In the Liturgy and every service of the Church, we come to Church to talk: to talk to God, not to one another!
As soon as we enter the church, even if no prayers have started, we must be mindful that this place and this time are set aside for Him. They are holy to the Lord, and we must each struggle to protect that holiness. One of the major obstacles to this is habitual and needless talking and chatter.
Rather than chatting before the Liturgy in church, let us keep silence and join ourselves to the praying of the Hours with heart and mind, standing before the Lord with humility and the fear of God.
If someone we know comes and stands by us, let us be glad and joyful, but let the verbal or physical greeting wait until an appropriate time, not during prayers.
When we are waiting to commune, we do not talk in the queue, but stand in silent submission, with our arms folded – mindful of the wonder of Christ’s mercy in coming to us, despite our unworthiness and faults.
If we have communed, when we go for zapivka or stand at the front of the church before the moving of the Holy Gifts to the preparation table, we do not chatter or socialise, but rather contemplate that not only has God revealed Himself to us, but that Christ our God has entered into the very temples of our bodies, silently mindful that we have become living tabernacles of His Presence.
In the Tabernacle and the first Temple, the Ark of the Covenant only contained the manna from heaven, but when we commune, we contain the Bread of Heaven, Christ Himself. He is within us!
Even if we have not communed, we still silently honour the Lord’s self-giving and self-emptying love expressed in His Presence in the Holy Gifts, and – neither sitting nor talking – we are silently mindful that Christ our King and God is in our midst, as we stand before Him.
During the Thanksgiving Prayers, unless we are reading on the kliros, we remain in silence – mindful of our debt to the living and loving Lord for giving Himself to us, to cleanse us, heal us, and vivify us. This too is not a time for talking even if we have not received the Holy Gifts. The Church is still praying, and the Church is giving thanks for the wonder of the Liturgy and the Holy Mysteries – the great token of God’s inexhaustible love for the Church and every soul within it.
We are all stewards of the Divine Liturgy, and we must all work together to preserve its holiness and ‘otherness’, in which we have put aside all earthly cares, so that we may receive the King of all, invisibly escorted by the ranks of angels.
So… do not be shy in Liturgy. If people are talking whilst the Church is praying, turn to them and politely signal for them to be quiet. If necessary, quietly ask them to stop talking. If they persist, please approach the starosta/church-warden.
In Liturgy, we talk to God, not to one another. There is ample chance for that once Liturgy has finished.
When trapeza is blessed, this is the time for friendly, warm conversation; for greeting one another; for welcoming new faces; for catching up and socialising – and this is a blessed and cherished opportunity to enjoy one another’s company, having dedicated our words and voices during the Liturgy to God.
Thank you to all who supported Sunday’s celebration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, with our joyful Liturgy and moleben. It was a wonderful celebration of the Faith.
I am happy that Sister Anna has agreed to the use of the chapel for a Lenten service at 18:00 each Thursday, following confessions. We will gather again this week, and for evening prayers with the canon/akathist of repentance. May I ask those wishing to make their confession to email me by noon on Wednesday, indicating whether staying for the service as well.
Deacon Mark and I will be celebrating the Divine Liturgy in Cheltenham on Saturday, with our service at Prestbury United Reformed Church commencing with the Hours at 10:00, followed by the Liturgy at 10:30 and a panikhida for the Memorial Saturday.
Deacon Mark and I will return home via Nazareth House to set up for Sunday, and confessions may also be heard at 18:00, for those unable to confess on Thursday.
Without wishing to sound like a school-master, may I reinforce what was said after Liturgy?
There should be NO casual conversation or unnecessary talking during services, and it is not appropriate to go and verbally greet or chat with friends at this time. We can smile, nod and mouth a hello and enjoy the ample chance to catch up after the service.
As soon as the blessing has been pronounced for the Hours, this is liturgical time and the prayer of the Church, not free time for conversations or even private prayers and devotions.
The same goes for the thanksgiving prayers after Liturgy. Despite what was said at the end of Sunday’s service, there were still those who chatted audibly during those prayers.
There should most definitely be no talking during Holy Communion, let alone sitting down to chat. Unless age or health deems it necessary, we do not sit in the Lord’s Presence in the Holy Gifts!
We need to be careful that we do not adopt a casual attitude to being in church, but need to be mindful that even though Nazareth House is not an Orthodox temple, it nevertheless becomes the sacred-place in which the Lord comes to give Himself to us in the Holy Mysteries, where the Church offers the greatest sacrifice of prayer and praise to the Lord in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.
We wish our services to be prayerful, and without unnecessary noise, movement or distraction, so let us all work together to ensure this.
Looking forward to next Sunday, we will be celebrating the Sunday of St Gregory Palamas, and the variables may be found at –
We were blessed with a triumphant celebration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy in Cardiff, yesterday, and affirmed the fullness and glory of the Orthodox Christian Faith and our obedience to the Sacred Tradition of the Church: an inheritance not of our making, but the deposit of Faith handed down to us by our pious and God-fearing forebears, for us to hand on to the next generation represented by the children and young people of our parish. We know this not to be the case in some places, and this is first hand knowledge given the parishioners who have taken refuge in our parish because of the renovationism, modernism and liberalism they have encountered elsewhere.
Some of those who have joined the parish, despite living far away, have made this clear in conversation over the last few days. However, this is not an occasion to gloat and feel pleased with ourselves, as though we are somehow superior. Our tenacious defence of Othodox dogma and tradition is what the Church demands of us, simply as Orthodox Christians – and from all Orthodox Christians.
Every Orthodox parish – as indeed every diocese and patriarchate – should be an ark of refuge and salvation, as the local manifestation of Christ’s Church, preserving and defending her Faith and sacred Tradition.
It is precisely on account of the swelling tide of schism, heresy and persecution confronting the Church in our present sorrowful times that our Ruling Hierarch wished the faithful to be strengthened and confirmed in the fullness of the Church’s teaching by the solemnity our moleben on the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy – a radiant feast even in these early days of the Great Fast. So, a solemn and comprehensive order of service was blessed for parish use, lacking only the anathemas pronounced by our bishops and some other episcopal parts.
With the addition of the icons the faithful had brought to hold during the service, candles burning before the icons on the high windowsills and additional icons on the shrines that form our temporary ikonostas, their importance in our celebration as a sign of Orthodoxy was clear, and it was a joy to look out from the sanctuary and see parishioners bearing the sacred images of the saints as we started our moleben.
