The oldest form of the Christian faith

The Orthodox Church is the continuation of the Christian community founded in the first century. It has no founder later than the Apostles and no date of establishment after Pentecost. What is believed, sung and done in an Orthodox church on a Sunday morning has been handed down in an unbroken line — not reconstructed, not reformed, and not reinvented in any century since.

Worship you enter rather than watch

There is no sermon at the centre of the service and no performance. The Divine Liturgy is almost entirely sung, filled with incense and candlelight, and surrounded by icons. The whole building is part of the prayer. Most people stand. It is longer than you expect and it does not explain itself — you are meant to be inside it rather than following along.

Icons

The images on the walls are not decoration and not illustrations. An icon is written according to a tradition, and it is venerated — kissed, censed, carried — as a window toward the person it depicts, never worshipped in itself. This distinction is old, and the Church argued it out at length.

The old calendar

This parish keeps the Julian calendar, which now runs thirteen days behind the civil one. The Nativity of Christ is celebrated on 7 January rather than 25 December, and the fixed feasts fall thirteen days later than you may be used to. Practically, it means that if you are coming for a feast, check the date with us first.

More about the calendar →

What is asked of you

Nothing. You may come and stand at the back and leave without speaking to anybody. Nobody will ask who you are. Communion is for Orthodox Christians who have prepared, so a visitor should not approach the chalice — but the blessed bread at the end is for everyone in the building, and you are welcome to it.