30 years anniversary

It is difficult to point to a single moment in time and say exactly when our parish was born. Looking at the newsletters, we can see that the very first issue appeared in October 1994, as part of the national group Pilgrimage to Orthodoxy. Then, in November 1995, it was decided to rename the local group The Orthodox Community of St Helen. In a way, one could say that this marked the beginning of our future parish. Other key moments include the Chrismation of Fr Alexander Haig and his family in December 1995, shortly after which lay-led Orthodox services started taking place in Colchester — and, of course, Fr Alexander's ordination as Deacon (May 1996) and then Priest (September 1996).

As our parish marks its 30th anniversary, this video series aims to document its early history through the recollections of our dear Fr Alexander Haig.