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The church of The Holy Transfiguration, Great Walsingham, Norfolk

The Church of The Holy Transfiguration, Great Walsingham is situated in a redundant Methodist church, but has been architecturally changed inside to follow the traditional model for an Orthodox church. All services are in English but follow the Liturgical tradition of the Russian Orthodox church.

The inspiration for establishing an Orthodox presence in Walsingham coincided with the start of the building in of the Anglican Shrine in 1931 []. The vicar of the local Anglican parish, Father Hope Patten, invited the Orthodox to take part in the venture. Eventually, a small Orthodox Chapel was included within the enlarged Shrine Church, upstairs on the south side of the High Altar.

During the Second World War a prisoner-of-war camp in the locality contained a number of captured Eastern Europeans, many of whom were Orthodox and used the chapel. However, after the War, the congregation - now ex-prisoners and displaced persons - gradually left the area and regular services ceased. For the following decade there was no resident priest, but a number of Orthodox pilgrimages were held.

In 1966, the Administrator of the Anglican Shrine asked the Orthodox to take responsibility for the care of the Chapel, and 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. The disused railway station in Little Walsingham proved to be the only property that the Brotherhood could afford to rent. Led by Father Mark Meyrick (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 of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile, and dedicated to St Seraphim.

Early in 1978 the exclusive claims of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile became too restrictive for Father Mark and the Brotherhood. They asked Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh to receive them under his jurisdiction within the Moscow patriarchate. 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. Then, in 1982 on a second visit, Metropolitan Anthony made Hieromonk David Hegumen of the monastery, and five years later Archimandrite. (A Hieromonk is a monk who has been ordained priest, or a priest who has become a monk. A Hegumen is the person in charge of a monastery. An Archimandrite ranks higher than a Hegumen but the duties are the same).

The future of the St. Seraphim's church building was, however, uncertain, since it was only rented. (Only much later was it bought, to be run by a Trust which is quite separate from the parish, though under the same jurisdiction). In 1986, by means of a loan, the former Methodist Chapel in Great Walsingham was purchased, an appeal was launched, and work began at once to convert 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. Father David's splendid icons, together with the designs of a well-known Anglican church architect (later a convert to Orthodoxy) transformed the building. By the Summer of 1988, the alterations were complete (apart from a few extra ikons added later by Father David's pupil, Leon Liddament). 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.

After Fr. Philip's resignation, due to ill-health, Deacon Patrick Radley was ordained Priest. During his incumbency, problems arose within the Sourozh diocese, especially after the death of Metropolitan Anthony. Fr.Patrick, having been canonically released from his position in the Sourozh diocese, agreed with the parishioners that the parish should (with many other parishes around the country)  follow the lead of the diocesan administrator, Bishop Basil of Sergievo, and ask to be taken into the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople. The Patriarch agreed, and the parish became part of the Exarchate of parishes of Russian tradition in Western Europe, under the immediate jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Comana.