History of the London Orthodox Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God

London Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God

History of the London Cathedral

The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God and Royal Martyrs is amongst the oldest Orthodox parishes in Europe. While the foundation stone of the new Cathedral building was lain only in 1997, the Parish itself is some three centuries old, being founded by a Greek Archimandrite attached to the Embassy of the Russian Empire in the early 18th century. Since that time, it has been the spiritual heart of the Russian Orthodox Diaspora in the British Isles, both as part of the extended reach of the Church under the pious final centuries of ‘Holy Rus’, and since the sorrowful revolution and Civil War in Russia between 1917-1919, as part of the self-governing Church Abroad (ROCOR), whose Holy Synod and Primate first governed from Serbia, and have for the past seventy years been based in New York.

Today, the Cathedral is the cathedra of the Ruling Bishop of the Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe: a vast Diocese that includes twelve countries and principalities across the European continent and the British Isles.

Key Dates in the History of the London Cathedral

1725: The Parish, emerging from the faithful connected to the Imperial Embassy, worships in a house church located at York Buildings, near Charing Cross.

1756: House church relocated to Clifford Street, near Piccadilly.

1769-1780: Archpriest Andrei Samborsky assigned Rector of the Embassy Chapel, and cares for the Parish flock.

1780-1840: Priest James Smirnove assigned Rector of the Embassy Chapel, and cares for the Parish flock.

1813: House church relocated to Welbeck Street, north of Oxford Street in central London.

1842-1875: Archpriest Eugene Popoff assigned Rector of the Embassy Chapel, and cares for the Parish flock.

1866: The first purpose-built Russian Orthodox Church (officially the Embassy Chapel) is built to house the growing community of faithful, at 32 Welbeck Street.

1877-1923: Archpriest Eugene Smirnoff appointed as final Rector of the Embassy Chapel; first Rector of what has now become a full Parish with a life separate from Imperial affairs.

1919: In the immediate aftermath of the Russian revolution and civil war, the Parish is — together with all churches and communities of the Russian Orthodox Diaspora in Europe — assumed into the administration of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church — the precursor of the Synod Outside of Russia, which is comprised of those Hierarchs of the Church who are able to escape and remain free from the influence of the spreading Bolshevik terror and persecution.

1920: With the Patriarchal approbation of Patriarch St Tikhon, the Supreme Ecclesiastical Administration becomes the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, maintaining active fraternal bonds with the Church in Russia as long as is possible (until the months and years following St Tikhon’s imprisonment in 1922), but from 1920 until the present day functioning as a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church, with its own Synod, Primate, diocesan structures and administration.

1921: As the impossibility of continuing in the premises in Welbeck Street loom, a new home for the parish is opened at St Philip’s, Buckingham Palace Road.

1922: Closure of the Welbeck Street church.

1924-1926: Archbishop Seraphim, formerly the Ruling Bishop in Finland before the post-revolutionary changes in that country, serves as Vicar Bishop for the British Isles, with responsibility for London.

1929-1932: Bishop Nicholas of London appointed Rector of the Parish and first Orthodox Bishop with the title ‘of London’ since the time of St Dunstan (10th century).

1938-1948: Archpriest Michael Polsky appointed Rector of the Parish.

1947-1951: Archimandrite Vitaly Oustinov assigned Rector of the Parish and administrator of the UK Deanery; he would later become the fourth Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

1950-1952: Archbishop Nathaniel of Preston and the Hague appointed as Ruling Bishop for the British Isles.

1952-1961: Archpriest George Cheremetieff assigned Priest of the Parish; retired 1961 (Priest of the Convent in London 1967-1971).

1952-1976: Archbishop Nikodem of Richmond and Great Britain appointed Rector of the Parish (as Archimandrite from 1952; Vicar Bishop under St John from 1953-1963; as Ruling Bishop for the Diocese in Great Britain from 1964-1976; from 1968, Archbishop.

1953-1962: Saint John (Maximovich) the Wonderworker is appointed as Archbishop of Brussels and Western Europe — including London and Great Britain, which are in his pastoral care. From 1963, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America; glorified in 1994.

1956-1959: The Parish is forced to leave the premises in Buckingham Palace Road (1956), as St Philip’s Church is closed and demolished to make room for the expansion of Victoria Station. While new premises are located and prepared at Emperor’s Gate, Divine Services are conducted at the Bishop’s residence (Chapel of All Saints) in Baron’s Court, London W6.

1959: The new premises at Emperor’s Gate, London SW7, are consecrated as a Cathedral. The rite of Consecration is headed by St John, at that time Ruling Bishop of the Diocese.

1981-1986: Bishop Constantine of Richmond and Great Britain appointed as Rector of the Parish; Ruling Bishop for London and Great Britain.

1986-2016: Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain appointed as Rector of the Parish; Ruling Bishop for London and Great Britain.

1989: Closure of the Cathedral at Emperor’s Gate, the premises once more becoming unavailable to the Parish. It is determined that the Cathedral Parish community — now nearing its third century of existence — must at last buy land so that it can construct a permanent Cathedral.

1990: The land for the new Cathedral is purchased, together with the house that stands upon it, in Harvard Road, West London.

1989-1994: While a temporary church is being constructed next to the existing house on the new property, Divine Services are again conducted at the Bishop’s residence (Chapel of All Saints) in Baron’s Court, London W6.

1994: Opening of the temporary church on the new grounds in Harvard Road, granting the faithful a regular place for worship whilst the Cathedral is under construction.

1997: Laying of foundation stone of the new Cathedral, which is to become the first and only purpose-built Cathedral in the British Isles to follow completely the traditional architecture of Russian Orthodox history, being specifically constructed in the Pskov style.

1999: Opening of the new Cathedral of in Harvard Road.

2003: Small consecration of the Cathedral’s lower Altar (dedicated to the Holy Royal Martyrs).

2005: Full consecration of the Cathedral’s lower Altar and church.

2009: Installation of new iconostasis in the Cathedral’s upper church (at this point, dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God).

2013: Completion of the belfry over the west porch. With the Cathedral’s blue dome and belfry clearly visible from the main motorway connecting Heathrow Airport to the centre of the capital, it becomes one of the ecclesiastical landmarks of West London.

2017-2018: Following Archbishop Mark’s retirement (December 2016) from the role of Ruling Bishop for Great Britain and Ireland, the Vacant Diocese temporarily comes under the care of the First Hierarch. Bishop Irenei of Sacramento is appointed as Adminsitrator for the British Isles.

2018: Great Consecration of the Cathedral by the assembled members of the Holy Synod of Bishops, and the re-dedication of the upper Altar to the Nativity of the Mother of God.

2018-Present: Bishop Irenei is appointed Ruling Bishop for the reintegrated Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe, the Cathedral in Harvard Road becoming the Diocesan Cathedral with the Bishop as its Rector. The title ‘Bishop of London’ is restored in 2019.

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