02/09/2026
Today marks a significant milestone in the life of our beloved church.
One hundred and twenty years ago, on 2 September 1906, the first service was celebrated here in our church building. For twelve decades, prayers have ascended from this place, the Holy Scriptures have been proclaimed, and generations of faithful have entered these doors seeking the mercy and grace of God.
When our Dean, Fr Michael, first visited after our church became Orthodox, he remarked that he could sense that this was a place of continual prayer. That observation has remained with us. There is something deeply moving in knowing that for 120 years, through all the changes of generations and circumstances, prayer to God has continued within these walls.
Throughout those 120 years, our church has remained dedicated to the Holy Mother of God. Today, as St Mary’s Orthodox Church, we continue under the loving protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, honouring her Nativity as our patronal feast. We trust that through her prayers and maternal care she continues to watch over our beloved church and all who enter it, always leading us to her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we prepare to celebrate our parish feast, we give thanks for those who worshipped here before us and recommit ourselves to the mission now entrusted to us: that our church remain a place of continual prayer and faithful Orthodox worship, and a beacon of Christ’s truth in our community for generations yet to come.
We have inherited something precious, and with that inheritance comes a responsibility to hand it on faithfully.
May the Most Holy Theotokos continue to shelter our beloved church beneath her protecting veil, and may this holy place never cease to resound with prayer and the praise of the Holy Trinity.
Most Holy Theotokos, pray to God for us.
