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The early spring wind carries an inviting scent of Mediterranean spices and incense into the neighborhood surrounding St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, telling of the luncheon to follow the Sunday service. It's the morning before Great Lent, which Orthodox believers celebrate a week later than other Christians, and the parking lot is packed.
Latecomers buy candles, cross themselves and kiss the icons.
The ushers wait for the Rev. John Tavlarides to break his chanted dialogue with the choir – as the Orthodox service goes - and let the worshippers join in.

Saint Sophia in Washington, DC serves as the Greek Orthodox national cathedral, and its history illustrates the development of the church in the United States. The celebration of the cathedral's 100th anniversary and the consecration of its magnificent new education building in 2004 are soon to be followed by the recognition of its priest's remarkable 50-year tenure at Saint Sophia.

In Little-Changing Greek Orthodox Church, a Celebration of a Cathedral's Centennial.
2004 is but a blip on the timeline of Orthodox Christianity, which traces its beginnings to the apostles, its unification to the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century and its liturgy to St. John Chrysostom 200 years later. As it happens, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Washington area's oldest Orthodox congregation, St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Northwest Washington.