Llanelli: 15 December

Dear brothers and sisters,

I should begin with congratulations to Joseph and Maxim on the anniversary of their baptism. The year has passed seemingly quickly since the Sunday in St John’s when they entered the Church: the only adult baptism we celebrated in Canton. May God bless them and rant them “Many, blessed years!”

It was a great joy to be back with parishioners for Sunday Liturgy, after three weeks of rest following fifteen days in hospital, and a previous two and a half weeks suffering from a post heart-attack infection.

It’s hard to believe that my last previous visit to Cardiff was on Sunday 2 November, to baptise baby Ezra, ignorant of what was happening health-wise.

How blessed the parish has been in the intervening weeks, visited and strengthened by the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God, and so efficiently cared for and ministered to by Father Mark the Younger. Many thanks to all who have ensured that Sunday arrangements and worship have gone smoothly.

Through God’s mercy, my recovery is going well, though each day throws up limitations as well as possibilities and is a lesson in common sense, and humility. For a while, tiredness will be a companion on this journey, but I look forward to increased energy and stamina. I will hopefully get a “fit note” from the G.P. and ease back into parish work, but this will be gradual and Father Mark the Younger will effectively remain acting rector until the new year.

I’m glad to report that in the coming month, despite the internal building work in St Philip’s, the hope is that Sunday use of the building will not be affected if all goes to plan. However, as we were warned, there will be no vestry storage and no kitchen, so food on the affected Sundays MUST be finger food, as we will have no washing up capability. Should the need arise, the community hall, next door remains as a safety net.

In the coming week, I need to see various people in Cardiff before western Christmas, and I have arranged to make the most of my visit and hear confessions in Nazareth House on Wednesday. I will be pleased to hear confessions in the late afternoon / early evening, but please drop me a line to let me know you’re coming. 

This coming Thursday will see St Nicholas celebrations in Llanelli, with Great Vespers for the altar-feast being chanted in Father Luke’s garden chapel at 19:00 and the Divine Liturgy on Friday morning at 10:00. It will be a joy to support Father, who has given me immense care and support since leaving Morriston Hospital. Cardiff visitors are always very welcome in Llanelli.

Saturday will see our St Nicholas celebrations continue for the sake of our Gloucestershire parishioners, with the Cheltenham Divine Liturgy celebrated in the United Reformed Church in Deep Street, Prestbury. The Hours and Liturgy will be celebrated at 10:00, and Liturgy will be followed by a bring-and-share lunch. 

As announced, due to St Philip’s being unavailable on Wednesdays, I have arranged for us to use the Oratory for our Nativity celebration on the morning of the 7th January at 11:00, followed by trapeza in the hall. Unfortunately, the evening Mass for the Latin celebration of Epiphany, on Tuesday 6 January makes a vigil service impossible. We were fortunate that there was no evening Mass last year. I am trying to make a alternative arrangements for the evening service.

As Theophany (Богоявление) falls on a Monday and during the St Philip’s building work, with no kitchen water supply, we will bless water the previous day after our Sunday Liturgy of the eve, as is the tradition for the first blessing of the feast. Given logistics and length of services, as in previous years, I hope a group of us will keep the feast with the second blessing of Jordan in our cathedral the next day.

As requested at Liturgy, we ask your prayers for the new-born Edmund, grandson of Father Mark and matushka Katy-Elizabeth Tattum-Smith, and for his parents Aiden and Mary; for the sick and suffering Metropolitans Areseny of Svyatogorsk and Tychikos of Paphos; for Marina, as she travels to Ukraine; for the sick servants of God, Pavel and Irina; and for the newly-departed Michael, whose funeral is tomorrow.

May I remind ALL who commune, that they should remain still, and gather at the kliros for the thanksgiving prayers at the end of Liturgy, unless there is absolute necessity for them to fulfil an obedience, and we should remember that Liturgy has not finished until the final dismissal?

May God bless you all!

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today has been one of great joy, and though I was unable to concelebrate, it was wonderful to be back in church, to hear our choir chanting even whilst confessing, to see new faces and so many people, and to share not only in the Eucharistic Mystery, but to then celebrate Ezra’s baptism.

