Welcome to St. John the Baptist Cathedral
St. John the Baptist Cathedral is a church in the Diocese of the Western American Diocese for the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America and was established in September of 1954. We are located at 900 Baker Street, San Francisco, California. Our parish priest is Very Reverend Djurica Gordic. Visitors are always welcome to join us each Sunday to learn more about our Orthodox Faith and Serbian Culture.
Divine Liturgy - Sunday's at 10:30 am, Church School at 11:30 am
Sunday of Orthodoxy
On this day the Church commemorates the final ending of the Iconoclast controversy and the definitive restoration of the holy icons to the churches by the Empress Theodora, acting as Regent for her young son Michael III. This took place on the first Sunday in Lent, 11 March 843. There is, however, not only a historical link between the first Sunday and the restoration of the icons but also a spiritual affinity. If Orthodoxy triumphed in the epoch of the Iconoclast controversy, this was because so many of the faithful were prepared to undergo exile, torture, and even death, for the sake of the truth. The Feast of Orthodoxy is above all a celebration in honour of the martyrs and confessors who struggled and suffered for the faith: hence its appropriateness for the season of Lent, when we are thriving to imitate the martyrs by means of our ascetic self‐denial. The fixing of the Triumph of Orthodoxy on the first Sunday is therefore much more than the result of some chance historical conjunction.
