Dear family and friends of Holy Apostles,

We are so grateful to share wonderful news: at the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, an anonymous benefactor came forward with a miraculous gift: a matching challenge of up to $57,000!

The challenge will run through November 24th, and any amount raised, no matter how big or small, up to the total of $57,000, will be matched by the sponsor at that time.  We have the opportunity to raise up to $114,000!

Our progress bar below is updated weekly.  Glory to God, we have made a great start, and are deeply grateful for everyone who has contributed. If you are unable to contribute please pray for us.

These funds represent a significant step toward the chapel on the hill, bringing more than one necessary project within financial reach; your help will be immediately noticeable and useful!

More announcements to follow! Glory to God for all things. Please keep us in your prayers.
O Most Holy Theotokos save us!

With Gratitude,
The Clergy, Council, and Parishioners of Holy Apostles

PS — Please prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible donation in one of the following ways (please add "matching grant" on the memo line or box where appropriate):

• Bring your donation to church,
• Send your check, made out to Holy Apostles Orthodox Church, to our church post office box: PO Box 594, Beltsville, MD 20704,
• Donate using your credit or debit card here on our web-site.

Thank you!

Use these links to quickly navigate to our Special Features:

• Watch our Parish Hall Fundraising Video - only 13 min., view here or on YouTube
• Visual History of our Chapel Restoration & Building Project - updated at end of 2024
• Visitations of the Hawaiian Iveron Myrrh-streaming Icon - Read about the recent visits of this beloved and miraculous icon of the Mother of God to our mission parish and historic chapel.
• Special Video Presentation on the inspiring backstory of our Chapel:
  • 'Admiral Ammen, President Grant, and the Uncreated Light: Context for our Historic Chapel'
• Become a Church Builder, like St John Maximovitch!
  
  • "In building churches here on earth, we create for ourselves eternal habitations in heaven!"
    
• Special Blessings - from Andrew Gould, Frederica Mathewes-Green, and our Treasurer, Mariya Petrenko

Scroll down for our high-level overview of our twin projects:

1. Restoring and beautifying our historic chapel gifted to us in 2009, and,
2. Building our new parish hall, designed by Andrew Gould, which will enable us to move to our beautiful chapel campus while we complete the restoration of the chapel.

For a more in-depth history of how we have successfully raised and administered almost three-quarters of a million dollars towards achieving these two goals, follow the links below to our archived pages, shown in reverse chronological order:

The Mountain of God in Beltsville, Maryland

Video originally produced and posted in February 2021

Watch the video, then scroll down to learn more, and to see how you can help our vision be fulfilled. Use the Donate buttons at right to contribute your gift.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

(6/28/25) UPDATES: Since we received the Gift of the Chapel in 2009, we have made enormous progress towards moving to the chapel campus through the following:

• Raised and administered over $400,000 in grants for the restoration of the Chapel;
• Raised and administered over $300,000 towards pre-construction of the New Parish Hall.
  • Includes:
    • County approval of design,
    • Site planning, permits, property surveys, and soil erosion tests;
    • Hiring of our general contractor, Quarry View Buiding Group;
    • Contractor's detailed construction estimate and schedule, divided over three phases;
    • Preparing for initial land work and groundbreaking for the foundation of the new parish hall. 

_______

This video represents the hopes and prayers of the people of Holy Apostles, to establish our parish in its new home in Beltsville, Maryland, from which the parish can continue to thrive and grow, in its soul-saving mission. In order to do this, we need to build our new parish hall, designed by Andrew Gould. Then we can move to the property, and continue the restoration and renovation of the beautiful historic chapel, given to the parish in 2009.

Our prayer is that those who view this video will join us in our missionary work, by praying for us, and by generously donating towards the building of the parish hall.

“May the Lord bless everyone who will contribute to the building of the new parish hall,

and the growth of Christ’s vineyard, in Beltsville, Maryland.”

~ Metropolitan Hilarion,

First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

Watch the video, then scroll down to learn more about the project. Visit our sub-pages detailing the history of the Chapel and New Parish Hall, check out our special page on Andrew Gould, view architectural renderings, and donate via the button at right and at top.

Scroll down to learn more about our Parish Hall Building Project and our Historic Chapel...

Providing an overview of our Parish Hall Building Project through 2024 as we advance towards groundbreaking.

Hover over images to pause the presentation.  

Clicking on an image opens the presentation in gallery view,

with the ability to play the slide show or view individual slides.

View the presentation in PDF format...

Several slides have explanatory notes, in some cases several paragraphs' worth with significant information which goes beyond the Visual History. View the notes by enlarging the pages below, or download the notes in PDF format.

These special feature articles and stories from recent years are blessings too important and inspiring to be relegated to the archive pages telling the story of our Historic Chapel and New Parish Hall. We wanted to keep them on our "Front Page" for you (and us!) to be reminded and inspired by them over and over again. 

New Feature Video Interview with our architect, Andrew Gould

Conducted by Jonathan Pageau (The Symbolic World podcast and YouTube channel), this 44 minute video presents a visual survey of some of Andrew's architectural design work, and discusses his vision for "how to integrate the past with the present regarding Orthodox creative endeavors."

We felt this was also the opportune time to provide a feature page for Andrew Gould on our parish website, as he has been a key figure in our story since 2017 with his visit to the parish and subsequent design of our New Parish Hall.  Proceed to Our Architect, Andrew Gould...

Originally posted July 11, 2022

Mariya’s Letter to Converts

Our treasurer, Mariya Petrenko, has written a most beautiful and profound letter, addressed to an Orthodox convert, from a cradle Orthodox Christian.  With Mariya's permission, we are sharing it with you, here.

Originally posted October 14, 2018

We wish to extend our sincere thanks to Frederica Mathewes-Green for helping us launch our Capital Fundraising Campaign on June 10, 2018. Frederica delivered an inspiring talk, 'Towards an Orthodox America', which perfectly resonated with our vision for our English-language Orthodox mission here in Beltsville, Maryland.

Watch the video from Frederica's talk and our June 10, 2018 Capital Campaign Launch Event on our YouTube channel...

Frederica Mathewes-Green is a wide-ranging author and speaker, whose work has appeared in numerous top-tier publications. She has been a regular commentator for National Public Radio (NPR), and has published 10 books to date, including her most recent title, Welcome to the Orthodox Church (Paraclete Press, 2015). She has published over 700 essays, and given over 500 talks...

To learn more about her writing, speaking, and books, visit Frederica's website at Frederica.com.

Originally posted June 17, 2018