| Welcome
to the Holy orthodox Church of St. Andrew and the
Dormition near the heart of Birmingham and on the edge of
the Citys Jewellery Quarter. A lofty building of brick
and terracotta, it is one of the most powerful works of
the Birmingham architect J.A. Chatwin. It was completed
in 1873 for the Catholic Apostolic Church or Irvingites
as they are sometimes called, after Edward Irving (1792 -
1834) whose ideas they followed; they sought to establish
the order of the early church, had a particular affinity
with the Episcopal churches (though Irving was originally
a Scottish Presbyterian) and used a largely Eastern
liturgy. It is therefore fitting that it should now belong to the Orthodox Church, which has preserved the catholic and apostolic teaching and practice of the Church that existed throughout Christendom including Britain prior to the Great Schism of the eleventh century. The Church was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras I of Thyateira on 10th May 1959 as a Greek Orthodox Church in the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. Although its gothic structure is not in keeping with Orthodox worship, it has the basic form of a basilica characteristic of many of the earliest churches. It therefore lends itself to adaptation. |
