Talk delivered to the annual Barking Pilgrimage, May 2025
Presbyter Alexander Haig

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Christ is risen!

In 2018, just 4% of 18–24-year-olds said they attended church at least monthly.  Today [2025] this has risen to 16%, with young men increasing from 4% to 21%, and young women from 3% to 12%.  This is now the second most likely age group to attend church regularly.  Overall, churchgoing Christians now make up 12% of the population, up from 8% in 2018.  In numerical terms, that’s growth from 3.7m in 2018 to 5.8m in 2024 – an increase of 56%. (p. 6)

But where are these people going?  If we again go with anecdotal evidence, I have heard reports from many Orthodox priests in Britain of increasing numbers coming forward for reception into the Church in many parishes but these are modest in number—encouraging, perhaps the beginning of a wave, but still modest.  Were we to take the number of Orthodox Churches in Britain as around 200, of the two million increase in Christian attendance why are so few finding their home in one of our parishes?

There may be other reasons for this—at least some of those two million may have “reverted” to a Church with which that had a former attachment—but I would like to examine what we are doing, or rather what we should be doing.  Let me first outline some of the challenges we face.

Challenges

Size

By the standards of Britain, ours is a small church.  Estimating the number of Orthodox in Britain often seems like picking a number out of thin air, but 250,000[†] seems a reasonable number.  It would seem clear that many of these are not regular church-goers, as it would make the average parish to be over 1,000 faithful.  Yet this pales in comparison with, for example, the Catholic Church who has approximately 6 million members, of whom 1.75 million attend Mass regularly, with 3,000 churches and 4,000 clergy.[‡]

Many of the existing Orthodox parishes are small, with a handful of faithful, and do not have weekly services.  Some clergy minister to several communities on different Sundays of the month.  There are also many parts of the country, some with significant and dense populations, without an Orthodox Church.

Internal Divisions

Despite our small size, we are nevertheless divided into multiple overlapping jurisdictions.

Immigrant Population

Many of our parishes—though certainly not all!—seem to cater, in the first instance, for an immigrant population, though this is changing: glory to God!  This can be true even for English-language communities.  This is not to deny the importance of providing pastoral and spiritual care to those who have made Britain their home from other countries but we need to acknowledge this as a reality.

Lack of clergy

Even for our modest numbers, we are greatly underserved by clergy and we have an impending crisis among the ones we have.  Many parishes have just one priest, without any deacons, of whom considerable numbers are above the age of 60 and it is not uncommon for active clergy to be in their 70s or even 80s.  As already noted, some are serving multiple communities.  This is particularly apparent in English-language communities of all dioceses and archdioceses.

Not only are they lacking in number but the Church as a whole—hierarchs, clergy and faithful together—are not putting in resources to support them in their ministry.  Many work secular jobs, or are retired and rely on pension income, and few in the Church seem particularly concerned by this.

Lack of buildings

While we do have some, perhaps even many, church buildings, a significant number of our communities have no place established for a permanent home for their worship.  This means they are limited in the services they can offer, notwithstanding that many clergy would be employed elsewhere rather than be able to serve such services.  A building would be a significant investment for such a community and may well be beyond its financial resources.

Some buildings which we are using are small and so have a limiting capacity for people to attend.  In general, if it is impossible to get inside or once inside the faithful are crowded together, those on the periphery of the community will feel unwelcome and just stop attending.  In some places, a lack of facilities such as toilets also limits some from becoming members of the Church.

Significance

But why does this all matter?  So far I have briefly outlined an increase in church attendance across the population, with 2.1 million extra people in Christian communities, but this is only one survey and could be a blip or an outlier—there may be other factors at play.  In addition, does it matter that they are not, on the whole, attending Orthodox Churches?  Further, the challenges outlined are not new and we have been struggling on as a Church for decades and have shown growth, albeit fuelled by immigration: perhaps we will continue to struggle on?

“We have seen the true Light,” we usually sing after communion in the Liturgy,

we have received the heavenly Spirit; we have found the true Faith, worshiping the undivided Trinity: for He hath saved us.