What a wonderful baptism, and what a peaceful and cooperative baby Ezra was, totally unperturbed, by his triple-immersion in the font, and we are very happy that Ezra was able to commune of the Holy and Divine Mysteries. Congratulations to Joseph and McKenna, and also to Ezra’s godp arents, Father Mark and Joanna. May the Lord bless and protect Ezra, and grant him, his parents, and godparents many blessed years! Многая и благая лета!

As you are aware the weekend also saw the Liturgy for St Demetrios Saturday in Cheltenham, where we also celebrated a general memorialfor the departed, and were very happy to be with our mission faithful after having to cancel the Liturgy a couple of weeks ago.

As wonderful as the weekend has been for me, after two weeks largely spent lying down, it has made me realise that I am still rather limited in terms of energy and capability. Unfortunately, it is very clear that travelling to and from Warminster, next weekend, and celebrating the Divine Liturgy on consecutive days, is beyond my strength for the moment. So, sadly, our Wessex Liturgy will have to be cancelled. We will, however, celebrate the Liturgy in Warminster in the presence of the Kursk-Root Icon, at 10:00, on Tuesday 18 November.

We look forward to greeting the Kursk-Root Icon in Cardiff in the preceding days, but even before that, as the ROCOR shrine-priest for the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, I will have the very great joy of welcoming the Icon in “England’s Nazareth”, in North Norfolk.

Given the long association of our Russian Church Abroad with the shrine, this will be a very great blessing.

Together with our chancellor, Archpriest Paul, I will join the celebration of Founder’s Day, at the College of Our Lady of Mettingham in Suffolk, on Saturday 15 November, after which we will journey from Suffolk to Cardiff. 

Given the length of the journey, we have arranged for the greeting of the Icon before the late celebration of Great Vespers, in St Philip’s at 19:00. Please be in church for 18:45 at the very latest.

I’m sure that Joanna will be looking for volunteers to set up the church, ready for the greeting of the icon.

Our Liturgy on Sunday 16 will be blessed by the presence of the Icon, which will make home visits after Liturgy and several the following morning, before its overnight visit to Wessex, and Tuesday evening journey to Llanelli and Swansea, from whence we will travel to Geneva.

All in all, this will be a rather busy month!

We look forward to celebrating the translated Autumn feast of the Kazan Icon, next Sunday, with our festal Liturgy being followed by full trapéza. All food offerings for the table will be greatly appreciated, and our sisterhood has posted a request list on our WhatsApp page. I will cross post this to Facebook.

As well as thanking everyone for today’s lovely celebration, I would particularly like to give special thanks to Father Mark the Younger for his attentive, pastoral  management of the parish over the last few weeks. We are fortunate and blessed to have the support of a second priest, and it brings peace of mind to have the flexibility to manage unforeseen challenges.

I very much hope to come together with parishioners for prayers and to hear confessions on Thursday and Friday, but will confirm this as this week progresses, as at this very moment, my chest is beginning to be uncomfortable, with concerns that another infection may be beginning.

Asking your prayers and forgiveness Christ’s sake.

May God bless you.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Llanelli – Sunday 13/26 October

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings as we celebrate the Translation, into Moscow, of the Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (1648).

The last nine or ten days have been a strange whirlwind of cramps, aches, pains, temperatures, sleeplessness, delirium, feeling better, then worse, then better again. Despite a continuing wheeze, it seems that normality is returning, after the first normal night’s sleep of the whole period.

So, I look forward to returning to parish life, but ask that you keep an eye on announcements, as I will decide on possible usual services later in the week, as the week unfolds.

Monday update: I learned today that industrial action on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday will result in no First Bus services. Rather difficult, given the first and last hour of each journey is by road and First Bus!

Thanks to all who have been keeping in touch, and equally, thanks to those who have been sending commemorations and requests for prayers. Sick clergy can still pray, and the extra time to do so is a hidden blessing and consolation during sickness.

Next Saturday is St Demetrios Saturday, and will see our rearranged Cheltenham Liturgy, in Prestbury United Reformed Church, at 10:00. This is a memorial day, and will see the commemoration of the faithful departed.

Saturday is also the feast of the Holy Great-Martyr Varus of Egypt, to whom we pray for our non-Orthodox departed ones, making it a doubly special day for remembering the departed.

