About the British Orthodox Church

Who are we?

The British Orthodox Church is a small Orthodox jurisdiction, canonically part of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. Our mission is to the people of the British Isles, and though we are completely Orthodox in our faith and practice we remain British in our ethos and in our appreciation of the Orthodox heritage of these islands.

Our community is canonical, part of mainstream Oriental Orthodoxy. It is traditional and rooted in the two thousand year life of the Orthodox Catholic Church. It does not change with every modern fad and is increasingly becoming a home for those from other Christian communities who are unable to remain in communities which are drifting away from the historic faith. We are the only Orthodox community in the British Isles which has an English bishop, and a definite mission to bring Orthodoxy to British people in our own culture.

A Little History

The British Orthodox Church was originally established in 1866 when a Frenchman, Jules Ferrette, was consecrated as a bishop by the Syrian Orthodox Church with the purpose of re-establishing Orthodoxy to the West.

Over the years this mission lost touch with its Eastern origins, but in 1994, under the leadership of our present bishop, discussions with the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate bore fruit and we were reunited with the Oriental Orthodox churches from which we had come. At the feast of Pentecost in 1994, at Saint Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, Abba Seraphim was ordained a Metropolitan by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, and the British Orthodox Church became a constituent of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate. Metropolitan Seraphim is a full member of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Patriarchate.

Where we are today

The British Orthodox today comprises parishes and missions throughout the British Isles. All our services are in English and we venerate the Orthodox saints of the British Isles as well as those of the wider Orthodox Church. We use the ancient Liturgy of Saint James as our normal liturgy, together with all the traditional services of the Coptic Orthodox Church, such as the morning and evening Raising of Incense.

Although the British Orthodox Church is a small community at present, it is committed to evangelism and wider ministry. Through our church press we publish the 'Glastonbury Review', the only English language journal committed to regular reporting about the activities of the Oriental Orthodox churches and we have also begun to republish some important theological works. Through the internet, we maintain a number of international and ecumenical email discussion groups, as well as promoting the work of the Joint Commission for the Dialogue between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches through an important website www.orthodoxunity.org. Member of the Church participate in a number of ecumenical forums on the Internet, seeking to increase understanding of the Oriental Orthodox communion to which we are grateful to belong.

The British Orthodox Church, as part of the Oriental Orthodox family of local Churches, is in communion with the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Church and the Malankara Syrian Church of India.

Many of our Church members have visited Egypt, and spent time with Coptic Orthodox bishops, priests and faithful. Our bishop has made nearly thirty trips, both for the meetings of the Holy Synod, and to develop close ties with the Coptic Orthodox Church.

In the UK, the British Orthodox Church is part of the Oriental Orthodox Council of Churches, an organisation which seeks to facilitate the various Oriental Orthodox Churches working more closely together.

Our bishop, Metropolitan Seraphim, is also on a number of advisory boards, such as the Council of Reference for Christian Research, and is often called upon to assist Government departments in better understanding issues relevant to Oriental Orthodox Christians at home and abroad.

Committed to Sharing our Faith

Much of the time and energy of the British Orthodox Church is spent on evangelism, and on developing means of evangelism. We are convinced that the Orthodox Faith is the fulness of the Christian life, and that we have a great responsibility to share this Faith with all those among whom we live.

We appreciate that, like each one of us, those we talk with and share with are on a spiritual pilgrimage as they seek to be obedient to God's will. Therefore we do not try to do God's work of converting hearts to the Orthodox way of being a Christian, rather we seek to help each person understand what we have been entrusted with, and experience it for themselves as far as they are able in their own circumstances.

Most recently we have created the British Orthodox Fellowship so that our friends and enquirers can join a community of similarly minded Christians, even while they are not ready, or able, to become members of the British Orthodox Church. We hope this new venture will be another means of sharing the treasures of our Faith, and reaching British people with the Orthodox Gospel.

An Orthodox Testimony

I was born and brought up as an Anglican and went until my late teens to an Anglo Catholic parish, which I enjoyed a great deal. But like many young adults I drifted away from the church while I was a student and only came back in my late twenties or early thirties, after the birth of my eldest daughter.

Within a very short time after my return I had accepted an invitation from my parish priest to become a Reader and I served in that capacity for seventeen years. I never lost my Anglo Catholic convictions but it was difficult to maintain these in a parish that was ‘middle of the road' Anglican. I also became increasingly dissatisfied with Liberal Anglicanism, which steadily gained strength both in my parish and in the church at large. The last straw came with the ordination of women to the priesthood.

I immediately requested a sabbatical from my Office as a Reader and worshipped initially at two Anglo Catholic parishes, where I felt more at home than I had at any time before. However, both were busy exploring the possibility, priests and some laity, of being received into the Roman Catholic Church. I knew this wasn't for me and I had in any case over the years developed a strong attraction towards Orthodoxy. I started attending the Liturgy, mostly at the Russian Orthodox Church.

One day I was invited to attend a Liturgy at the Orthodox Church of the British Isles (OCBI). I had never heard of this small church before but I was strongly attracted to it, although I was reluctant to seek admission as it was an independent Orthodox church. Questions of authority and ecclesiology had been my principal objection to women's ordination and so it seemed right that I should not take any more risks.

If I became Orthodox it must be in a canonical jurisdiction, not in an independent church however attractive. Imagine my joy when I soon after received the news that the OCBI was to be received into the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, under the new title of The British Orthodox Church. I was received into Orthodoxy in November 1994 and became in time a Subdeacon, which seemed a fitting way to continue the ministry that I had begun as a Reader. This is a crucial point.

At no time was I invited to repudiate my former spiritual journey, and it continues now with a new impetus, free from dubious theological innovations and the secular liberalism that is undermining the faith of so many sincere Christians in the western world.

A member of the British Orthodox Church