Annual Greek Festival / Glendi

Dear Parishioners and friends of our Community.

Warm Greetings to all

Last Sunday, 29 of June, the area of Stony Stratford was filled with happy traditional Hellenic music, songs and dance together with home made food, salads, desserts and much more. The weather was on our side and the whole atmosphere reminded us of our homelands and Mediterranean colours and tastes. The feedback is that a very good time was had by all present.

This Annual Greek Festival started in 2017 and since then became a tradition to mark the joys of Summer.

Taking the opportunity we would like to offer sincere thanks, to all who participated to make the event another successful story, starting with the Mayor Cllr James Lancaster and Deputy mayor Cllr Paul Trendal of Milton Keynes, who honored us with their presence, continuing with the musicians, the dancers, all the volunteers who kindly their offered time, men/women/girls/boys, who continuously prepared-cooked-served food and drinks and doing anything else needed. A big THANK YOU, we are immensely grateful.

Best Wishes to all,

The Trustees, the Priest in Charge, and the Ecclesiastical/Community Committee

Announcement - Reminder:

Celebrating our Chapel: 6 July 2025 9.30 am

We would kindly like to remind the Parishioners and Friends of our Community

that on Sunday 6th July 2025 the Feast of "The Deposition of the Mantle of Panayia at Vlachernae", will be celebrated, with the Blessing of the Five Loaves..

We are also pleased to announce that we have been kindly provided with Holy Water from The Shrine of St Mary of Vlachernae in Constantinople (Istanbul) and it will be distributed to the Congregation.

Refreshments will be offered after the Church Service.

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Notice: TO STEKI MAS/OUR PLACE: The monthly 1st Saturday of the month TO STEKI MAS will be expecting all as usual for teas/coffees/cakes/drinks etc. from 10.30am to 3pm at the Swinfen Harris Church Hall on Saturday 5th of July

The Celebration of the Deposition of the Holy Body of the Virgin Mary

On July 2nd, when the City celebrates at Blachernae, our Community also celebrates. The Greek Orthodox Community of Saints Ambrose & Stylianos, Chapel of Our Lady of Blachernae, in Stony Stratford. 

Stony Stratford, known as the jewel of the region, is an old Historic and Roman town in the city of Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire County) located some eighty kilometers northwest of London. It is neither strange nor paradoxical that our Chapel celebrates every time the Salutations to the Virgin Mary and the Akathist Hymn are sung, becoming an air bridge that connects the birthplace of <<I Will Overcome......>> on the shores of the Horn of Constantinople, with this small town in England crossed by the River Ouse.

It is a Community belonging to the Archdiocese of Thyateira & Great Britain, Province of the Ecumenical Throne, which was founded to serve the religious, social, educational and cultural needs of the diaspora and other fellow Orthodox of the region and the surrounding areas are also served in it.

The Virgin Mary put Her hand so that this Ithaca and (Greek) Orthodoxy could find its way to our path and to acquire a voice in the multicultural map of the city of Milton Keynes, to build its nest and to take root in a small corner in the heart of England.

In addition to the Brotherhood of Ladies, "Saint Demetrius", also maintains a Greek School which is housed in the Church premises where students, children and adults, are taught for a few hours a week, not only Greek letters and language but also culture, manners and customs.

Next to the Church, there is the Community Hall with outdoor spaces, which houses a part of the School, hosts meetings, events, and supports the work of the Church.

The Celebration of the Deposition of the Holy Body of the Virgin Mary this year, and for practical reasons, will take place solemnly, on Sunday, July 6, 2025 with Artoklasia and a treat will follow.

The patron saints of our Community are St. Ambrose - the date of the establishment of the Community on December 7 (1989) coincided with his memory - and St. Stylianos, the Paphlagonian, protector of <newborns and infants....>. For twenty years the Church was housed in an Anglo-Catholic Church in another location. In 2009 when the Community acquired its own building, which previously, from 1864 when it was built until 1969, was an Anglican Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it goes without saying that it could not have been otherwise, the Theotokos and especially the Vlachernitissa, <took over> our Community under her roof. After forty years of silence, the Holy Church found its voice again and the Virgin Mary <<returned to her home>>.

In the courtyard of the Holy Church, Litanys, the Epitaph Procession as well as the Resurrection ceremony are held. On Easter Sunday and after the Vespers of Love, members and friends of the Community gather here for a Festive Symposium. Also, one Sunday every summer the town comes alive with a fundraising event with our own music, traditional dances, delicacies, etc.

Our Community is small and its financial resources are limited, but we do what we can to uphold the reasons for which this Community was founded, to offer. Hopefully we have reached July, as happens on every anniversary of the Celebration, the Apolytikion will be heard again, <<Divine garment of Your mercy...>> to once again bridge the distance between the City of Constantine and a small part of Old Albion.