Eastern Orthodoxy in the Republic of Ireland

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 served a growing congregation of Russian White emigres, Greek immigrants, and Irish born converts out of a Dublin house chapel until his death in May 1977. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20030728112349/www.orthodoxireland.com/history/frnicholascouris/view Orthodox Ireland - Fr Nicholas Couris ] ]

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. Located in a defunct parish of the Church of Ireland the community is rather large and made up of emigres from the various republics of the former USSR; faithful from Poland and Rusins from Eastern Slovakia. There is also a significant number of Orthodox Irish; mostly converts. The services are conducted in Church Slavonic but a significant amount of English is used along with smatterings of Greek, Georgian, Romanian, Serbian and Gaelic.

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.

References

External links

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20030728112349/www.orthodoxireland.com/history/frnicholascouris/view The Fascinating Life of Father Nicholas Couris]
* [http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2001/0828/fro3.htm The Dedication of Saint Peter and Paul's Russian Orthodox Church in Dublin]
* [http://www.ireland.ru/orthodox/Liturgy_and_Worship.html The History of the Orthodox Church in Ireland until 1987]
* [http://www.freewebtown.com/coptichurch/ The Coptic Orthodox Parish in Bray, County Wicklow]
* [http://stcolmans.orthodoxireland.com/index.html The Parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Stradbally, County Laois]
* [http://www.stpeterstpaul.net/ The Website of SS. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church in Harold's Cross]