Dmitri Nikolaevich “Mima” Galitzine

Subdeacon Prince Dmitri Galitzine, who for many years was a parishioner of the London Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, passed away on Wednesday, 9th March, 2016, aged 88. At the time, Dmitri was in Greece, visiting his daughter and family. The son of Prince Nicolas and Princess Irina Galitzine, Dmitri was born in Perm, Soviet Union, on 10th December, 1927. In 1932, the Galitzine family managed to flee from deprivation, imprisonment and terror in the Soviet Union and eventually arrived in London. (Dmitri’s mother, Princess Irina Dmitrievna, née Countess Tatischeff, published memoirs of her life in Russia before and after the Russian Revolution in Spirit to Survive [London: William Kimber. 1976.]) Together with his three sisters, Irina, Maria and Valentina, Dmitri and his parents settled in Chiswick in west London, which at that time was a centre for Russian émigrés. After completing his education, Dmitri forged a successful career in the Foreign Office. His family were stalwart members of what was then known as the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile with its cathedral in Emperor’s Gate, London SW7. It was here that he married Eileen Patricia Wingfield in 1966 and two years later Patricia gave birth to their daughter, Princess Marina Galitzine. Dmitri served in the altar all his life and in due course Archbishop Paul (Pavlov) of Sydney and Australia ordained Dimitri to the subdiaconate. Over many years Dmitri served in various parish organisations including the Church Council, the Fund-raising Committee (to finance the building of the present Cathedral), and the Trustees. Together with Count Andrei Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, Dimitri played a leading role in securing the Harvard Road site for building our Cathedral. However, with the re-establishment in 2007 of communion between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate, Dmitri felt that he could not remain in the parish and joined the ‘Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece’. Subdeacon Dmitri was laid to rest at the Holy Angels Convent, Afidnes, in Greece. On the ninth day of Dmitri’s repose, Thursday, 17th March, 2016, Archimandrite Alexis served a panikhida for the repose of the soul of Subdeacon Dmitri at the church of the Saint Edward Brotherhood, Brookwood, Woking, Surrey. From the Harvard Road Cathedral parish Trustee Sophia Vladimirovna Goodman, Starosta Vera Alexandrovna McClenaghan, Subdeacon Nicolas Mabin, and other parishioners joined a throng of about 100 people who came to pray for Dmitri and to honour his memory. Dmitri’s wife, Patricia, had pre-deceased him; he is survived by his daughter, Mrs. Marina Dmitrievna Federov, his grandchildren: Nicolas, Gleb, Taisia and Paraskeva; and his sister, Mrs Valentina Nicolayevna Mead. For those of you you who do not already know, Uncle Mima, Dmitri Galitzine, sadly died on Wednesday. He was in Greece with Marina, and he was buried the next day at the Holy Angels Convent in Afidnai. A memorial service will be held at 3 pm at Saint Edward's Church, Saint Cyprian's Avenue, Brookwood, Surrey GU24 0BL. Those who wish to attend are very welcome. Please remember the soul of the departed servant of God, the Subdeacon Dmitri, in your prayers.