According to the 1912 Handbook for the Members of the Congregation of the British Church of St. Andrew, Moscow,
"The celebration of Divine service, according to the Anglican rite, in the Empire of Russia can be traced back to the time of Queen Elizabeth of England (1533-1603) and to the reign of John IV of Russia (1530-1584) better known as Ivan the Terrible, and Moscow was the first city in the empire to be granted the privilege of establishing an English chapel. Among the many and wide concessions made by the Tsar Ivan for the encouragement of the English residents in Moscow, was the right to have their own place of worship, free from all legislative and administrative control...
...In a room of the English Factory the English residents celebrated Divine worship and, occasionally in the house of the English ambassador. The part of the town in which the embassy and factory were situated cannot be decided with any certainty - some say that both were near to the present printing office of the Holy Synod and the Slavansky Bazar Hotel, in the Nikolsky Street, but other accounts place the site of the embassy and factory in the Varvarka Street, on the basis of a tradition that Ivan the Terrible gave the English a house in that street near to the church of St. Maxim-the-Confessor and the old palace of the Romanoffs."
Both of these possible locations are very central - next to Red Square and the Kremlin.
Photo beneath: The Old English Court in Varvarka Street - now a museum, opened in October 1994 during the official visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Russia.
"The celebration of Divine service, according to the Anglican rite, in the Empire of Russia can be traced back to the time of Queen Elizabeth of England (1533-1603) and to the reign of John IV of Russia (1530-1584) better known as Ivan the Terrible, and Moscow was the first city in the empire to be granted the privilege of establishing an English chapel. Among the many and wide concessions made by the Tsar Ivan for the encouragement of the English residents in Moscow, was the right to have their own place of worship, free from all legislative and administrative control...
...In a room of the English Factory the English residents celebrated Divine worship and, occasionally in the house of the English ambassador. The part of the town in which the embassy and factory were situated cannot be decided with any certainty - some say that both were near to the present printing office of the Holy Synod and the Slavansky Bazar Hotel, in the Nikolsky Street, but other accounts place the site of the embassy and factory in the Varvarka Street, on the basis of a tradition that Ivan the Terrible gave the English a house in that street near to the church of St. Maxim-the-Confessor and the old palace of the Romanoffs."
Both of these possible locations are very central - next to Red Square and the Kremlin.
Photo beneath: The Old English Court in Varvarka Street - now a museum, opened in October 1994 during the official visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Russia.
So, considering that the first merchants arrived in Moscow in 1553-1555, 1555 was approximately the year when the first Divine service according to the Anglican rite was held.
The Handbook continues the story:
"The English residents continued to meet in a room of the factory till 1629, when the churches of all foreigners were removed to the German suburb (now called the Nametsky Street) where in 1636 the English community had a chapel of their own. From this period nothing is known of the fortune of the English Chapel until about the years 1714-171..., when, in consequence of the removal of the Court and foreign factories to St. Petersburg, the few English and Dutch merchants who remained in Moscow, finding that they were unable to support separate churches, united in the maintenance of one, which became known as the English and Reformed Church... ... In the great fire of 1812, during the French invasion which consumed the greater part of Moscow, the English and Reformed Church was destroyed with, presumably, all the church records... ... From 1812 till 1825 there was no English church in Moscow and only occasional services were held by the clergymen from St. Petersburg. "
In 1825 the English church in Moscow was to be reestablished, and the funds were raised for that. On the first page of the new church register we read a note by the newly appointed Chaplain:
"The Rev-d Charles Burlton, B.A. and Fellow of New College, Oxford, was appointed Chaplain of Mosco by the Russia Company on the 4th Feb-ry 1825 & in conformity to that appointment he arrived in this City on the 10th Oct-r following, to enter upon the duties of his office. The British Chapel, in the Princess Prozorovsky's house N-259, Tverskoy, was opened for Divine Service on the 8th Nov-r 1825."
Princess Prozorovsky's house was used until 1829, when "the congregation had funds in hand sufficient for buying land and a large dwelling house in the Chernishofsky Street... ... The east end was fitted up as a chapel with sittings for 180 persons, and the other half served as a parsonage... ... The first service in the British Chapel was held on Sunday the 1-st December 1829, and for more than fifty-two years the congregation worshipped in this building, that is till 1882."