Sunday will see the rearranged baptism of baby Ezra straight after Liturgy, and even though Joe was only baptised last advent, we will welcome Ezra as a second generation Orthodox Christian in the Melhuish family, reflecting that he has been with us in Liturgy and parish life all through McKenna’s pregnancy!

As Father Mark the Younger has already requested, a personal lunch box to go with a cup of tea or coffee will ensure sustenance, but also participation in this wonderful event.

We pray for the newly departed Dumitru, and for Daniel, as he flies to Romania: memory eternal!

Thanks to Father Mark the Younger for another very early Sunday start, to ensure that everything worked smoothly, and thanks to all who contributed to today’s celebration.

As some of you have seen in our diocesan news, the Kursk-Root Icon is already travelling around our continental communities, and we greatly look forward to welcoming it to our own parish and its missions.

As shrine-priest for our Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, I look forward to welcoming the icon in Walsingham on Thursday 13 November.

It will be a joy to welcome the Icon to England’s Nazareth, and to serve the Divine Liturgy in our tiny shrine chapel in the presence of the Icon on Friday 14th November.

After the Icon’s visit to the College of Our Lady of Mettingham, and Divine Liturgy in its lovely garden church on Saturday 15th November, Father Paul and I will drive from Suffolk to Cardiff, where the Icon will be greeted before Vespers in St Philip’s at 19:00. We will serve the Divine Liturgy in the presence of the Icon on the morning of Sunday 16th November, before local home visits.

After some morning visits in the Cardiff area on Monday 17th November, the Icon will visit Wessex homes before an evening service in the Chapel of St Lawrence, in Warminster.

We are pleased that we will be able to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the chapel the following morning, Tuesday 18th November, on which day an evening service will be held in the Chapel of St David and St Nicholas, in Llanelli, at 19:00.

The following day – Wednesday – we will travel with the Icon to Geneva, where the diocesan clergy convocation will assemble from Wednesday to Friday.

The next month will certainly be busy and challenging, and we place ourselves very much in the hands of the Mother of God. May she help us and strengthen us!

May God bless you.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

This weekend started with our sunbathed Liturgy for the feast of Saints Chariton the Confessor and St Wenceslaus in Warminster, following Great Vespers for the feast in the Oratory Church the previous afternoon. As always, it was a joy to serve in the Chapel of St Lawrence, where we look forward to a pair of eighteenth century “Tables of the Law” (Ten Commandments) being fixed to the east wall, either side of the stained-glass window.

Yesterday saw the celebration of the Uncovering of the Relics of St John the Wonderworker of Shanghai, Brussels and San Francisco, sometime bishop of our God-protected diocese, and one of the greatest shepherds of the Orthodox Church in the twentieth century.

As I reflected in the homily, in the wake of the revolution, the systematic attempt to destroy the Church, and the mass displacement of people, with ensuing poverty, hunger, homelessness, arrests, imprisonment, fear, and uncertainty, God raised up great hierarchs who stand out as outstanding shepherds of their flocks.

Together with St John, we remember the likes of St Basil of Kineshma and Patriarch St Tikhon. 

The calling of these great pastors was not to organise, polemicise, or to leave a corpus of theological writings, but to lead, teach, unite, protect and nurture the Lord’s flock in adversity and trial.

They shone with selfless, sacrificial love, devotion, dedication and the willingness to not only defend their flocks, but to suffer and to die for their sheep. They knew their sheep and their sheep knew them. 

St John protected his flock in their sheepfold in Shanghai, guiding them through the horrors of Japanese occupation, later leading his spiritual sheep and lambs (some of them the orphaned and abandoned children he saved from poverty, squalor, and even dustbins and starving dogs) to safety from the Red horror of Maoism to refuge in the Philippines, and then through negotiation and campaigning to safety in the United States.

St John was then set as arch-pastor over the Western European flock, ruling our diocese, building and developing spiritual life, visiting his parishes, consoling and healing, encouraging education and learning, expanding the flock through openness and mission to the people of Western Europe, just as he would later do in Western America.

Not only did his sheep knew him, but others recognised him as a man of God, overflowing with grace and holiness.