And I am asking each of us to reflect on this.  I rejoice that many millions of people have an encounter with Christ in a Christian context—while there is a difference between the Orthodox Church and others there is much about which we agree.  Yet it is here where we believe we have uniquely found the fullness of Christ, with neither addition nor subtraction. (cf. Revelation 22:18–19)

The Bible Society’s report, The Quiet Revival, outlines many positives of church-going.  Better levels of life satisfaction, wellbeing and a connection to a community which so many miss in our contemporary loneliness epidemic. (pp. 24–25)  They also outline that church-goers are more likely to contribute to society with acts of charity as well as engaging in civic and political life. (p. 28)

But this all misses the point of our faith.  If Christianity is about social justice—feeding the poor, alleviating poverty, standing with the oppressed, etc.—then there are now many secular bodies which do this.  These are all worthy causes and activities which we should support and be at the forefront, but it is not our reason for Christ.  Likewise many secular bodies, sports clubs and other associations, can build and strengthen communities so this is not the exclusive purpose of the Church.  Should these form the totality of a community I would go so far as to venture it would not deserve the name Christian.

Yet I fear, at least looking from the outside, that this is what is offered by many Christians.  “[D]iscover God at work in our lives and in the lives of others,” I have seen on one Church website, “a diverse all age community of people seeking to love God, serve our town and grow in faith,” and “to establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to become one with Him,” on others.  “A place where everybody is welcome, nobody is perfect, and all things are possible!” and “We long to be a people who are all for Jesus because he is Lord of all and gave his all for us.”  “A vibrant [church] … who are passionate about seeing lives changed in the name of Jesus.”  It seems that Christianity is presented as morals, about right-living, about a relationship—whatever that means—with Jesus: it’s about how to live, survive and thrive in this world while keeping Christ on your mind.

Joy and Time

Yet what is it that afflicts the world, that afflicts our society?  Yes, Death of course: but we have become numb to it.  Death no longer happens in our homes but in hospitals and hospices and is somewhat removed from us.  Many have never seen a dead body and had to face the reality of their own mortality: it is common, lamentably even in Orthodox funerals it is seen, where the coffin remains closed.  Indeed, many undertakers now offer a “direct to cremation” service where there is not even a religious or otherwise “marking of the death”—for the sake of alleviating financial pressures, in part, but also, I believe, so that the living need not contemplate Death; it has, truly, been hidden from sight and we are becoming a death-fearing society: too scared to look into its face.

Yes there is Death, but what seems to be afflicting our society at a more pressing level is a lack of joy.  Our modern world has reduced joy to the level of relaxation and fun, yet we hear each Sunday at Matins,

In that we have beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One.  Thy Cross do we adore, O Christ, and Thy holy Resurrection we praise and glorify; for Thou art our God, and we know none other beside Thee; we call upon Thy Name.  O come, all ye faithful, let us adore Christ’s holy Resurrection.  For lo, through the Cross is joy come into all the world.  Ever blessing the Lord, let us sing His Resurrection, for in that He endured the Cross for us, He hath destroyed death by death.

“For lo, through the Cross is joy come into all the world.”  Joy is at the centre of our Faith and comes through the Cross.  Joy is the proclamation of the Angels at the beginning of the Gospel,

Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.
— Luke 2:10–11

And of the Apostles at its end.

Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into Heaven.
And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.  Amen.
— Luke 24:51–53

And joy has become absent in our society because we live at a rush.  We endure a joyless work life but then require distraction, medication even, for the joyless relaxation to follow.  And the crisis in our society is precisely this joylessness, this dysphoria with the world and with time.  For, as pointed out by Fr Alexander Schmemann of blessed memory even in the 1960s,

Is it not true that the more ‘time-saving’ devices we invent, the less time we have?  The joyless rush is interrupted by relaxation (‘sit back and relax!’), but such is the horror of the strange vacuum covered by this truly demonic word, ‘relaxation,’ that men must take pills to endure it, and buy expensive books about how to kill this no man’s land of ‘modern living.’
— Alexander Schmemann,[§] p. 49

And it is to joy which we must return in our lives.  Our work—even work which is dull and boring, tedious or stressful—can be done with joy.  And our relaxation can be done with joy.  Because to be joyful is to live in the present, to accept what we have as our own cross and carry it for the sake of Christ, for the sake of union with Him.  I am not proposing that we should be forced to stay in bad jobs, in dangerous situations, but that to the best of our ability we encounter time with joy, time with meaning, time with value.

What afflicts the world in our time is the removal of joy: of associating it solely with our relaxation and then not finding it there either.  I propose that, uniquely in the Orthodox Church, we can let joy seep into all we do—our trials and our rejoicing, our sorrow and our happiness, our dying as well as our living—which will change us, transform us, transfigure us into Children of the Resurrection.  The Lord said,

I have come that they may have Life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
— John 10:10

And it is this which we can share with the world which is in such great need.  We do not offer wellbeing, life satisfaction nor community—at least, these are not the primary “selling-points”—we offer Christ risen from the dead, we offer joy permeating every aspect of our lives, and we do this through presenting the Cross to all, “For lo, through the Cross is joy come into all the world.”

