
Seal of H.G. James Cavendish,
8th Lord Bishop of Whithorn
The Diocese of Whithorn, Dumfries, and the Marches is a Diocese of the Orthodox Church, originally founded as the Diocese of Whithorn in the 5th Century by the great missionary saint St. Ninian, Apostle to Scotland and the Picts. It is canonically erected under the Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles, a jurisdiction formed for, and largely serving the Western Rite within the Orthodox Church. The jurisdiction is traditional in its outlook, and doctrinally and ecclesiologically conservative in its stance, and is a constituent member of the International Union of Genuine Orthodox Churches, comprising over 80 Orthodox bishops worldwide who stand for Orthodox Patristic Teaching.
The current and 8th Bishop is His Grace James, Lord Bishop of Whithorn, Dumfries, and the Marches, who serves as a vicar for the British Isles under the oversight of the Metropolitan Synod.