Our Local Parish.

(Updated Christmas 2007.)

The Orthodox Community Of

Saint Zachariah And Saint Elizabeth, Swansea.

A community in the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain,

Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Our Local Parish: Swansea

The Orthodox Community of Saint Zachariah and Saint Elizabeth is based in the Swansea area of South West Wales, in the United Kingdom. We are a community of Christians within the ancient Orthodox Church. We are part of the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, within the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Our aim is to serve all Orthodox Christians in South West Wales, and to share our faith with local people through the medium of English and Welsh.

Our community developed partly from the work of Father Barnabas (Burton) who served the Orthodox people of Wales for many years. He was Welsh, a monk of the Orthodox Church, and the head of a monastic house. As a typical Celt, he travelled extensively, bringing the faith to many outlying areas. One of those areas was Llanelli, where he had an outreach from his monastery for a few years. There was no full time priest, and no regular services, but Father Barnabas helped to fan a spark into a fire. He is remembered with affection as one of our founders.

[People still remember Father Barnabas. They often ask about him, and about his monastic house in New Mills, Wales. Father Barnabas passed away some years ago, apparently within sight of the village where he was born. He was laid to rest a few miles from the monastic house at New Mills. At that time I was a deacon, and served the Trisagion for the dead with other clergy who gathered from all over the British Isles for the funeral. The monastic house continued in use for Orthodox services for some years, but was eventually sold.]

At the time when Father Barnabas was growing older and less able to travel to outlying Orthodox centres, the Orthodox Christians of South Wales decided to send one of their people to the Archbishop for ordination. They chose me, a married British man, a convert to the Orthodox faith. I trained in the Greek Orthodox church of Saint Nicholas in Cardiff. In 1993 I was ordained deacon, and in 1997 I was ordained priest by Archbishop Gregorios (Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain). The Archbishop gave me the new name of Luke.

As Father Luke, I was instructed to establish a new Orthodox Community for South West Wales, based in Swansea. Swansea is the second largest city in Wales. The Archbishop referred to this as a mission community. My wife Celia and I have a large family, and try to make everyone feel welcome at church as if they have come to a family gathering. Sadly there have been a few times when we have had disagreements in the parish. We have worked for reconciliation and understanding, so parishioners and newcomers say that they feel a real sense of love and community.

At present we do not have our own church building. For some years we borrowed part of St. Mary's Church, next to the Quadrant Shopping Centre right in the middle of Swansea. The local Church In Wales parish made us very welcome, and was very supportive. In December 2007 we moved to our present location at Christ Church, Oystermouth Road, Swansea. Christ Church is on the main road running along the sea front. It is almost opposite Swansea County Hall, next to Swansea prison.

As well as moving to a new building, we have just altered our service timetable. We now celebrate the Divine Liturgy (Communion service) every Sunday at Christ Church, Swansea. We begin setting up at about 11.00 a.m. The Liturgy begins about 11.45 a.m. We finish about 1.00 p.m. and gather for a meal and coffee in the church hall. Our time together after the services is most important in a community like ours which is scattered over half of South Wales. As our Archbishop said, the sacramental meal which we celebrate at the altar, continues when we share food together at the table. Evening services and Lenten services are also planned for Christ Church. We will also have baptisms, weddings, and memorials. Everyone who wishes to visit us is very welcome.

Our parishioners come from many different races and backgrounds. As well as English and Welsh speakers, we have some Greeks, Cretans, and Cypriots, and growing numbers of Russians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Poles and others from Eastern Europe. We even have people from Ethiopia and Eritrea. All these people are united in the Orthodox faith. There is a real mixture of people: students from Swansea University, visiting workers such as doctors, local Swansea people, retired couples, young families, asylum seekers. Services are in mainly English with a little Welsh. We also use some Greek. Occasionally a bit of Slavonic or Romanian may be added. Because of the many different languages represented, our committee has taken a firm and clear decision to use English as our main language for worship and for mission work. This is not because we feel one language is better for Christianity than another language. It is simply a practical arrangement for the future of a mixed community in South Wales.

The community normally follows the traditions and customs of the Greek Church, but people will bring other customs from time to time. Orthodox services are sung without the help of any musical instruments. In 2007 we asked a Welsh man to take charge of the singing. He has some years of experience in Greece, and has been a music teacher. He sings happily in Greek, Welsh and English, but for most of our services we use English. He is adding different Orthodox music to our services, and teaching people new tunes. This is an area of our parish life which is developing fast.

We are a mission parish, but we are only reaching local people very slowly. We have a periodic newsletter (“Orthodox Christian Contact”) and this web-site. We use the public information centre in Swansea. We use posters and you may find us in the newspaper occasionally. We have a series of English Language leaflets setting out some of the teaching and history of the Orthodox Church. These are currently being revised and extended. We also have a market stall in Llanelli Market Hall, where Orthodox books, icons and incense can be found alongside goods for other Christians. Fr. Luke accepts invitations to preach in a variety of churches and chapels. In the past we have arranged exhibitions and talks, particularly in conjunction with the Ecumenical Fellowship of Saint David and Saint Nicholas, Cardiff. Our committee is keen to develop our outreach, and to make sure that visitors find a friendly and warm reception. Christianity is about reconciliation, forgiveness and love. We try to reflect this.

We also have some services in Llanelli. (For details refer to the menu at the left.) We have held services in several different places in the past, but no regular services have been established.

There have recently been major developments within Orthodoxy in Wales. A new community and a University department have been established in Lampeter. (For details of services there and the new degree in Orthodox studies, refer to the menu at the left.) In central Wales we now have Father Timothy, who is a native Welsh speaker. He will serve Lampeter and other places in mid-Wales. Further north we have the Welsh monk the Very Reverend Archimandrite Deiniol who has been one of the central figure in Orthodoxy in Wales for many years. His monastic church and Orthodox mission centre at Blaenau Ffestiniog is widely known.

Contact us for information.

email the parish priest, Father Luke at:

occwales@yahoo.co.uk

phone the parish priest, Father Luke :

01554-755690

phone the chairman, Hellier Johns:

01348 874053 or 02920666120

phone the secretary, David Sage:

01792 851371

phone the family contact, Sian Williams :

07866671377

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