Founded in 2013 with much encouragement from Fr David Gill, who was already serving the Divine Liturgy at Shepherd’s Law Hermitage periodically, and from Bp Raphael, who later served at Bamburgh parish church several times per year, we reached a milestone in February 2021 when after much preparation, and negotiation with the Catholic Diocese, Fr Antonios Kakalis began serving on the first Sunday of each month in Berwick upon Tweed, our first regular Divine Liturgy. We have not looked back, with chrismations following one after another, including one baptism in the sea off Holy Island.
The dedication of our Community resulted from an early 19th cent. Russian icon of our Lady of Vladimir being acquired at a local auction, rescued from an attic in a house clearance. The icon having long lain unloved and slightly damaged at last found a loving and prayerful home, just before Archbishop Gregorios authorized our Community, close to the feast of the Dormition. Thus, the Holy Mother of God became our patroness, joined by Oswald, King of Northumbria, martyr, who famously called St Aidan from Iona to evangelise his kingdom, which later would send missionaries to southern kingdoms and to the Continent.
northodoxy.com 