In the Great Litany, our deacons asked the Lord to “look upon His holy Church with a merciful eye, and preserve her safe and unconquered by heresies and superstitions, and keep her in His peace”; to “calm dissensions within her, and by the power of the Holy Spirit convert to a knowledge of the truth all who have apostatised and join them to His chosen flock”; and to “enlighten the minds of those darkened by unbelief with the light of His divine wisdom, and strengthen His faithful and preserve them steadfast in Orthodoxy.”
After the symbol of Faith – the Creed – our deacons solemnly intoned:
“This is the Apostolic Faith!
This is the Faith of the Fathers!
This is the Orthodox Faith!
This Faith confirmeth the universe.”
Commemorating the Holy Equals of the Apostles the Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena, the pious sovereigns of Byzantium, Kieven Rus’ and Russia who defended and upheld the Faith, and the great saints and wonder-workers who struggled in holiness, we chanted Vechnaya pamiat’ / Eternal memory again and again, recognising the debt that we owe to them for the preservation and defence of the Orthodox Faith; for teaching and upholding Orthodox, Catholic and Apostolic dogmas; for their steadfastness suffering and endurance in defending the Faith against heresy and schism.
Among the great names, we heard mention of Athanasius the Great; the great ecumenical teachers, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom; Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria; Leo the Great and Flavian the Confessor; the Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils; Maximus the Confessor; Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople; Theodore the Studite; and the Holy Hierarch Mark, Metropolitan of Ephesus.
After the names of the Holy Equals of the Apostles, the Great Prince Vladimir and Great Princess Olga, we responded to the commemorations of the Great Princes Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomakh, Alexander Nevsky and Dimitry Donskoy; the first Romanov Tsar, Michael Feodorovich; the martyred Tsar Alexander II; Tsar Alexander III; the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II and the martyred Imperial Family; also the martyred King Alexander of Serbia. For them all, we prayed “Memory eternal!”
Then, having commemorated the departed Patriarchs of the ancient Orthodox Patriarchates, we remembered Patriarchs of Rus’ and Serbia, New-Martyrs and Confessors and finally the First-Hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the past hierarchs of our diocese of Western Europe and those who ruled the British Diocese when it was a separate eparchy: Archbishop Nikodem, Bishop Nikolai and Bishop Konstantin, of blessed memory.
Completing the commemoration of the departed, our hierodeacon prayed,
“To those who suffered and were slain in various ways for the Orthodox Faith and Fatherland: princes, nobles, and Christian forces, and all Orthodox Christians who have piously reposed in true Faith and in the hope of resurrection unto everlasting life: Memory eternal!”
Our deacons then led our prayers for the living – for the Patriarch and Hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, for all patriarchs “who stand fast in God’s righteousness, rightly defining the word of truth”, for right-believing hierarchs, for the members of the Imperial House and Orthodox Royal houses, for the Orthodox faithful of the lands of Rus’ and of our God preserved diocese. After each petition the choir and faithful joyfully and enthusiastically chanted “Mnogaya leta!”
Ending with the Te Deum, the moleben was a very special combination of prayer for those who departed into error, and a celebration of the Orthodox Faith and those who have defended it and preserved it.
It was a joyful and festal Triumph of Orthodoxy, strengthening us and encouraging us at the end of the first week of the Fast.
What a contrast to the previous Sunday, when we chanted the stikhira of repentance, prostrating in the Rite of Forgiveness.
Our profound thanks go to all who contributed to our wonderful celebration, especially our choir, who laboured hard, and to our hierodeacon and deacon who were so central to the liturgical rites of the day.
To all Orthodox archpastors and sovereigns, our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, who have departed this life, defending and preserving the Faith: memory eternal!
To our archpastors and pastors, those who struggle in the monastic-life and all of the pious faithful, steadfast in the Faith: many years!
I pray that the festive joy of the Triumph of Orthodoxy may strengthen us and encourage us in our parish life, and as individuals during this season of the Fast.
What joy this first week of the Fast brings, especially when we are blessed with spring weather that outwardly reminds us that this is the springtime of the soul, and should be a season of growth and new green shoots, through fasting, prayer and repentance; through turning back to God; through heeding the words of the kontakion of the Great Canon and simply waking up, being watchful and mindful of the inescapable and abiding presence of Christ: at all times; in all places; in every circumstance; seeing all actions; hearing every word; knowing every thought.
“My soul, my soul arise; Why art thou sleeping? The end is drawing near and thou wilt be confounded. Awake then and be watchful, that thou mayest be spared by Christ God, Who is everywhere present and fillest all things.”
In these first four days of the Great Fast, we are blessed to hear the words of St Andrew of Crete’s Great Canon of Repentance, making this hymnographic dialogue between St Andrew and his soul our personal inner-conversation, as we contemplate sin and repentance, fall and restoration, exile and return.
Despite some of the Old Testament examples, the purpose of this great hymn-cycle is not to plunge us into gloom, but rather to show us the ‘way back’ the means of restoration to a life in God.
Together with the life of St Mary of Egypt (whose intercessions are invoked during the odes of the canon), the Great Canon is held up as a great penitential lesson and example of ‘putting things right’ in this season of repentance. It is a call to action – to turn around and return to the loving embrace of God, in humility and repentance, but nevertheless with hope and joy.
As such, it should kindle determination in us, so that the myriad Biblical examples within its odes and troparia encourage us to press forward, so that cleansed from stain and the tarnishing blackness of sin and disobedience, the image of God may be restored in us, who are each icons of Christ, into whom we have been baptised, Who created us in the divine-image and likeness, and Who seeks the return of the prodigal again and again in His inexhaustible mercy and love.
When we can recall this awesome fact, then we can appreciate why we celebrate the restoration of the holy icons with the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy on the first Sunday of the fast.
As we celebrate this triumph, let us never lose sight of the fact that our personal triumph is the restoration of the icon of God in each of us, as we labour to put off the old man and put on Christ, though the spiritual labour of our life in Him.
Last Sunday, at the end of Forgiveness Vespers and the beginning of the Fast, we bowed before one another as we sought forgiveness and reassured with the words “God forgives”, and on this coming Sunday it will be the icons before which we shall bow during the Service of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, thanking God for the restoration of the holy icons as the sign of the Incarnation and manifestation of our Holy Orthodox Faith. However, we must each face the fact that this veneration will be meaningless unless we are actively seeking the restoration of the image of God in ourselves.
