St.Seraphim and St.Bueno
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The Orthodox Church of Antioch
The See of Antioch ranks third in honour among the 15 self governing Orthodox Churches all of whom are in communion with each other. The city of Antioch of Syria was founded in 301 BC on the banks of the Orontes River, about 20 miles inland from the East coast of the Mediterranean and 250 miles north of Jerusalem. Antioch was considered the third most important city of the Roman world after Rome and Alexandria. Christianity came to Antioch from among those converted at Pentecost. St. Paul and St. Barnabas preached there and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. There are references to the Christian community of Antioch throughout the Acts of the Apostles. The first Bishop of Antioch was St. Peter the Apostle, and the third, St. Ignatios, who became Bishop in 67 AD. and whose letters can still be read in the volume: "The Apostolic Fathers." St. John Chrysostom, whose Liturgy is served throughout the Orthodox world, and St. John of Damascus, the scholar and theologian who defended the Faith at the Seventh Ecumenical Council, were also from the Church of Antioch. When the Turks took the city of Antioch in the 15th Century, the See of Antioch was moved to Damascus, the capital of Syria, where it remains to this day. Throughout its history Antioch has remained faithful to Christ and the Orthodox Faith in the face of domination by a multitude of non-Christian rulers with complete political freedom only being enjoyed for a brief few hundred years from the 4th to the 7th Century. Between 1724 and 1899 A.D. the Patriarch as well as all the bishops were Greek prelates and appointed because of the Greek influence which the Phanar (Constantinople) exercised under Turkish rule. In addition the primary liturgical language of the Patriarchate was Greek, which at the turn of the century was replaced by contemporary Arabic. Following a similar pattern, the Patriarchate has championed the use of English in places where this is the language of the people. In the West, Antiochian Christians number in their millions, with Bishops in New York, Paris, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Santiago, Mexico City and Bucharest.
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Fr Christopher Rogers, (d.o.b. 17/06/47), is a married priest of the Orthodox Church, (British Antiochian Deanery, Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch). His wife is Maureen and they have a son Michael. Fr Christopher was principally trained in Music and taught, until recently, in state secondary schools and the independent sector. Fr Christopher serves an English language parish in Heywood, UK, dedicated to St.Seraphim, an Orthodox Saint of the Russian Church in the 19th.century. Fr Christopher's background was originally that of a practising Anglican family (his father was a vicar) who made his first journey to the Orthodox church in the early 1970's inspired by the writings of Metropolitan Anthony Bloom of the Russian Orthodox Church. Fr Christopher in fact received encouraging letters from this Archbishop and subsequently became Orthodox in 1979(catechumen). He was received on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son in 1984 in to the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain (Ecumenical Patriarchate) He was then trained in true Orthodox tradition i.e. experiencing and practising all the ministeries within the Liturgy before being ordained as a deacon in 1991 then priested in 1994. From 1994, Fr Christopher has served in Slavonic, Greek and English in local parishes and has recently served in Preston at the Community of the Holy Apostles. Fr Christopher has recently transferred to the Archdiocese of Antioch to form a new parish of St. Seraphim of Sarov who he feels has been his guide throughout his spiritual journey.
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