St Aethelheard's Orthodox Church

The Parish of St Aethelheard started life as a group of converts to Orthodoxy in the late 1990s. They, along with other communities of converts in Britain, were welcomed into Orthodoxy by the then Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius IV, of whom may Memory be Eternal! The parish is made up of native English people plus many Orthodox Christians from other countries, and includes many families with children.

We are members of the Holy Orthodox Church in the jurisdiction of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland. We are part of a large and growing number of parishes and missions where services are celebrated in English. Our community is multi-ethnic. Some of us were born in England. Some of us have come here from other countries around the world. Our church welcomes people from every race and every place. We worship alongside each other to the Glory of God.

The Orthodox Church is a Church for all people.

COME AND SEE!

Thekla Read – Iconographer

The parish is blessed to have among her members a skilled iconographer, Sheila (in Orthodoxy Thecla) Read, who was one of the founding members of the community. Having originally trained in art, she was trained in iconography by Aidan Hart, a well-known iconographer based in Shrewsbury. She does commissions for clients all over the country and has painted the icons on the iconostasis in the church of St Aethelheard in Louth. These include icons of some of the saints of Britain, from the time when Britain was part of the one Holy, Universal, Apostolic Church. Two with Lincolnshire connections are St Guthlac of Crowland, known as the English St Anthony, and St Ostryth, Abbess of Bardney and niece of St Oswald.

Subdeacon Chad

Subdeacon Chad was received into the Orthodox Church on the Feast of St Birinus, 3rd December 1998, within the Louth community. Between 2006 and 2008, and again in 2018, he tested his monastic vocation, becoming a novice at Holy Cross Hermitage in the USA, followed in 2018 as part of the original community at St Cuthbert’s monastery in Shropshire. He was subsequently ordained as a subdeacon in 2020 by our Bishop, His Eminence SILOUAN, Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles & Ireland. Since then he founded the Parish of St Hybald in Scunthorpe, alongside Father Alban. Subdeacon Chad is also a co-founder of parishes in Lincoln and Shrewsbury. As part of his work within St Aethelheard’s Community, Subdeacon Chad has been given roles in Catechism and Evangelisation. Subdeacon Chad is also a contributer to Orthodox Christian blogs and wesites.

Reader Nikolai

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Reader Ibrahim

Reader Ibrahim has served the parish since he was tonsured in 2012. Born into the Coptic tradition, he became Orthodox when living in Greece. On returning with his wife to England, he settled in Lincolnshire and immediately sought out the Church of St Aethelheard. A Reader chants the texts of the services, reads the Epistle reading (unless it is read by a member of the congregation) and ensures that the correct liturgical material is available for each service. Reader Ibrahim retired in 2024.