With the passing of Metropolitan Kallistos on 24th August, the Wessex Society loses the last of its original patrons. Born Timothy Ware just outside Bath in 1934, he later converted from Anglicanism to Orthodoxy. In 1982, he became the first Englishman to be ordained as an Orthodox bishop since the Anglo-Saxon era.
Metropolitan Kallistos was always very supportive of the Society. particularly our work in getting St Ealdhelm recognised as the patron saint of Wessex. Sadly, the Orthodox Church does not have a formal process for getting someone recognised as the patron saint of a particular place, but he intimated in an interview with the Wessex Chronicle (volume 14, issue 1) that he would use the title in his prayers, both private and liturgical.
He died peacefully at his home in Oxford, aged 87, marking the end of another link to the Society’s early history.