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The Orthodox Church identi?ed a positive factor in the future
relations between the two especially within Anglicanism, speci?cally the
Anglo-Catholic movement, since it “is persistently devoted to reestab-
lishment of ancient tradition and thus ?ows into the stream of
Orthodoxy.”13

In 1616, Patriarch of Alexandria Cyril Lucaris began contacts with
Archbishop Abbot. This ?rst correspondence resulted in a priest, Fr.
Metrophanes Critopoulos from Veria, being sent to England in order to
study at the University of Oxford, at the invitation of Archbishop
George Abbot and King James I. This priest eventually became Patri-
arch of Alexandria. Inevitably this exchange created the perfect ground
for visits from East to West and vice versa. However, the mutual inter-
est was also cultivated due to non-religious factors. An important con-
tribution was the presence of the British Embassy in Constantinople,
where the Ecumenical Patriarchate resides. Globalisation and com-
merce played their role. An imperative phase in the relations was the
foundation of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK)
in 1698, which began and continues doing so till this day, publishing
books on Orthodoxy.

Appropriately a fantastic opportunity occurred, with the estab-
lishment of the ?rst Greek community and hence the ?rst Greek Or-
thodox Church in London, especially due to the arrival of Metropolitan
of Samos, Joseph Georgerinos,. However, this was not realised only be-
cause of the certain priest or the Greek community, which was already
based in London for various reasons, including commerce and publish-
ing their work, but this endeavour was assisted by Bishop of London,
Dr. Henry Compton, “who was ultimately responsible for enabling a
church to be built for the Greeks in Soho,”14 showing thus the impor-
tance of the relations and the contacts between the two Christian
Worlds, as will be the case during the 20th century with the establish-
ment of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain.

13 Bulgakov, Sergius, The Orthodox Church, (New York, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1988), p. 191.
14 Young, Ivan, R., The Relations of East and West since the Great Schism, (London, S.P.C.K., 1935), p. 12.

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