Changes

The parish had its origins as a mission of the Society of St. [[Nicholas of Japan ]] in Fairmount, Johannesburg which had its first public service, a [[Vespers]], on [[October 24]], 1987 in St. Matthew’s Anglican Church Hall. At that time the society hoped to start several new parishes. As the mission expanded, services were moved in March 1988 to a [[chapel]] at St. Martin’s-in-the-Veld Anglican Church in Dunkeld, a suburb of Johannesburg. The facilities at these locations had been temporary and required a setup and take down for each service. In 1990, the mission moved to a chapel at the Russian House in Yeoville, Johannesburg where the ecclesiastical service facilities could remain in place.

As it grew, the congregation decided to form itself into a parish, adopting St. [[Nicholas of Japan]] as its patron. In a move away from the concept of ethnic communities, functioning more or less as ethnic chaplaincies, the parish of St. Nicholas intended to be a multi-ethnic mission church, with services conducted mainly in English. St. Nicholas of Japan was chosen as the [[Patron saint|patron saint]] because, as a Russian missionary, he went to Japan to start a [[church]] for the Japanese, not a Russian one. Thus, the aim of the society and the new parish of St. Nicholas was to be a Orthodox Church for South Africans, one in which people of any ethnic background could join.

On Sunday morning, [[October 14]], 2012, in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the parish, Archbishop [[Damaskinos (Papandreou) of Johannesburg and Pretoria|Damaskinos]] of Johannesburg and Pretoria served a hierarchical [[Divine Liturgy]] that included [[tonsure|tonsuring]] several [[reader]]s and blessing the [[altar]] [[Acolyte|servers]].