ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

Exarchate of Parishes of Russian
Tradition in Western Europe

VISIT OF HIS EMINENCE ARCHBISHOP GREGORIOS OF THYATEIRA AND GREAT BRITAIN TO OXFORD

His Eminence Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateria and Great Britain visited the church of the Holy Trinity and Annunciation, Canterbury Road, Oxford, on Sunday 29 April 2007, and celebrated the Divine Liturgy. Bishop Basil of Amphipolis, rector of the Annunciation Parish and Fr Ian Graham, rector of the Greek Orthodox Community, concelebrated with Archbishop Gregorios.

After the Liturgy His Eminence expressed his pleasure in being able to visit Oxford once more, and particularly at seeing so many children in the congregation. He congratulated lay members of the community and paid especial tribute to Tony Papamichael, the cantor, whom he described as ‘a living stone’.

Bishop Basil welcomed Archbishop Gregorios and expressed particular thanks on his own behalf but also on behalf of the Annunciation parish and the parishes of the Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland, for Archbishop Gregorios’s support in the preceding year, and for facilitating the move into the Episcopal Vicariate.

After the Liturgy, there was a feast organised by the parishes. Members of the parish council of the Greek Orthodox Community, and the Warden of the Annunciation Parish, Seraphim Alton Honeywell, were introduced to Archbishop Gregorios