1 Canterbury Road, Oxford. OX2 6LU
ARCHDIOCESE OF THYATEIRA AND GREAT BRITAIN
Welcome to our community
About Our Church
Our church is named after the Annunciation to Mary the Mother of God, a Great Feast in the Orthodox Church, which celebrates the Archangel Gabriel appearing to Mary to announce to her that she would conceive and bear a son, even though she knew no man (Gospel of Luke, 1:26-38).
Our parish is part of the worldwide Orthodox Church under Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain. We belong to the Churches of Slavic Tradition within the Greek Archdiocese of this country under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. We follow the Gregorian or New Calendar.
Our parish essentially follows the Russian Liturgical Tradition. We are of diverse Orthodox backgrounds, including Russian, British, Romanian, American, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Finnish and Arabic (Syrian and Iraqi). We have worshipped together for about 50 years with the Greek Orthodox Community of the Holy Trinity (a parish also under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira & Great Britain) in the Orthodox Church of the Annunciation and the Holy Trinity, at 1 Canterbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6LU.
Divine Liturgy
The Divine Liturgy is celebrated in our church every Sunday. The Annunciation parish leads the services according to the Russian Tradition on the second and the fourth weekends of the month when the Liturgy is celebrated mainly in English and Slavonic. We also use some Romanian and Greek in our services. Since the beginning of February 2010 our parish has joined with our fellow Greek parish in observing the Church's festivals and holy days according to the New (Gregorian) calendar. The services take the following pattern:
- First Sunday of the month: Greek Tradition, mostly in Greek
- Second Sunday of the month: Russian Tradition, in English and Slavonic
- Third Sunday of the month: Greek Tradition, mostly in English
- Fourth Sunday of the month: Russian Tradition, in English and Slavonic.
Weekday celebrations of the Divine Liturgy on Feasts or Saints Days usually take place on the evening before at 7pm but sometimes at 9am on the day. For any further information, questions, or comments, you are welcome to contact our Parish Priest, Fr Seraphim Vänttinen-Newton on 01993 772834 or by email frseraphimvnewton@gmail.com
Thank you for your donation!
Our church is run on donations from generous visitors and members of the parish.
If you are able to contribute with a regular donation, please complete the standing order mandate.
If you are a UK taxpayer, you may also Gift Aid your donations, which means our charity can claim back Gift Aid (25p every time an individual donates £1 to the parish). Please complete the Online Declaration Form for Gift Aid for our charity to claim Gift Aid.