Intercession of the Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Church in Manchester

Покровский приход в Манчестере

Our "Pokrov" (Intercession of the Holy Virgin) parish was founded by Russian refugees in displaced persons' camps in Austria and has been present in Manchester since early 1950s. Having originally been under the omophorion of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, it received a blessing from St John of Shanghai, at that time the ruling bishop for Western Europe. Archimandrite Vitaly (later a Metropolitan and First Hierarch, of blessed memory) helped in establishing the parish.

In 1993, by the request of the parish council, the ever-memorable Metropolitan Antony of Sourozh has received us under his care. In July 2002, His Eminence Archbishop Anatoly of Kerch, the suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Sourozh, was appointed our rector.

This is a Russian parish, but there are many English people as well. We welcome everybody!

Our church address is: 64 Clarence Road, Longsight, Manchester, M13 0YE. Clarence Road is off Plymouth Grove, near the junction with Stockport Road. See the map. If you want to send a letter to the church please DO NOT address it to 64 Clarence Road, but send it to Mr George Dance at: 3 The Green, Hawk Green, Marple, Stockport, Cheshire, SK6 7HT. Enquiries: Please ring Mr George Dance at (0161) 292-1652 (English) or send a message to parish@pokrov.org.uk.

Through efforts of many people our church has been recently rebuilt on the parish land, at the place where it has existed since 1952. We pray for everybody who has worked at the re-building and for numerous benefactors for their donations, small or large. (Here are some pictures of the original church. The original iconostasis has been reinstalled in the new building.) Glory be to God for all!

Calendar and services

The church is open every Sunday morning at 10am. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated typically every three weeks by Archbishop Anatoly of Kerch, who comes from London, and sometimes by other priests. Check the schedule below. Please do come for confessions early, around 9.30am. If there is no priest available on a Sunday or a feast day, we have Typica (a reader's service in place of Liturgy). The Sunday Typica is often followed by either a Lity (prayers for the dead) or Moleben (prayers for the living). You can submit notes with names and a donation for commemoration at the Lity or Moleben. After the service we have a cup of tea or even a light meal upstairs. You are welcome to join us and to get to know other people. If you bring food to share with others, please do stick to fasting rules.

The services are in Church Slavonic (with a little English). We follow the traditional Julian Calendar ("old style"). (The civil, or Gregorian, calendar, or the "new style", is ahead of it for 13 days in this century.) The dates at these pages are shown in the Julian (ecclesiastical) and Gregorian (civil) calendars, as Gregorian [Julian].

On-line calendar for today. Another calendar (Russian)
Downloadable schedule of services in the parish: ENG, RUS.

Sunday 7 March [22 February]. The 3rd Sunday of Lent, of the Cross. Tone 6.
Hours и Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great at 10 am.
Confessions before the Divine Liturgy. Please come early.

Saturday 13 March [28 February].
    Vespers at 5 pm. CANCELLED
Sunday 14 March [1 March]. The 4th Sunday of Lent. St John of the Ladder. Tone 7.
    Hours и DIVINE LITURGY of St Basil the Great at 10 am.
    Confessions before the Divine Liturgy. Please come early.

Sunday 21 March [8 March]. The 4th Sunday of Lent. St Mary of Egypt. Tone 8.
Hours and Typica at 10 am.

Saturday 27 March [14 March]. The Lazarus Saturday.
    Vespers at 5 pm. After Vespers: confessions.
Sunday 28 March [15 March]. Palm Sunday. THE ENTRY OF THE LORD INTO JERUSALEM.
    Hours and Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom at 10 am.
    Before the Divine Liturgy: confessions. Please come early.

• Жертвование на церковь • On donating to the church • О поведении в церкви • On behaviour in the church

Main page

This web page was started with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Anatoly of Kerch. However, I bear the sole responsibility for its contents. I try my best to maintain it without mistakes, but if there are any, I ask to let me know about them. The humble servant of God The Webmaster .
Last modified: 24 February (9 March) 2010
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