In the “Vita Prima” of St John, Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) of Platina wrote that,

“Vladika loved to visit the sick and did so every single day, hearing confessions and giving Holy Communion. If the condition of a patient should become critical, Vladika would go to him at any hour of the day or night to pray at his bedside…

Vladika visited the prison also, and celebrated the Divine Liturgy for the convicts on a primitive little table. But the most difficult task for a pastor is to visit the mentally ill and the possessed – and Vladika sharply distinguished between the two. Outside Shanghai there was a mental hospital, and Vladika alone had the spiritual power to visit these terribly sick people. He gave them Holy Communion, and they, surprisingly, received it peacefully and listened to him. They always looked forward to his visits and met him with joy.“

We see St John not only as a dedicated but also fearless shepherd – eating little and usually only once a day, never sleeping in a bed from the day of his consecration in May 1934 to his death in July 1966.

In his labours he risked life, he faced persecution and what could have been seen as humiliation, had his deep  humility not made this impossible.

We continue to turn to him as a shepherd, remembering his words. “Although I am dead, I am alive…” encouraging his spiritual children to continue to come to him and talk to him, just as St Seraphim had done.

Thus, he continues as a great shepherd of souls for us, now even more capable of working miracles and hearing our pleas, freed from earthly limitations (which he already superseded in earthly life!) now in he glory of the Kingdom of heaven!

Having celebrated his memory, we would do well to seek St John’s intercession for Metropolitan Tychikos, who has travelled to Constantinople  today for his appeal against his anti-canonical deposition. Please keep him in your prayers.

We look forward to celebrating the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God in the Oratory Church tomorrow, and will celebrate the Divine Liturgy at 10:45, after the second morning mass. I will complete the proskomedia  do that I am able to hear confessions from 10:00. 

Given tomorrow’s feast, I will not be in Cardiff on Friday, but confessions and our 18:00 celebration of Small Compline will be in Nazareth House, as usual, on Thursday, and we will chant the akathist to the Protecting Veil.

Our next Cheltenham Liturgy will be on Saturday, and – following the practice of the last few years – we will again honour the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God, and we look forward to our celebration, and time together over our usual bring-and-share lunch. The Liturgy will be in Prestbury United Reformed Church, Deep St, Cheltenham GL52 3AN, commencing at 10:00.

We will also chant a litia in honour of the Protecting Veil after Sunday’s Liturgy in Cardiff,  the day being the feast of the Holy Apostle Thomas.

The variables may be found here: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wSKJixpFw85lyfLSkIIVNQewrwfq8-Hs/view

Thanks to those who baked cakes for after last week’s Liturgy. The simplifying of refreshments made cleaning so much easier, allowing us to leave on time. Oddly, despite, this change being announced at Liturgy, posted on Facebook and WhatsApp, and emailed in the news bulletin, there were still those who claimed they did not know. There’s only so much we can do to share news without resorting to letters through your letter box. Please read the parish news!

We look forward to a shared lunch on feasts, but should remember that as Becky, the treasury, of the St Mark’s – St Philip’s community has informed us, there will be six weeks of weekday internal alteration work which will mean there is no operative kitchen in St Philip’s. The start date is yet to be confirmed.

Despite some reservations, the expanded opportunities for parish giving continue to make a considerable difference to our parish collections, as Father Mark has reported, total electronic donations this week of £1,245, are split as follows

Monday 06/10 – Online Donations from website: £10 – General Collection; £30 – Building Fund.

Friday 10/10 – Online Donations from website; £20 – Stipend Fund; £1,000 – Building Fund; £5 – Candles.

Sunday 12/10 – Digital collection plate Machine; £115 General Collection; £40 – Building Fund; £10- Stipend Fund; £15 – Candle Purchases. DCP TOTAL = £180

£1,160 of the donations were gift aided, giving an additional £290

Cash donations: £33 – Plate collection; £20 – Candles.

Therefore, total donations (cash and electronic) total of £1,298 (£1,588 incl. gift aid).

Again, for weekly analysis purposes removing the large one off donation, weekly total donations are £298 (£338 incl. gift aid).

Thanks to Fr Mark for this report.

The last few days have seen further plannings and discussions regarding the visit of the Kursk-Root Icon, which Father Paul and I will bring from East Anglia, arriving for vespers on Saturday 15 November. 

The Icon will grace our Liturgy on Sunday 16 November, before afternoon Cardiff home visits and several visits on Monday morning (17 November), after which it will depart for afternoon visits in Somerset and Wiltshire, before our evening service in the Chapel of St Lawrence in Warminster at 18:30. 