From the architectural standpoint, the British Chapel didn't look very much like a church, and perhaps this was one of the reasons why Lewis Carroll had a hard time finding it during his trip to Russia in 1867:
The Handbook continues the story:
"The English residents continued to meet in a room of the factory till 1629, when the churches of all foreigners were removed to the German suburb (now called the Nametsky Street) where in 1636 the English community had a chapel of their own. From this period nothing is known of the fortune of the English Chapel until about the years 1714-171..., when, in consequence of the removal of the Court and foreign factories to St. Petersburg, the few English and Dutch merchants who remained in Moscow, finding that they were unable to support separate churches, united in the maintenance of one, which became known as the English and Reformed Church... ... In the great fire of 1812, during the French invasion which consumed the greater part of Moscow, the English and Reformed Church was destroyed with, presumably, all the church records... ... From 1812 till 1825 there was no English church in Moscow and only occasional services were held by the clergymen from St. Petersburg. "
In 1825 the English church in Moscow was to be reestablished, and the funds were raised for that. On the first page of the new church register we read a note by the newly appointed Chaplain:
"The Rev-d Charles Burlton, B.A. and Fellow of New College, Oxford, was appointed Chaplain of Mosco by the Russia Company on the 4th Feb-ry 1825 & in conformity to that appointment he arrived in this City on the 10th Oct-r following, to enter upon the duties of his office. The British Chapel, in the Princess Prozorovsky's house N-259, Tverskoy, was opened for Divine Service on the 8th Nov-r 1825."
Princess Prozorovsky's house was used until 1829, when "the congregation had funds in hand sufficient for buying land and a large dwelling house in the Chernishofsky Street... ... The east end was fitted up as a chapel with sittings for 180 persons, and the other half served as a parsonage... ... The first service in the British Chapel was held on Sunday the 1-st December 1829, and for more than fifty-two years the congregation worshipped in this building, that is till 1882."
From the architectural standpoint, the British Chapel didn't look very much like a church, and perhaps this was one of the reasons why Lewis Carroll had a hard time finding it during his trip to Russia in 1867:
This photograph of the British Chapel in Moscow was taken some time in the 1860s. To the right behind the Chapel we can see the domes of Christ the Saviour, while still a little more to the right - the roof of what would soon become the Moscow Conservatoire.
If Lewis Carroll didn't focus on describing either the church or its congregation, the American explorer John Lloyd Stephens did. He traveled in Eastern Europe and the Middle East in 1834-35 and while visiting Moscow worshiped in the English Chapel:
"I went to what is called the English chapel, where, for the first time in many months, I joined in a regular church service, and listened to an orthodox sermon. I was surprised to see so large a congregation, though I remarked among them many English governesses with children, the English language being at that moment the rage among the Russians, and multitudes of cast-off chambermaids being employed to teach the rising Russian nobility the beauties of the English tongue."
An even more detailed description of the chapel, the priest and the congregation can be found in the diary of Anne Lister who traveled in Russia in 1839-1840:
" ...went with the carriage this morning to church – There at 11 – Waited 25 minutes before the clergyman, Mr. Cammidge, brother of Dr. C-[Cammidge] of York organist at the Cathedral, came – did all the duty – led the singers in the 1st verse of each of the 2 psalms (syllabizing time-wise very disagreeably tho’ like a singing master) and preached ½ hour from psalm XL. vv.[verses] 1,2,3,4. Talked of our ‘negociations’ and ‘conversations’ with God, and of God’s turnnig our minds as ‘a porter determines his vessels’ – Yorkshire pronunciation – Wide difference between the clergyman of the ‘British Chapel Moscow’ and the ‘British Factory St. Petersburg’ books here as well as at St. P-[Petersburg] lettered on the back as above and lying in sufficient no.[number] on the desk of each pew –
The chapel very neat and spacious and commodious – A very respectable looking congregation gentlemen and ladies = about 42 or 43 including us all – I think our own carriage and 4 and 2 drivers ... made the 5th and there were about 5 carriages with a pair of horses! All waiting the spacious courtyard of the chapel ... "
During the 19th century the English population of Moscow kept growing which was mainly the result of the Industrial Revolution. Many English and Scottish engineers, mechanics and specialists in cotton spinning and railroad construction moved to Russia, settled there and started families. By the end of the 1870s the British Chapel had become too small and too old for the growing congregation. It was decided that a new building had to be built in its place. The old British chapel was pulled down in 1882 and the first service at St. Andrew's Church was held in September 1884. The building was designed by Richard Knill Freeman of Bolton.
