On May 24th this year the Orthodox Christian community will celebrate its 19th anniversary in Ireland. This happy event gives us an opportunity to look at our past, present and future here.

During that period many easterners came to Ireland. Some have remained to enjoy the proverbial Irish hospitality and made their home here, while others have continued their journey to the new world.

Thus Greeks and Greek Cypriots, as well as men, women, and children fleeing communist tyranny in eastern Europe, along with people from Palestine and Lebanon, have united with Western converts to form one multinational Greek Orthodox community in Ireland.

From the outset our community has placed itself under the canonical jurisdiction of the Mother Church of Constantinople, through its Sacred Archdiocese of Thyateira for Great Britain, Ireland and Malta, which is based in London.

During the first 13 years, our community worshipped in various places. First at St Mary's in Dublin city centre, then in Ranelagh. In 1993 we managed to buy the former school house in Arbour Hill, which was subsequently reconstructed as a Byzantine church and consecrated by His Eminence Archbishop Gregorios on November 6th, 1994.

If 19 years ago our community only counted less than 100 people, the numbers have continually increased, more especially since the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe.

Thus at present our Greek Orthodox community has increased a hundred-fold, counting today faithful of 18 different nationalities. These are people who may have very little in common from a linguistic or cultural viewpoint but who are firmly established as one family upon the rock of the Orthodox faith which they both proclaim and celebrate in the very beautiful Orthodox Liturgy.

One may see here a reflection of the Trinitarian mystery, the mystery of unity in diversity par excellence. Indeed, the Orthodox Liturgy is a marvel of theological precision, poetic beauty and iconographic perfection, which appeals to a large spectrum of visitors, very many young, who come from Dublin and afar in order to pray with us.

In addition to the Sacred Church in Dublin there are four private chapels - in Dublin north, Cork, Portarlington and Limavady in Northern Ireland - where the Divine Liturgy is celebrated occasionally for the small communities living in those places.

Yet on Sundays, more especially on the Supreme Feast of the Resurrection, and the other great feasts, most of our faithful, scattered to the four corners of Ireland, gather in the mother church in Dublin to celebrate together the mysteries of faith.

Since Orthodoxy is a way of life, namely the new life in Christ, lived in the light of the Resurrection, our people bear witness to it wherever they go in their daily lives.

The contribution made by our community at both social and inter-religious ecumenical level is being acknowledged by both the civil and religious authorities of the land, the finest expression of which came at the beginning of this year when Uachtarain Na hEireann Mary the President, Mrs McAleese, participated in the Divine Liturgy celebrated in our sacred church.

AS for the future, we place our trust in the name of the Lord. The fact that last year alone 58 babies were baptised (29 boys and 29 girls) and, in addition, possibly more people (some, at least, Orthodox) will make their way to Ireland fleeing persecution or simply finding themselves in search of a more humane and decent life, enables us to confidently look into the future of Orthodoxy in Ireland.

It is possible that new Orthodox churches will be built in Dublin and elsewhere given the numerical strength in various ethnic groups such as Romanian and Russian which are at present part of the existing Orthodox community.

Orthodoxy in Ireland is both old and new. It is old because it bears witness to the faith of the church one and undivided of the first millennium of Christianity, the Christian church being eastern in origin.

This explains the many similarities between the faith as proclaimed in the Orthodox Church and the faith as proclaimed in the Western Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. It is old also in that it shares, along with the local churches, the monastic tradition, the saintliness and spirituality of the ancient Celtic church in this land.

Yet it is new because not since the Great Schism of 1054, which separated west and east, was there a consecration of an eastern Orthodox Church in Ireland until 1994. It is new also with respect to the positive impact it makes on the religious and artistic life in Ireland by its sacred and unanimously appreciated iconography.

There are now talented Irish iconographers and there are icons to be seen in various places of worship in Ireland. Moreover, our entry to a new century and a new millennium of faith will also be marked by an Icon 2000 exhibition in Galway, to be followed by a second one in Derry this month.

In their hundreds Orthodox Christians in Ireland and visitors alike gathered at the Greek Orthodox Church in Arbour Hill on Holy Saturday night to proclaim the resurrection of Christ. Christ is risen! resounded like thunder in all languages and from all hearts.

Thus spiritual renewal, life and joy are the messages of the Orthodox community to the Irish nation at this solemn Paschal time. "Indeed, He is risen!" and by His resurrection all we who believe in Him are alive.

Father Ireneu Craciun is parish priest at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation at 46 Arbour Hill, Dublin 7. Matins and Divine Liturgy take place there every Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon