Archpriest Yaroslav Arrives in London Cathedral

Archpriest Yaroslav Gudymenko has moved to London from Ukraine in order to serve in the Diocesan Cathedral. He took up his duties on February 5th and will reside at the Parish House in Harvard Road. The Cathedral congregation welcomed him to the parish at the Divine Liturgy on Sunday 10th February. Father Yaroslav was ordained in Kherson, in the Ukraine in 2006. He was made Archpriest by Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev in 2009. In about 2014, he became increasingly insterested in the church History of the British Isles. There was very little information in Russian so he used his knowledge of English to read a book by Fr Andrew Phillips called “Orthodox Christianity and the Old English Church.” This book made a great impression on him, especially the section on the relations between Old England and Kievian Rus. He learned that Fr Andrew was living in he UK so wrote to him. Fr Andrew organised his first visit to the UK in November 2017 when he served in the Cathedral and met Bishop Irenei. After a little while, the invitation to serve in the Cathedral came from Bishop Irenei and the Parish Council of the Cathedral. Fr Yaroslav sought release from Archbishop Ionafan, which was granted, and he has now moved to London. He will continue his interests in learning about the origins of Christianity in the British Isles and is looking forward to getting to know the Diocese better over the coming months and years.