The iconoclasts defiled and desecrated the sacred images in shocking ways, just as the iconoclast Soviets did in the 20th century, and we react with horror and revulsion at what was done to the icons of Christ, of the Mother of God and the saints. Yet, do we react with equal horror and revulsion to the things by which WE defile and desecrate the image of God in each of us?
In the canon, we chant, “I have stained the garment of my flesh and have defiled that which was made in Thine image and likeness, O Saviour.” However, this observation is meaningless unless we are willing to do anything about it and seek the restoration of this image and likeness.
Let us heed the penitential lessons of the Great Canon, of the life of St Mary of Egypt, of the various Sunday feasts of the Great Fast with their hymns of compunction and repentance, and let us reflect the outward Restoration of the Holy Icons in the inner struggle for the image of God to be restored in us, to shine and become radiant, so that Christ may shine upon the world through us as His abiding presence in the world and icons of His goodness and love.
What an incredible weekend we had Cardiff, with our pilgrimage to Llandaff, in honour of St Teilo and our services for Forgiveness Sunday.
After a week in Walsingham, I was rather tired, but the combination of prayer and fellowship over the weekend certainly put a fresh spring in my step, before the dozens of prostrations during the rite of forgiveness put pay to any bounce and flexibility.
As I have already written, the warmth of our welcome in Llandaff Cathedral was wonderful, and the Dean’s love and devotion to St Teilo over-flowed in his encouragement for us to always feel at home in the cathedral and before the saint’s relics. Father Richard stayed with us for the moleben, and kindly explained some of the cathedral’s history to the faithful before we retired to lunch – greatly enjoying time together over a meal.
Our services for Forgiveness Sunday were very well attended, though not everyone was able to stay for vespers, after refreshments. We were very happy to have the new student-visitors return, and see their commitment to exploring Orthodoxy and being part of our worshipping community. I know that they had a good chat with our parish elders and with some of the other students and young people. This is where the warmth and serious stewardship in our community is so important.
The end of vespers, of course, brought the Rite of Forgiveness, and the number of worshippers became obvious when the growing line of the faithful stretched from the solea, all along one side of the convent church and round the corner to the confession boxes. As always, on this Sunday, it was a joy to quietly sing Paschal hymns, with the members of the kliros joining me as the mutual forgiveness and many prostrations were completed.
I will not be in Cardiff until Thursday, when I will hear confessions in the late afternoon, before the chanting of the Great Canon of Repentance in the convent church at 18:00. May I ask for confessions requests as soon as possible, and not later than midday on Wednesday.
There will be nightly services in the chapel of St David and St Nicholas, where the Great Canon will be chanted from Monday to Thursday), and compline with the akathist-hymn to the Mother of God on Friday. Address: 11 New Rd, Dafen, Llanelli, Carms SA14 8LS.
Looking forward to celebrating the Sunday of Orthodoxy and the Restoration of the Holy Icons, may I encourage parishioners to bring icons to church, so that they may be placed on the capacious window sills around the building. Following, the Liturgy of St Basil, we will offer a moleben for those who have fallen into error.
Obviously, food for refreshments after our services must be lenten/postny. No shellfish please!
Our next parish pilgrimage will be to Capel-y-ffin, where we will offer the Divine Liturgy in honour of St David, meeting at 10:30 and aiming to begin the Hours and Liturgy at 11:00. We will have a pew-picnic after Liturgy and Fr Richard Williams has invited us to visit St Mary’s in Hay-on-Wye (bookshops and tea!!!) afterwards. Anyone interested, should contact Tracy: t_sbrain@icloud.com
Our senior-sister, Menna, would like to remind you all, that there is a very active and vibrant parish WhatsApp group, where parishioners can share news and prayer requests, discuss Orthodox matters, view spiritual and pastoral articles, and generally share aspects of parish-life. Anyone wishing to join should contact her or Deacon Mark.
Equally, anyone wishing to be added to the mailing list should speak to one of the clergy or parish officers who will be glad to add you to the list so that parish circulars are received. I would like to encourage parishioners to read the news and announcements sent out, as it is obvious that some people are missing news and announcements that have been sitting in their inbox.
Wishing you a good start to the Great Fast, with the hope that as many parishioners as possible will pray the Great Canon each evening.
Our busy weekend continued with our celebration of the Divine Liturgy in Nazareth House, and we were very pleased that our kliros was well provided with singers, making for strong and confident singing. Together with the continued blessing of double-deacons, this made for a splendid Liturgy and I greatly appreciate having two deacons with whom to concelebrate and share the Holy Mysteries.
Though we were a little thin on the ground due to half-term, we were very happy to have four new students visiting and experiencing their first Orthodox service, and were able to chat after the service.
After refreshments to break to our fast, we held our AGM, with reports from the clergy and treasurer. Among the topics discussed were the provision of resources and information for visitors and those exploring Orthodoxy, the availability of printouts of the creed and Lord’s Prayer for visitors, developing pilgrimage and reflecting our local culture in parish life – including use of Welsh in the Liturgy. With our bishop having blessed a parish brotherhood, we also touched and the need to invigorate our parish sisterhood, noting that it is not simply our catering department.
As announced at the Liturgy, I will be serving in Walsingham this week, travelling with Norman and Georgina tomorrow. We look forward to the joy of being with our friends there, especially Mother Melangell, whom we have known for many years. Our Liturgy will be blessed by the presence of Father Mark Tattum-Smith from Mettingham, with whom I will concelebrate as a priest for the first time, and with whom we will be discussing local devotions and promoting ROCOR pilgrimage to Walsingham – with our diocesan connections going back to the very first days of the shrine church. We look forward to the development of local Orthodox Walsingham cells.
Whilst I will obviously be contactable in emergencies, may I remind you that Norfolk is a very long way away, and any interactive pastoral needs need to be directed to Fr Deacon Mark. So that he is able to arrange any provision of support.
However, we will be VERY pleased for us to email us with requests for intercessions and intentions: otetzmark@hotmail.com
We will return on Friday, in time for our pilgrimage to Llandaff cathedral on Saturday, where we will celebrate our moleben to St Teilo at 10:00. After our service and time around the cathedral, we will enjoy the hospitality of the Maltster’s Arms for drinks and lunch at midday.
Just to remind you that we are in the eve of Cheese-Fare week and that meat should be consumed by tonight, though fish will be permitted throughout next week. As Orthodox maximalists, we refute the idea of pancake day… but rather enjoy a whole week. So… enjoy!
The first opportunity to hear confessions will be in Nazareth House on Saturday, after our ‘pilgrim lunch’, and I would like those wishing to confess to email me by 16:00 on Thursday to allow me to email as we will be travelling for much of Friday.
