St Andrew's Orthodox Church is an Orthodox church located in the Southside, Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh's Orthodox community was founded in 1948 and has, since 2013, occupied the former Buccleuch Parish Church, which was founded as a chapel of ease of St Cuthbert's in 1756 and closed in 1969.
In the middle of the 18th century, St Cuthbert's Parish covered a large area around Edinburgh. Its population was growing, especially in the area of the modern Southside. The church opened in January 1756 as St Cuthbert's Chapel of Ease. The church became a parish church in 1834 and founded a parish school on the Meadows in 1839. The Disruption of 1843 greatly affected the church and it was revived with the support of Archibald Charteris and the Edinburgh University Mission Association. By the middle of the 20th century, the congregation was declining as many of its members moved away from the Southside. In 1969, Buccleuch united with Nicolson Street and Charteris-Pleasance. The building was sold to the University of Edinburgh, which used it as a furniture store.
The Orthodox Community of St Andrew was founded in 1948 by Archpriest John Sotnikov, a Russian chaplain of the Polish Army. Under Sotnikov's successor, Maitland Moir, the church moved into the former Buccleuch Parish School in 2003 before purchasing the former Buccleuch Parish Church in 2013.
The church is a simple, cruciform building, greatly altered in the Gothic style by Daniel MacGibbon in 1866. It has been a category C listed building since 2007. Notable interments in the surrounding churchyard include Thomas Blacklock and Deacon Brodie. Buccleuch Parish Church Foundation
By the middle of the 18th century, the West Kirk Parish covered an area almost entirely surrounding the burgh of Edinburgh. The parish population had grown, especially in the area south of the Old Town now known as the Southside. To address this need, the West Kirk decided to erect a chapel of ease. To this end, the church issued subscription lists in 1754 and acquired a plot of land at the western end of Crosscauseway, near the eastern edge of the Boroughloch. To encourage subscriptions, everyone who subscribed £5 or more was offered the right to elect the church's minister.Arnot 1779, p. 161.
The practice of erecting chapels of ease only became widespread in the Church of Scotland from later in the 18th century. The St Cuthbert's Chapel of Ease was one of the first such chapels in Scotland.Pinkerton 2012, p. 34. Roy Pinkerton argues the established church's eagerness to build a place of worship in the vicinity was also partly motivated by the recent establishment of the Antiburgher meeting house nearby, on Quarry's Close.Pinkerton 2020, p. 18. St Cuthbert's Chapel of Ease was built to accommodate 1,200 worshippers and construction was estimated at £642.Mitchell 1956, p. 1.
The West Kirk had earlier provided for the growth of its congregation with the construction of the Little or Wester Kirk as an extension to its existing buildings in 1593. This was, however, unroofed during Cromwell's occupation of Edinburgh from 1650.Scott 1915, p. 22. The exterior walls were repaired following the Revolution but a proposal of 1702 to restore the kirk entirely and provide it with its own minister was rejected by the presbytery. Around the same time, the Little Kirk began to be used as a burial enclosure.Sime 1829, pp. 88, 92-94, 114.
Early years The chapel opened for worship in January 1756. Initially, the ministers of the West Kirk took turns preaching in the new chapel; however, this soon proved too onerous and James Roy was appointed the congregation's first dedicated minister in 1758.Mitchell 1956, p. 2. At its opening, the church had been set in largely rural surroundings with only scattered housing. Soon, however, affluent residential developments such as George Square and Buccleuch Place were constructed nearby.Pinkerton 2012, p. 38. The church thus attracted a well-to-do congregation, including many of the city's leading figures.Pinkerton 2020, pp. 18-19. During the incumbency of the second minister, John Touch, Lord Cockburn worshipped in the church.Tait and Gray 1948, pp. 23-24.
At the time of Touch's departure in 1808, the congregation had declined and some in the West Kirk considered discontinuing the chapel. The ministers of the West Kirk, however, agreed to continue the chapel of ease's ministry themselves. Under Henry Moncrieff-Wellwood, the chapel's fortunes so reversed that, in 1810, a new aisle and gallery were added to the north of the church to accommodate the increased congregation. Moncrieff-Wellwood's work was continued by the appointment in 1813 of Henry Grey.Pinkerton 2012, p. 39.
Grey was succeeded in 1821 by Robert Gordon, who, when he departed for the nearby Hope Park Chapel in 1824, was succeeded by Patrick Clason. In 1834, the General Assembly erected the chapel a parish quoad sacra with the name Buccleuch Parish Church. From the 1820s, the West Kirk began efforts to create a school for southern districts of the city.Sime 1829, pp. 176. The Buccleuch Parish School opened in a building facing onto the Meadows in 1839.Pinkerton 2012, p. 41. Disruption
Grey, Gordon, and Clason would all become prominent figures in the Free Church and Clason led a significant portion of the Buccleuch congregation out of the established church at the Disruption of 1843.Mitchell 1956, p. 3.
The departure of most of the congregation cast doubt the Buccleuch's viability and, when the post-Disruption minister, Henry Rutherford, left in 1851, the church again faced a serious risk of closure. The church survived, however, thanks to the Edinburgh University Missionary Association, which used it as a base for home mission work. Led by Archibald Charteris, the association soon gathered a large and enthusiastic congregation and, by 1857, the church was again able to support a full-time minister. That year, Alexander McLaren became minister and, in 1859, the Court of Teinds raised the church to full status as a parish quoad sacra.Mitchell 1956, pp. 3-4.
