Bishop of Slavonia attended a farewell service of Lord Bishop of London

On the feast-day of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus (Candlemas,) after the Gregorian calendar, Anglican Lord Bishop Richard Chartres of London with the solemn mass said farewell to the active service.

Starting with the 28th February he will be retired and he will hold only a duty of a chaplain of the Royal Court until election of his successor. Richard Chartres, who was born in 1947, is one of the most prominent personalities of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion in XX and XXI centuries. He is particularly well-known for his love towards the Orthodox Church and orientation to the Orthodox East, which corresponds to his traditionalist view of the world and the Church too.

For many years he was chairman of the Anglican-Orthodox Society, and in charge of cooperation between the Orthodox Church and the Church of England. At this post he was succeeded by Bishop Jonathan Goodall. In accordance to his orientation to Orthodoxy, the Creed and prayer of Saint Simeon the God-receiver His  Nunc Dimittis were read in Church Slavonic during the liturgy.

Bishop Chartres has fostered special relationship with the Serbian Church and the Serbian people. With his colleagues he visited Kosovo and Metohija in 1999 and on that occasion he stayed at the Patriarchate of Pec. His role was especially significant during the visitation of Serbian Patriarch Irinej to Great Britain last year on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the sermon of Saint Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Bishop Jovan of Pakrac-Slavonia attended the ceremony as Bishop’s personal guest. Lord Richard Chartres and Bishop Jovan of Slavonia have fostered friendship for quite a long time. Bishop Chartres attended the enthronement of Bishop Jovan in Pakrac on the 13th of September 2014 and on that occasion he visited Jasenovac concentration camp.

The farewell mass of Bishop Chartres in the packed Cathedral of Saint Paul was attended by dignitaries of British and London society, among whom Archbishop Gregory of Thyatira and Great Britain (Ecumenical Patriarchate) and Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Nicholas.

Source: Diocese of Slavonia (translated by the Information Service of the SOC)