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The Orthodox Parish of St Helen of Colchester HOW THE NORTH ESSEX ORTHODOX PARISH STARTED
In the spring of 1995 the British Antiochian Orthodox Deanery was founded. At the end of that year Alistair Haig, with his wife and family, were received into Orthodoxy, and moved into "Britain’s Oldest Recorded Town". So the work began in Colchester. An Anglican Past For 30 years he had been an Anglican Priest, ministering in Forest Gate (East London), Laindon in Basildon (Essex), South Woodham Ferrers (Essex), and Bath (Somerset). He concluded that period of his life as "Dean of Bocking, Commissary of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury" in the Archbishop’s ancient and historic "peculiar jurisdiction" of Bocking, near Braintree (Essex), not far from Colchester. He left on good terms with the Anglican authorities, from the highest downwards. It has been a mark of St Helen's parish life that good relations have been maintained with the Anglican authorities, who have been most helpful in these early days of the Orthodox work here. The Change But he had felt it time to move into the Holy Orthodox Church, which he had known and loved since his teen-age years. "Alistair" was chrismated as "Alexander", a different form of his Gaelic name, to make the point that he had not deeply changed his faith from classic Anglicanism, but had indeed changed in the manner of practising his faith. It was also a more understandable form of his name for many Orthodox people. Both his wife Hilary and their three children came with him into Orthodoxy. Father Samir Gholam received and chrismated them all together at St George’s Antiochian Cathedral, London in December 1995. The New Parish The family moved into Colchester, and became the nucleus of the new parish. They were joined by only two or three others associated with them before the move, none from his Anglican parish, and began public worship, lay-led, in March 1996, at St Paul’s Anglican Church. That May, BISHOP GABRIEL ordained Alexander as Deacon in Paris. But, soon after, disaster struck, for both Orthodox and Anglican congregations at St Paul’s: the building was declared dangerous and necessarily closed without warning. For two weeks the parish worshipped in the church hall, where three more converted were received into the Church. Parish Life at Present God was gracious, and in September 1996, just as Father Alexander was raised to the Holy Priesthood by BISHOP GABRIEL, the Parish moved into the Co-operative Chapel. It has remained there till now - perhaps a slightly odd location, but the Chapel adapts quite well for Orthodox worship, and the Co-operative Society have been kind and generous hosts. There are of course disadvantages in worshipping in it. Furniture and icons must be placed out on Saturday before Vespers, and removed after Holy Liturgy next day. And the Parish is able to serve only Saturday night-Sunday morning services (apart from Good Friday and Christmas). The result is that Parish life is always at a rather muted level, a sort of "half-life" for the Parish. But a further four people have been received into the Church, and several converts of longer standing have joined them, together with numbers of cradle-Orthodox - many from Greece and Cyprus, including some of the many Greek students at the University of Essex. Attendance therefore usually ranges from 15 to 20, but there have been occasions when many more have been present. There are all age-groups present, from the elderly to babes-in-arms.
Effort of course is continually made to find premises for the sole use of the Parish, so that a full parish life may be lived. However, as yet there has unfortunately been no success in securing a building. Please God, it is in his plan for the present Priest and people to lay the foundations of a parish that will grow strongly, and be here in many years to come, and multiplied over the face of North Essex. So may God be glorified, and his Name honoured in this ancient and historic town, for evermore. |