The following morning, Tuesday 18 November, we have requested the use of the chapel to celebrate a morning Liturgy, and as the chapel will already be set up from the previous evening, I have scheduled the service for 10:00, rather than 10:30. I will confirm this once confirmation is received. That evening, there will be a service in Llanelli at 19:00, and this will be in Father Luke’s home chapel.

We pray for Olga, Valentina Nikolaevna, Svetlana, matushka Alla and Nataliya as they travel; for the health of Liza, Irina, Pavel and Brigid; and for Masha and Neil as they soldier on with house restoration.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

May God bless you.

Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

Thank you to everyone who has supported the shared life of our community over the past week, and to both parishioners, friends and benefactors of the parish, who have been generous in so many different ways.

In the absence of both Olga and Masha, we are grateful to our young men, who in Joe’s case defied a sore and croaky throat to sing parts of the Liturgy, including a lovely Athonite setting of the first antiphon. Thanks also to Father Hierodeacon Avraamy for chanting on the kliros and lending his support. We look forward to our gentlemen contributing more traditional Russian and Byzantine chants to our Liturgy, and broadening our musical tradition.

For a second week, both the “digital collection plate” (card reader) and remote-giving greatly increased our weekly offering, and Father Mark reports that this week’s total electronic payments were £1,735, which we most definitely don’t expect to happen too often, but which does show the benefits of multiple options for donating to the parish. 

From next week Joanna will be organising volunteers to take the candle and prosphora offerings and look after the candle tray, and we will hopefully expand this to reinstate our parish lavka/kiosk, once we have acquired suitable items.

Joanna has written to Vladyka Irenei, updating him about our bid offer on the building in Taff’s Well, and I will personally update him on the progress of the gofundme page, hoping that together with other proactive individuals, he will promote our fundraising, regardless of the outcome with the chapel.

Thanks to our parish youth, for their ongoing labours around fundraising and social media. It’s very good to see them involved and dedicated to parish life.

Branka has asked me to announce that on forthcoming ordinary Sundays, refreshments after Liturgy will be limited to cake and hot drinks, given the time it is taking to wash up and clean, which usually sees us leaving later than our planned exit.

Though we previously asked offerings to be limited to finger-food for ease of clearing up and cleaning, this went unheeded, making a fair amount of work for a relatively small handful of people, so as of next week, let’s please stick to this simplified trapeza, and look forward to feast days for shared meals together. We will be strict in keeping to this plan for ease of clearing and cleaning St Philip’s, and to make this easier, may we also ask that parishioners take any used cups, plates etc., to the kitchen hatch when they have finished, so that our sisters are spared the task of having to go round church picking things up. Thank you.

We are grateful to those who pack things away after Liturgy, but I would like to clarify an important point. Can we please not remove principal icons from the stands until the end of the thanksgiving prayers and the priest’s dismissal? Our worship has not finished until that point, and the dismissal is given on the “solea” (liturgical are between he screen and the nave), which must remain complete until then. By all means, pack away the peripheral icons, but please wait until the last “amen” before removing the icons from the stands.

As announced, this week should hopefully see our usual meeting to pray Small Compline and an akathist to the Mother of God in Nazareth House at 18:00, with confessions before and after the service.

We shall chant vespers for the eve of the feast of St Vyacheslav (Wenceslaus)  on Friday at 15:00, and given my journey to Warminster after the service, it would be a great help to hear confessions beforehand, if possible.

On Saturday, we will continue the feast, and also honour St Chariton the Confessor, with the celebration of our monthly Warminster Liturgy for parishioners living in Wessex, the service in the Chapel of St Lawrence at 10:30. Confessions will be heard before the service, and we will have our customary bring-and-share lunch afterwards.

On Sunday, we will have the joy of celebrating the feast of  the Uncovering of the Relics of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco (1993), and the variables for Liturgy may be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yFjVTgYsuSbfKAgUoIfk7DlsPZ_9lpzd/view

As announced on WhatsApp, through the generosity of the Oratorian Fathers, we will have the blessing of celebrating the feast of the Protecting Veil (Pokrov) on the Oratory Church on Tuesday 14 October (1st Old Style) and will commence the Hours and Liturgy at 10:45. It will be a joy to celebrate this wonderful feast of the maternal protection, and loving care of the Theotokos, and we will share refreshments in the lower sacristy after the Liturgy.

