St Andrew's Cathedral ( Scottish Gaelic: Cathair-eaglais Naomh Anndra), or the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church situated in the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

city of Aberdeen. It is the

see See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

of the Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, who is the

Ordinary Ordinary or The Ordinary often refer to: Music * ''Ordinary'' (EP) (2015), by South Korean group Beast * ''Ordinary'' (Every Little Thing album) (2011) * "Ordinary" (Two Door Cinema Club song) (2016) * "Ordinary" (Wayne Brady song) (2008) * ...

of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney.

History

The cathedral is known as being the church where the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Samuel Seabury was ordained in 1784. Bishop Seabury was consecrated to the episcopate in "an upper room" of the home of John Skinner, then leader of the St. Andrew's congregation, approx 500 meters from the present building. The approximate site of the house used to be marked by a polished granite tablet on the wall of the former Marischal College. This has, in recent years, been moved. The original building was designed in the

perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-c ...

style by the architect

Archibald Simpson Archibald Simpson (4 May 1790 – 23 March 1847) was a Scottish architect, who along with his rival John Smith, is regarded as having fashioned the character of Aberdeen as "The Granite City".Simpson, William Douglas, (1947) ''The Archibald S ...

, one of Simpson's many commissions in the city. While three sides of the cathedral were built out of the usual local granite, for which Aberdeen is famous, the facade of the structure, facing King Street, was built from sandstone for economical reasons despite Simpson's opposition. The church opened in 1817 as ''St Andrew's Chapel'' and was raised to cathedral status in 1914. During the 1930s, the cathedral was renovated to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Seabury's consecration. There had been a plan to build an elaborate, cruciform cathedral with central tower, commemorating Bishop Seabury's consecration on the site currently occupied by Aberdeen City Council's headquarters. This was to have been a gift of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, however, the Wall Street Crash halted this plan due to lack of money. Instead, the existing church was enlarged and embellished by Sir Ninian Comper. The memorial was dedicated with a ceremony attended by the then U.S. ambassador to the UK, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Until the late 1970s and early 1980s, the cathedral was Anglo-Catholic in tradition. In 1982, the Cathedral Provost of the time, Very Revd Donald Howard, declared in a sermon the cathedral would remove the large crucifix and four of the six candles on the high altar for Lent so that the altar could be free-standing to permit a 'westward' celebration of the Eucharist, celebrant facing the congregation rather than back to the people. Worship has since become more "broad" in nature, whilst retaining the dignity of cathedral worship.

Financial and structural difficulties and 2020 closure

In April 2020, the church officials said that financial difficulties could mean that the cathedral might not re-open after the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, Bishop

Anne Dyer Anne Catherine Dyer (born February 1957) is a British Anglican bishop, previously a rector and an academic administrator. In 2018, she became Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Subject to a report process, with a rec ...

and the Cathedral Trustees and Chapter announced that the cathedral would close temporarily from September 2020, because of problems with the fabric of the building. The congregation continued to gather for worship online from September 2020 to October 2021. In July 2021, the trustees made a Vision Statement that the cathedral will reopen for worship on Advent Sunday 2021

Reopened for Advent 2021

On Sunday, 5 December 2021, the cathedral reopened for worship to a grand inaugural service of Advent Carols. The congregation continued to gather for worship on Sundays at 10.45am and on Thursdays at 10am.

List of provosts

* Andrew Jaffray * James Milne * 1735–1774: William Smith * John Skinner * William Skinner *

Stephen Allen Stephen Allen (July 2, 1767 – July 28, 1852) was an American politician from New York. Biography Orphaned by the death of his parent(s) in the Revolutionary War, Allen grew to become a wealthy sailmaker. He was the 55th Mayor of New York ...

John Ryde John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

Thomas Suther Thomas George Spink Suther (5 February 1814 – 23 January 1883) was the Scottish Episcopalian bishop of Aberdeen from 1857 to 1865 and first bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney from 1865 to 1883. Suther was born in Edinburgh to Deputy Inspector Gener ...

Henry Ley Greaves Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal ...

* 1882–1909:

Myers Danson James Myers Danson (1845 in Carnforth – 1909 in Aberdeen) was Dean of Aberdeen and Orkney from 1907 to 1909. He was educated at Ingleton School and Trinity College, Dublin and ordained deacon in 1871 and priest in 1873. His first post ...

* 1910–1912:

William Perry William Perry may refer to: Business * William Perry (Queensland businessman) (1835–1891), businessman and politician in Queensland, Australia * William H. Perry (businessman) (1832–1906), American businessman and entrepreneur Politics and ...

* 1914–1932:

Henry Erskine Hill Henry Erskine Hill (10 March 1864 – 22 April 1939) was an Anglican priest and author. Erskine was born on 10 March 1864, educated at the University of Edinburgh; and ordained in 1888. After curacies in Edinburgh and Glasgow he was Rector of S ...

* 1932–1955:

Gordon Kinnell Gordon Jack Kinnell AKC was an Anglican priest, most notably Provost of St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen from 1932 until 1955. Kinnell was born on 2 May 1891, educated at King's College London; and ordained in 1916. After curacies in Batter ...

* 1955–1965: Paddy Shannon * 1965–1978:

Arthur Hodgkinson Arthur Edward Hodgkinson (29 October 1913 – 19 April 1995) was an Anglican priest, most notably Provost of St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen from 1965 until 1978. Hodgkinson was born on 29 October 1913 and educated at Edinburgh Theological ...

* 1978–1991: Donald Howard * 1991–2002: David Wightman * 2003–2015: Richard Kilgour * 2015–present:

Isaac Poobalan Isaac Munuswamy Poobalan is an Anglican priest. He has been Provost of St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen since 2015. Biography Poobalan was born in 1962. He studied at University of Edinburgh. Pooblan was ordained in 1995. He served his ...

Organ and organists

The cathedral, which has a splendid acoustic, houses one of the finest three manual pipe organs in Scotland, and has been served by a number of distinguished organists and masters of the choristers including: *George Trash *John Cullen *Richard Galloway *Frederick ("Bill") Fea *David McGinnigle *Geoffrey Pearce 1978 – 1983 (afterwards organist of

Bridlington Priory Priory Church of St Mary, Bridlington, , commonly known as Bridlington Priory Church is a parish church in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in the Diocese of York. It is on the site of an Augustinian priory founded in 1113 which w ...

) and Selby Abbey *Professor Andrew Morrisson 1983 – 2020 *Christopher Cromar 2020–2021

Cathedral canons

Revd Canon Captain Gerry Bowyer Revd Canon Neil Brice Revd Canon Vittoria Hancock Revd Canon Jeremy Paisey Revd Canon John Walker

References

{{Coord, 57.1491, -2.0931, display=title Aberdeen Category A listed buildings in Aberdeen Listed cathedrals in Scotland