“If anyone desires to come after Me,” says the Lord,

let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Kingdom of God.
— Luke 9:23–27

And of this we cannot be ashamed, we cannot hide behind icons, nor vestments, nor liturgy, nor music, nor theology, nor anything else: “And I, brethren, when I came to you,” says the Apostle,

did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
— First Corinthians 2:1–2

And in this the fullness of the Gospel we preach is manifest,

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
— First Corinthians 15:3–8

Christ does not come to remove our sufferings, this is demonstrated by the Cross, but to fill our sufferings with Himself, that while we live in this fallen world we can maintain our citizenship in Heaven.  And it is precisely this which the Orthodox Church presents, not removing sufferings but the power to endure them alongside Christ.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,” the Apostle writes to the Church in Corinth,

who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer.  Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.
Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,
who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,
you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.
— Second Corinthians 1:3–11

Our Mission

The end of the Apostle’s sermon on the Areopagus in Athens, (Acts 17:22–31) has an interesting effect on the men gathered there.  St Paul concludes with,

‘ … Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.  He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.’
And when they heard of the Resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, ‘We will hear you again on this matter.’
— vv. 30–32

They were willing to hear him when presenting this “unknown God” to them, but when he spoke of the Resurrection they—some politely, others less so—asked him to stop.  For St Paul the Resurrection is essential, is central, is at the fore: the Resurrection is the explosion of joy into the world, that following darkness comes the Light, “And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:5)  And for the Orthodox Church the Resurrection is essential, is central, is at the fore as an explosion of joy.  When the priest comes out with the Paschal Light we feel this, when we proclaim Christ is risen our hearts are filled with joy, we hear the words of the Psalmist resonating within us, “This is the day the Lord made; Let us greatly rejoice, and be glad therein.” (Psalm 117:24 lxx)

Morality is important but is not the centre of our faith, performing acts of mercy is essential but as an effect of the Resurrection not its replacement.  And it is only the Orthodox Church which can present this to our society—consistently, repeatedly, unapologetically.  Christ is risen and Death is mocked, Christ is risen and Hades is emptied, Christ is risen and we are freed, Christ is risen and we will rise, Christ is risen and we are invited to new Life, Christ is risen and joy reigns.

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no Resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no Resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.
For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
— First Corinthians 15:12–19

This is not just an addition to the Christian faith, a nice thing to have alongside the morality and community, this is the source and centre of our hope, the source and centre of our joy.  Christ, “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it,” (Acts 2:24) is risen!

Now, if it is only the Orthodox Church which can bring this to our society in its fulness then, logically, it is we who must do it.  When speaking of mission to our society, it is appropriate to quote Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, of thrice-blessed memory, who was the preeminent missionary of our time.

[M]issionary work in Byzantium was not carried out by a handful of “specialists.” Bishops, priests, monks, emperors—whether of great or of medium stature—princesses, diplomats, officers, soldiers, merchants, mariners, emigrants, travelers, and captives were all involved. The modest and patient heroism shown in this direction by thousands of known and unknown Byzantines during the centuries-long life of the Empire, forces the student of history to agree with what Charles Diehl wrote concerning the conversion of the Slavs: “Missionary work was one of the glories of Byzantium.”
— Archbishop Anastasios,[**] p. 195

Likewise we all can be involved, all work, all contribute towards the mission of the Church.  For the command is given to the Church—not to bishops and priests alone but to the fullness of the faithful.  This is not an optional extra, this is necessary if we are to be more than Christian in name but Christian in deed, in reality.

