Interior of the Parish Chapel
When St Nicholas Orthodox Parish was founded in September 2006, there was no Orthodox place of worship in which the community could gather together for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. There was (and remains to this day) a small domestic chapel dedicated to Christ the All-Merciful Saviour attached to the parish house in Headington which was used for the smaller weekday celebrations. Although much loved by the parishioners, the chapel was nevertheless far too small to be a suitable venue for the celebration of the Sunday Liturgy which attracted a much larger congregation than the dozen or so people who could be accommodated there.
For the first six months of its existence the parish was permitted to make use of the disused St Luke’s Chapel attached to the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, but this arrangement came to an end when the hospital site was bought by the University of Oxford and the area was sealed off for development. The Parish then moved across the Woodstock Road to St Giles Church Hall which became the regular ‘weekend home’ for St Nicholas Parish for the next four years. The hall had to be adapted for Orthodox worship, a process undertaken on
The Parish's first 'weekend home'
a weekly basis by the clergy and a team of volunteers. Every Saturday evening, an ingenious portable iconostasis was constructed out of interlocking panels and beams and erected in the hall. This, together with the other fixtures and fittings normally found in an Orthodox Church, remained in place until Sunday afternoon, when the process was reversed and all the church accoutrements dismantled and stored away until the following week. Apart from being time-consuming and back-breaking work for the weekly assembling team, this ‘weekend’ arrangement also severely limited parish life which had to be fitted into the six hours rent time allotted to the parish. Baptisms and weddings had to be conducted either within or shortly before or after the Liturgy, and all weekday services were celebrated in the tiny parish house chapel. Naturally, entirely different arrangements had to be made for the celebration of the services of Holy Week and Easter which attracted a much larger congregation than could be accommodated in the Parish chapel. Over the years, a number of Christian communities kindly welcomed the Parish to hold its Holy week services on their premises (read an account of one such sojourn here) but it was especially during those times that our homelessness was most acutely felt. Oh for a home of our own!
Original 1937 exterior
The slow journey into the Parish’s own home began in September 2008 when the owner of a derelict Anglican mission church wrote to the parish priest with an offer to sell it to the community for a reasonable (but nevertheless unattainable) £250,000. Built in 1913, the Mission Church was designed as a chapel of ease for the St Nicholas Parish of the village of Marston many of whose residents were beginning to move into an area of Oxford which had come to be known as New Marston. As a daughter church, it was also dedicated to St Nicholas, a dedication providentially also adopted by the Orthodox Parish from its inception. The church was further developed and expanded in 1939 and remained as the hub of the New Marston community until 1965 when a new Anglican parish church of St Michael and All Angels was opened nearby.
St Nicholas Church at the time of purchase
After a short stint as a non-conformist chapel, the Mission Church was made redundant and sold on the open market. Over the next forty years, the church was used as a factory, a reprographics studio and finally a general dumping ground for various items of bric-a-brac large and small. With no ongoing repairs, the little church had fallen into a complete dilapidation, the fact much lamented by its immediate neighbours.
In December 2008, with the blessing of the diocesan bishop, the St Nicholas Parish Assembly voted unanimously to purchase the Mission Church on Ferry Road. With no significant funds to its name, the parish could only trust in God’s help and appeal to the generosity of the parish’s many supporters and friends. One such friend agreed to lend the purchase price of £250,000 to the parish as a five-year loan, and this allowed the it to put in a speedy offer to secure the building at a time of considerable interest from developers.
One of many fundraising events
for the Church Building Appeal
All this meant that by 10th January 2010, when Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh came to Oxford to serve a Moleben for the Beginning of Work in the newly-acquired building, the parish had already raised some £130,000 towards the cost of the renovation. This sum was further amplified by a number of large donations both of money and in kind by generous supporters of the Parish and the building contactors were able to begin the extensive work.
It took just over six month to complete the complete renovation work in St Nicholas Church. Much of the building had to be entirely rebuilt. The old floor was excavated and replaced with new hard core, damp-proofing, and a new concrete floor on top. The walls were sandblasted and the decayed ceiling joists renewed. The 1937 tower was renovated and made pigeon-proof, but not before the by-products of their forty-year sojourn in the church tower was removed!
The interior of the church was also totally rebuilt. The church now boasted a narthex separated from the body of the church by a glazed wall designed to serve the parish social space. It included a kitchen, toilets and baby-changing facilities, and integral storage. Over the narthex, a gallery was constructed allowing space for the Sunday school, together with a parish office, library and archive space. The front of the gallery was designated as the choir loft, taking advantage of the wonderful natural acoustics within the building.
Carved iconostasis donated to the new church
On 9th October 2010, the Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker was solemnly consecrated by His Eminence Archbishop of Sourozh in the presence of some 23 clergymen from 5 different Orthodox jurisdictions in the UK. The consecration which was also attended by the Mayor of Oxford drew the attention of the local radio and press and the new Church was warmly welcomed into the neighbourhood by the very active local community.
Since then, the normal pattern of parish life has become established. The parish has quickly become used to having a permanent base and rejoices in being able to welcome both regulars and visitors to its services and events. However, it is worth remembering that the Parish’s journey home is not yet complete. The £250,000 loan borrowed to buy the church building is still outstanding. The five-year term is coming to the end in November 2013 at which point all the money will have to be repaid.
If after reading this account of the Parish’s quest for a home of its own, you are moved to help us repay the outstanding loan, your contribution - however big or small- will be greatly appreciated.
Donate to our ongoing building appeal!
You are welcome to use the PayPal button below to make a donation to our Building Appeal.
There are other ways of making a donation:
- Write a cheque:
payable to ‘St Nicholas Orthodox Parish’ and send to the
Church Appeal Secretary
9 Hengrove Close
Headington,
Oxford OX3 9LN
- Make direct bank transfer:
to St Nicholas Orthodox Parish (Building Appeal),
Santander UK plc, Business Banking
301 St Vincent Street,
Glasgow, G2 5NB;
Sort code 09-01-27
Account number 25105294
IBAN number: GB86 ABBY 0901 2725 1052 94
BIC: ABBYGB2LXXX.
- By Banker’s Standing Order:
Complete the attached form and return to the Appeal Secretary (address as above).
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