St Helen's Chapel is an Eastern Orthodox church in

Colchester, Essex Colchester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first Colonia (Roman), major c ...

, under the jurisdiction of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland, headed by Metropolitan Silouan Oner.

Liturgy

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of C ...

at Saint Helen's Chapel is prayed in the English language, despite Arabic serving as the official language of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. Divine Liturgy is prayed at 10:30 am on Sundays, with occasional services during the week.

History

In the 1500s, after the Protestant Reformation, St Helen's Chapel ceased to be used for worship and instead was used for secular use as a school, library, and workshop. In the 18th century, the chapel began to be used as a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

meeting house and later a Church Hall. In 1886, the

Round Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the number ...

family, who also owned

Colchester Castle Colchester Castle is a Norman castle in Colchester, Essex, England, dating from the second half of the eleventh century. The keep of the castle is mostly intact and is the largest example of its kind anywhere in Europe, due to its being bui ...

, purchased the chapel, and hired famous architect

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was born in Lon ...

to restore it. Very little of the original stonework exists, excluding a few decorative Roman bricks. Since the 24th of February 1950, the chapel has been Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England. In 2000, after 500 years, the chapel was restored by the local Eastern Orthodox parish to be used for Divine Liturgy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helen's Chapel, Colchester Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch Church buildings converted to a different denomination Greek Orthodox churches in the United Kingdom Former Church of England church buildings