Orthodox Parish of Saint Nicholas of Myra in Amsterdam
About us
Welcome to the site of Saint Nicholas parish! We are an Orthodox Christian community in the Russian liturgical and spiritual tradition for more than 50 years. After many years with the Moscow Patriarchate, in 2022 our parish was received into the Exarchate of the Benelux of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Our diocesan bishop is Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium.
Our church is open to one and all. Feel free to come in, light a candle or just take a look around. Of course, the services are open to everyone as well. On Sundays we have hosts and hostesses to welcome visitors and show them the way.
After the Sunday service we share coffee and tea. This is the opportunity to ask questions, to visit the Information Centre to ask for information about parish activities. You can also register for the weekly bulletin or parish activities.
The church is open when there is a service. The schedule of services you can find here.
Schedule of services
Our services are alternately (mainly) in Dutch and Church Slavonic.
- The first and third Sunday of the month, the service is predominantly in Church Slavonic,
- the second and fourth in Dutch,
- if there is a fifth Sunday in the month, we also use some English
Schedule of Services
April 2026
Saturday 25 April (12 April)
17:00 Panichida. 17:30 Vigil: Tone 2. 3rd Gospel, Mark 16:9-20
Sunday 26 April (13 April)
Third Sunday of Pascha: The Myrrh-bearing Women
9:30 Hours. 10:00 Divine Liturgy: Acts 6:1-7; Mark 15:43-16:8
May 2026
Saturday 2 May (19 April)
17:00 Panichida. 17:30 Vigil: Tone 3. 4th Gospel, Luke 24:1-12
Sunday 3 May (20 April)
Fourth Sunday of Pascha: The Paralyzed Man
9:30 Hours. 10:00 Divine Liturgy: Acts 9:32-42; John 5:1-15
Saturday 9 May (26 April)
17:00 Panichida. 17:30 Vigil: Tone 4. 7th Gospel, John 20: 1-10
Sunday 10 May (27 April)
Fifth Sunday of Pascha: The Samaritan Woman
9:30 Hours. 10:00 Divine Liturgy: Acts 11:19-26, 29-30; John 4:5-42
Announcements
Orthodox camp in Belgium 1-8 August 2026
Sunday School
The lessons in our Sunday School are for children aged 5 to 12 and take place on Sundays at the end of the Liturgy after Communion and last until approximately 12:30.
Dear parents, here is the Sunday School schedule for Spring 2026:
15 March 2026; 19 April 2026; 10 May 2026; 7 June 2026
Please save these dates.
On 3 August 2025, Father Oleg Karlashchuk passed away
The obituary can be read here.
Photos of Father Oleg can be found here.
Information center & bookshop
In the bookstore of our church you can find various Orthodox goods: icons, crosses, books, oil (consecrated), candlesticks, incense and coal, censers, rosaries, Orthodox calendars, etc. Volunteers working in the Orthodox Information Center can answer simple questions about the Orthodox faith and our church, or direct you to a priest.
From the Rector
Bulletin 373 – Easter Sunday – 12 April 2026
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
My dear Friends,
Pascha is not simply one feast among many. It is the Feast of Feasts, the Victory of Life over death, the triumph of light over darkness, and the revelation that nothing – not even death itself – can separate us from the love of God.
Everything we have done throughout Great Lent leads to this moment. And yet, what we celebrate today is not only an event in the past, but a reality that is present now.
The text for the Gospel reading is rather surprising, as it does not explicitly mention the Resurrection. Instead, we hear the prologue of St John’s Gospel, which in many ways is the best summary of the entire Gospel which we possess (John 1:1-17):
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me”.) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
In the Orthodox icon of the Resurrection – the Anastasis – Christ is not shown emerging alone from the tomb. Instead, He is shown descending into Hades and raising Adam and Eve by the hand.
This image reveals something essential:
- The Resurrection is not an escape
- It is a rescue
- It is not private
- It is universal
- It is not actually about there and then: it is about Here and Now.
Christ enters into the deepest places of human existence – even death itself – and fills them with His presence.
