Birmingham Orthodox Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God and St Andrew stands on Summer Hill Terrace in Birmingham. It began in 1873 as a Catholic Apostolic church designed by J. A. Chatwin in Early English brick Gothic style. The building has a wide rectangular nave, two apses, passage aisles and heavy brick arches on sturdy columns. At the west end a tall archway leads into a brick-walled baptistery. Some interior decoration was carried out by Gibbs and Canning of Tamworth. The cathedral serves the Greek Orthodox community of Birmingham. The first Greek Orthodox liturgy in Birmingham took place in 1947 with a monthly visiting priest. After steady growth a weekly service began in 1951 at an Anglican church in Edgbaston. The community raised funds to buy icons, an iconostasis and a holy Bible. In 1958 the present building was inaugurated as the first Greek Orthodox church in the city. It became a cathedral in 1980 when Irineos of Patara was ordained bishop. The current priest is Protopresbyter Kosmas Pavlidis. Inside, the nave’s brick arches and clustered wall shafts support a high arched roof and clerestory windows. The west end’s diapered brick wall frames the baptistery arch. The cathedral also houses the Apostolos Andreas Greek School, founded in 1958. The school moved into its own building next to the church in 2002. It teaches Greek language, history, religion and culture to children and adults.