The English Orthodox Trust expresses the hope for the rebirth and spreading of the Pre-Schism, Pre-Conquest, Old English Orthodox Christian Faith.

In the absence of an English Orthodox Church, English Orthodox Christians are now scattered in the dioceses of surviving local Orthodox Churches based mainly in Eastern Europe. For this reason the Trust is inter-diocesan.

Its aims may be set out as follows:

1. The spreading of Orthodox Tradition in the English tongue. At present local Orthodox Churches are frequently hamstrung by their obedience to States and organizations often denying the traditional teachings and forms of Orthodox Christianity. The Trust confesses the values and way of life of the traditional Orthodox Faith. Thus it distances itself from both those groupings which wish to 'modernize' Orthodox Christianity and also from those who identify Orthodoxy with racial prejudices and nationalist cults. The Trust steadfastly believes that the Orthodox Faith, the Christian Tradition inspired by the Holy Spirit, is potentially the Faith of all. It hopes that in its own modest way it may help to bring together those who recognize the Orthodox Faith through the medium of English, now become a World Language.

2. More particularly the Trust is dedicated to the rebirth of the native Faith of the Old English land and people before it was transformed into Roman Catholicism at the time of the Norman Conquest. Its patrons are therefore St Gregory and St Augustine, Apostles and Teachers of the English, but it venerates all the Saints of Old England, especially our former national Patron St Edmund.

3. At the same time the Trust also looks to those who in post-Conquest England have strived, wittingly or unwittingly, to keep faith with the spirit of Old England and Her Orthodox Christian Tradition, in whatever vestigial way possible. We look, for example, to writers such as Langland, Traherne, Herbert, Vaughan, Blake, Clare, Barnes and Masefield, to name but a few. The Trust strives towards the denormanizing of English life in all ways, religious, political, economic, social, artistic and professional, looking to the eventual reintegration of English Orthodox into a reborn and so restored English Orthodox Church and Tradition.

Books Available

Below we are pleased to enclose details of books published by the Trust which are at present available. By buying a copy, readers are financing the Trust. All books are available from

Orthodox Christian Books Ltd

Unit 1
High Carr Networkspace
Millennium Way
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Staffordshire
ST5 7XE

email: orthbook@aol.com
website: www.orthbooks.co.uk
phone: 01782 576933
fax: 01782 576930

Orthodox Christianity and the English Tradition

Today many search for an Undivided Christendom and the traditional teachings of the Early Church, which go beyond the latter-day divisions and disputes of Roman-Catholic, Anglican and Protestant. And amid the chaos of recent years many have discovered the Orthodox Church and Her Faith, drawn from the first millennium of Christianity. In this book the author, and English Orthodox priest, looks at the authentic Orthodox Faith, beyond the historical and cultural vicissitudes surrounding it, and pinpoints its relevance to us. He writes: Orthodox Christianity is the Faith revealed to the repentant in their quest for the Holy Spirit ... Should we accept it, we would thus accept the struggle for the Holy Spirit; and in so doing we would accept the struggle to build Jerusalem here, 'in England's green and pleasant land'.

Available from Seekings House £13.50 + £1.50 p & p. ISBN 0-9531774-0-8 A5 475pp 2nd edition.

Orthodox Christianity and the Old English Church

In 1997 we remembered the 1400th anniversary of the Coming of Christianity to the English people, with the arrival of St Augustine on these shores. But who exactly was St Augustine, this first Archbishop of Canterbury? And what happened to the Church civilization and traditions that he brought to England, after the Norman Conquest of 1066? In this book an English Orthodox priest looks at the little known story and extraordinary destiny of the Old English Church, which began in Rome, lived in Canterbury, was exiled to Constantinople and Southern Russia and lives on in Her Saints. Available from Seekings House £3.50p post free ISBN 0-9527422-0-1 A5 45pp 2nd edition.

The Hallowing of England: a guide to the saints of Old England and their places of pilgrimage

In the Old English period we can count over 300 saints, yet today their names and exploits are largely unknown. They are part of a forgotten England that, though it lies deep in the past, is an important part of our national and spiritual history.

Although the holy relics of the saints and the churches they built are long gone, the sites where they laboured are still here and their presence can still be sensed in those places.

Wherever we are in England, we are never far from places hallowed by these saints. Each journey through our land can, if we so choose, become a pilgrimage.

This guide includes a list of 260 saints cross referenced to an alphabetical list of over 300 places with which they are associated, brief biographical details of 22 patriarchs of the English Church, and a calendar of saints' feast days.

Available from Anglo-Saxon Books, Frithgarth, Thetford Forest Park, Hockwold-cum-Wilton, Norfolk IP26 4NQ £5.95 + 50p p & p ISBN 1-898281-08-4 A5 96pp 3rd edition.

The Rebirth of England and the English: The Vision of William Barnes

English history is patterned with spirits so bright that they broke through convention and saw another England. Such was the case of the Dorset poet, William Barnes (1801-86), priest, poet, teacher, self-taught polymath, linguist extraordinary and that rare thing - a man of vision. In this work the author looks at that vision, a vision at once of Religion, Nature, Art, Marriage, Society, Economics, Politics and Language. He writes: 'In search of authentic English roots and values, our post-industrial society may well have much to learn from Barnes'.

For the first time Saxon-English words created and used by Barnes have been gathered together and listed next to their foreign equivalents.

Available from Anglo-Saxon Books, Frithgarth, Thetford Forest Park, Hockwold-cum-Wilton, Norfolk IP26 4NQ £9.95 + £1 p & p ISBN 1-898281-17-3 A5 160pp

The Lighted Way: Orthodox Christian Perspectives for the Third Millennium

This is a volume of essays, some of which previously appeared in Orthodox England. It is described as follows:

'The Orthodox Church - the Church of the Holy Spirit and the Church of Sacred Tradition - alone guarded intact the Faith of the First Millennium amid the temptations of the Second. But what is Her message now, to the Third Millennium?

'In a vision both local and global, an English Orthodox priest looks at what that message might be, as he considers the ongoing struggle for the soul of England and indeed for the soul of the world. Providing both hope and caution, to the now finished Twentieth Century he warns: 'The Just Judge is coming to judge you and all the innocent suffering of the Earth shall be heard'. But above all he strives in the gathering darkness to shine forth to those who seek the path of the Saints, the Lighted Way.'

At 351 pages in length and priced at £13.95 + £1.05 postage, it is available from Orthodox Christian Books Limited (7 Townhouse Farm, Alsager Road, Audley, Staffs ST7 8JQ) or from the author.

The Story of St. Felix, Apostle of East Anglia

At 32 pages in length, this booklet is described as follows:

'Do we who are entering the Third Millennium know anything of the Apostle of East Anglia of the First Millennium?

'Who was St. Felix? Where did he come from? Why did he come to East Anglia? What were his links with Sutton Hoo and the lost city of Dunwich? What were his links with Ireland? How did he know St. Audrey and who was she? What is the mysterious Red Book of Eye? And is St. Felix still here?

'Find the answers to these, and many other questions, inside.'

Written in connection with the Felixstowe Millennium Exhibition of the Year 2000, it contains the prayer for Felixstowe Town Council as written by the author for the Mayor of Felixstowe and read before town council meetings. Priced at £2.95 post free, it is available from Seekings House.