Our History & Identity

The parish began in the autumn of 1996 as an initiative of students and academic staff at Durham University. The nearest Orthodox parishes were in Newcastle and Middlesbrough, served almost entirely in Greek and without a permanent priest; the Divine Liturgy was celebrated infrequently by the late Archimandrite Ephrem (Lash), the translator and liturgist. Orthodox Christians in Durham who sought weekly services in English came together, and at the request of the then layman Prof Andrew Louth, the late Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira gave his blessing for an English-speaking mission to serve all Orthodox in the North-East. It first met in the Norman Chapel of the Castle, with monthly Liturgies led by Fr Ephrem.

In January 2002 Fr Andrey Kordochkin, one of Professor Louth's doctoral students, returned to Durham having been ordained priest on the Feast of the Nativity by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, now Patriarch of Moscow; with the blessings of Archbishop Gregorios and Archbishop Anthony (Bloom) he became the parish's priest, and weekly services began. When his studies were complete, Prof Louth was proposed by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev for ordination on the parish's behalf, and was ordained priest on 19 July 2003 by Bishop Basil Osborne, acting for Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. Fr Andrew served as rector for nearly twenty years, the parish worshipping for most of them in the Church of St Mary the Less.

As the parish grew, Fr Andrew proposed in 2015 that a deacon join him in its pastoral care. The parish council and Fr Andrew put forward Dr Justin Mihoc, who was ordained deacon at Pentecost 2017 by Bishop Ignatie Trif, now of Huși, and priest on 13 October 2018 by Metropolitan Iosif, the Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Western Europe. In the same years the community's long search for a permanent home ended: in 2017 a small, disused funeral chapel in the churchyard of the Parish of St Nicholas, on Providence Row, was acquired, and a charity was registered in 2018 to oversee its restoration and the running of the parish.

The pandemic of 2020 forced a move, and from August 2020 to August 2023 the community worshipped in St Oswald's, the oldest parish church in Durham City. In February 2022 Fr Andrew retired as rector and Fr Justin was appointed in his stead; Fr Andrew remains an active emeritus, concelebrating most weeks. The restoration of the Providence Row chapel - structural work included, its first two phases funded by grants from the Romanian Government through the State Secretariat for Religious Affairs and by the parish's donors - was far enough advanced for the parish to move in for the Feast of the Transfiguration in 2023. On Saturday, 12 October 2024, the Church of St Cuthbert and St Bede was consecrated by His Eminence Iosif, Metropolitan of Western and Southern Europe, and His Grace Varlaam of Ploiești, representing Patriarch Daniel of Romania.