AN URGENT APPEAL 19th UPDATE
AGAINST ALL PROBABILITY, OUR TENDER FOR THE FORMER GARRISON CHURCH IN COLCHESTER WAS ACCEPTED IN MAY
Church of St John the Wonderworker, Felixstowe, England
Registered Number with the UK Charity Commission: 1081707
under the name Felixstowe Orthodox Church.
THE APPEAL STANDS AT £180,500 (1/7/08)
The future Russian Orthodox Church in Colchester
THE APPEAL
At the very end of January this year we launched an appeal for pledges of £200,000 (approx. $390,000) for the purchase, conversion and initial running costs of the former Garrison Church in Colchester, England. Very soon we received astonishingly generous pledges, which now amount to £180,500. We heartily thank all who have donated their pledges so far.
On 6 May (the feast-day of the Great-Martyr George the Victorious) it was decided that of the four tenders submitted, ours was by far the best. (We were the only Orthodox jurisdiction to have submitted a tender, as others who had had first choice had not been interested).
Although the donations that we have received are extremely generous and close to our target, we are still appealing to other kind souls to help us with the remaining £19,500 and so help us reach our final target. If you think you can help, or know people who can, please contact me initially at: frandrew_anglorus@yahoo.co.uk. May the Lord reward you all for your generous intentions through the prayers of our holy father John of Shanghai.
PROGRESS
On 15 May 2008, Fr Andrew attended a planning committee meeting at Colchester Town Hall to defend the planning application to adapt the interior of the Church to Orthodox worship after a group had objected to use of the Church as a Church. This application was accepted unanimously and enthusiastically by the Town Councillors. (Reports from the local press can be found through Google).
God willing, we hope to sign contracts and become owners of the church in August, once the complex legal documentation has been obtained and signed. Work to adapt the interior for Orthodox worship should begin after this in September, once all the relevant government authorisations have been received and services, water, gas and electricity, have been reconnected.
In Moldova a carpenter, a woodcarver and an iconographer have already started work on the iconostasis. The saints portrayed are those associated with St John, saints whom he especially venerated or who performed deeds similar to his own, such as the Royal Martyrs, the Optina Elders, St Nicholas of Tokyo, St Nicholas of Zhicha and St Tikhon of Moscow. Enquiries have also been made about Church furnishings in various places and we now hope to purchase these in Moscow.
God willing, we could even begin services as early as 1 December 2008. There is some relief at the forthcoming move, since we have felt increasing insecurity as regards our future in the temporary rented premises in Felixstowe, which the owners can at any time request us to vacate. Through having permanent premises (the only Orthodox parish church anywhere in the region to do so) the future of the Russian Orthodox Church in a whole region of England is assured.
Eleven years of renting have also been a considerable financial drain. Since very few of our people actually live in Felixstowe, several are glad that we are at last able to go to a larger centre of population with a far larger Russian population, which is much easier to access and nearer where some of our people live. Clearly, none of this has been easy – it comes after eleven years of prayer and struggle, sweat and tears and after another twenty-nine years before that of hopes for the multinational Russian Orthodox witness to take root in Colchester.
Contacts have been made with local Greek Orthodox in the hope of co-operation with them. Clearly, there is much else still to do and there will be many temptations on the path ahead. By the grace of God and the prayers of St John, we shall yet be able to proclaim the Name of Christ in the first permanent Russian Orthodox Church in the County of Essex. This will be only the fourth permanent Russian Orthodox Church in all England, with two in London, one in Manchester and now one in Colchester. Locally, as the only Russian Orthodox Church covering a very large area, we shall faithfully continue to witness to the uncompromised Russian Orthodox Tradition. Thus, we shall strive to meet local spiritual needs, in which task we are actively supported by both parts of the united Russian Orthodox Church and their local hierarchs, providing an example of unity to divided Orthodox in the region.
We realise that the devil is angry with us, but we have been heartened by the support and greetings of both Orthodox and Non-Orthodox, locally and worldwide. As a matter of interest, of the funds that have been raised, over £117,000 has come from members of ROCOR both here and abroad, £51,000 from members of the Antiochene jurisdiction in this country, £8,000 from members of the Moscow Patriarchate both here and abroad, £2,000 from members of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and £1,000 each from members of the Serbian Church and the OCA. Thus, the project has taken on an inter-Orthodox colour. May God bless you all!
Priest Andrew Phillips
1 July 2008
