Parish of St John the Wonderworker, Felixstowe, England
Registered Number with the UK Charity Commission: 1081707, under the name Felixstowe Orthodox Church
This Appeal is being updated at least twice a week, on discussion of the trustees and after consultation with all the members of the Church
With over ten years of existence, the ROCOR Parish in Felixstowe is the only parish in Western Europe dedicated to our beloved wonderworker of Shanghai. For twelve years St John was our Archbishop, regularly making pastoral visits to England. Almost every Wednesday evening we sing a moleben and akathist to him, before a small relic and his paraman.
Within the Diocese of Archbishop Mark, we are the only ROCOR parish in the whole of eastern England, the only church in the whole region using the Julian calendar and providing a spiritual home for all Orthodox over a wide area. Our flock is made up of several nationalities and services are conducted in a mixture of languages, mainly Slavonic and English. Fr Andrew is the only Russian Orthodox priest outside London who confesses and preaches in Russian. This meets a growing need, as more Orthodox from Russia and the Ukraine settle here.
After over ten years of renting, we at last have an opportunity to offer a tender for premises in Felixstowe. (Sale by tender is like a secret auction). A building of 1900, called St John’s Church Hall, has come onto the market, the guide price being £150,000. If we had £200,000 ($400,000), we believe that we would stand a good chance or buying the building and paying for conversion and repair costs. Nearly 3,000 square feet in area and with all facilities, we have little hope of obtaining a better building in the immediate region at this price.
Unfortunately, we have now heard that tenders for the premises must be made by 21 February. So far we have, miraculously, already been pledged £61,420. We wish to thank all those who have pledged such an enormous sum in the last seven days. However, we are still appealing to other generous souls to help. If you think you can help or know people who can help with such a huge outstanding sum in such a short period of time, please contact me at: frandrew_anglorus@yahoo.co.uk. At the present time, we are accepting pledges of donations, not actual donations. We need to see first whether we can get near to our target, as it were, ‘to test the water’. When doors open, we cannot ignore them. Only when we have seen how much we can collect, will the trustees, in consultation with all Church members, decide what to do about these generous pledges. Payment does not have to be made until 28 March.
We can only continue to witness to the Russian Orthodox Tradition in this area with your help. We know that this website has helped people in the past, hope against hope we are now asking for your help. We earnestly pray that God’s Will may be done, whatever the outcome may be.
We heartily thank all those who have already pledged sums and also the servant of God Ilya, who has actually sent a generous cheque. May the Lord reward you for your generous intentions by the prayers of our holy father John.
3 February 2008
The Trustees:
Priest Andrew Phillips
Jack Sardo
John Andrews
