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A one-day Conference will be held in London on Saturday, 21 June 2008, dedicated to Metropolitain Anthony of Sourozh and commemorating the 94th anniversary of his birth on 19 June 1914. For more information please follow the link to the Vicariate website.

Booking form

This conference's theme was "For the life of the world". The conference took place over May Bank holiday (Friday 23th to Monday 26th May 2008) at the All Saints Pastoral Centre near St Albans. For a detailed report please follow the link to the Vicariate website.

A camp is planned around the last week in July / first week in August for 2008.

For further information please contact Father Alexander or Deacon Peter and Irina Scorer: tel. 01392278585, email peterscorer@hotmail.co.uk, address: 32 Barnfield road, Exeter, Devon, EX1 1RX.

Camp leaflet

Booking form

The elections to Clergy-Laity Assembly took place in autumn 2007. For details of the first meeting of the Assembly please see http://www.exarchate-uk.org/Activities/Assembly/Assembly1.html

This exhibtion shows work of 15 contemporary, traditional iconographers who live and work in the UK. Admission free. Additional information can be found on the Vicariate website.

The General Assembly of the Archdiocese was held between the 30th April and 1st May 2007 at St Sergius' Institute, Paris.

Alexandra Milton, a member of our congregation attended the conference and kindly wrote the following report.

"Last month I had the privilege to represent our parish at the General Assembly of our Archdiocese.

It is held every three years in Paris. The purpose is to hear the report of Archbishop Gabriel and elect the Council of the Archdiocese that helps and advises him; and to vote on issues concerning the whole Archdiocese. It also hears reports on financial matters and other activities.

This time the General Assembly gathered some 200 clergy and representatives of parishes from right across Western Europe. There were interpreters for English and Russian speakers. It was the first time that the 22 representatives from Britain had come to the meeting and we were made to feel very welcome. It was fascinating to talk with someone from a little parish in Norway, to a priest from Düsseldorf, to a churchwarden from Florence.

Among the items on the agenda was voting upon the election of a new assistant bishop to provide pastoral care for our communities in Scandinavia. We also heard about recent developments in the legal battles taking place between the Moscow Patriarchate and the parishes in Nice and Biarritz. It was heartening to hear Archbishop Gabriel's absolute commitment to support these parishes.

For the British representatives, the most important item on the agenda was the vote on the internal statutes of our new Episcopal Vicariate. Many people had already privately expressed their joy and excitement about us all being part of the same Archdiocese. This enthusiasm was made public with the near unanimous vote of endorsement for the Vicariate; and the fact that our priest in Clapham, Father Alexander, was elected onto the Council of the Archdiocese with the highest number of votes. The five other new Council members are also particularly known for their commitment and dynamism.

Archbishop Gabriel displayed obvious regard and sympathy towards Bishop Basil, Father Michel Fortounatto (now retired in France), Father Alexander and Deacon Peter Scorer, who all made presentations. It was wonderful to feel and know that we are part of such a loving, large, dynamic and ever-growing body."

Alexandra Milton

Additional reports of the conference can be found at the Vicariate website.

    This Celebration Day, in Thanksgiving for the 4th anniversary of the founding of our community and its recent recognition as a parish, was marked by an Episcopal Liturgy presided Bishop Basil of Amphipolis, assisted by Archpriest Alexander Fostiropoulos, Father Ian Wallis, Deacon John Musther and Deacon Constantine Litvinenko. A congregation of nearly 200 people including some 30 children, most of whom have been worshipping regularly in this parish since it was founded in 2003, attended the service and the festal meal that followed afterwards in the Church Hall.

    Bishop Basil's greeting to the people at the end of the Liturgy:

 'It is a great pleasure to be here today and to see how many people have come to celebrate the fourth anniversary of your presence here in St Peter's Clapham. We must all be grateful to Father David Isherwood and the Parish Council of St Peter's for allowing us to use this beautiful church twice a month for Orthodox services. In four years you have done a great deal. In fact, it is marvellous. I know very well the amount of work that has to go into organising parish life on this scale - especially for your priest, Father Alexander - and the kind of sacrifice it requires on the part of many, many people.

 I want to say as well that it is a joy to see new faces each time I visit you. This can only mean that the parish is an open community, open outwards towards others. This an essential aspect of our Church life, and of the Gospel of Christ, an openness to the other that does settle simply for comfort in their presence, but actively seeks their salvation - just as God has actively seeks our salvation. So may God bless you in the coming years; may he give you the strength to continue the work which you have begun; and may he give you joy in your salvation and in each other's presence in the community of the Church.'