We ask your prayers for Olga, Valentina and Svetlana on their holiday travels; for the sick servants of God Pavel and Brigid; for Liza as she has a hospital visit and procedure tomorrow (Monday); and for the newly departed servants of God, Protodeacon Peter and Natalia of our Geneva parish.

Don’t forget that we across the miles we pray together for the future mission-base for our parish at 20:00 each evening.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

May God bless you.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings as we continue to celebrate the afterfeast of the Exultation of the Life-Giving Cross, having been greatly blessed by the presence of one of the Oratories relics of the Life-Giving Cross at Liturgy, having already taken the relic to Lazarica for the festal Liturgy on Saturday. Profound thanks to the Father and Brothers of the Oratory.

Today is the name-day of our very dear departed sister, Lyudmila, who touched us all in so many different ways, with her treats, her dry humour, her gentle warmth and prayerfulness, but above all in her deep humility and faith as she suffered her illness with unshakeable hope and trust in God. Please remember her and pray for her today. May her memory be eternal! Вечная память!

Celebrating newness of life, before we began yesterday’s Liturgy, we had the joy of the naming of two-week old Ezra, with the Church’s prayer asking God’s blessing, as we look forward to his baptism and reception of the Holy Mysteries.

“O Lord our God, we pray unto Thee, and we beseech Thee, that the light of Thy countenance may be shown upon Thy servant, Ezra, and that the cross of Thine only-begotten Son may be graven in his heart and in his thoughts, that he may flee from the vanity of the world and from every evil snare of the enemy, and may follow after Thy commandments. And grant, O Lord, that Thy Holy Name may remain unrejected by him and that he may be united, in due time, to Thy holy Church, and that the terrible Mysteries of Thy Christ may be administered unto him, that having lived according to Thy commandments and preserved without flaw the Seal he may receive the bliss of the elect in Thy kingdom; through the grace and love toward mankind of Thine only-begotten Son, with whom Thou art blessed, together with Thine all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.”

It reminded me of the arrival of Yuriy, who was baptised in his third week and has been at the heart of our parish ever since, and we know that Joseph will ensure, that like Yuriy, Ezra not only grows up in Faith, but as a child comfortable in the familiarity and sacred pattern of Church and parish life, surrounded by icons, candles, the smell of incense and sacred chant. Of course, Ezra has been used to the chant of the Liturgy throughout his life until now, but experienced ‘from the outside’ for the first time, yesterday. May God bless Ezra and his mum and dad. Many years to them!

This week will see our usual services…

Thursday 2 October at 18:00: Small Compline and akathist in Nazareth House, Colum Rd, Cardiff CF10 3UN . Confessions before and after the service.

Friday 3 October at 15:00: Vespers for the Eve of the Feast of St Dimitri of Rostov in the Oratory Church, Swinton St, Cardiff CF24 2NT. Confessions before and after the service.

Sunday 5 October at 09:00: The Hours and Divine Liturgy, followed by a bring-and-share lunch in St Philips Church, Tweedsmuir Rd, Tremorfa, Cardiff CF24 2QZ. Confessions before the service.

It has been a joy to welcome so many visitors over the past months, and this is a period of constant enquiries, questions and long spiritual conversations with people (usually young ones!) exploring Faith and spiritual life. The warmth of our parishioners cushions what can be a daunting experience for those coming to an Orthodox service for the first time. Let’s please ensure everyone is greeted and welcomed, and encouraged to come into the Liturgy and NOT stand to side of the sanctuary.

The last point is one that I ask existing parishioners to take on board. Standing, seeing the Liturgy from the side of an unscreened sanctuary is not the place to be in our Liturgy, but rather before the icons and Holy Table. Please enter the church, even if late, and face the Holy Table from the body of the church. We cannot change where the entrance is, but we can ensure we enter and stand together for worship. At many Liturgies there are more people at the side of the altar than before the icons, which is actually very distracting for the clergy in the sanctuary. As the weeks goes on, we will be screening the side of the sanctuary, when we are able to do so.

