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About our Parish

The Orthodox Parish of SS. Constantine and Helene, at Ezelstraat 85 in Bruges, forms part of the Archbishopric of Belgium and Exarchate of Netherlands and Luxembourg. It stands under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
The main task of the Parish is the integration of the orthodox believers from the region in the orthodox life, according to the traditions of the Holy Orthodox Church. The Church Fathers have always reminded us that for our salvation, the salvation of our soul, we should lead a sacramental life within the Orthodox Church. In the Church and for the orthodox believers all actions are extension of the Eucharist, the "communio" par excellence, in the true meaning of the word.
Since the recognition of our parish by the authorities, we are able to follow a complete liturgical life. Vespers on Saturdays and Matins on Sundays morning followed by the Divine Liturgy. Divine Liturgy is also celebrated on big feasts.
Orthodox believers from different backgrounds belong to our parish community : Greeks, Russians, Serbians/ Montenegrins, Rumanians, Bulgarians, Georgians, Polish and also Belgians. In brief, this is a parish for all orthodox believers from around Bruges and the East Coast (Bruges, Ostend, Blankenberghe, Knokke, Torhout and even a part of the Dutch "Zeeland"). One should add also fifteen to twenty orthodox students from the College of Europe who are very welcome to the parish.

A little “prehistory”

The Services are mainly song in Dutch by a polyphonic choir in four parts.
Thanks to the enthusiasm of the choir leader en the choir members the liturgical hymns are brought properly. Some of the hymns are sung according the Byzantine music in Greek or in Dutch.
Hallowing as chanter of our choir leader Carlo
On Saturday may 24 of 1997, the day our the parochial feast, our choir leader Carlo Snauwaert was hallowed by our Metropolitan Bishop Panteleimon of Belgium as chanter, a small hallowing that correspond to the one of Lector.
Everybody agreed that Carlo makes a great effort to form our own choir. There is still a lot of work to do, but the positive evolution is clearly noticeable.
May God give Carlo every efficacious grace to realise his means, always devoted to God and faithful to the Traditions of our Church.

The foundation of our parish

The day of the feast of the Holy Theophany of the year 1993 father Athenagoras asked officially the blessing of the Metropolit Panteleimon, to start the organisation of an orthodox parish in Bruges. With this blessing and fiat this project began to take shape early in 1995.
Father Athenagoras always underlined the panorthodox spirit that this parish should have: a parish of and for all orthodox believers of the area, what ever origin or language. That is why you can hear in the celebrations, besides the local language from time to time other traditional orthodox languages.
He proposed to dedicate the parish to the Saints Constantine and Helena, Saints of the Undivided Church, and worshipped by all Christians. These Saints remind us at the Precious Cross (found along the tradition by the Holy Helena in Jerusalem en brought to Byzantium) and at the great capital of the Orthodoxy, Constantinople, seat of our Ecumenical Patriarch. One of the suburbs of Bruges is also called “Sint Kruis” witch means ”Holy Cross”. What’s more, no parish in the Benelux is dedicated to those Saints. Furthermore the date of the parochial feast falls in a period where the climate is softer and there are other parochial feasts.
And so the quiet dream of many humble orthodox became reality.
In the first quarter of 1995 our Parish started under the protection of the Saints Constantine and Helena, a Parish that si part of the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Archbishopric of Belgium). It is a parish with a universal character and has orthodox believers from all over: Belgians, Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Yugoslavians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Georgians and Poles. In brief a parish for all orthodox believers of the area Brugge – Oostkust (Buges – East Coast) : for the moment over hundred families. In addition we welcome about fifteen to twenty orthodox students from the European College.
The very beginning of the liturgical live was rather weak - because of inevitable circumstances – but it was therefore a meaningful period for the faithful of Bruges en rounding area to give them the opportunity to place or replace themselves in the Body of Christ, and the sacramental live of the Church. We may not forget that many of them did not have the possibility to live an Eucharistic and communal live.
Our Paris is also active on ecumenical plan. Father Athenagoras Peckstadt, the first rector of our parish, is since many years member of the ecumenical group of praying and reflection of West-Vlaanderen, a group that comes together once a month. He participates also in the Week of praying for the Unity and takes part in a lot of initiatives. The new rector, Father Bernard Peckstadt, follows the same line and is now also a member of above mentioned ecumenical group.
The Orthodox Parish of Bruges is settled in a monumental house of the fifteenth century, Ezelstraat 85, and offers the complete orthodox program.

The Parish Council

The parish council is a organism of the parish that contains pious and dedicated orthodox faithful, chosen every two years out of the list of regular participating members. They support the matters and the aims of the parish. This council meets for to five times a year.
The parish council is assigned by the Rector and installed by the Metropolit, in writing and for a period of two years.
The parish council is as the touchstone of the parish. There members work with an open mind for the ideal of a harmonic community. Initiatives and positions are brought up, talked about and decided in full cooperation with the rector of the parish, who is always the president of this council.

Parish Council:
Chairman: Father Bernard Peckstadt, rector of the parish.
Secretary: Renata Bauwens
Members: Stylianos Boïs, Nicolaos Venetis, Victoria Kulnichev, Patrick Dezille, Catherine Jonckheere, Agnes Laroy and Agathi Siozou.

The Church-Fabric

Our parish received rather soon, thanks to the beneficent and fatherly efforts of our archbishop, Metropolit Panteleimon of Belgium – an acknowledgment. We therefore are very grateful to him.
By Royal Decision of 8 June 1998, the Orthodox Parish of the Saints Constantine and Helena, was established and acknowledged in Bruges.
The area of this parish is a great part of the province of West-Vlaanderen.
The registered office of the Church-Fabric is: Ezelstraat 85, 8000 Brugge.

Members of the Church-Fabric are:
Stylianos Boïs: chairman
Father Bernard Peckstadt, by right vice-chairman, as rector of the parish
Patrick Dezillie: treasurer
Agnes Laroy: secretary
Agathi Siozou: member