صباحا    ساعات عيد الميلاد الملكية

10:30 صباحا  القداس الإلهي
           
(بارامون الميلاد)

بينما نشجع الجميع على المجيء إلى كل الخدمات الصباحية والليلية (وهم مختلفون)، قد تكون هذه فرصة ممتازة لأولئك الذين لا يستطيعون السواقة بعد حلول الظلام وللأطفال الصغار والأسر بأكملها للاحتفال بميلاد المسيح معا.

8:00 مساءً     صلاة السحر لعيد الميلاد

9:30 مساءً     القداس الإلهي لعيد الميلاد

هذا هو قداس عيد الميلاد التقليدي "بمنتصف الليل"، لكننا نبدأ في أبدر وقت ممكن، نظرا لأنه موسم الشتاء، وسيكون مظلما لفترة من الوقت بالفعل.

سيتبع ذلك حفل استقبال للفطر بعد الصيام

 

Christ is Born!  Glorify Him!   المَسيحُ وُلِدَ \ فَمَجِّدوهُ

Lenten Service Schedule

HOLY WEEK & PASCHA 2025

LAZARUS SATURDAY • APRIL 12 • سبت لعازر
Matins 9:30 AM • Divine Liturgy, 10:30 AM
Great Vespers, 6 PM • Confessions Follow

Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead shows He can raise all mankind. Please also join us for lunch after Liturgy, and help us prepare for the Feast by preparing and decorating the Lord’s house.

PALM SUNDAY • APRIL 13 • احد الشعانين

Matins, 7:30 AM
Divine Liturgy, 9:00 AM
Divine Liturgy, 11:00 AM

 

Bridegroom Matins, 6:30 PM
Confessions Follow

We celebrate the triumphant entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, to face his voluntary death. “We like the children carry the palms of victory,” in procession. Adults and children may also bring decorated candles. To accommodate the large number of worshippers, we will have two liturgies Palm Sunday morning, with Bishop Anthony presiding. Join us at either 9 am or 11 am. Both Liturgies will be celebrated in a mix of languages. There will be a procession, coffee hour and pre-holiday bake sale after each liturgy.

The Procession with the icon of Christ, the Bridegroom of the Church, takes place, and we remember the righteousness of Joseph who, like Christ, suffered unjustly with patience and was exalted.

GREAT MONDAY • APRIL 14 • الاثنين العظيم

Presanctified Liturgy, 10 AM
Bridegroom Matins, 6:30 PM
Confessions Follow

We remember the example of the ten virgins waiting for the Bridegroom.

 

GREAT TUESDAY • APRIL 15 • الثلاثاء العظيم

Presanctified Liturgy, 10 AM
Bridegroom Matins, 6:30 PM
Confessions Follow

We remember the woman who anointed the head and feet of our Lord, wiping them with her hair, in contrast with Judas and his betrayal of Christ. The Hymn of Kassiane expresses these contrasts with profound poetry and majesty.

GREAT WEDNESDAY • APRIL 16 • الاربعاء العظيم

Presanctified Liturgy, 10 AM
Sacrament of Holy Unction, 6:30 PM

We are anointed for healing of soul and body as Christ was anointed in anticipation of his burial.

GREAT THURSDAY MORNING • APRIL 17 • صباح الخميس العظيم

Matins, 9 AM
Liturgy of St. Basil, 10 AM

GREAT THURSDAY EVENING • APRIL 17 •مساء الخميس العظيم

Matins with the Twelve Passion Gospels, 6:30 PM

On this day, when Jesus first said to his disciples, “Take, eat; this is my Body,” Orthodox Christians make it a point to participate in Holy Communion. Following the Liturgy, we will perform the rite of the Footwashing with the Church School. A Communion breakfast follows.

We walk with our Lord through the Passion. A procession with the Cross commemorates Christ’s voluntary Crucifixion.

GREAT FRIDAY • APRIL 18 • الجمعة العظيمة

Royal Hours, 10 AM
Un-nailing Vespers, 3 PM

GREAT FRIDAY EVENING • APRIL 18 • مساء الجمعة العظيمة

Matins of Christ’s Funeral, 6:30 PM

We try to spend this day in Church, heeding our Lord’s words to “watch and pray.” Then help us decorate the bier (نعش). At Vespers, Christ is taken down from the Cross and placed in it. Dinner is served after Vespers.

We join Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and the Myrrh-bearing Women to sing in Praise of the buried Christ, and we process with the Bier and passing under it as if joining Christ in the tomb.

GREAT SATURDAY MORNING • APRIL 19 • صباح سبت النور

Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil, 10 AM

THE RESURRECTION • SATURDAY, APRIL 19 • القيامة

RUSH/MATINS/LITURGY, 11 PM

 

 

As we keep vigil, the Victory of Christ over death and his Resurrection ‘explode’ with throwing the leaves of victory. Please bring your children to this service. They will have an egg hunt after, too.

We receive the new Light and the Good News that “Christ is Risen.” We will bless red eggs, and you may also bring Easter Baskets to be blessed. An Agape Breakfast will follow.

AGAPE VESPERS • SUNDAY, APRIL 20 • الباعوث

Paschal Service in Spanish, 7:30 AM
Love Vespers, 1 PM

 

The Resurrection Service will be repeated early Pascha Morning in Spanish.

At the Agape (Love) Vespers, the Good News (Gospel) of the Resurrection will be proclaimed in as many languages as possible. A sign-up list will be posted during Holy Week for you to read any language you know (we might have the text available, if you don’t).

 

Typical Service Schedule
Sunday
7:45am - Divine Liturgy in Spanish
9:15am - Orthros (Matins)
10:30am - Divine Liturgy
  
Saturday
6:00pm - Great Vespers
  
Eve of Feast
6:30pm - Vesperal Divine Liturgy of the Feast

For some feasts, we serve a Vesperal Divine Liturgy on the eve of the feast.  Check our Cathedral Calendar for details.

  
Feast
9:30am - Feast Day Divine Liturgy

In most cases, we will serve Orthros along with Divine Liturgy on the morning of feast days.  Check the Cathedral calendar for current schedule and start times.

  
Today's Commemorations
Leo the Great, Pope of Rome, Agapetus the Confessor, Bishop of Sinai, Flavian the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople
Today's Scripture Readings
JOEL 3:12-21
Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehosh'aphat; for there I will sit to judge all the nations round about. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And the Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall never again pass through it. And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to all generations. I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty, for the Lord dwells in Zion."
JOEL 2:12-26
Yet even now, " says the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, "Spare thy people, O Lord, and make not thy heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' Then the Lord became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. The Lord answered and said to his people, "Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his front into the eastern sea, and his rear into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield. Be glad, O sons of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
Today's Thought

You want simultaneously to come together for prayer and for worldly, ill-timed words. Of course you succeed in neither purpose, because you destroy the one with the other, or rather, they destroy each other. – St. Gregory Palamas

St Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral
2300 W 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA  90057

Cathedral@StNicholasLA.COM
(213) 382-6269

To join our mailing list or to leave us an email, please use our contacts page. We look forward to hearing from you.