Orthodox Youth Festival, May 2026

Being a Family in Christ: How do we relate to one another in the Church?

Every year, we organise a festival to bring together young adults from all over the world to explore the Orthodox faith in a fun and relaxing environment. You can look forward to engaging lectures, discussions, prayer and services, fellowship, and incredible memories with friends new and old!

Festival theme:

The theme of this year’s Festival is “Being a Family in Christ: How do we relate to one another in the Church?”, and it will take place on 1st-4th May at the Othona Community, on the beautiful Essex coast near Bradwell-on-Sea. For more information, please visit the Festival website: orthodoxyouth.org.uk

Speakers:

Fr Timothy Pearce will be our chaplain this year, joining us from The Three Holy Hierarchs and St Cybi Orthodox Church in Lampeter, West Wales. Klaus Kenneth, the author of “Born to Hate, Reborn to Love”, will also be one of our speakers this year. Additional speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Registration:

The festival is aimed at young adults aged between 18 to 35 years old (approx). You don’t need to have a deep understanding of the Orthodox faith, but we hope you have an open mind and are curious to learn more about it. If you’re interested, please apply using the link below, and complete the form to book your place: link.ofsjb.org/OYF26-signup

Get in touch:

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email the organisers at: ofsjbyouthuk@gmail.com.

Fellowship Dinner: Saturday, 10th Jan 2026

Join us for a New Year Celebration Dinner!

On Saturday 10th January 2026 at 6:30pm
at Babinondas Restaurant, 598 Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London, N13 5RY

We are delighted to invite you to celebrate the New Year with us, during this festal season of Christmas and Theophany, at Babinondas Greek Restaurant for a wonderful evening of food, fellowship, and celebration.

Please RSVP by WhatsApp or email by Thursday 8th January.
(see poster below for more details)

Annual General Meeting: Saturday, 29th Nov 2025

You are cordially invited to attend a day of worship and spiritual edification, followed by our AGM, all at St Demetrios Church in North London. Non-members are welcome and encouraged to attend all events of the day, but only members can vote in the AGM.

If you plan to attend the AGM or join us for lunch, please sign up at: link.ofsjb.org/AGM-2025 or use the QR Code in the flyer below. We look forward to seeing you in person!

Any questions, please contact ofsjbevents@gmail.com

Mosaic Choir – a wonderful return to singing

Mosaic Choir

On Monday 6 December, Mosaic Choir carolled in many different languages and traditions at the Orthodox Cathedral of St Andrew in Kentish Town, London, to celebrate St Nicholas and the Nativity of Christ.

Anna Conomos, accomplished storyteller, shared some of the stories of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, and the choir sang carols in English, Greek, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, Bulgarian, French and Latin!

The Cathedral switched on the Livestream and we were joined by people all over the UK, and even from Canada and Australia! You can still watch the livestream version at https://youtu.be/GkBV9lTNU_g and we hope to have some close up videos on our YouTube channel soon.

The audience was very appreciative and incredibly generous and we have a total of £750 as the collection. The Monastery of St John the Baptist in Essex has thanked everyone for their generosity and love, but has requested that the sum be donated to another cause. By agreement of all, the collection will be divided between three other wonderful monastic communities:

  • Monastery of St Antony & St Cuthbert, Shropshire, England
  • Monastery of All Celtic Saints, Mull, Scotland
  • Monastery of the Lifegiving Spring, Shannonbridge, Ireland

If you would still like to support the Monastery of St John, please consider making a purchase from the online bookshop: https://essexmonastery.com/bookshop/

Thank you to everyone who supported the choir and we hope to have more concerts and engagements in 2022!