During the ministry of Finlay Mathieson from 1863 to 1875, the church was renovated in the Gothic style. A choir was established and a harmonium purchased. By the time of Mathieson's departure, the congregation had declined significantly to 254 and debts ran to £300.Mitchell 1956, pp. 5-6.Pinkerton 2012, p. 45. During the ministry of John Campbell between 1882 and 1901, the church was re-decorated and fitted with electric lighting. The first permanent pipe organ was installed in 1899.Mitchell 1956, p. 7. 20th century Campbell's successor, David Andrew Rollo, again secured the co-operation of the University Missionary Association and the congregation grew. By 1911, the church was able to support youth work, a Dorcas society, a foreign missionary association, and a missionary assistant within the parish. In 1928, the congregation's membership reached a peak of just over 2,000Pinkerton 2012, p. 48.
By the middle of the 20th century, the Southside was beginning to experience population decline and many of the predominantly working-class congregation relocated to peripheral housing developments.Mitchell 1956, p. 10. The University of Edinburgh was also expanding in the Southside: a fact noted with concern by the church's session as early as 1947. By 1960, the congregation's membership had declined to 824.Pinkerton 2012, p. 50.
In the 1950s, the halls were used by a mothers' welfare clinic and for performances of the Edinburgh University Dramatic Society during the Fringe.Pinkerton 2012, pp. 49-50. From 1963, Holy Week services were held by a local ecumenical council of churches. By this stage, Buccleuch shared its summer services with Newington and St Leonard's.Pinkerton 2012, p. 49.
When the ministry of Buccleuch fell vacant in 1964, the congregation sought union with Nicolson Street but this was blocked by the presbytery. Another attempt at union between the two congregations in 1967 failed, as did ambitious plans the same year for a six-way union between Buccleuch, Charteris-Pleasance, Nicolson Street, Newington and St Leonard's, St Paul's Newington, and St Margaret's, Dumbiedykes. The following year, a five-way union, excluding St Paul's Newington also fell through. Eventually, a three-way union with Nicolson Street and Charteris-Pleasance was agreed and a service of union was held on 7 September 1969. The united congregation adopted the name Kirk o' Field and met in the Charteris-Pleasance buildings on the Pleasance.MacDonald 1981, p. 5.Pinkerton 2012, pp. 147-150. Buccleuch was sold to the University of Edinburgh, which afterwards used the building as a furniture store.Pinkerton 2020, p. 19.
Ministers The following ministers served St Cuthbert's Chapel of Ease (1756–1834) and Buccleuch Parish Church (1834–1969):Scott 1915, pp. 22-23.Scott 1950, p. 7.Lamb 1961, p. 6.Dunlop 1988, pp. 68-69.
1758–1765 James Roy 1766–1808 John Touch 1813–1821 Henry Grey 1821–1824 Robert Gordon 1824–1843 Patrick Clason 1844–1851 Henry Rutherford 1857–1863 Alexander McLaren 1864–1875 Finlay Mathieson 1875–1881 John Young Scott 1882–1901 John Campbell 1901–1907 David Andrew Rollo 1908–1913 James Edward Houston 1913–1923 Neil MacLeod Ross 1924–1928 John Spence Ewen 1929–1964 William Gemmell Mitchell 1965–1968 James Sinclair Cormack
Plate The church's earliest plate dates to its time as a chapel of ease of St Cuthbert's. A silver baptismal bowl and communion goblets are inscribed "The Property of the Chapel of Ease in the Parish of St Cuthbert's 1763". Each cup is numbered under its base. The accompanying pewter flagons were made by Richard Pitt of London.Pinkerton 2012, pp. 36-37.
Later plate includes replicas of the Georgian communion cups inscribed "Buccleuch Parish Church 1902" and a further two silver cups inscribed "Buccleuch Parish Church: presented by the Congregation as a memento of the occasion of the induction of the Rev. James E. Houston BD, 15 January 1908". A further two cups are inscribed "Buccleuch Parish Church. Presented by Mr and Mrs Alston, October 1926". William Alston was a long-serving treasurer of the church and, at his death two years later, six large, square, silver-plated salvers were added to the communion plate. These are inscribed: "Buccleuch Parish Church: presented by the Congregation in grateful remembrance of Mr Wm. Alston, Solicitor, Treasurer of the Church for 21½ years, who died 24th January 1928."Pinkerton 2012, p. 37. St Andrew's Orthodox Church
An Orthodox chaplaincy had been established in Edinburgh in 1948 by Archpriest John Sotnikov, a Russian chaplain of the Polish Army. Initially, most congregants were Polish ex-servicemen and worship was conducted in Slavonic. In 1984, Sotnikov was succeeded by Archimandrite John Maitland Moir: a Scottish convert from Episcopalianism to Orthodoxy, under whom English became the congregation's predominant language for worship.
In 2003, the congregation purchased the former Buccleuch Parish School buildings from the City of Edinburgh Council and vacated its George Square location. By 2012, average attendance had risen to 250. The congregation, having outgrown the former school buildings, put them up for sale the same year. The congregation thereafter secured use of the former Buccleuch Parish Church, completing the purchase on 17 April 2013: the day of Moir's death at the age of 88.
Since its foundation, the congregation has been part of the Archdiocese of Thyateira. Worship is chiefly in English but the church also holds Greek, Slavonic, and Romanian services.
Building Description