Meet Our Priest

Born in Bristol in 1954, Fr. Chrysostom was brought to his Mother’s home, Ireland, to be baptized Charles Leonard at the age of two months. Brought up in an Anglican family, his parents, Charles and Pat, ran a pub in Bristol and then, in Clevedon, Somerset. In 1973, he began his degree in Theology at Bristol University. Graduating in 1976, he trained for the Anglican ordained ministry at Ripon College, Cuddesdon (Oxford). In 1978 he married Mo (Maureen), a teacher, soon after his ordination. For sixteen years he served as an Anglican minister in Swindon, Bristol and Cornwall. It was in Cornwall that their daughter, Eleanor, was born.

It was whilst in Cornwall that Father’s long-standing interest in Orthodox Christianity had time to develop. Finding time for study, especially in the areas of Liturgy and Church History, he was increasingly convinced of the rightness of Orthodoxy and that, correspondingly, the whole western Christian tradition was, in varying degrees, evidently heterodox. As for Anglicanism itself, there was much in its history that might be admired but it was clearly losing its intellectual and moral power. From the Nineteen-Eighties, liberalism in particular was the driving force of the Church of England and with the advent of ‘women- priests’ in 1994 the break was inevitable.

In the early Nineties Father formed the Pilgrimage to Orthodoxy movement that gathered together like-minded clergy. He was soon receiving post from all over Britain from fellow ministers distressed at what had become of the Church of England. These were clergy for whom the allure of the Roman Church did not exist yet they felt at a loss as to what they might do. Many knew very little about the Orthodox Church.

To cut a long story short, in 1994 Father Charles, as he still was and a party of others, led by Michael Harper - elected leader now of the movement, met His Beatitude, Ignatius IV, Patriarch of Antioch in Paris. So began the history of the British Antiochian Deanery with the ordination of priests and the formation of Orthodox communities in various parts of the country.

Taking the name Chrysostom at his Chrismation in April 1995, he was ordained deacon in Paris in September of the same year and priest, a week later. Having left the Church of England, Father trained as a teacher, so was only able to minister in his free time. The small congregation in the Church of St. Petroc and St. Keyna never really developed with its rural location and several members moving out of the area. With the death of Fr. John Nield in Dorset, Fr. Chrysostom was asked to take over his parish at Athelhampton. This proved convenient for family and work reasons and with the help of his deacon, Fr. David, he ministered once again in a rural setting.

It was evident, however, that although it had a beautiful setting, such ‘hidden’ Orthodoxy was not able to contact or attract many who might be searching for the truth of salvation. So, a mission was started in the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation, reflecting the missionary zeal of what had now become the Antiochian Orthodox Deanery of the United Kingdom and Ireland. With the ordination of Fr. Deacon David to the priesthood (to serve at Athelhampton), Fr. Chrysostom has now been appointed priest of the new community of St. Dunstan. Gathering in people of Orthodox background, as well as inquirers, the community has now become established as a parish with the Deanery. The Community, originally sited at the old St. Osmund’s church in Poole, is currently worshipping at the church hall belonging to the Roman Catholic parish of St. Edmund Campion at Castlepoint, Bournemouth through the kindness of Fr. Marcus Brisley.

Although he still earns his living through teaching, he is hopeful that this situation might change in the near future. Currently, he is head of Religious Studies at a school in Southampton; his wife, Mo, joining the same school a year later, is now part of the Senior Management Team. During the next academic year (from Sept. ’07) he will be working in school four days as week, leaving Wednesdays free for pastoral work in the parish.

Fr. Chrysostom envisages the new parish as primarily a mission to the English, to enable as many as possible to find the ancient Christian faith of these islands, which was Orthodoxy before the Great Schism of 1054. At the same time, the church needs to bring in those in the town who are Orthodox by historical or ethnic background. This will take a lot of advertising by whatever means possible. The first task, however, is to acquire a building of our own in order to establish as full a round of services as possible, based upon the Lord’s Day. To assist us in this we now have a parish structure with our own account and committee. There are still some items to be obtained for the church in terms of liturgical needs but we are beginning to form a choir. (New sight-reading members are welcome to apply.)

The growth of the parish will happen in God’s good time but the seeds of Orthodoxy have been planted in Poole – Bournemouth. For Father Chrysostom the Nicene Creed could not be clearer: there is only ONE, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church; anything else must be part of a fragmentation. As with the whole Antiochian Orthodox Deanery in Britain, there is a single vision: the Re-hallowing of these islands, calling all into the unity of the One Faith in One Lord.