As you are aware our building campaign is now under way, having been launched on Friday evening, and has thus far received £8100 in donations directly into our bank account via personal bank transfer and £1, 685 from the gofundme page. Thanks to our young people for their work on this, and on social media. We really appreciate their labours.

The gofundme page me be found here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-buy-a-church-for-our-orthodox-parish

The card machine which we are trialing till the end of the year was in place for yesterday’s Liturgy and received positive feedback from the faithful who used it, the total electronic donations of £190 being split as follows: £65 General Collection, £40 Building Fund, £70 Stipend Fund, £15 Candle Purchases, £50 of the donations were gift aided giving an additional £12.50. All in all this saw total donations of £350.50.

The now affordable post-school vacation holiday season continues, and we ask prayers for our regent Olga and Valentina Nikolaevna as they travel to Rhodes, and also for Sasha and his family, presently in Lithuania, and for matushka Alla on her visit to Russia. We continue to pray for Masha and Neil with the complication of their new house, that God may give them strength and resielince in creating a wonderful home with a chapel in the garden.

As we approach October, I would like to know if there will be singers and readers for the feast of Pokrov (the Protecting Veil) on Tuesday 14 October, as we would like to celebrate the feast with a Liturgy. Please let me know if you are able to assist.

Our next Wessex Liturgy will be on Saturday 11 October, the feast of St Chariton the Confessor of Palestine, and we will celebrate our Liturgy in the chapel of St Lawrence, in Warminster, at 10.30.

Our next Cheltenham Liturgy will be the following Saturday, 18 October, and will be dedicated to the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God, as we do for our Gloucestershire October Liturgy each year.

With thanks for every labour, every offering to the life of our community, and every prayer, and may God bless you all.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

Hieromonk Mark

Somerset: Monday 22 September

Dear brothers and sisters,

It has been a joy to celebrate the forefeast, feast and afterfeast of the Nativity of the Mother of God across our Cardiff mission area over the last three days, with Saturday’s pre-festal Liturgy in Cheltenham, the festal Liturgy in Cardiff yesterday, and Compline in Warminster today, after a visit to Shaftesbury Abbey, the resting place of the relics of King Edward the Martyr until their rediscovery in 1931.

It was a pleasure to see parishioners that we had not seen for a while at yesterday’s Liturgy for the feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God, and to welcome our recent arrivals to our joyful celebration of God’s foundation of the Incarnation in the birth of the Mother of the long-awaited Messiah and Saviour of the World. Many thanks to all who made it such a joyful celebration.

Thanks to our Cheltenham ladies for the flowers which have travelled with us from Cheltenham to Wales to Wiltshire, having adorned our icons at the services over the last few days, and which are now lending welcome colour to our Wessex home, in the Chapel of St Lawrence in Warminster.

Our supper and compline service in the chapel allowed us to honour St Joachim and Anna, and to congratulate Jessica Anne on her name day, wishing her “Many Years!”

Following a building committee meeting on Sunday 1/14 September, last week was one of behind-the-scenes activity with work being done on a parish gofundme page to raise money for our building fund, and this should be up and running in the next few days.

This week will see our usual pattern of worship, with small compline in Nazareth House on Thursday at 18:00, and a moleben to St Andrew (before his relics) in the Oratory on Friday at 15:00. Confessions will be heard before and after the service.

Further to Father Mark the Younger’s brief finance report on Sunday, may we encourage parishioners who are UK tax payers to register for Gift Aid, allowing the parish to claim back tax and increase donations at no cost to the donor. Please consider this, as for every £1 donated, we could receives an additional 25p, making a vast difference to parish finances. Please talk to Father Mark if you are interested and able to help in this way.

On the feast of the Exultation of the Cross, on Saturday, my intention is still to celebrate the feast in Lazarica, with the hope that some parishioners may join me in Birmingham. As previously requested, if you can go and are able to offer a place in your vehicle please let us know, to give others the opportunity to celebrate the feast. 

As Saturday is a feast of the Cross, it is a Fast day, allowing wine and oil.

We look forward to the veneration of the Cross in St Philip’s on Sunday, the second day of the feast, when we also celebrate  the Holy Great-martyr Nikita the Goth and the 0Uncovering of the relics of the Holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen.

Further to various conversations following confessions, may I stress that as Orthodox Christians, we live CALENDRICALLY. 

