Our Mission
What the parish believes, and what it does in Durham and the North-East.
Who we are
An Orthodox parish for Durham and the North-East.
Our parish began in 1996 as an English-speaking mission of students and academics at Durham University. Thirty years on, it is a community drawn from many countries, worshipping mostly in English, with Romanian, Greek and Slavonic, in its own restored chapel on Providence Row, sustained throughout by the generosity of its own people.
Orthodoxy belongs to no single nation. Our mission is to be the Orthodox Church here: to worship God, to pass on the faith of the Apostles, and to be a home in the North-East for anyone who seeks it.
What We Believe
Four things the parish believes.
Apostolic Faith
We hold the faith handed down from the Apostles, expressed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the unbroken tradition of the Orthodox Church.
Sacramental Life
The sacraments, Baptism, Chrismation and above all the Eucharist, are the centre of parish life.
Scripture & Holy Tradition
We read Scripture within the living tradition of the Church, alongside the Fathers, the Creed, and the worship of the Liturgy.
Theosis
The purpose of the Christian life is union with God - becoming, by grace, what Christ is by nature.
Outside the church
The parish outside its church.
The Mission in Practice
How the parish carries out its mission, week by week.
Worship & Prayer
The Divine Liturgy every Sunday, Vespers on Saturdays, and the Psalter three evenings a week. Everything else in the parish follows from this.
Join us for a service →Formation & Teaching
A weekly catechism session led by Fr Justin, shaped by the questions of those who come, and a growing Sunday School.
Learn with us →Serving the Region
Prison and hospital chaplaincy, youth work, the university society, and pastoral visits across the North-East.
Get involved →Our Aims
What the parish has set out to do.
A Stable, Welcoming Community
To sustain a stable, welcoming Orthodox community in Durham and the North-East, serving mostly in English and open to Orthodox Christians of every background.
Formation in the Faith
To form both new and long-standing members in the faith through continuous catechesis, from the Sunday School to the weekly catechism.
A Permanent Home
To complete the church at Providence Row so that it can serve the parish for generations.
About the Church Extension Project →
