St. Stephen Orthodox Cathedral

Christ is Born!! Glorify Him!!
You have reached the web site of St. Stephen Orthodox Cathedral. St. Stephen's is a Diocesan Cathedral of the Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania (Orthodox Church in America) under the omophorion of His Grace Bishop Tikhon. Our parish is located in Northeast Philadelphia next to the beautiful Pennypack Park. St. Stephen's was founded in 1971 and since then became a vibrant Orthodox Christian community with many parishioners coming from the City of Philadelphia as well as from neighboring counties in PA and NJ.

We hope that this website will provide you with information about the life of our parish community here at St. Stephen's as well as the Orthodox events in the greater Philadelphia area.

Parish News and Upcoming Events

Blessing of Homes after Theophany

As it is a custom, after the feast of Theophany a priest visits the faithful blessing their homes. Please get in touch with Fr. Victor to arrange for the time of pastoral visit and blessing of your house. To prepare for the priest's visit to bless your home:

~ Make a list of the first names of those family members you wish to pray for when the priest arrives, with the living and the deceased in separate columns.

~ On your dining room table or family altar, place a lit candle, a Theophany icon or icon of Christ, and a wide bowl (to hold the holy water). Be sure your prayer list is there as well!

~ Turn on a light in each room, so the priest can see where he is going.

~ Turn off all TVs, stereos, and computers.

Sunday, February 5, 2012 - Souper Bowl of Caring

Please help us again this year as we participate in this national program that raises money to help feed the hungry across the United States. Over the past 20 years more than $70 million has been raised to fight hunger in local communities like ours. You can be part of this program by donating $ to our soup pot collection, buying a cup of our own Chef Sergio Rabacca's homemade soup at our kitchen window, and/or donating canned goods to the Seminarian Food Drive Collection Boxes. All monetary profits will go to Philabundance. We hope you will be generous and thank you in advance for your participation in this worthy cause.

Please remember to see the weekly bulletin for all other updates and details

Services and Studies

Regular Services:

Saturday: Great Vespers 5 PM
Sunday: Divine Liturgy 10 AM

Feast Day Eve (on weekdays): Great Vespers 7 PM
Feast Day: Divine Liturgy 9 AM

Russian Service: Every Sunday 8:30 AM

Studies (except for January, July and August):

Thursday: Bible Study 7:30 PM

Sunday School (Children age 4 to 17):

Every Sunday during the school year following the Divine Liturgy. Please see Father Victor if you are interested in having your child participate in the Sunday School Program.

Special Attention

Christmas Newsletter: Please take the time to read our Christmas Newsletter. All other editions of the St. Staphen's QUARTERLY can be viewed or downloaded here.

Action Statement: Please take the time to read this special document, an Action Statement for the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania

Remembering the Shut-Ins and the Hospitalized

St. Stephen's is a caring community of Orthodox Christians. When one of our members is hospitalized or unable to attend services because of health or disability, we are not a whole community. But for parishioners to reach out to their fellow parishioners, they need to know who those parishioners are. Please make Fr. Victor or anyone on Parish Council aware of anyone who is hospitalized, ill, or a shut in, so that the information may be shared within the parish.

Weekly Bulletin

See our latest weekly bulletin, "The Protomartyr"

Monthly Calendar

Happy New Year! Please click here to view the monthly calendar for January 2012.

Website support:

For comments or questions, please email us at webmaster@ststephenscathedral.org

"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or more are gathered together in My Name, I am there in the midst of them." -- Matthew 18: 19-20