"I went to what is called the English chapel, where, for the first time in many months, I joined in a regular church service, and listened to an orthodox sermon. I was surprised to see so large a congregation, though I remarked among them many English governesses with children, the English language being at that moment the rage among the Russians, and multitudes of cast-off chambermaids being employed to teach the rising Russian nobility the beauties of the English tongue."
An even more detailed description of the chapel, the priest and the congregation can be found in the diary of Anne Lister who traveled in Russia in 1839-1840:
" ...went with the carriage this morning to church – There at 11 – Waited 25 minutes before the clergyman, Mr. Cammidge, brother of Dr. C-[Cammidge] of York organist at the Cathedral, came – did all the duty – led the singers in the 1st verse of each of the 2 psalms (syllabizing time-wise very disagreeably tho’ like a singing master) and preached ½ hour from psalm XL. vv.[verses] 1,2,3,4. Talked of our ‘negociations’ and ‘conversations’ with God, and of God’s turnnig our minds as ‘a porter determines his vessels’ – Yorkshire pronunciation – Wide difference between the clergyman of the ‘British Chapel Moscow’ and the ‘British Factory St. Petersburg’ books here as well as at St. P-[Petersburg] lettered on the back as above and lying in sufficient no.[number] on the desk of each pew –
The chapel very neat and spacious and commodious – A very respectable looking congregation gentlemen and ladies = about 42 or 43 including us all – I think our own carriage and 4 and 2 drivers ... made the 5th and there were about 5 carriages with a pair of horses! All waiting the spacious courtyard of the chapel ... "
During the 19th century the English population of Moscow kept growing which was mainly the result of the Industrial Revolution. Many English and Scottish engineers, mechanics and specialists in cotton spinning and railroad construction moved to Russia, settled there and started families. By the end of the 1870s the British Chapel had become too small and too old for the growing congregation. It was decided that a new building had to be built in its place. The old British chapel was pulled down in 1882 and the first service at St. Andrew's Church was held in September 1884. The building was designed by Richard Knill Freeman of Bolton.
Chaplains of the English Church in Moscow 1825-1920
1825-1829
Charles Burlton
B.A. and Fellow of New College, Oxford
1829 - 1847
Matthew Camidge
M.A. late of Queens College, Cambridge.
Grandson of John Camidge (1735-1803) – organist of York Minster (1756-1799).
Son of Matthew Camidge (1758? 1764?-1844) – composer and organist of York Minster (1799-1842).
Brother of John Camidge (1790-1859) – composer and organist of York Minster (1842-1858).
His other brother was vicar of Wakefield and canon of York.
1847 - 1853
Christopher Grenside
(1818-1885)
Cambridge Alumni
B.A. 1841; M.A. 1855; Ord. deacon 1842; Ord. priest 1843.
British chaplain at Archangel, Russia, 1843-1847;
British chaplain at Moscow, Russia, 1847-1853;
1853 - 1857
William Gray
1857 - 1865
John Whitaker
Rector of Wooley 1868-1899 (Where Mikipher Alphery, Mikiforko Olfer’yev, syn Grigor’yev was rector in 1618-1643 and from 1660 to his death)
1866 - 1878
Robert George Penny
Graduated from Oriel College, Oxford in 1860
Rector of Warbleton
Mentioned by Lewis Carroll in The Russian Journal
1879 - 1882
Walter Beck
After leaving Moscow - perhaps moved to St John’s Cathedral Winnipeg, Canada?
1882 - 1888
Henry Meyners Bernard
(1853-1909)
Graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Married to Maida Mirrielees, daughter of Archibald Mirrielees of Muir and Mirrielees
Paleontologist, socialist
His youngest brother Charles Grant Bugden Bernard was the great-great grandfather of Justin Trudeau, 23rd Prime Minister of Canada
1888 - 1911
Fred L. Wybergh
Fred L. Wybergh
1911 - 1920
Frank William North
(1871-1925)
Graduated from King’s College, London
1920-1925 Chaplain at Helsingfors, Finland
Frank William North
(1871-1925)
Graduated from King’s College, London
1920-1925 Chaplain at Helsingfors, Finland