News

- After the evening Service the Epitaphios will be decorated with flowers by ladies as it is traditional instead of Holy Friday as it is stated in the Services schedule so please make a note of it. Any ladies who would like to stay and help with the decoration are more than welcome!

Holy Friday 14th April

- Apokathilosis on Holy Friday at 11:00.
- Evening service - Male volunteers (inc. boys) — approx. 10 — needed to carry the Epitaphios, Fans, the Cross, banners and lanterns and to help with the traffic during the procession of the Epitaphios, so please let us know in advance if you can help with any of the above or if you know of anyone who can help with these. 3 or 4 girls needed to be the Myrofores too so please let us know if you know of any little girls who would like to help with this.

Holy Saturday 15th April

- Red eggs, tsourekia and Easter biscuits will be given out after the Resurrection Service as every year.
- If anyone would like to stay until the end of the service to help us remove the plastic sheets from the floor we will be grateful, as the Anglicans have a Sunday service in the morning. The more we are the less time it will take, so please help with this.

Easter Vespers 16th April

- On this day the Gospel is read in as many languages as possible. If you would like to come and read the Gospel in any other language than Greek or English please do come along!

General news and updates

- We are selling some Easter candles at the front of the church, along with incense, coal and wicks. Calendars are still available for sale in two sizes.
- This year we bought for our church two banners, which cost £1,000. If you would like to contribute , we will be very grateful!

We look forward to welcoming all of you!

Dear all,

We would like to let everyone know that from March onwards our church will be having a permanent priest, the Reverend Dr. Andreas Andreopoulos, for which we are all very grateful and blessed. We would like to welcome Fr. Andreas on a permanent basis and hope that you can all do so too.
In the service of the 12 Feb we said a sad farewell to Father Ian, who for seventeen continuous years celebrated the liturgy with us in English every 2nd Sunday of the month.
He held our church together when we didn't even know if we were going to have a priest on the rest of the month's Sundays and we cannot express our gratitude and thanks enough for all these years of spiritual guidance, strength and support he provided us with.
We wish Father Ian all the best from the bottom of our hearts and we look forward seeing him soon again in Oxford or possibly occasionally in Reading, when Fr. Andreas is away.
The services will continue as normal with the service of the 2nd Sunday of each month, to be continued in English.

Prophet Elias - a family friendly church

We are happy to welcome families with young children to our church. Children are our hope and our future. A church or community without children is a sad place.

For this reason we would like to make it easy for parents and families who wish to attend our services. Thankfully there is much space in our church to accommodate young children during services, and be respectful to the rest of the people who wish to pray. While it is good for young children to be exposed to our liturgical life, and to grow up being familiar with the Divine Liturgy, we understand that sometimes it can get difficult for them. For this reason we would encourage you to use the back area for keeping your children busy with painting materials and soft toys. Please make sure to clean up afterwards, as we are renting the space from the Anglican community.

We will be happy to take any suggestions for how to accommodate your needs. Prophet Elias is your spiritual home, let's all make sure we keep it tidy, respectful and enjoyable!

Welcome!

Welcome to Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Reading, UK. The aim of this website is to inform you about the Holy Services of our Church and the activities of and events in our Community.

Our Church and Community strive to support the continuation of the Greek and Orthodox heritage and values. As with all Greek Orthodox Churches in the UK, our Church does not receive any governmental or other type of funding. The survival of our Church is entirely reliant on the financial support and volunteering of the members of our Community. Preparing the Holy Bread (i.e. ‘Prosphoron’) for the Holy Eucharist, assisting the priest in the Altar during Services, helping with chanting, cleaning the Church and preparing treats, which are offered to the whole congregation after each Divine Liturgy, are some characteristic examples of voluntary activities.

Your financial contribution and/or any other type of support you are able to offer to our Church and Community will be most welcome and greatly appreciated. May St. Prophet Elias consistently intercede to God for you and your families!

Location of our church

We are currently worshiping within St. Mark’s Anglican Church, which is being rented by our Community to serve our liturgical and other needs.

Our fervent aim, always with the blessings of St. Prophet Elias and your support, is to acquire our own church and hall. Having our own church building will enable us to offer more church services, as well as appropriate space for the activities of the Greek School of our Community.

Important Note

If you would like to donate to our Church, and providing you are a UK tax payer, please donate through Gift Aid. Donating through Gift Aid means that we can then claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give.

Some of the services our church offers:

Greek Sunday School

Christenings

Weddings

Please ask if you require any special visits, we may be able to arrange them for you.

Information

St. Mark's Church

Facebook

Greek Orthodox Services

We have regular Services either in Greek or in English, with Coffee after.

Service Times

From 10:30am Until 13:30pm

August

Please note that during the month of August we have no services.

Service Language

In Greek:
1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday of each month
In English:
2nd Sunday of each month
Serbian Services:
4th Sunday of each month

Bible Study

Saturdays at 4pm over Zoom
with Fr. Andreas Andreopoulos
Contact us to register

Byzantine Chant Lessons

Saturdays at 6.30pm over Zoom
with George Karabatakis
Contact us to register

Paraclesis to the Theotokos

Mondays at 7pm over Zoom
with Presvytera Theodouli Karabataki
Contact us if you would like to participate

Prophet Elias

Orthodox Church, Reading