Who we are

The Orthodox parish of Saint Nicholas of Myra is a vibrant, multicultural Christian church community in the heart of the Jordaan in Amsterdam. The present rector of the parish is Archimandrite Meletios (Webber).

Our parish was founded in 1974 by a small group of Orthodox Christians - Russians, Serbs and Dutch - who were looking for a place for prayer and meeting. The rector, father Alexis Voogd and his Russian wife, Tatiana Voogd-Stojanova, worked hard to build a community with roots in Russian spirituality, but which was also open to Dutch language and culture. Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh, one of the most authoritative Orthodox spiritual personalities of the 20th century, played an important role in this development. 

Nicholas of Myra, a great saint in the Orthodox Church, especially popular in Russia, and also patron saint of the city of Amsterdam, was chosen to be our heavenly patron.  The small parish first found shelter in the attic of the Sint Nicolaaskerk opposite the Central Station. This was followed by fifteen years in a chapel on the Utrechtsedwarsstraat. In 1995, the parish community purchased its own church building: the Immanuel Church in the Kerkstraat. In the following years the parish, led by the new rector, father Sergei Ovsiannikov, grew into a large community with members from all over the Netherlands. The arrival of Eastern Europeans after 1991 also brought many new members. Soon the building on the Kerkstraat became too small, with the result that some of the faithful sometimes had to follow the services standing in the street. In 2006, a larger church was purchased: the Tichelkerk with the adjoining monastery complex in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam. Since that time, the spacious neo-Romanesque church has been gradually adapted to Orthodox worship. In 2010, a natural stone, sculpted icon screen was installed. A second chapel, complete with mosaics and an iconostasis, is used primarily as a baptistry. The interior of the church and the baptistry was inspired by the art of early, undivided Christianity. 

The parish community has an open and international character, consisting of more than 20 nationalities, including Russians, Greeks, Romanians, Serbs, Georgians and Eritreans. The services (in Dutch, Russian and English) and pastoral care are in the hands of 4 priests and 3 deacons. In addition, many volunteers are actively involved in the parish: they support the services, sing in the choir, organize children's activities and catechesis, visit the sick, serve the library, prepare publications, organize lectures and concerts, etc. The parish also maintains lively contacts with the city, the neighbourhood and other churches. We are a member of the Council of Churches in Amsterdam.