Narrative History of the Saint Andrew Church

The building of the Saint Andrew Romanian Orthodox Church started with a dream, the dream of Father Gheorghe Calciu, who served our Lord Jesus Christ in prison for over 18 years, preferring to be imprisoned by a communist dictatorship, than to stop preaching the Word of God. Exiled from his own country, he came to America and was a priest at the Holy Cross Romanian Orthodox Church in Alexandria, VA for over 20 years. As time passed, Holy Cross Romanian Orthodox Church in Alexandria, a little church, became too small for the significant number of parishioners living in the area. Father Calciu had a vision to build a new church in the traditional Romanian Orthodox style, with clean Byzantine iconography, to remain as a symbolic monument for all Romanians living in the United States. His dream was contagious and soon an army of parishioners from a younger generation started to work together, in love and hope, to make it happen.

The project of building the Saint Andrew Romanian Orthodox Church started to materialize in 2004. After a series of surveys and meetings to determine the preferred location of a new church, the Parish Council of the Holy Cross Romanian Orthodox Church in Alexandria was empowered by the General Assembly to purchase a three acre lot at 9111 River Rd, Potomac, MD on which to build a new, larger church for the faithful in the MD-VA-DC area. The lot was purchased on November 30, 2005, the day celebrating Saint Andrew the Apostle, the protector of Romania, who was then chosen to be the protector and namesake of the new church. The purchase was approved by the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America and was subsequently blessed by His Eminence Archbishop Nathaniel and His Grace Bishop Irineu. Though Father Calciu was called by the Good Lord to find eternal peace in heaven on November 21, 2006, we feel he is still helping this project reach its completion.

In the spring of 2009, the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate called a founding meeting for the new church and on March 31, 2009 the Saint Andrew Romanian Orthodox Church was officially established. The church has since been incorporated as a religious non-profit entity in the state of Maryland.

 

Moldovita Monastery

Brief History of Saint Andrew Parish

1990-2004: The number of parishioners rises significantly;

2004: Answering to a Questionnaire sent by the Parish Council, 90% of the parishioners state that they desire to have a new and larger church;

2004: Father Calciu and the Parish Council decide to begin an investigation aiming at the possibility to build a new church;

August 7, 2005: The Special General Assembly  votes in unanimity to invest the Parish Council with the authority to purchase a piece of land for the new church;

November 20, 2005: The Parish Council approves in unanimity the purchase of the land in Potomac;

November 20, 2005: The Council of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America (ROEA) approves the purchase of the land;

November 30, 2005: The Feast of Saint Apostle Andrei: Representatives of the Parish Council sign the documents for the purchase of the land at 9111 River Rd., Potomac, MD;

Father Calciu speaking about land purchase (in Romanian)

2006: The architectural design plans are approved by Fr. Calciu and the Parish Council;

2006: His Eminence Archbishop Nathaniel and His Holiness Bishop Irineu bless the land;

2007: The architectural plans are approved by the Episcopate Commission for Religious Art and Architecture;

2008: Engineering and Construction estimates are obtained;

March 2009: The St. Apostle Andrew Mission is founded and is incorporated in the state of MD. Father  Archpriest Dumitru Paun is appointed parish priest;

2010 – 2014: The architectural design is being subjected to a number of modifications to bring the church to a close resemblance with the architectural style of the Moldovita Monastery;

Iune 2014: The Montgomery Country issues the “Plat Record” of the land;

November 1, 2014: Father Cosmin Antonescu is appointed parish priest of the Saint Apostle Andrew Parish

2014 – 2016: The small chapel on the Potomac yard being unavailable for further performance of religious services, the parish community had to rent the gym hall of the “7 Locks” Elementary School for its Sunday services, while all the other week-day services were accommodated with much love by the St. Luca Serbian Orthodox church;

2016: The church obtains the Construction Permit for installation of the “Father Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa Cultural Center” modular unit, as well as for its connection to the public water system and the installation of a private septic tank;

February 2017: The church obtains the permission to use the new modular building unit as a place of worship;

2017-2018: A normal rhythm for the lithurgic services is restored, and the number of attending faithful increases. The number of baptisms and weddings also increases remarkably.

2019: The actions for obtaining a Building Permit for the big church are being initiated, based on the sustained effort by the team of volunteer architects and engineers;

October 18-20, 2019: Celebration of the Parish 10^th anniversary (2009-2019).