Let us, therefore, recollect for a moment on the vision of our Lord.  Is it possible for His horizon to be confined only to our town, to our nation, to the so-called “Christian world?”  Has He not “made from one every nation of men” (Acts 17:26)?  Does He not want “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4)?  Does He not care for the millions of men who live as “strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12)?  We surely force the Apostle to repeat once more: “For some have no knowledge of God.  I say this to your shame” (1 Cor 15:34).  All this denotes very clearly that one may not confront, with a cold and indifferent heart, the drama of humankind estranged from God if one wants indeed to “abide in Christ.”
— Archbishop Anastasios, p. 29

The future

The Lord is directing a small, significant perhaps, but overall small in number, group of people to the Orthodox Church.  We, on the whole, have done nothing different over the last few years to have achieved this, they’ve just come.  But will they keep coming?  Times and fashions change, they may stop: we cannot simply assume this is the “new normal.”  Further, there are others—many others!—who are seeking beyond this closed, secular frame of existence to imagine that which is beyond, the infinite, the divine.  If God has sent us fruits of the harvest, will He expect us to work all the more diligently in His fields or will He expect us to lean back and enjoy our reward?  I hope the answer to this is obvious, but supposing it is not, the Lord said,

‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
And he thought within himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?”
So he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’”But God said to him, “Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?”
So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’
— Luke 12:15–21

I have already spoken of some of the challenges which we face as the Church in these countries—foremost of which is the severe shortage of clergy even to cover the communities we already have, let alone the communities we should have.  Each of us, clergy and laity alike, needs to carefully answer these two questions.

1. How am I supporting the clergy we currently have?
2. How am I encouraging new clergy to take their place and grow the Church?

Because if we do not grow we will atrophy, the number of people seeking reception into the Church will shrink and we will have to think—perhaps in the not too distant future—about how we manage decline and which parishes to close.  How are you, how is your parish, supporting your priest?  Is he paid and is he paid enough?  Is he supported in the work or is he expected to do everything?  Are tasks which do not have to be done by a priest—administration, cleaning, baking, website design, newsletter distribution, paying bills, etc.—being taken from him?  Is he encouraged and thanked regularly?  Is his family?  Would you be willing for you or your father, brother, husband, son or anyone else to be treated as your clergy are treated?

Because we need to do this, we have to do this, we must do this.  Will there be an Orthodox Church in this country in fifty—or even twenty!—years’ time?  Perhaps, and God-willing yes, but perhaps not if we are unwilling to work for it.  If the faithful of the Church are unwilling to be faithful then what hope is there?  And this is not a task for some distant future, for after a few years of careful planning: it is a task for now, for today.

We have the potential to change this country.

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.  Amen.
— Matthew 28:18–20

And this is the place to which we have been sent: to deny the Gospel—the fullness of the Gospel—to our neighbour is to deny Christ. 

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’

And I might protest and add, “I served the Liturgy in Your name, I went on pilgrimages in Your name, I gave presentations in Your name,”

And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
— Matthew 7:21–23

Conclusion

The growth we have seen in recent years is a gift from God.  Whether it continues or whether it falters is not up to us.  We know, however, that we have the Truth—not a relative truth, not merely our truth, but the Truth—and if we keep this closed and confined to ourselves what will we say on the Last Day as we stand before our Lord.  We know, too, that there are those in our society who are looking, and would come if only asked: the Bible Society has identified, “31% of non-churchgoers say they would attend if invited by a friend or family member.” (p. 39)  And, as a step along this process I propose that we ensure that our present clergy are helped and supported so that we can have a new generation of clergy to help and support us for the building up of the Church.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, for us to be the faithful we need to be faithful, and if we are not faithful then we cannot be the faithful.  God is calling you, is calling me, to be witnesses of the Resurrection, witnesses of Joy, that He says to us at the completion of this age,

Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.
— Matthew 25:34–36

Because the least of these His brethren are hungry for the Word of God, thirsting after Life, strangers to His love, have not put Him on, (cf. Galatians 3:27) are sick with sin and imprisoned by Death.  They need the Joy which comes through the Cross, Life which comes from the tomb, they need the Light of the unending Day of the Resurrection.

Christ is risen!

Forgive me.

P. Alexander

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[*] https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/research/quiet-revival, download with (free) registration.  It should be noted their data is for England and Wales.

[†] I am aware that over 550,000 Romanian-born immigrants in the UK were recorded in the 2021 Census, many of whom will have been baptised into the Church: see https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Romanians_in_the_United_Kingdom&oldid=1286855308.  In addition, 210,000 Ukrainians have arrived, up to 16^th July 2024, under the Ukraine Family and Sponsorship Schemes: see https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/ukrainian-migration-to-the-uk/, though religious plurality in Ukraine is greater than in Romania.

[‡] Much of this data is from https://www.cbcew.org.uk/statistics/ but only covers England and Wales.

[§] Alexander Schmemann, (Crestwood USA: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1973), For the Life of the World.

[**] Archbishop Anastasios (Brookline USA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2010), Mission in Christ’s Way: An Orthodox Understanding of Mission.