This means not only keeping fasts and feasts, but knowing and celebrating the saints’ commemorations, day by day. 

Reading at the calendar should be part of our daily spiritual routine, and we should remember that an even greater danger than New Calendrism (itself an undermining of sacred, patristic Tradition) is no calendarism, in which carelessness and neglect results in life oblivious to the Church’s commemorations, feasts, fasts, saints and seasons. As we look to the year ahead, please consider buying a physical, paper and print calendar to have in your icon corner.

In your prayers, please pray for the much suffering people of Gaza and for Metropolitan Theodosius of Sebastia; for the suffering servant of God, Metropolitan Tychikos, whose health is deteriorating in the light of his persecution and trials; for Porphyrios, matushka Alla and Joanna on their travels; for Pavel, Natalia, Martyn-John and Brigid among the sick; for the departed servants of God Yury and Inna; for baby Ezra and new parents McKenna and Joseph; and for our community to find and acquire its own temple!

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

May God bless you.

Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

We must congratulate Joseph and McKenna on the arrival of Ezra William Melhuish into the world on the celebration of the Church New Year. Many, blessed years to Ezra, mum and dad!

Our ecclesiastical new year saw a meeting of our parish councillors and building committee. In the course of that meeting, the members of the council unanimously voted to amend the parish constitution to allow it to appoint the starosta and, consequently, unanimously invited Joanna to accept this obedience, which she has informally fulfilled since our move to St Philip’s. We are extremely happy to be able to confirm this appointment and pray that God may bless Joanna in this position.

We chanted Many Years to Joanna and her parents Andrzej and Barbara at the end of Liturgy, thankful for their continuing kindness and benefaction, having used their gifts of altar and analoy cloths, and the large icon banners for the first time. What a wonderful addition to our Orthodox worship.

To return to the meeting of the building committee, several of it’s members are looking at options regarding the redundant chapel visited in Taff’s Well, and a group of our young people are working on a more general fundraising page to try and make our needed dedicated Orthodox parish centre into a reality.

Whether the Taff’s Well chapel is a possibility, or not, the last few weeks have galvanised our drive to move forward in finding our OWN home.

This week sees our usual compline service in Nazareth House on Thursday at 18:30, and our moleben at 15:00 in the Oratory on Friday. I will be happy to hear confessions before and after the services.

The clergy will celebrate the Hours and  Divine Liturgy in Cheltenham on Saturday, commencing in Prestbury United Reformed Church at 10:00. Confessions will be heard before the service.

We will celebrate the Nativity of the Mother of God next weekend, and look forward to having a Great Feast on a Sunday.

The variables may be found in the usual place:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FyJMlx9FLc1-oEXPX7GZ0n2S8Yv-Su8J/view

The following day, Monday 22nd September, we will celebrate the afterfeast with compline by candlelight in the Chapel of St Lawrence in Warminster, preceded by supper and fellowship at 18:30. 

This has become a wonderfully quiet and prayerful addition to parish life for those living on the English side of the Severn, and it is always wonderful to welcome fellow parishioners from the Welsh side.

This weekend saw our monthly Wessex Liturgy, celebrating the Deposition of the Cincture of the Mother of God, and St Aidan of Lindisfarne, with a quiet, prayerful and beautiful Liturgy and lovely shared lunch. Thanks to all!

Whilst thinking of the Wessex end of the parish, we thank God that Masha and Neil’s house move was successful, despite some threatening and serious obstacles, and in the same household, we congratulate Kolya on passing his driving test!

Thanks to everyone for today’s service, to which it was a pleasure to welcome visitors, as our Liturgy was beautified by our screens and textiles, and thanks to all who set up and put away.

We are happy that things seem to be getting back to normal, as parishioners return to holiday, though some of the faithful will be away in the weeks ahead. We pray for Joanna and husband Mark, and for matushka Alla on their travels.

We ask your prayers for the sick – Pavel, Brigid and Natalia; for the newly departed Irina, and the departed Yuriy and Inna; and for McKenna, Joseph, and new born Ezra.

Looking forward to Saturday 27th September, the Exultation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, this will be a day of parish pilgrimage to the church of St Lazar, in Bournville, to celebrate with our lovely sister parish and dear friends. If you are able to attend and offer car spaces, that would be wonderful!

May God bless you all.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

Hieromonk Mark