Sunday will be Forgiveness Sunday, and we will celebrate the Vespers of Forgiveness after Liturgy, marking the liturgical beginning of the Great Fast.
Please make the most of the week and get ready for the Fast – in terms of food, prayer and reading.
Looking forward to the Fast, it is our hope that by finding twenty readers to commit to reading a kathisma of the Psalter each day, it may be read every day until the eve of Lazarus Saturday. We really need commitment to this rather than people wanting to join in for a week or two, so if you would like to participate in this spiritual offering, as an act of intercession for our parish, please email psaltergroup@fastmail.com for further information.
It was a joy for us to celebrate the feast of the Meeting of the Lord in Llanelli today, and though there was only a handful of us, the Liturgy was full of joyful chanting and fervent prayers, bringing together parishioners from Llanelli, Swansea, Cardiff and Gwlad yr Haf beyond the Bridge (Somerset for the uninitiated).
Our thanks go to Father Luke for celebrating, to Rhydian-Nicholas for serving and to Ruth-Silouana for sharing the kliros with me. It was lovely to sing together, with the support of the faithful – particularly in the spirited Athonite Kyrie eleisons of the Fervent Litany!
Following the service, we enjoyed a shared lunch and were introduced to vegan Pastizio, which went down very well. Despina may well be getting orders and requests during Great Lent!
As we look to more long-term planning, I envisage weekday Liturgies will ordinarily be celebrated in the chapel in Llanelli, unless we have guaranteed singers for the kliros in Cardiff.
Health problems have made it impossible for me to plan weekday Cardiff Liturgies more than a week or two in advance, as things have been unpredictable – but, Llanelli Liturgies can always be managed given the short distance door to door – and having just paced it, I can tell you that the journey is fifty-five steps!
The Chapel of St David and St Nicholas has greatly evolved over the last quarter of a century, starting as a very small oratory/chasovnia in a summer-house, used for reader-services, consequently growing upwards, sideways and lengthways over the decades, through the labours of Father Luke, his sons and son-in-law, members of his family, and the faithful from Llanelli and Swansea.
Recently, the chapel has been blessed with the addition of new icons painted by our Cardiff parishioner, Mikhail Bulashov, who sealed them with their final varnish last week.
Liturgy is celebrated there on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, vespers or compline (depending on the season) on Wednesdays each week as well as weekday services for feasts and during fasts.
In its garden setting, the chapel is an oasis of peace and quiet, and in the spring and summer is surrounded by scented flowers, bees and birdsong, with the feline doyen of the house following the faithful and pleading for attention.
Many of our Cardiff faithful love the chapel and make occasional journeys for services, and I hope that the establishment of weekday festal Liturgies will beckon more parishioners to drive westwards for our festal celebrations.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, as we stand before the icon of the Meeting of the Lord in our celebration of this feast, we do not see the memorialisation of the Temple rituals of the Saviour’s Presentation and the Virgin’s Purification, with the priestly-offering of the doves that St Joseph bought, but rather the long-awaited encounter of St Symeon the God-Receiver with the infant Lord.
This is our abiding vision of the feast, not priests or figures of the Jewish religious establishment, but rather the elder and the aged prophetess Anna – two figures that had kept vigil in the temple, anticipating the long-awaited Saviour – their gaze, as also that of the Mother of God and St Joseph the Betrothed, centred on the Infant Saviour.
In the first stikhera of vespers, at ‘Lord, I have cried…’ we address the Righteous Elder as we chant:
“Receive, O Symeon, Him Whom Moses beheld in the gloom on Sinai giving the law, and Who hath become a babe, submitting to the law. He is the One Who speaketh through the law; He is the One spoken of by the prophets, Who for our sake hath become incarnate and saveth man. Let us worship Him!”
By the grace and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, Symeon recognised the Messiah, whom he held in his aged arms, declaring Him whom Moses beheld in the gloom of Sinai to be “the Light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of His people, Israel.”
Gloom, darkness, and shadowy symbols and figures had passed: the Light of the world had come!
How and when St Symeon first realised that the ‘erchomenos’ (the expected One) was drawing near we shall never know, but the joy that filled that righteous old man and drove him forward to take hold of the Child and absorb the meaning of Him in that moment must have been beyond human expression.
The first ode of the canon poetically prompts and pushes him forward, as though we were there as witnesses, encouraging him and hurrying him on his elderly legs.
“Be strong, ye hands of Symeon feeble with age; and ye weary legs of the elder, move quickly and straight to meet Christ…”
…and in the fourth ode, we poetically encourage him not to be shy, but to press forward and take hold of his Light and Saviour:
“O Symeon, rejoicing take up Christ, the little Child, on Whom thou hast set thy hope, the Consolation of the Israel of God, the Creator and Master of the law, Who fulfilleth the order of the law; and cry aloud unto Him: All things are filled with Thy praise!”
As his eyes beheld the Messiah; as his elderly arms held him; as he touched and caressed the Child, can we even begin to understand what he felt in his heart; what joy and relief filled his soul; what awe and wonder possessed his mind; how his ancient frame trembled with what was finally happening?
Symeon’s immense joy and all-possessing sense of fulfilment, contentment and peace remain beyond our understanding, and may be easily overlooked as we chant his memorialised words at vespers, each day:
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; To be a light to enlighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.”
What spiritual light filled the soul of the Elder, and what mysteries did he perceive in the depths of his heart as he withdrew from the precincts of the Temple and from the world with the greatest sense of peace and contentment?
Perhaps he even felt relief that his elderly and frail body could find rest in the peace for which he prayed: the peace from above, for which we ask in the Great Litany.
We pray for that peace and for the salvation of our souls, and though Symeon received that peace, he would not live to see the unfolding of the Saviour’s works of salvation. Nevertheless, he was still able to say, “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation…” and in Christ’s victory of the Cross and the Harrowing of Hell, Symeon would once more see the “Light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of His people, Israel” in the Lord as the Conqueror of death and hell and as his salvation.
And what of us?
The annual feast calls us to greet the Lord and to recognise Him, to see Him, as though through Symeon’s eyes, as our Light and salvation – for, as St Sophronios of Jerusalem wrote,
“Through Symeon’s eyes we too have seen the salvation of God which he prepared for all the nations and revealed as the glory of the new Israel, which is ourselves.”
