Page - 181 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

In the Orality/Aurality of the Book | 181www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 173–190 previously travelled and served in Galashiels, in the Cala Sona refugee camp in Ayrshire, and in camps in Perthshire and East Lothian. At the time Stalin was in complete control of the USSR, the Baltic States, Poland and most of Eastern Eu- rope. The men and women in the camps could not return to their homes as, in the words of parishioner Stephen Gellaitry, “there was no home to return to”.12 Those who returned to the USSR were either executed or sent to the gulag. In this geopolitical environment of exile and re-settling in a new land, the newly established small parish was composed mainly of Polish from the Polish army forces under General Anders, Ukrainians and some Serbs who lived in Scotland in the post-war years. Russian and Greek spouses of Scots were also included in its members, such as Evgenia Fraser (author of The House by the Dvina), So- phia Lavranou (a Greek immigrant from Corfu, Greece)13 and Marili MacVicar (from Corfu, the Greek wife of a Scottish sheriff).14 The Greek families were fully welcomed into the community, which followed the Russian, Old Slavonic, style, as John Sotnikov never learned English well.15 He introduced the recita- tion of the Creed and Lord’s Prayer in Greek, English and Slavonic and insisted that some part of the Liturgy be said in the various languages of members of the congregation. Hence, even from its establishment, the parish showed in- clusivity and acceptance of difference in nationality and cultural background, which gradually would develop into defining qualities of the parish. In the 1980s an influx of young professionals and students from Greece brought new active members to the community. Many of them settled in Edinburgh, where they made their homes and raised their families. Gradually the number of parishioners was increasing. The community started to need a “church of its own”,16 a permanent location for services and relevant ac- tivities (instruction, Bible study, communal meals). From a more fluid fabric of religious practices, the community now developed stability. The transfor- mation of a house at 23a George Square into a church and a hall in 1986 was followed in 2004 by the transformation of a former parish school into com- munity premises that continue to serve the church today. This stability was the result of innovations that were introduced by Father John Maitland Moir and consistently maintained to open a field of devotion 12 Interview with Mr Stephen Gellaitry, April and May 2020. 13 Edensor/Kelly 1990, 96–102. 14 McVicar 1991. 15 Interviews with Mr Thomas Francis Nicholas Donald, Mrs Marina Donald and Mr Stephen Gellaitry, April and May 2020. 16 Interview with Mr Stephen Gellaitry, April and May 2020.