At the June meeting of the Committee of the Society of Saint John Chrysostom Abouna John Salter announced his retirement as the Society’s Chairman after nearly two decades of invaluable and dedicated service, effectively re-founding and reviving the work of the historic Society in Britain. The Committee approved a resolution naming Father Salter as honorary Vice President for life.
Father John’s lifetime of service to ecumenism, especially his service to the unity of the Eastern and Western churches, have given him an almost unparalleled familiarity with the Eastern Churches, their leaders, life and tradition, for sixty years, not least in moments of historic significance and even danger. As an Anglican priest he served as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s apokrisarios on a number of occasions and the solidarity he represented, together with the personal trust and closeness he was able to build, saw him decorated three times with the honour of the Jewelled Cross.
On becoming a priest of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church he was appointed Patriarchal Counsellor for Ecumenical Relations in Great Britain, an office he continues to fulfil, and it was at this point he assumed the leadership of the Society. The Society had somewhat faded into the background of ecumenical consciousness in Britain because of the perhaps more immediate hopes at the time of Anglican-Catholic unity in the West. Nowadays, with the Eastern Churches in global Christianity more prominent than ever before in the media, not least under the scourge of demonic persecution from Islamists, the closeness and mutual need of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches for unity with each other has given the Society a fresh purpose and mission, thanks to the renewed activity and foundations which Father John has laid.
In recognition of Father John’s lifelong service to Christian unity, and particularly to the life and mission of the Eastern Catholic Churches, at the Divine Liturgy on 9th October at his cathedral of the Holy Family of London, Bishop Hlib Lonchyna bestowed on Father John the Cross with Adornments by decree of His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Major-Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych.
At the Annual General Meeting of the Society which followed in the Cathedral Hall, the members of the Society elected Father Mark Woodruff, priest of the (Latin) diocese of Westminster and serving in the Ukrainian Eparchy, as chairman of the Society.
We express warmest congratulations to our new chairman, Father Mark, and profound gratitude to Father John Salter, for his dedication. God grant that both continue to serve His Holy Church and to guide the work of our organisation for many years to come.
Во здравіє во спасеніє, сотвори їм, Господи, многая i благая літа!
In health and unto salvation, may God grant them many happy years!