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Consecration of the Syriac Orthodox Cathedral of
Saint Thomas

RICHARD BASTABLE

ON 24 NOVEMBER 2016 the new Syriac Orthodox Cathedral for the UK which
is located in Acton, West London, was consecrated by His Holiness The
Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Aphrem II. The celebration was lively, packed
and joyful and fell into two halves: a series of speeches and welcomes to the
various dignitaries present, and then the rite of consecration itself.
Foremost amongst the dignitaries was HRH The Prince of Wales who
delivered an impressive and powerful speech to the 600 people assembled for
the occasion which is reproduced in full below:
Your Holiness, Your Grace Archbishop Athanasius,
Clergy and faithful of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the United
Kingdom
It gives me great happiness to be present at the consecration of
the Cathedral of St Thomas. It is surely deeply encouraging, at a
time when the members of the Syriac Orthodox Church in their
homelands of Syria and Iraq are undergoing such desperate trials
and such appalling suffering, that in Britain the Syriac Church is
able to expand and gain in strength. In this way the consecration
of your Cathedral is indeed a notable sign of hope for the future.
In many ways, every consecration of a Christian church recalls
the consecration of King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. There,
in the book of Kings, it is said that, when the Arc of the
Covenant was brought into the temple, “the Glory of the Lord
filled the house of the Lord”. I can only pray that the divine glory
may likewise fill this newly-consecrated house of God.
While rejoicing in the beauty of this place of worship, at the same
time it is perhaps worth remembering that the highest and
ultimate temple of God is the human person. As St Paul says to
the Corinthians, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple?”
(I Cor. 3:16). The Church of God exists not only in visible

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