All of the feasts call us to spiritual renewal and participation in the Christian Mystery, and as we celebrate the Meeting of the Lord, the same vesperal verses that usher Symeon forward to receive the Saviour also call us to go press forward:
“Let us come and greet Christ with divine hymns, and let us receive Him Whom Symeon perceived as our salvation.”
“Let us receive Him” not come as bystanders or onlookers, but rather as spiritual participators in the meaning of the feast: the Saviour’s manifest presence in the world as our God and Lord who has revealed Himself to us – not passively observing His presence, but receiving Him and become the very means of this indwelling presence in the world: not in our arms, as those of Symeon, but within our hearts.
As St Theophan the Recluse reminds us, “… all are called to have and carry the Lord in themselves, and to disappear in Him with all the powers of their spirit.”
Each of us must have and carry Him as God-Receivers, as was the Righteous Symeon and as Christ-Bearers like St Ignatius of Antioch, whose feast was celebrated only a few days ago.
We receive and bear Christ through living the Gospel in active lives of prayer, ascetism, fasting and participation in the Holy Mysteries, as members of His Body – the Church – in which we have been joined to Him in Holy Baptism, healed and renewed by Him through repentance and confession, nourished and consecrated by partaking of Him in the Eucharistic Mystery.
Through Christ-centred lives, each of us can say to the Lord, “mine eyes have seen Thy salvation…” and with confidence, we will be able to consciously say the words of St Sophronios:
“By faith we too embraced Christ, the salvation of God the Father, as He came to us from Bethlehem. Gentiles before, we have now become the people of God. Our eyes have seen God incarnate, and because we have seen Him present among us and have noetically received him into our arms, we are called the new Israel. Never shall we forget this presence…”
With the Sunday of the Prodigal Son signalling the approach of the Great Fast, our service heralded our entry into meatfare week and the last seven days of meat before the Sunday of Pascha.
We were blessed to sustain a congregation of around forty-five adults plus children, including Yuriy, whose fifth birthday was celebrated with the chanting of Many Years and the sharing of very nice Medovnik / Honey Cake, made by matushka Alla.
I was very happy that we were able to meet and welcome new Ukrainian faces today, and Father Hierodeacon Avraamy will be working on publicity and advertising among his fellow Ukrainians, some of whom are struggling to find us in Cardiff. He lives in Swansea and is also aware of Ukrainian faithful seeking a canonical Orthodox community not involved in supporting the schism in their suffering homeland.
As you will be aware, although still a cleric of the Dnipropetrovsk Diocese, Hierodeacon Avraamy is now temporarily a cleric of our parish, having been blessed to serve here by both Metropilitan Irenei of Dnipropetrovsk and our own Bishop Irenei.
With the resumption of his ministrations, it was a joy to celebrate the Liturgy with the solemnity of two deacons, and several people commented on how Hierodeacon Avraamy and Deacon Mark work so well together: censing the church in tandem, during the more solemn entrances and alternating the litanies. Far from being more complicated, the Liturgy flows better and without pause. May God bless our deacons and their service as ministers of the Divine Mysteries and sacred services!
It was a relief that the confession arrangements worked pretty smoothly, with a couple of remaining confessions and communion during he thanksgiving prayers. This greatly helped the flow of the Liturgy and management of time.
Having completed the sacramental ministrations of the day, a new icon of St Luke of Simferopol was blessed, having been commissioned by Deacon Mark from the iconographer in our midst, as well as icons purchased fro Oswald’s ‘lavka’.
Following the Liturgy, it was lovely to see parishioners socialising so warmly and catching up with one another, with Oswald having customers at his icon stall, and the sharing of post-Liturgy snacks. Thank you to all who generously provided food and drinks for the faithful – and thank you to all who made the clear up and packing away so much smoother today.
I was very happy that the young men of the parish were able to spend time together over a cup of coffee and some lunch in a nearby café in the afternoon, and was glad to be able to join them and have some social time and conversation about the details of our Liturgy. We are so incredibly blessed to have such a band of pious and spiritually focussed young men, including those baptised over the last fourteen or fifteen months. Having received a blessing from Bishop Irenei to establish a parish brotherhood, dedicated to St David, I look forward to seeing it’s development once we have passed the First Week of the Great Fast. This will unite the brethren of the parish across the generations and the miles, given the geographical dispersion of the parish.
Having continued house-blessings last week, I hope to do a few more in the week ahead, though I will need to be in Llanelli for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy for the feast of the Meeting the Lord on Wednesday.
I wish to hear confessions on Thursday, and ask for requests by 12:00 on Wednesday, to allow arrangements to be confirmed.
Saturday will see the Divine Liturgy, a Litia for the Departed and a baptism in Cheltenham, before the return to Cardiff where we will set up the church and celebrate Small Compline at 17:00.
As well as celebrating the Liturgy on Sunday, we shall also have our Annual General Meeting, with feedback from the clergy and parish officers and discussion of the items on our agenda. Again, if you have any matters which you would like to add to the agenda, please email Deacon Mark – rmfisher@ntlworld.com
Finally, as we approach the Great Fast, I would like to encourage you all to have some spiritual reading ready, to be spiritual food and drink to nourish your souls and help sustain the journey to Pascha through the days of Lent. If you haven’t ordered/bought anything, now is the time to do so!
Dear brothers and sisters, as we celebrate the feast of Saints Ephraim and Isaac, the Syrians, I am repostig their canons below, combined as I use them in my own prayers.
Canon of the venerable one, the acrostic whereof is: “I honour Ephraim, the noetic Euphrates”, the composition of Theophanes, in Tone VI:
Ode 1, Irmos: When Israel walked on foot in the sea as on dry land, * on seeing their pursuer Pharaoh drowned, * they cried: * Let us sing to God * a song of victory.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
With the Euphrates-like flood of thy supplications water thou my soul, which hath become dry with the burning heat of the passions, and inspire discourse within me who praise thy festival, O all-blessed one.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Shining forth noetic light, thou didst show thyself to be a radiant sun, O Ephraim, illumining all the fullness of the faithful with brilliant virtues and teachings.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Extinguishing the flame of the passions with the streams of tears, O divinely blessed Ephraim, thou wast a precious vessel of the Holy Spirit, pouring forth wellsprings of doctrines.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us.
Having received the incorrupt Word in thy womb, thou hast given birth to Him Who delivereth from corruption those who ever worship Him, O pure Mother and Virgin, who art truly the portal of Life.
