« Pilgrimage to the relics of the Holy Protomartyr Alban of Britain at St Albans »

On Saturday, June 24, 2023, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, a pilgrimage took place to the relics of the Holy Protomartyr Alban of Britain (+ c. 305) in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

The tomb of the Holy Protomartyrn is situated at the Anglican Cathedral of St. Alban, founded in the 11th century and repeatedly rebuilt later; on special days, an ark with a particle of his holy relics is taken out for worship. Historical chronicles testify that earlier there was a church of a monastic cenobitic monastery, founded by King Offa of Mercia in 793.

Traditionally, at the invitation of the Rector of the Cathedral, before the day of memory of St. Alban, celebrated on June 22 / 5 July new style, Orthodox services are held at the shrine of the British Protomartyr.

This year, a moleben at the shrine of St. Alban was headed by Archpriest Stephen Platt, Dean of the Diocesan District of Central England of the Diocese of Sourozh, Hegumen Theophan (Willis) (Archdiocese of Orthodox Churches of Russian Tradition in Western Europe), Priest Ioan Nazarcu, Rector of the parish of Protomartyr Alban and St. John the Baptist (Romanian Patriarchate), clerics of the Romanian Orthodox community in St. Albans served together with Father Stephen. Liturgical hymns in English, Church Slavonic and Romanian were performed by a combined choir of Orthodox singers from among the pilgrims who arrived from various cities of Great Britain.

At the end of the moleben, all those present venerated the shrine and a particle of the holy relics of St. Alban of Britain, kept from the 16th century in Cologne, Germany, and transferred to St. Alban's Cathedral in 2002.

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