Service & Community Building

Join this team to help welcome visitors, deepen relationships with parishioners, facilitate new members’ integrations with the parish, answer questions, and otherwise help people connect to the life of the church.

A ministry aimed at ensuring the parish’s young adults are supported as they become more independent participants of the life of the church, with the overall goal of cultivating an interconnected parish that maintains a youthful exuberance with no divisions because of age or experience.

Service to our neighbors in need is at the heart of St. Mary’s Food Pantry Ministry. We support local food pantries and shelters by collecting non-perishable foods and essential household items such as diapers and paper goods, helping to care for those in our wider community.

Through ongoing donations and volunteer efforts, we seek to be a consistent source of support and compassion for those facing hardship. We also support and pray for the establishment of a FOCUS (Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve) center in the DMV area, expanding opportunities for Orthodox Christian service and outreach.

Parishioners are encouraged to contribute items and participate in this meaningful ministry as we live out our call to serve Christ in our neighbors.

Browse a wide variety of books in St. Mary's library and check them out using our online catalogue system.

The group of families who adopt a small section of the St. Mary grounds to keep the weeds under control. Good family project and is completed 3-4 times per year. There is always need for more volunteers.

A group that maintains the current year’s Holy Fire from Jerusalem at home and relights the church’s central vigil candle (and each other’s) as needed.

Do you have a vocation as an altar server, a reader, or a subdeacon?

Commit to making manifest the beautiful music of the Kingdom at the weekday and weekend liturgical services, and participate in rehearsals, workshops, and classes on Byzantine music, the divine services, and hymnology of the Church.

A team of parishioners that assist the clergy and Eccl. Katherine to keep our services running smoothly and beautify the church. Tasks run the gamut from decorating, service preparations, liturgical items cleaning. Young and old, men and women are welcome. We also have a program specifically designed for our young girls called The Handmaidens who are an integral part of the team.

The toaca is a monastic tradition where monks or nuns hit a wooden board in a cross pattern to call people to prayer. We invite the young ladies in the parish to learn the toaca, so they can participate in this ancient tradition. Toaca is part of the Mischief of Mice.

Our weekly ministry of hospitality in which we strive to foster and deepen relationships within our parish over a shared meal after celebrating the Divine Liturgy together. Through this ministry, every parishioner has the opportunity to serve others by participating on a team once a month to help create a welcoming environment for new and old alike so we may break the fast together and fellowship with one another. This involves one or more of the following: providing food, drinks, setting up coffee and tea, organizing food on the counter before the end of service.

Could you or someone you know use a hand during a trying time? Whether you are experiencing an illness, hospitalization, expansion of your family, or some other life event, we are happy to help you by setting up a meal train. Please reach out for assistance or to refer a meal train recipient.

Provides short-term housing for women in transition. It also provides meeting space for St. Mary’s various activities such as high school Sunday School, Young Adults, and open use of the backyard.