Situated at Great Walsingham

Situated in Station Road, Little Walsingham

Situated in the Anglican Shrine

The inspiration for establishing an Orthodox presence in Walsingham coincided with the start of the building in 1931 of the Anglican Shrine. Encouraged by Father Fynes-Clinton, rector of St Magnus-the-Martyr, London, and one of the Guardians of the Shrine, Father Hope Patten invited the Orthodox to take part in the venture. Archbishop Seraphim of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile from Paris came to bless a plot of land to the south of the restored Holy House, where it was intended to build an Orthodox chapel.

Though this plan was never carried out, in 1938 when the enlarged Shrine Church was consecrated, Archbishop Nestor, then of Kamchatka, accompanied by Archimandrite Nicholas Gibbes, formerly tutor to the Russian Imperial family was present; and he celebrated the Divine Liturgy the following morning at the Shrine High Altar. Later a small Orthodox Chapel was included within the enlarged Shrine Church, upstairs on the south side of the High Altar. Largely thanks to the efforts of Archimandrite Nicholas, this was furnished with an icon screen and all the features necessary for Orthodox worship.

During the Second World War a prisoner-of-war camp in the locality contained a number of captured Eastern European soldiers and 'slave labourers' many of whom were Orthodox. At Pentecost 1944 Archbishop Savva of Grodno of the Polish Orthodox Church blessed the Chapel for their worship, and a Serbian Priest, Father Miodrag Najdanovic, came to minister to the prisoners. After the War the Shrine Chapel was visited by, among others, the saintly Serbian Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic. But the congregation, now ex-prisoners and displaced persons, gradually left the country; and finally regular services ceased and Father Najdanovic left to serve a parish in Derby.

For the following twelve years there was no resident priest, but a number of Orthodox pilgrimages were held, led by Bishop Vitali and his successor Bishop Nikodem. In 1964 an Orthodox Confraternity of Our Lady of Walsingham was set up under the patronage of Metropolitan Athenagoras with Greek, Serbian Russian and English representatives on the Council. Regular pilgrimages took place, especially from among the Greeks in London. Though the Confraternity itself did not last, the Chapel had become, as was intended from the outset, a place of Pan-Orthodox worship.

In 1966 the Administrator of the Shrine asked the Orthodox to take responsibility for the care of the Chapel, it soon became clear that this request had long-term implications. With the blessing of Bishop Nikodem, a missionary Brotherhood of St Seraphim was formed to establish a permanent Orthodox presence in Walsingham. Its task was to include Iconography, the printing of English texts of the Orthodox services, missionary activity and work with the poor and homeless --- and one of its duties was to look after the Chapel in the Shrine. As a base, the disused railway station proved to be the only property that the Brotherhood could afford to rent. Led by Father Mark (later to become Father David) they converted the ex-booking hall and ticket-office into their Church which, in August 1967, was blessed by Bishop Nikodem and dedicated to St Seraphim. After the Liturgy the Bishop led a procession to the Shrine Chapel where an Akathist to the Mother of God was sung.

St Seraphim's thus became the centre of a small working and worshipping community. But the mounting of icon prints and the painting of icons was always a precarious source of income, especially so when interrupted by a steady flow of chatty Anglican and Catholic pilgrims! While two derelict cottages seven miles away in Dunton were therefore rented as the Brotherhood's living quarters, the week-end services attracted a growing number of worshippers, and by 1976 the average congregation at a Sunday Liturgy was about thirty. It was at this time that the wonder-working Kursk Root Icon of Our Lady of the Sign was brought to St Seraphim's by Archbishop Nikon: and it was to be brought again seven years later.

Early in 1978 the exclusive claims of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile, whose Bishops had so often visited or had contacts with Walsingham during the previous forty years, became too restrictive for Father Mark and the Brotherhood. They asked Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, a Diocese within the Patriarchate of Moscow, to receive them under his omophor. He served the Liturgy in St Seraphim's and in the Shrine in September of that year, and in 1980 made Father Mark a monk and gave him the name of David. Dunton then became a skete-monastery, and for years a nun, Mother Serafima, who had been a member of the Brotherhood since 1979, shared in its work and worship. Then, in 1982 at a second visit, Metropolitan Anthony made Hieromonk David Hegumen of the monastery, and five years later Archimandrite. During Lent 1983 Metropolitan Anthony led a Diocesan pilgrimage to Walsingham and celebrated the Liturgy in the Shrine. And throughout this period coach-loads of Greek pilgrims from London, led by Bishop Christopher of Telmissos, regularly attended on the National Day of Pilgrimage.

With growth in numbers, there grew also the desire for a secure and permanent home for Orthodox worship in Walsingham. At Easter 1986, by means of a loan, the former Methodist Chapel in Great Walsingham was purchased, an appeal was launched, and work began at once in the conversion of the chapel for use as an Orthodox Church. In August of that year Metropolitan Anthony visited Walsingham and gave his blessing for the formation of an Orthodox Parish with its centre of worship in the converted chapel. The combined gifts of a well-known Anglican church architect, working on a voluntary basis, and a highly skilled young craftsman, son of two parishioners, along with Father David's splendid icons, transformed the building: and by the Summer of 1988 the alterations were complete. The Church of the Holy Transfiguration was consecrated by Metropolitan Anthony on October 1st of that year, and at the same service, Deacon Philip Steer, who had for some years been the Choir Leader at St Seraphim's, was ordained Priest to serve in the Parish.

There followed five years during which Father David and Mother Serafima maintained the pattern of monastic services firstly at Dunton and later, after a move to more permanent home, at Egmere. Week-end services were held for a while in both churches; but Father David's health deteriorated, he was diagnosed as having leukemia, and in December 1993 he died. His funeral taken by Bishop Basil of Sergievo, was, by the kindness of the Anglican Administrator, held in the Shrine Church; he was buried in a cemetery on the outskirts of Fakenham. In 1996 Mother Serafima left to serve at the Cathedral in London, and with her departure some sixteen years of Orthodox monastic presence in Walsingham came to an end. But the tradition of icon painting established by Father David was maintained by one of the founder members of the Brotherhood, Leon Liddament, and the icon workshop was re-furbished to cope with the many orders.

The Parish, serving Orthodox living in the immediate vicinity and, as earlier at St Seraphim's, attracting people from farther afield, grew steadily during the next ten years. There were a number of receptions, baptisms, marriages and, sadly, two funerals. A Parish Room was acquired, making it possible to host groups of pilgrims, even two conferences run by the Fellowship of St John the Baptist under the guidance of Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia. Both the Shrine Chapel ard St Seraphim's were kept always open for prayer during these years, though not often used for services. Exceptions were visits by Archbishop Anatoly of Kerch and Bishop Basil of Sergievo who, on different occasions, served at a Feast of St Seraphim in his Church.

In June 1999 Father Philip retired from the position of Parish Priest and was succeeded by Deacon Patrick Radley who was ordained to the priesthood in November of that year by Bishop Basil at a service in the Holy Transfiguration Church. Recently the Parish has shrunk considerably in size, many members having left the area to live elsewhere. But throughout some forty years a significant number of people have been introduced to Orthodoxy in Walsingham, and have been received into the Church; of these some have gone on to be ordained to serve in other places as Priests, Deacons or Readers. Services are again being celebrated in the Shrine Chapel (which is at present under the care of Father Philip) and at St Seraphim's; and the present small Parish can recall thereby the rich heritage from which it has developed. Its members remain dedicated to maintaining Orthodox witness at the heart of a place made holy before the time of the great divisions in the Christian Church.

Father Patrick.