St John the Evangelist — also known as St John's — off Crown Street is a

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church (; ) is a Christian denomination in Scotland. Scotland's third largest church, the Scottish Episcopal Church has 303 local congregations. It is also an Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, ecclesiastical provi ...

Aberdeen, Scotland Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeenshire, but is now separate from the council area of Aberdeenshire. Aberd ...

History

The Episcopal congregation in Aberdeen that became St John's Church began when the

Kirk of St Nicholas The Kirk of St Nicholas is a historic church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is the original parish church of the city, and is also known locally as the Mither Kirk or mother church. Following the Reformation, it was divided between two congregations, ...

ejected Rev Dr George Garden in 1693 for refusing to conform to the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Establishment. After a spell in exile, he returned to Aberdeen by 1720 and gathered around him the remnants of his flock. Over the next 130 years, the congregation met in several houses and a larger building in Golden Square, dedicated to St John the Evangelist.

Andrew Gerard Andrew Gerard (died 1767) was a Scottish Episcopal minister who served as the Bishop of Aberdeen from 1746 to 1767. The son of Andrew Gerard, a mariner of Aberdeen,, ''Scottish Episcopal Clergy'', p. 49. he was educated at Marischal College, ...

who served as the Bishop of Aberdeen from 1746 to 1767. was curate at St John's from 1728, then incumbent from 1733 to 1767.Bertie, David M. (2000). ''Scottish Episcopal Clergy, 1689–2000''. Edinburgh: T & T Clark. ISBN 0567087468. p. 49.

Roger Aitken Roger Aitken (1748, Dumfries, Scotland - 21 November 1825, Halifax, Nova Scotia) was a Scottish Anglican priest known for his service as a missionary at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (1817-1825) for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in For ...

was minister at St John's, 1782–1814, before serving in Canada.

Present church

During the long incumbency of Rev. Patrick Cheyne, a new building off Crown Street, was built to the designs of Mackenzie and Matthews, 1849–51. It was consecrated by the

Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church The primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, styled "The Most Reverend the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church", is the presiding bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The current Primus is the Most Revd. Mark Strange who became primus o ...

, Bishop William Skinner and opened for worship on 6 May 1851. The congregation has worshipped there continuously since. The church is now listed as Category B by

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

. CheyneSt John's Episcopal Church, Aberdeen
was prosecuted in 1858 by Bishop Thomas Suther for his

Tractarian The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Uni ...

"Six Sermons" on the Eucharist. His successor, the Rev. Frederick G Lee soon resigned to found a new congregation, St Mary's Carden Place, and the

Patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

s, Dr

George Grub George Grub (1812–1892) was a Scottish law professor and church historian. Life Grub was born at Old Aberdeen on 4 April 1812, the only child of George Grub, a respectable citizen and convener of the trades at Old Aberdeen, and his wife, Chris ...

and Dr George Ogilvie beseeched

John Comper Reverend John Comper (1823–1903) was a priest of the Scottish Episcopal Church who dedicated his life to helping the street children and prostitutes of Victorian Aberdeen. In 2003 Father Comper was declared a 'Hero of the Faith' by the Scottish ...

to come to Aberdeen in 1861. During the first years of Comper's incumbency a

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

was built, dedicated to Cheyne's forty years association with St John's, then in the year 1863 the first sister arrived from the

Society of Saint Margaret The Society of Saint Margaret (SSM) is an order of women in the Anglican Church. The Anglican religious order, religious order is active in England, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and the United States of America, United States and formerly Scotland. History ...

, the foundress of St Margaret's Convent, 17 Spital, Aberdeen. Comper resigned the charge at St John's in 1870 to spend more time in his new mission located in the Gallowgate slums of Aberdeen (now

St Margaret of Scotland, Aberdeen St Margaret of Scotland, also known as St Margaret's, Gallowgate, is a Scottish Episcopal Church, in Aberdeen, Scotland. History The Gallowgate was one of the poorer areas of Aberdeen and in the mid-19th century consisted of a large area of sl ...

). The

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

of St John's was designed by

Sir Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect, one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishment of churches, and the desi ...

in memory of his parents. In 2013 the church became the first in Scotland to invite Muslims to share its building as the neighbouring mosque was so small that some were forced to worship outside.

Font

The pre-Reformation stone

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

came from the ruined church at Kinkell near Inverurie. Alexander Galloway was the rector of Kinkell from 1516 until his death in 1552 and the font bears his initials on the West panel. The bowl is octagonal with sunken panels on each face.Walker, Russell. 1887. "Scottish Baptismal Fonts. With Drawings" ''Proceeding of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland'', 21: 346-448. The bowl sits on a pedestal which was designed by the Aberdeen architect James Mitchell who provided the setting in 1851 when it was installed in St John's.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John's, Aberdeen Episcopal church buildings in Aberdeen Category B listed buildings in Aberdeen Listed churches in Scotland Religious organizations established in 1693 Churches completed in 1851 Gothic Revival church buildings in Scotland