Church History

1970
At first we used to use the crypt at St Elisabeth’s Church in Victoria Drive.
Unfortunately we had nothing permanent there and the Icons were stored in a cupboard.
This continued for many years. We used to bring coach parties from London to the church in Eastbourne for services and Mr Chris “Chanticlere” was then in charge with the help of others from the community.

1980
We were fortunate in purchasing the old laundry of the Duke of Devonshire’s Estate.
Until we had enough money to convert it into a church we used an upstairs room as a small chapel.
We then converted the ground floor of the building which had been the old laundry section into a large chapel and we had regular services there for many years.

1990
We purchased our current Church in Cavendish Place. Which was originally a Calvinistic Independent Chapel, founded by a local farmer, it was built in 1857 to replace a converted stable, used for worship by Calvinists since 1823. It closed in 1985, and in 1990 the Gothic-style building was sold to the Greek Orthodox Community. It was built on land given by the Duke of Devonshire.
The Calvinistic church was under the control of the Rev. A.J. Baxter in 1892.

1991
We sold the old building at 81 Bourne Street, and put the money towards the purchase of the current building at 30 Cavendish Place.
We were served by father Andreas from Brighton, Father Kyriacos from Hastings and other visiting priests.

2001
Father Ierotheos came to our church as our regular priest.
We then shared Father Ierotheos with the Hastings Church when Father Kyriacos could no longer serve as priest in Hastings.
The community worked hard to raise funds for the refurbishment of the church, and to cover the costs of the Consecration. We have, since, continued to improve the church with icons being donated by the faithful.

The church was consecrated by His Eminence Gregorios of Thyateira & Great Britain

2012
Due to ill health, Father Ierotheos decided he could not continue the journey between Hastings, where he lives, and Eastbourne.

2013
This year our target is to raise £8000, towards installing central heating in the Church As the existing system is costing too much to maintain. Once this is completed we will then be able to finish the wall paintings around the church.