Canon of the venerable one, the composition of Gerasimus of the Little Skete of Saint Anna, in Tone VIII:
Another Irmos: The wonderworking staff of Moses, * striking and dividing the sea in the figure of a cross, * once drowned Pharaoh the pursuing charioteer, * while it saved the fleeing people of Israel * as they fled on foot, * chanting a hymn unto God.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Give strength and words to my lips, O Word of God and God, that I may hymn the venerable Isaac, who hath radiantly glorified Thee with a perfect life and instructed the ranks of monastics with divinely inspired discourse.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Having from thy youth hated all carnal luxury, O blessed Isaac, and been wounded by divine love, thou didst take the Cross of the Lord upon thy shoulders, and with thy brother didst choose a life of asceticism.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Borne aloft by the love of Christ the Bestower of life, O venerable one, thou didst soar to the heavenly life, and through ascetic labours wast shown to be a stranger and sojourner on the earth, O most blessed father Isaac.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Without knowing wedlock, thou didst conceive God Who for our sake didst become immutably incarnate as we are, through thy pure blood, O most pure Mary Theotokos. Wherefore, deliver us from changing to the worse.
Ode 3, Irmos: There is none as holy as Thou, * O Lord my God, * who hast exalted the horn of The faithful O good One, * and strengthened us upon the rock * of Thy confession.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Having purified thyself of the mire of the passions, thou didst reveal thyself to be a true receptacle of the virtues and a vessel containing the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
In nowise giving slumber to thine eyes, thou didst show thyself to be a temple of the Holy Trinity and a treasury of wisdom, enriching the world with the golden rays of teachings, O blessed one.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
The honoured Church of Christ doth recognize thee as a golden-streamed Euphrates, flowing with torrents of wise doctrines and watering all creation.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us.
Incarnate of thy precious blood, One of the Holy Trinity divinely issued forth in two natures, saving by grace the children of Adam, O all-pure one.
Another Irmos: O Lord, Creator of the vault of Heaven * and Builder of the Church, * do Thou strengthen me in Thy love, O Summit of desire, * O Support of the faithful, * O only Lover of mankind.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
In that thou didst rid thy heart of the bonds of the passions, thou wast shown to be a receptacle of dispassion and a vessel fit for the effulgence of spiritual life, O blessed Isaac, dweller with the angels.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Full of the graces of heaven, O venerable one, who didst emulate the angels in thy conduct, at all times pouring forth from thy mouth a discourse of salvation, as it were the sweetness of incorruption.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Putting off the burden of the flesh, O father, thou didst elect to make thine abode in the wilderness, uniting thyself unto God with great stillness, prayer and fasting. Wherefore, thou didst become the dwelling-place of the divine Spirit.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O all-hymned Maiden who hast given birth unto God and destroyed the ancient sin, by thy grace do thou restore my mind, which hath been marred by the decadence of the passions which sorely afflict me.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Kontakion of St Ephraim, in Tone II, Spec. Mel “Seeking the highest …”: Ever looking forward to the hour of judgment, * thou didst bitterly lament, O Ephraim; * and though a lover of stillness * thou wast also a teacher of activity, O venerable one. ** Wherefore, O universal father, thou dost motivate the slothful to repentance.
Ikos: Do thou let but a drop of the waters of thy grace bedew my soul, purifying it of every unclean defilement, that cleansed, it may complete the remaining time of life zealous in all things profitable, and partake of the divine sweetness which thou didst enjoy, for thou dost quench the thirst of all who burn with passions, inspiring the slothful to repentance by thy discourses.
Sedalion of St Ephraim, in Tone V, Spec. Mel “The Word Who is co-unoriginate …”: O ye faithful, on the day of his commemoration let us hymn the treasury of the wisdom of the mysteries of Christ, the cup of divine compunction, for in accordance with his name the godly Ephraim doth ever gladden the hearts of the faithful with divine discourses, as a performer and initiate of the mysteries of the revelations of the Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Sedalion, in Tone IV, Spec. Mel., “Go thou quickly before …”: As a divinely radiant lamp of stillness thou shinest the never-waning light of a virtuous life upon the ends of the earth, O wise one; wherefore, we, the choirs of monastics, hymn thee as a divine luminary, O God-bearer Isaac, and we study thy radiant discourses with love.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Theotokion in Tone IV: O pure Virgin Mother, unceasingly beseech Christ our God, Who in His ineffable tender compassion didst become incarnate of thee, that He grant us forgiveness of sins, O Maiden, and deliverance from the grievous woes of life; for unto thee, O Mother of God, do we have recourse in faith.
Ode 4, Irmos: Christ is my power, * my God and my Lord, * the holy Church divinely singeth, * crying with a pure mind, * keeping festival in the Lord.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
The power of thy words hath passed through the whole world, O blessed one, driving away the blindness of men’s souls by the exalted radiance of humility.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thou didst render thy life blameless, cleansing thyself with tears, O right wondrous and divinely revealed one, and by thy wise discourses hast described to all the coming of the Judge.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Having beheld the most glorious height of thy humility, the Lord gave thee exalted discourse, whereby the grievous uprisings of heresies have been humbled.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Strengthened by the grace of the Almighty, thou didst array thyself against the princes of the demons, O father, and having vanquished them, fervently pray on behalf of us who praise thee.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us.
Let us bless the Virgin as a divine temple, as a holy mountain, as a wellspring of incorruption, as the one who alone was the chosen of God our Creator.
Another Irmos: Thou, O Lord, art my strength and Thou art my power, * Thou art my God and Thou art my joy, * Thou Who, while never leaving the bosom of Thy Father, * hast visited our poverty. * Therefore with the Prophet Habbakuk I cry unto Thee, * ‘Glory to Thy power, O Lover of mankind!’
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Irrigated with the streams of thy sacred teachings, O wise Isaac, multitudes of monastics splendidly produce abundant fruit: the purity of abstinence, prayerful contemplation, and the grace of dispassion, chanting: Glory to Thy power, O Lover of mankind!
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
With thy whole mind conversing and uniting thyself with the one God, the sight of Whom is beyond comprehension, O venerable one, thou wast filled past understanding with enlightenment, and wast shown to be a light-bearer, a tower of stillness and a most radiant beacon for monastics.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Living in the flesh like an incorporeal being, thou didst serve God in stillness, O God-bearer Isaac, and wast granted many graces by Christ, of which do thou grant, if only a small portion, unto me who doth cry aloud: Glory to Thy power, O Lover of mankind!
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O Theotokos, having given birth unto God in the flesh, without seed, without corruption, in a manner beyond understanding and comprehension, thou hast annulled the condemnation of Eve, at the hour of my judgment do thou also free me from the dread sentence.
