[citation needed] Since the adoption of its new statutes in 2010,[4] the diocese was placed under the direct and personal spiritual and administrative authority of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

[5] The origins of the Diocese of Sourozh lie in the Parish of the Dormition in London, which from 1716 existed as the Russian Embassy Church.

In that year, Archimandrite Gennadius rented a house in Exchange Court, an alley leading off the Strand and converted the large drawing room into a church.

The Anglican Bishop of London, John Robinson, agreed to allow Orthodox worship at the church, with the stipulation that the services remained private, that English people were excluded and that singing should not be loud "lest common crowds cause any harm".

Over the following century, a dozen English families also joined the church, as did Colonel Philip Ludwell III, a wealthy American colonist who was received into Orthodoxy in 1738.

[7] By 1756, the church had fallen into disrepair, and Exchange Court had degenerated into "a disreputable and shameful place" frequented by prostitutes.

Here, a chapel was built in the rear of the house on the site of the stables, which was itself rebuilt in the late 1860s and is now a listed building, although no longer a place of Orthodox worship.

[14] For many years the political situation between Great Britain and the Soviet Union meant that the Diocese of Sourozh was able to function in virtual independence of the Moscow Patriarchate.

[25] However, some traditionalist ROCOR criticised the Sourozh diocese for endorsing "'an Anglican form of Orthodoxy", led by "a small and ageing clique of intellectuals, very much part of one particular, upper middle-class, Western cultural elitist group, one elderly generation".

[28][29] These often related to jurisdictional disputes,[30][31][32] neglect of country parishes,[33] or to the rift between pro-Moscow laity and those who advanced the ideal of an autocephalous Orthodox church in Great Britain.

[34] Metropolitan Anthony's opposition to the group seeking to undermine and destroy the Diocese of Sourozh is forcefully expressed in an address he made to his London Parish on 12 December 2002 which has been recorded.

[38] On 9 May 2006, Patriarch Alexy II issued a decree saying Osborne was relieved of his duties as administrator of the Diocese of Sourozh.

In his brief time as assistant bishop in the Exarchate, Basil's authority was over a newly formed vicariate of parishes in the British Isles who had followed him in his departure from the Russian Orthodox Church into the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

[40][41] This body was given the title Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland, and consisted of some twelve parishes and some smaller Eucharistic Communities.

"[43][44] On 15 October 2006 the Diocese of Sourozh celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the consecration of the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and all Saints.

[45] In his message to the faithful of the diocese for that occasion, Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia stressed that the cathedral is home to a "'multitudinous and multilingual flock", and that this is quite proper for the Church, being "a single body made up of many and dissimilar members, filled with one Spirit".

[48] The Derzhavnaya (Reigning) Icon of the Mother of God was brought to Britain by the Diocese of Sourozh in September 2007 with the stated blessing of Patriarch Alexy.

In the same decision, Matthew (Andreev) [ru] of Bogorodsk was relieved of his duties as Administrator of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy and appointed as ruling Bishop of the diocese of Sourozh.