Greek Orthodox Church in Britain baptises 250 people

The Greek Orthodox Church has said that this Easter weekend saw greater than 250 latest members baptised.

Mass baptism events were held all across the country, with the most important being in Hertfordshire, where 75 people received baptism.

The church said that a lot of those baptised had been guided into the religion through its Discover Orthodoxy programme.

Most of the brand new members were adults, but some were children. While most of the latest believers were from traditionally Orthodox countries, like Greece and Cyprus, a number were also from Britain and the Commonwealth, Latin America and other parts of Europe.

Following their baptism, the brand new believers took part within the Divine Liturgy and received the Holy Eucharist for the primary time.

The church said in a press release, “The day will likely be remembered not just for the number received, but for what it quietly revealed – a growing and living Church, gathering people from many places right into a shared life.”

The Orthodox Church in Britain is thought officially because the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain and was founded in 1922 within the wake of the “Asia Minor Catastrophe”.

The “Catastrophe” unfolded in the ultimate months of the Greco-Turkish War when Greek forces attempted to occupy parts of recent day Turkey. Having over-extended themselves the Greeks were then roundly defeated by the nationalist Turkish army of Kemal Ataturk.

In September of that yr the Turks took the town of Smyrna, resulting in a devastating fire in the town.

Following these events, its believed that around 1.3 million Orthodox Greeks fled the region, effectively bringing an end the millennia long presence of Greek civilization in what’s now Turkey.

Thyateira was certainly one of the seven churches mentioned within the Book of Revelation, all of which might have been Greek-speaking communities positioned in modern-day Turkey.