Pan-Orthodox vespers in St Sava's Church in London

The Orthodoxy week is one of the important religious events in the calendar of the Orthodox Church. On that occasion, the Orthodox Church celebrates the victory over the iconoclast heresy which was tearing the Church apart in the 7th and 8th centuries. With all the autocephalous Orthodox Churches that exist in London taking part, the Vesper prayer (the all-Orthodox Vesper) was celebrated on Sunday, March 1, as is customary by tradition and as the practice is. This year, following the usual order of hosting the event, the Vesper service was celebrated in the Serbian Church of Saint Sava. The prayers were led by Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain, His Grace Bishop of Great Britain and Scandinavia, The Right Reverend Dositey, Archibishop Elisey of Sourozh, Archibishop Anatoly of Kerch, The Right Reverend Athanasios, Bishop of Tropaeou.

The religious service was performed by the priests, representatives of the autocephalous Churches, in this order:

• Serbia
• Constantinople
• Antioch
• Moscow
• Romania
• Bulgaria
• Georgia
• Russian Exarchate EP
• ROCOR

The divine beauty of the Orthodox religious service was enhanced by the Greek, Antiochian, Russian, Georgian, Serbian and Romanian choirs, singing to the Lord, each in their respective vernaculars. The prayer was flowing as the single voice of the Christ's Church projected to God. God's blessing in the prayer was imbuing the souls of all believers. The St. Sava Church was full of believers belonging to all nations. They were able to feel the existential unity emanating from the depths of our Orthodox faith. During the religious dignitaries' walk inside the Church, all priests were carrying icons, in memory and as symbols of the victory over the iconoclasts.

This year, Nikolai Sakharov, a priest-monk from the Monastery of St. John the Precursor, in Essex, gave a very impressive sermon appropriate to the celebration of the Orthodoxy week. He spoke about the importance of prayers in the tradition of Orthodox Christianity and about the experience of some holy Fathers, from the first centuries of the Church's existence up to the modern times. He emphasized in particular the importance of the prayer in the teachings of the Orthodox Church. The text of the sermon can be found here.

After the service, the Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church in London organized a reception in the Church Hall at which all the archbishops and priests, as well as all the people present, were served food and drinks. It was an occasion for all present to communicate and chat in a brotherly atmosphere, it was a good occasion for us to get acquainted better, to build friendships and unity of our Church and our peoples.

Photographs from the Pan-Orthodox vespers can be seen in the Photo galery.