It was established as part of an expansion of Orthodox metropolises in Western Europe including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland.
His efforts were boosted in 1676 by the arrival of the Archbishop of Samos, Joseph Georgerines, who had originally travelled to London to publish his Anthologion, "for the use of the Eastern Greek Church".
The church was confiscated in 1684 and handed over to Huguenot refugees from France, much to the anger of the Greek archbishop, who wrote and circulated a furious pamphlet which criticised this move and detailed how the English authorities had expropriated the community.
The church no longer stands but the dedicatory plaque that was embedded over the main entrance is now housed in the narthex of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St Sophia in Bayswater.
During his tenure he continued the pastoral and spiritual work of his predecessor, further contributing to the shaping of the historical, social and theological Greek-Orthodox presence in Great Britain and the rest of Western Europe.
Archbishop Athenegoras embarked on a program of modernisation and the development of the archdiocese included a series of reforms concerning the relationship of the archdiocese to the other institutions of the Greek and Cypriot Diaspora in Great Britain, namely the organization of the educational projects of its Communities, the publication of journals (Orthodox Herald, the official pastoral publication), the election of new, efficient Bishops and the successful handling of the ‘deluge’ of refugees as a result of the invasion of the Turkish Army in Cyprus in 1974.
The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate then appointed the previous Metropolitan of Axum (Ethiopia) under the Alexandrian Church, Methodios Fouiyas, to the archdiocese in 1979.
Being well-informed in the affairs and realities of the Greek-Orthodox Diaspora due to his former service in Great Britain as deacon, priest, Archmandrite and bishop, and armed with an enviable zeal for reform, the new archbishop drastically transformed the archdiocese, the communities and its schools.
[5][6] Several archbishops have served the Metropolis/Archdiocese since 1922 including: As of 2021[update] there are 114 parishes and monasteries in the UK and Ireland: www.lampeterorthodox.org.uk See also Category:Greek Orthodox churches in the United Kingdom