Orthodoxy in the Republic of Ireland

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Although some Orthodox historians currently attempt to claim that the Celtic Church was Orthodox, the best documented presence of Orthodoxy in Ireland dates from the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. White Russian refugees arrived in small numbers and settled throughout the country. The Russian Orthodox Divine Liturgy was held in various locations around the Dublin Quays by visiting priests from England. However, in the mid 1960s, Nicholas Couris, an elderly Russian aristocrat and former officer in the Imperial Russian Army, was ordained a priest for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. He continued to serve a growing congregation of White Russians and Greek immigrants out of a Dublin house chapel until his death in May 1977.^[1]

But the community continued to grow. In 1981, the Greek Orthodox parish of Our Lady of the Annunciation was formed and began holding services in the St. Mary's Church, Dublin 1. The Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Great Britain and Ireland consecrated the former building which had been given over by the Church of Ireland and elevated it to the level of a Cathedral on May 24, 1981. In 1986, after the building was declared unsafe, the parish transferred to a house chapel in Artane. However, in November of that same year, the Church of Ireland transferred another defunct church in Ranelagh. The parish is currently looked after by Father Ireniu Crăciun, a priest from Romania.

The Russian Orthodox parish of Saint Peter and Paul was dedicated at the Dublin suburb of Harold's Cross in 2001, under the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate. Father Michael Gogoleff, a Russian-French priest, serves as Russian Orthodox Dean of Ireland. The Antiochian Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia all have a presence in Ireland and are continuing to grow.

[edit] External links

• The Fascinating Life of Father Nicholas Couris
• The Dedication of Saint Peter and Paul's Russian Orthodox Church in Dublin
• The History of the Orthodox Church in Ireland until 1987
• The Coptic Orthodox Parish in Bray, County Wicklow
• The Parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Stradbally, County Laois
• (Russian) The Website of SS. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church in Harold's Cross