About SGOIS
In London in the late 1960s an Orthodox Christian discussion group used to meet on Sunday afternoons under the guidance of Fr Mark Meyrick, of pious memory. It was noticed that most churches had some kind of press office or publishing agency.
At the time, the Orthodox Church in Britain had no such office to deal with enquiries written in English. This seemed to be a gap, in need of filling. Thus the idea of an information service was conceived but, at the time, none of us had any idea how we would establish this, or how it would be financed.
The SGOIS Catalogue
The name St George Orthodox Information Service (SGOIS) was formally registered in 1970. Over the past four decades SGOIS has developed. We finance our activities with a church supplies company. We began manufacturing candles in the early 1980s and now supply many parishes throughout Britain. In addition we have published a range of ikon cards, mostly of local saints, together with prayer cards, Christmas and Easter cards. Among our publications, we have republished the original Jordanville Prayer Book which was translated Archimandrite Lazarus (Moore) of pious memory. Many of the items in our catalogues are available from our online store.
Pan-Orthodox
SGOIS operates in a completely pan-Orthodox way, without national distinctions. The principal officials are members of the Russian Orthodox Church but co-workers, friends and supporters are drawn from a complete cross-section of the Orthodox world.