Dorchester College or The Old College was turned into an Orthodox Theological College to serve the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...
in the
diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...
on the initiative of the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, the Right Reverend Harold Buxton. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Bishop of Gibraltar went to visit an overcrowded refugee camp in the town of
Eboli
Eboli (Neapolitan language, Ebolitano: ) is a town and ''comune'' of Campania, southern Italy, in the province of Salerno.
Eboli, an agricultural centre, is renowned for its olive oil and dairy products, most notably the famous buffalo mozzarel ...
near
Salerno
Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...
, where he was moved by the devotion of the internees who fought the German occupiers and Tito-led communists in Yugoslavia. There, General
Miodrag Damjanović
Miodrag Damjanović ( sr-Cyrl, Миодраг Дамјановић; 16 January 1893 – 4 August 1956) was a Serbian brigadier general of the Royal Yugoslav Army. He was chief of staff of Prime Minister Milan Nedić, commander of the Serbian Vo ...
introduced Serbian theologian
Dimitrije Najdanović
Dimitrije Najdanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Димитрије Најдановић; 7 June 1897 – 24 March 1986) was a Serbian theologian, writer, and Serbian Orthodox priest.
Biography
Dimitrije Najdanović was born in Kragujevac in Serbia, on ...
to the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe. In turn, Najdanović and Right Reverend Buxton discussed with 40 students and priests the possibility of forming a clergy training college in the village of
Dorchester on Thames
Dorchester on Thames is a historic village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, England, located about 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Oxford at the confluence of the River Thames and River Thame.
The village has evidence of preh ...
, seeing that a nucleus was there.
The college served its missionary purpose from 1885 from the time of