Ode 5, Irmos: Illumine with Thy divine light, I pray, O Good One, * the souls of those who with love rise early to pray to Thee, * that they may know Thee, O Word of God, * as the true God, * Who recalleth us from the darkness of sin.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
With torrents of tears, O father, thou didst utterly dry up the depths of pleasures; and with the outpourings of thy doctrines thou hast staunched the torrents of heresies, O blessed one.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thy mind, illumined by seeking God, O father Ephraim, began to take pleasure in the full vision of God, receiving immaterial revelation as if a mirror of the divine Spirit.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thou didst truly become a temple imbued with the Trinity, adorned with grace and the radiance of pure virtues, and the fullness of teaching, O father.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us.
Eating of the tree in Eden through the wicked treachery of the serpent I was revealed to be mortal; but thou, having given birth to Christ, the Bestower of life, hast brought me to life, O thou who alone art full of God’s grace.
Another Irmos: O Light never-waning, * why hast Thou turned Thy face from me * and why has the alien darkness surrounded me, * wretched though I be? * But do Thou guide my steps I implore Thee * and turn me back towards the light of Thy commandments.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Lifting thy mind to the undefiled good, O saint of Christ, thou didst reveal thyself by thy way of life, to be alien to the things that are in the world, O Isaac, teaching all to disdain that which is corruptible, and in nowise to desire those things that are temporal.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Thou wast shown to be a scribe and model of the angelic life, O divinely wise Isaac; wherefore, the grace of the Spirit hath revealed thee to be a divine pastor and a God-bearing hierarch of the Church of Christ.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Having been inducted into the divine mysteries because of the purity of thy way of life, O God-bearer, thou didst attain to yet greater deeds, O divine Isaac, archpastor of Nineveh, explaining the words of the Gospel to all, and cleansing the wounds of their souls.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Slain by the deception and delusion of the serpent, O most pure one, I flee unto thee who hast given birth to eternal Life. Enliven my mind by thy vivifying help, and guide me to a blameless life.
Ode 6, Irmos: Beholding the sea of life surging the flood of temptations, * I run to calm haven, and cry to Thee: * Raise up my life from corruption, * O Most Merciful One.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Setting thy foundation not on sands, but on the inviolate Faith, O God-bearer, thou didst remain undaunted by all the assaults of the enemy, guided by the hand of the Invincible One.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thy tongue was truly like the pen of a swiftly-writing scribe, showing forth a most pious intellect and tracing the law of the Spirit upon the tablets of our hearts, O father.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Those who navigate the calm expanse of thy dogmas, O divinely wise Ephraim, are delivered from the soul-destroying billows of the abyss and, awakened, are saved by faith from the storm of heresies.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us.
Incarnate, He Who as God is above all noetic beings and visible creatures, issued forth from thy womb, preserving thee incorrupt as thou wast before birthgiving, O Virgin Mother.
Another Irmos: Cleanse me, O Saviour, * for many are mine iniquities; * lead me up from the abyss of evils I pray Thee, * for unto Thee have I cried, * and Thou hast hearkened unto me, * O God of my salvation.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Thou didst brighten thy hierarchal vestments through strict observance of the commandments of God, O divinely-inspired Isaac; wherefore, the Saviour hath received thee as one of His own.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Directing thy life towards the uttermost Judge, thou didst show thyself to be a true and venerable hierarch, O Isaac, revealing the commandments of the laws of grace unto all.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Adorned with the spiritual wisdom which cometh from doing good works, thou wast revealed to be a pious teacher of monastics, O Isaac, guiding them to perfection by thine instructions and deeds.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O most pure one, who hast given birth in the flesh to the transcendent God, from the fall hast thou raised the nature of mortals to the heights of their former nobility; wherefore, we glorify thee.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Kontakion of St Isaac, in Tone VIII, Spec. Mel, “To thee, the champion leader…”: By thine angelic way of life thou wast shown to be a divine instrument of the Comforter, * and a model for monastics in all things, O blessed Isaac. * As the habitation of divine grace, ask thou grace and heavenly light for us ** who cry out to thee: Rejoice, O divinely wise father!
Ikos: Thou wast revealed to be an angel in the flesh in thine ascetic labours, O Godbearing Isaac, and by thine angelic voice hast thou set before us the words of salvation, whereby guided to a higher life, we cry out to thee: Rejoice, star coming forth from Syria; rejoice, lamp of stillness! Rejoice, thou who art more sublime than earthly thoughts; Rejoice, partaker of heavenly enlightenment! Rejoice, divinely inscribed pillar of hesychasts; Rejoice, mouth flowing with the honey of spiritual teachings! Rejoice, for thou wast filled with God-given wisdom; Rejoice, for thou deliverest from the evil of the passions! Rejoice, most fervent of the servants of Christ; Rejoice, our godly teacher! Rejoice, wise God-bearer Isaac; Rejoice, our instructor, guided by God! Rejoice, O divinely wise father!
Ode 7, Irmos: An Angel made the furnace bedew the holy Children. * But the command of God consumed the Chaldeans * and prevailed upon the tyrant to cry: * O God of our fathers, Blessed art Thou.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thou wast shown to be a most excellent giver of laws for monastics, O most honoured one, rescuing them from all the machinations of the enemy. Wherefore, O blessed one, they honour thine honoured and sacred memory on earth.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thou wast shown to be a most excellent giver of laws for monastics, O most honoured one, rescuing them from all the machinations of the enemy. Wherefore, O blessed one, they honour thine honoured and sacred memory on earth.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thou wast an excellent instrument of the Spirit, ever sounding forth thine inspirations and playing the saving hymn of repentance for us who hymn thee, O ever-memorable one.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us.
Thy conception was beyond description, O Bride of God, for thou hast given birth to the Word of God Who hath delivered all mankind from irrationality granting them the words to cry: O God of our fathers, Blessed art Thou!
Another Irmos: Once in Babylon the fire stood in awe * of God’s condescension; * for which sake the youths in the furnace, * dancing with joyous steps as in a meadow, chanted: * O God of our fathers, Blessed art Thou!
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Having shone forth like a most radiant sun among the choirs of monastics, O father, thou dost illumine with the radiance of thine instructions, as with beams of light, all who cry out with faith: Blessed is the God of our fathers!
