This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the completed church, and we invite you to contribute to a collection celebrating the occasion.
Our church is unique. From the start it was a joint enterprise with two parishes—a Greek one and a Russian one—sharing responsibility for the building of the church and its upkeep. The aim was to overcome the ethnic fragmentation of Orthodoxy in the West with a church that was truly pan-Orthodox, and in fact welcoming to anyone with an interest in Orthodox worship. We would like this expansive view to be reflected in the project, and invite everyone with a connection to the community to share their experiences.
You may have memories of those early days, perhaps even of worship in the house before the church was built. Perhaps your connection with the church is more recent—we should love to hear how it came about and what the church was like at the time. Maybe you attended the church as a student and then went away to pursue a career in the outside world: tell us what it was like to worship here as a student. Do you associate the church with a particular event in your or your family’s life? Were you married here? Were your children baptized here? Did you sing in the choir? Were you a member of either parish council? If so, what were the issues of the day that you got to discuss? Our aim is to preserve memories that might otherwise not survive, and in the process to re-establish contact with people who are part of the community’s history.
Do you have particular memories of the clergy? We have recently lost our beloved Metropolitan Kallistos, a towering figure in the life of our church and one of its founders. Do you have memories of him that you would like to share? Memories of him serving the Liturgy; of him as spiritual father and confessor; as a preacher and lecturer; as a teacher and a writer? Please record them so that others can enjoy them and preserve his memory.
We want this undertaking to include photographs that evoke special moments in the church’s history. Do you have pictures of your wedding? Of the baptism of your children? Of visiting hierarchs or notable funerals? Of the crowds at Pascha or the procession on the Sunday of Orthodoxy?
Please submit texts or stories online here—in English, any length is fine—or email them to community@holytrinityoxford.org.uk. We very much look forward to reading these and making it available for others to enjoy. (You may wish to edit texts separately and copy the final version into the online form so you have a back-up.)
Submissions are intended for publication, although the pieces chosen and how they are used will depend on the materials we collect. Please send by 1 February 2024. We reserve the right to edit texts.
Photographs may be uploaded here, or bring hard copies to Church where we will be able to help you digitise your photos (dates forthcoming).
Please share this appeal with anyone else who you think might be interested to contribute.
Thank you!
The 50th Anniversary Committee, Joint Parish Councils