The parish of St Nicholas is a
parish of the Diocese of Sourozh, of the Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarchate
of Moscow). The parish was founded with the blessing of Archbishop Innokenty of
Korsun, administrator of the diocese, in the summer of 2006. Although the
parish is recently established, the tradition of Russian Orthodoxy has been
maintained in the city of Oxford for over fifty years. The first Russian
Orthodox Church in Oxford was founded in 1941, when Hieromonk Nicholas (Gibbes)
arrived to live there. Fr Nicholas, formerly Charles Sydney Gibbes, had been
employed by the Russian Imperial Family as the English tutor to Tsarevich
Alexis. After the family's assassination, he eventually returned to England,
settling in East Oxford. There he established a small Orthodox church within
the medieval chapel of St Bartholomew (Bartlemas).
In 1949 he purchased a house on
Marston Street and established a chapel there, dedicated to St Nicholas the
Wonderworker. The community which grew up around Fr Nicholas was the first
significant Orthodox presence in Oxford, and his witness and ministry attracted
a number of converts to Orthodoxy.
A permanent Russian Orthodox
parish, dedicated to the Annunciation of the Mother of God, was established in
the 1950s, and with the establishment of the House of St Gregory and St Macrina
in 1959, services were held there in a house chapel, which was shared with the
Greek Orthodox Community of the Holy Trinity.
In 1973 the two parishes, having
outgrown the house chapel, moved to a new church built in the garden of the
house, as a permanent place of Orthodox worship which continues to this day.
Many benefactors, both Orthodox and friends of Orthodoxy belonging to other
Christian traditions, helped to make it possible to build the new church. From
the outset, the church on Canterbury Road was envisaged as being a home for
Orthodox of all local traditions.
In July 2006, a proportion of the
Annunciation Parish members voted to move from the jurisdiction of the
Patriarchate of Moscow to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, in order to
follow its former rector, Bishop Basil of Sergievo who had already made this
move. Those parishioners who chose to remain in the Diocese of Sourozh within
the Patriarchate of Moscow, petitioned Archbishop Innokenty of Korsun, the
temporary administrator of the Diocese, to form themselves into a new parish.
Thus, the Russian Orthodox Parish of St Nicholas the Wonderworker was formally
established in September 2006. Fr Stephen Platt, formerly the parish priest of
the Parish of the Annunciation, was appointed as its first rector. As such,
over fifty years after the foundation of the original chapel of St Nicholas,
Oxford again has an Orthodox parish dedicated in his honour.
After a number of 'homeless
years' when the parish was forced to rent worship space, the community acquired
a derelict Anglican church which in 2010 was renovated to become a most
attractive place of Orthodox worship.
St Nicholas Parish is a
multi-national community, comprised of Orthodox Christians of many ethnic
backgrounds, who live, work or study in the Oxford area. Students, families
with children and people of all ages and professions - both 'cradle' Orthodox
and converts to Orthodox Christianity - are sure to find a warm welcome in this
community. The inscription over the
church porch proclaims the prophesy of Isaiah: (Is 56: 7) 'My house shall be
called a house of prayer for all nations.’ This is the hope and expectation for
the community - to become a house of prayer where all could worship the Lord of
all.[1]
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