A community aflame with the love of Christ, grounded in the Church Fathers and Holy Tradition, seeking to restore the Orthodox faith to the land of Ireland, where once shone forth ‘that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.’ (St. Vincent of Lerins)

OUR MISSION – By our parish priest Fr Justin Venn

Our mission is to offer a spiritual refuge to all who seek a living and transformative relationship with God. Rooted in the life of the Orthodox Church, we strive to become instruments of God’s will through prayer, repentance, and love. United with Christ through His resurrection, we seek to serve one another and the world with humility and compassion, in obedience to the commandments of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the name of our patron, Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco, and by the grace of God, our parish is committed to providing shelter for spiritual orphans of all religions seeking the truth, administering the sacraments of the Orthodox Church for the healing of all, and giving purpose to those lost in the sea of this temporal life.

We understand service not as a burden or obligation, but as a sacred privilege and a natural expression of a life united to Christ. Seeking synergy with God, we offer ourselves in love, trusting that hearts filled with divine grace will overflow in service to others. Following the example of our patron saint, we affirm that Christian life requires tireless labor, active compassion, and steadfast faithfulness to the Orthodox faith.

As a mission parish, service and evangelism stand at the center of our common life, with the ultimate purpose of preparing souls for eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

OUR DIOCESE AND CHURCH HIERARCHY

We are an English Language ROCOR * Parish

of the Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe

Under Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America and New York, who was elected to be the First Hierarch of the Church Abroad on 13th September 2022. 

 

Until the election of the new First Hierarch we had been under His Eminence Metropolitan Mark, 

who had served as the Locum Tenens since the repose of  

His Eminence  Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) of New York who we were under 

from 9 December 2016 until his repose on 16 May 2022.

(Click here for information on him)

At its Sobor in Germany from the 9th – 14th June 2017, the Synod of Bishops appointed Bishop Irenei of Sacramento (Photo on the left) as Administrator of the Diocese of Great Britain and Ireland.

At its Sobor in London on the 20th of September 2018 the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia appointed  Vladyka Irenei as Ruling Hierarch of our Diocese and of Western Europe and changed his title to Bishop of Richmond and Western Europe.  

During the session of the 14th / 27th June 2019 in San Francisco, California which took place at the 25th anniversary of the of the glorification of St John the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, who from 1953 to 1962 served as the Ruling Archbishop of our Diocese, our Bishop Vladika Irenei’s title was amended to Bishop of London and Western Europe.

(Click here for more information on him.)

From the beginning of our parish on 10 January 2015 until 8 December 2016 we were under His Eminence Archbishop Mark

(photo below)

* “ROCOR” stands for Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Parish Priest

Fr Justin Venn (please also see our ‘Clergy’ page).