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
O father, the honourable choirs of monastics know thee to be a divinely-wise describer and guide to the higher life, and as is fitting, celebrate thy memory, O wise father Isaac, thou rule of hesychasts.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Caught up by the Spirit to the vision of the mystical mysteries of a higher glory, which passeth understanding, and deified by partaking thereof, thou didst cry aloud: Blessed is the God of our fathers!
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
With the rich streams of thy mercy purify my heart, which hath been defiled by the passions of the enemy, O Maiden; and dispel the darkness of my mind, that I may gaze upon the Light which shone forth from thee.
Ode 8, Irmos: Thou didst make flame bedew the holy children, * and didst burn the sacrifice of a righteous man with water. * For Thou alone, O Christ, dost do all as Thou willest, * Thee do we exalt throughout all ages.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thou wast shown to be like another sun, O blessed one, and, emitting the beams of thy teachings upon the ends of the earth, thou hast driven away the lightless gloom of all sin with the light of repentance.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Surrounded by the streams of divine dogmas, thou didst flow forth like another river from Eden, watering the face of the earth, O wondrous one, inundating the tares of ungodliness.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us.
Confessing thee to be the true Theotokos, like the angel we cry out to thee with faith: Rejoice! For thou alone hast given birth to Joy on earth, O ever joyous and blessed one.
Another Irmos: In his wrath the Chaldean Tyrant made the furnace blaze, * with heat fanned sevenfold for the servants of God; * but when he perceived that they had been saved by a greater power * he cried aloud to the Creator and Redeemer; * ‘ye children bless, ye priests praise, * ye people, supremely exalt Him throughout all ages’.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Thou didst live an angelic life, O most blessed Isaac, and through stillness and the mortification of the passions didst bring forth the first-fruits of the life to come. And now thou dost cry aloud with the angels in the highest: Ye, children, bless! Ye priests, hymn! Ye people, supremely exalt Christ forever!
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Offering up most earnest prayers and supplications, thou didst unite thyself unto God through purity of mind, and wast shown to be blessed and full of divine grace while yet amid the threefold waves of the flesh. And now in the highest, freed from material things, thou dost manifestly enjoy things ineffable.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Having been sacredly arrayed in the vesture of a bishop, O God-bearer, by thy venerable labours and virtuous struggles thou hast rendered it yet more splendid. And now, O Isaac, with the holy hierarchs and the choirs of the venerable thou dost offer up the mystical sacrifice of immaterial praise unto the Lord.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Preserving the seal of thy virginity intact after birthgiving, thou gavest suck to the Lord to Whom thou hadst given birth, bearing him as a babe, O Virgin Sovereign Lady, Mary Theotokos. Him do thou beseech, that He grant the cleansing of offences unto those who hymn thine ineffable glory.
Ode 9, Irmos: It is impossible for mankind to see God * upon Whom the orders of Angels dare not gaze; * but through thee, O all-pure one, * did the Word Incarnate become a man * and with the Heavenly Hosts * Him we magnify and thee we call blessed.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Wounded by the love of the Almighty O venerable one, thou didst reach the end of thy life, lamenting and crying out with fear: “Assuage my passing with the waves of thy grace, O Saviour, richly preserving me therewith in the life to come!”
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thy sweet discourse was replete with compunction and full of enlightenment for those who have recourse to thee, O right wondrous God-bearer Ephraim; and thy life was blameless, adorned and illumined with all manner of divinely radiant virtues.
Venerable Father, Ephraim, pray to God for us.
Thou wast a temple of the Spirit, a river full of life-giving waters, the unshakable foundation of the Church, the confirmation of monastics, and an ever-flowing stream of divine compunction, O right wondrous Ephraim.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us.
The mind of man cannot understand the mystery of thy birthgiving which passeth understanding, O Virgin; for, making His abode within thy womb, God did not violate the seal of thy virginity, as He, Who is unapproachable alone knoweth.
Another Irmos: Heaven was stricken with awe, * and the ends of the earth were filled with amazement, * for God hath appeared in the flesh, * and thy womb was rendered more spacious than the heavens. * Wherefore, the ranks of men and of angels * magnify thee as the Theotokos.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Let Isaac, great among the venerable ascetics, the scion of Syria, the God-bearing initiate of the life which is in Christ, the most excellent recorder of the mysteries and the enlightener of monastics, be worthily hymned as one who entreateth God, for he prayeth that great mercy be granted unto us.
Venerable Father, Isaac, pray to God for us.
Thou didst engage in the pious struggle of holy ascesis, O venerable one, and thereby didst piously learn the mysteries of all the wisdom of asceticism, that wisely teaching us to avoid the sophistries of the enemy, we may live virtuously, O Godbearer.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Thou hast passed over to the true glory, whose revelation thou didst acquire beforehand; and face to face thou dost gaze upon the effulgence of Christ which is beyond comprehension, O Isaac, adornment of the venerable. Cease not to pray for us who praise thee with love.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O unwedded Virgin Mother who ineffably gavest birth to God in the flesh, deliver me from diseases of the flesh, redeem my greatly sinful soul from grievous insensitivity, and illumine my mind with the light of repentance, that I may hymn thee, O greatly hymned one.
Troparion of St Ephraim, in Tone VIII: With the streams of thy tears thou didst irrigate the barren desert, * and with sighs from the depths of thy soul thou didst render thy labours fruitful an hundredfold, * and didst become a beacon for the whole world, resplendent with miracles. ** O Ephraim our father, entreat Christ God, that our souls be saved.
Troparion of St Isaac, in Tone V: Illumined by rays of the virtues, * O God-bearer Isaac, * in spirit thou wast shown to be a most radiant beacon * of the life which is in Christ; * and by thy divinely inspired teachings, O father, * thou dost guide safely to the way of salvation * those who bless thee ** as a godly servant of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters,
It is precisely on account of the swelling tide of schism, heresy and persecution confronting the Church in our present sorrowful times that our Ruling Hierarch wished the faithful to be strengthened and confirmed in the fullness of the Church’s teaching by the solemnity our moleben on the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy – a radiant feast even in these early days of the Great Fast. So, a solemn and comprehensive order of service was blessed for parish use, lacking only the anathemas pronounced by our bishops and some other episcopal parts.
Dear brothers and sisters,
It was a joy for us to celebrate the feast of the Meeting of the Lord in Llanelli today, and though there was only a handful of us, the Liturgy was full of joyful chanting and fervent prayers, bringing together parishioners from Llanelli, Swansea, Cardiff and Gwlad yr Haf beyond the Bridge (Somerset for the uninitiated).
Dear brothers and sisters,
