Christian Churches / Traditions in Scotland Today

The Orthodox Church

Father Alexander Williams of Dunblane  

Introduction: how did your Church tradition came about?

The Orthodox Church comprises the ancient churches of the Christian East - the Patriarchates of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople - together with the churches of eastern Europe, Asia and Africa which they evangelised, and their diaspora churches and their converts in the West.

What does your tradition understand to be the irreducible core of the Christian faith?

The canons of the Seven Ecumenical Councils

The Nicene Creed

The Jesus prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me/us)

What does your tradition consider to be absolutely integral to becoming and being a Christian?

Becoming:  Baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and Chrismation with the seal of the Spirit

Being:  The “Ladder of Divine Ascent”, from being in the Liturgy to union with God

What does your tradition share in common with other traditions in Christianity?

with Rome:  the Seven Councils

                the Nicene Creed (except the “filioque” clause and “top down” government)

with Protestantism:  reverence for the text of scripture (but interpreted by tradition)

What are the main unique features of your tradition?

See the qualifications in the previous answer, and also:

the experience of time

fasting

confession

Why would you encourage a seeking person to explore your particular Church tradition?

To explore:  because it is the church of the first thousand years, and has surprising things to say to every western church and most western assumptions

To belong:  depends on individual patterns of spiritual experience

How would you begin helping that person to discover the treasures of your tradition?

Come to the Liturgy

How would you then help that person grow in their faith?

This depends on the individual, through conversation, confession, and lay gatherings, and may branch out through prayer, charitable activities, reading, and study of icons or the singing tradition.

The Orthodox Church in Scotland

The original tradition of the Church, preserved in Orthodox ecclesiology and spirituality, has long been eclipsed in the West by the ascendancy of the medieval Roman church and of the Reformation churches which grew out of it.  In Scotland, however, the ancient Orthodox legacy has never been entirely lost.  Even today the sacred geography of Scotland from Iona to St. Andrews and from Whithorn to Kirkwall tells of a very different allegiance as the names of the Celtic Saints which are preserved in innumerable towns and villages witness to a Church which is gathered around its local bishop, priest or missionary founder rather than a hierarchical organisation.  The Lives of the Saints reveal a spirituality which draws on all the riches of Eastern Christianity.  Recurrent themes are the love of creation as a path to the Creator and the reconciliation of the whole of creation in Christ and His Saints.  So close was the relationship to Egyptian monastic traditions that the Scottish "Culdee" communities were described as "sons of the Egyptians".  The Celtic Cross and the Iconography of the illuminated manuscripts also point unambiguously to the East.  St Andrew, the patron Saint of Constantinople, became the patron Saint of Scotland with his cross, the Saltire.

The Orthodox Church in Scotland today began as missions from churches elsewhere to care for their people who had come here.  The first parishes in Scotland were set up in Edinburgh and Glasgow.  The Edinburgh parish started life as a chaplaincy for Polish ex-servicemen and Russian and Serbian exiles after the Second World War and initially the liturgical language used was Slavonic.  The Glasgow parish was established about the same time to serve a predominantly Cypriot community, and accordingly the liturgical language used was Greek.  Since then, Orthodox believers from similar backgrounds have continued to arrive, and communities of them have emerged across Scotland, but, as the years have passed, English-speaking converts have joined them, and the original ethnic composition of the parishes has become less important than their identity as the presence of the universal Orthodox Church in Scotland. The embrace extends to all who wish to discover the Great Tradition of the Christian Church and not least the Great Tradition of Christianity in Scotland. There are now Orthodox communities worshipping throughout Scotland with a membership transcending the boundaries of national identity.  They are united in communion with one another, and through the conciliar principle which is at the root of our tradition.  International links to our mother Churches in the ancient patriarchates of Constantinople and Russia remain strong, but at the same time their representatives seek to discuss and act together by agreement at all levels of our organisation in this country and internationally.

Although English is now very widely used in the services, Greek (the language of the Gospels, of the Septuagint, and of the entire early Christian world, and the vehicle for some of the greatest Church poetry and music ever written) is still retained as a treasure to be cherished. Similarly, Slavonic, which is the bearer of a thousand-year-old spiritual and musical tradition, is assured of a continuing place in the liturgical life of the Church.

Orthodox Clergy in Scotland

Patriarchate of Constantinople

Fr John Maitland Moir, Orthodox Community of St Andrew, 2 Meadow Lane, Edinburgh 

0131 667 0372

Fr Constantine Papageorgiou, Greek Cathedral of St Luke, Dundonald Road, Glasgow 

0141 339 7368

Fr Raphael Pavouris, Orthodox Community of St Andrew, 2 Meadow Lane, Edinburgh 

0131 667 0372

Patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia

Fr Alexander Williams, Orthodox Community of St Nicholas, Arranmhor, Laighill Loan, Dunblane 01786 822750

The Orthodox Church:  further reading

The classic overview of the history and traditions of the Orthodox Church:

Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church, 4th Edition, London, Penguin, 1997

The classic summary of Orthodox spirituality:

Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way, Revised Edition, St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, N.Y., 1995

The biography of a newly canonised saint of western Orthodoxy, Mother Maria Skobstova, poet, artist and friend of Blok, who devoted her life to the Paris poor, ran an escape line for Jewish families in the war, and died in the gas chamber at Ravensbrook, taking the place of another prisoner, on Easter eve 1945:

Sergei Hackel, Pearl of great price:  the life of Mother Maria Skobstova 1891-1945, London, Darton. Longman and Todd, 1982

Biography:  Fr Alexander

I was baptised Anglican, but met the Orthodox at Oxford.

I did classics at Oxford and taught classics for a few years.

Then I went back to train in social sciences and focussed on social science applied to medicine.

Till recently I ran a research team working on the social causes of the large differences in health between ethnic and religious groups, in a Medical Research Council unit in Glasgow University.

I became Orthodox in 1991, and was asked by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, the Russian Metropolitan in London, to look after his community in Scotland;  I was ordained deacon in 1994 and priest in 1997, in the meantime continuing my secular job.

We now have two communities, one centred in Dunblane, where we have our own church, and one in Glasgow.

Notes on The Roman Catholic Church

Notes on The Scottish Episcopal Church

Notes on The Church of Scotland

Notes on The Free Church of Scotland

Notes on The Pentecostal and "new" Churches

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