(Photo: Jessy Papasavva Photography)
The Greek Orthodox Church has said that this Easter weekend saw more than 250 new members baptised.
Mass baptism events were held all across the country, with the largest being in Hertfordshire, where 75 people received baptism.
The church said that many of those baptised had been guided into the faith through its Discover Orthodoxy programme.
Most of the new members were adults, but some were children. While many of the new believers were from traditionally Orthodox countries, like Greece and Cyprus, a number were also from Britain and the Commonwealth, Latin America and other parts of Europe.
Following their baptism, the new believers took part in the Divine Liturgy and received the Holy Eucharist for the first time.
The church said in a statement, “The day will be remembered not only for the number received, but for what it quietly revealed – a growing and living Church, gathering people from many places into a shared life.”
The Orthodox Church in Britain is known officially as the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain and was founded in 1922 in the wake of the “Asia Minor Catastrophe”.
The “Catastrophe” unfolded in the final months of the Greco-Turkish War when Greek forces attempted to occupy parts of modern day Turkey. Having over-extended themselves the Greeks were then roundly defeated by the nationalist Turkish army of Kemal Ataturk.
In September of that year the Turks took the city of Smyrna, leading to a devastating fire in the city.
Following these events, its believed that around 1.3 million Orthodox Greeks fled the region, effectively bringing an end the millennia long presence of Greek civilization in what is now Turkey.
Thyateira was one of the seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation, all of which would have been Greek-speaking communities located in modern-day Turkey.
