John Shinkwin writes…
It is an honour to be asked by His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas to serve as Secretary for External Relations for the Archdiocese, and I am delighted to join the Churches Together in England (CTE) community, which has welcomed me so kindly since my appointment. I am an Orthodox Christian of the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, the British Archdiocese in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
CTE friends may know that the Orthodox Church is a family of self-governing Churches in communion with one another, sharing the same faith and worship. Each of these self-governing Churches is led by a synod of bishops whose senior Archbishop often has the title of Patriarch, as in the Patriarchates of Antioch, Moscow, Serbia, and Romania, each of which also has bishops in the UK. The Patriarch of Constantinople came to be called the Ecumenical Patriarch as the Roman imperial capital of Constantinople was known as the ‘ecumenical’, or ‘universal’ city. The holder of this role serves as first-among-equals of the Orthodox Patriarchs.
My role is to represent the Archdiocese in its relations with other Orthodox Christian jurisdictions, with other Christian communities in the UK, especially through the work of CTE, and with other religious communities. Before this, I worked in the UK Parliament, in HM Civil Service, and in teaching. I was ordained Reader by Archbishop Nikitas in October 2024.
It has been a joyfully busy start to my new role with the meetings of Eastern Christian Bishops at the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies on 9 September and at the Monastery of St John the Baptist in Essex on 30 October, the Eastern Bishops’ statement on Assisted Dying, the CTE Enabling Group, and the Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative.
I am grateful to God for all that I am learning from friends and colleagues in CTE who have been witnessing to Jesus Christ in this land for many years, and I ask their prayers as I grow into this role.
Find out more about the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain.