User:Hassocks5489/AM
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| St Mary and St Abraam | |
|---|---|
 The church from the northeast
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| Information | |
| Denomination | Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria |
| Division | The Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Architect(s) | Clayton & Black, Brighton |
| Style | Early English |
| Constructed | 1909 |
| Dedicated | 1909 |
| Contact particulars | |
| Address | Davigdor Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 1RF |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Phone | 01273 736636 |
| Website | http://www.stmary-stabraam.co.uk/english/index.htm |
St Mary and St Abraam Church is a Coptic Orthodox Church in Hove, in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is one of nine such churches in the British Isles.[1] The Coptic community in Brighton and Hove was founded in 1990;[2] four years later it moved to its present site on Davigdor Road, on the Brighton/Hove border.[3]
Contents |
[edit] History of the building
The church is based in a much older building: the former church of St Thomas the Apostle, an Anglican church built in 1909 by the Brighton-based architecture firm Clayton and Black[4] (who were responsible for many local buildings including the Duke of York's Picture House, the French Convalescent Home on the seafront, and a reconstruction of the Theatre Royal). The tall red-brick building, in Early English style,[4] has a large pointed-arch window in its eastern face and five smaller windows across the northern face, where the entrance is situated. The last service was held on 17 January 1993, and the church was declared redundant on 20 July 1993.[5] Although the Diocese of Chichester identified the building's poor condition as one of the reasons for closure,[3] the Coptic Orthodox Church bought it shortly afterwards. St Thomas the Apostle's parish was subsumed into that of All Saints Church nearby, and its locally-produced Stations of the Cross were moved to St Mary's Church, Kemptown.[4]
[edit] The church in Coptic ownership
The founders of the Coptic community in Hove were refugees from the Second Sudanese Civil War, and many of the worshippers are from Sudan. Many Copts of Egyptian origin also attend the church.[2] In 2000, there were believed to be around 4,000 Sudanese worshippers.[3] Three priests, one of whom is English, serve the church.[2]
The leader of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, travelled to Hove and performed a dedication ceremony to consecrate the church on 23 September 1994. The following year the church was licensed to perform marriage ceremonies. An extension to the building was approved in 1998.[3]
The church has some noteworthy interior features. An enormous mahogany and oak iconostasis was installed in 2000: at 7.5 metres (25 ft) tall, it is said to be the tallest such structure in the world.[3] Small pieces were individually carved in Egypt; they were taken to Hove and assembled in six hours by a team of volunteers in time for the Easter celebrations at the end of April (in Eastern Christianity, Easter is usually celebrated one week later than in Western Christianity). Pope Shenouda III returned to the church on 13 August 2000 to dedicate the iconostasis,[3] which depicts the Last Supper, Jesus Christ and several other holy figures across 24 icons.[6] Father Zakaria Henein, an Egyptian priest who was in charge of the church at that time, also painted a large icon of Christ above the altar, despite having no formal art training.[6]
Father Henein's departure from the church in 2003 caused hundreds of members of the congregation to protest against what they believed to be his forced removal. Some protestors occupied the church and went on hunger strike, and Pope Shenouda III had to intervene by speaking to hundreds of churchgoers via a mobile phone link from Egypt.[6]
St Mary and St Abraam was the first Coptic Orthodox church in the south of England. The eight other churches in the British Isles are in Kensington in Central London; Croydon in south London; Lapworth in Warwickshire; nearby Solihull in the West Midlands; Manchester; Newport in south Wales; Kirkcaldy in Scotland; and Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Archive of Glastonbury Review: Miscellaneous Articles. The British Orthodox Church website. The British Orthodox Secretariat (2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ a b c Brighton & Hove Education Online: Christian places of worship. Brighton & Hove Education Online website. Brighton & Hove City Council (2003). Retrieved on 2007-12-16.
- ^ a b c d e f Middleton, Judy [2002]. The Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade, Volume 12: S Part 1. Brighton: Brighton & Hove Libraries, p103.
- ^ a b c St Mary & St Abraam Coptic Orthodox Church, Davigdor Road, Hove. The Roughwood website. Mark Collins (2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
- ^ The Church of England Statistics & Information: Lists (by diocese) of redundant church buildings whose futures have been settled as at April 2006. The Church of England website. Church of England (2006). Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
- ^ a b c Middleton, Judy [2002]. The Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade, Volume 12: S Part 1. Brighton: Brighton & Hove Libraries, p104.
[edit] Categories
Category:Churches in Brighton and Hove Category:Coptic Orthodox churches Category:1909 architecture
