Orthodox Shrine of St Seraphim, Little Walsingham

The Orthodox presence in Walsingham dates back to 1966, when the Anglican shrine dedicated one of its upstairs chapels to Orthodox worship. This ecumenical move perhaps needs to be seen in the light of the fact that at this time the state of relations between the Catholic and Anglican shrines was one of rivalry rather than co-operation, and in fact the chapel was not really suited to regular Orthodox worship. The following year, the Orthodox priest assigned to the Anglican shrine, along with three companions, set up residence here in the former railway station, establishing a religious community dedicated to the great 19th century Russian mystic, St Seraphim. The building is at the highest point in the village of Little Walsingham.

The building's former use is still readily obvious, but it has been enhanced by a dome and a cross, and an icon of Christ in majesty above the main entrance. The station was developed for use as a monastery, with a residential building of the community built on the former platform, which judging by its appearance must have been rebuilt very soon before the station closed in the 1960s. Also here were an icon workshop, icon-making forming the main business of the community, and behind the building, the station yard was now the monastery garden, the vegetable patch stalked by noisy hens. However, now that the residential community has moved out the garden is open to the public.

You enter the former station through its porch, and then step into the station office, which forms the nave of the church. The interior is at once timeless and ancient. The iconostasis screens the holy end from the main body of the interior, beautiful icons representing mystical windows. A lectern bears the icon of St Seraphim, and the icon of the day on high feast days. As with all Orthodox churches, the interior is relatively bare, with a single bench at the back for those unable to stand through the long Orthodox liturgies.

St Seraphim is no longer used for regular Sunday worship, that now happens at the Orthodox Parish church in Great Walsingham, consecrated in 1986, though I'm told it still hosts the Liturgy on St Seraphim's feast day and on other special holy days. However, it remains open every day, a witness for visitors to the other great Christian tradition of the world, a tradition that will always remain exotic to materialist western eyes, but which seems perfectly at home among these remote, high-hedged Norfolk lanes.

Simon Knott, February 2023

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