Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings for the after-feast of the Baptism of the Lord, at the end of a busy day in Wiltshire, and after a final festal service in Nazareth House yesterday.

On such a joyful day, with the Great Blessing of the Water at the end of Liturgy as everyone gathered round, it was lovely to welcome parishioners from far and wide, with the return of our students, new faces, and some familiar faces for the first time in while. Buoyed and blessed by the feast of the Lord’s Baptism, we look forward to our return to St John’s, Canton after fourteen months in Nazareth House.

Thanks to all who contributed to such a joyful Liturgy, especially those who contributed to our trapeza, which will now be a weekly feature of life of St John’s, so – if you are able – please bring something to our bring-and-share lunch.

Due to the impracticalities of weekday celebrations in Nazareth House, around ten of us headed to Chiswick for Theophany, and greatly enjoyed celebrating the feast with our cathedral clergy and brothers and sisters. We are extremely grateful to Fathers Vitaly and Yaroslav and the sisterhood for their warmth and hospitality, and hope that we, as a parish, may connect more with our cathedral over the coming year.

Today day started with a house blessing near Warminster before the sanctification of  the River Wylye at Hanging Langford, a Theophany lunch with Wessex parishioners, a visit to the chapel of St Laurence in Warminster (an intended winter Liturgy setting for our developing Wessex mission), and the evening blessing of Porphyrios’s narrow boat. It was lovely to gather on the house-boat with the icon corner as its obvious focus and centre, praying together in our first Wessex prayer meeting, and then enjoying a warm and congenial bring-and-share supper.

I am very grateful to our Wessex parishioners for their warmth, hospitality and generosity, which will be one of the great blessings of our mission in Wessex, and which – I am sure – will impress itself upon those who meet us and the Church in Wiltshire and beyond.

We look forward to heading to Dorset tomorrow, for another house blessing and a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Wite in Whitchurch Canonicorm.

His Grace, Bishop Irenei, has blessed our mission to serve our very loyal Wessex parishioners who are part of the Cardiff parish, and we look forward to serving them in their own corner of the world, blessed by so many saints and such a noble and profound Christian legacy. We hope to announce our first Liturgy over the next few weeks.

Wednesday will see the relocation of most of our effects to St John’s in Canton, where we will resume parish life, with the Liturgy at 11:00, after confessions from around 10:15 to 10:55, at which time the proskomedia MUST take place.

After being without facilities, we look forward to having a kitchen and food area, so please make the most of this, and bring something for our lunch after Liturgy. Thanks to all who did so today. 

I will hear confessions in Nazareth House on Friday this week, and would appreciate requests by 20:00 on Thursday.

I will also be happy to receive requests for house blessings, which have begun in Wessex, before we also do so in Wales.

May God bless you.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters, greetings for the new civil year, and best wishes for 2024.

The last day of the past year saw a well-attended Liturgy with  around forty adults and the return of some old faces from the Baltic and closer to home, as well as faces new to our community.

Having expected a dip between western Christmas and Orthodox Nativity, we have been surprised this year, with more or less sustained numbers, though singers and servers have been sparse at times. Welcome all who have made acquaintance with us over the last few weeks and welcome back all who have been away.

I was able to confess a dozen regular parishioners, and – as made clear during announcements – they are blessed to commune on the coming feast of the Nativity, allowing confession time for others who are preparing for Christmas Communion.

This week, confessions will be on Friday afternoon and before and after the Nativity Vigil (from 18:00 and for as long as needed after. On Christmas morning – next Sunday – I would like to be free to confess those coming for the day from destinations beyond the Severn and our Welsh parishioners who live some distance from Cardiff.

As 2024 begins, we pass from one year to the next with the world overshadowed by conflict, with the violence and misery of war, though the past year did see some of our temporary parishioners return to Ukraine, and some of our current parishioners have gone home for Nativity. May God bless and protect them! We are also ever-mindful of the suffering of those in the Holy Land, and have been glad to do what little we have been able to for the relief of those in Gaza and the West Bank.

Not only did 2023 see the continued armed conflict in Ukraine, and the terrible conflict in Gaza, but also the unending state-sponsored crusade against the Church in Ukraine, with continued violent seizures of temples, physical assault on believers, the arrest and imprisonment of clergy, desecration of shrines, temples in flames, the exile of seminarians and pilgrims from the Kiev Caves Lavra and other places – a neo-Soviet attempt to destroy the Church of Christ. Yet – praise God – whilst the seized temples of Patriarch Bartholomew’s schismatics are deserted, nearly empty or even locked for lack of worshippers, the confessing Church is purified, strengthened and radiant in the poverty and humility of the Saviour. A stable was good enough for His birth, and private houses, converted commercial premises, pavements, gardens and open-air places are good enough for the Church. This is the quiet and comforting meaning of the words of the Nativity Vigil: God is with us!

I hope that the same quiet confidence in the Lord’s abiding presence will continue to guide our own community in its wanderings, and constantly changing conditions.

2023 was a year back in Nazareth House, where we have worshipped week by week, have welcomed new faces, admitted new catechumens, performed baptisms, and (yesterday) churched and communed our latest neophyte – Steven – whom we congratulate on the joyful occasion of his baptism in St Nicholas in the Vale. We congratulate him on his first Liturgy as a baptised Orthodox Christian, especially upon his reception of the Holy Mysteries. Many, blessed years!

2023 was a year of pilgrimages, with one each month from February to November, and I hope that we will ensure that every month of 2024 will be blessed in the same way. Thanks to Tracy who has acted as our pilgrimage coordinator and to all who have contributed to these spiritual journeys that have been a source of grace and blessing. Our pilgrimages to Capel y ffin and Llanthony, Pennant Melangell and Glastonbury particularly stand out, and I hope that all three destinations may become a pilgrimage fixture on our calendar.

The year also saw parishioners go farther afield on pilgrimage, with half a dozen intrepid souls facing the summer heat of the Holy Land to join the diocesan pilgrimage, packed with visits to so many sacred destinations. They were greatly blessed to be able to celebrate the Holy Mysteries in places at the heart of the Faith, not only with our own bishop, but also with the hierarchs of the Mother Church of Jerusalem (and yes, Jerusalem is the Mother Church, not somewhere in Turkey, where Pentecost definitely did not happen!).

As a result of conversations and an invitation in the Holy Land, later in the year, a group of our young brothers travelled to Mount Athos with Reader Wilfred from our cathedral, and they very much hope that an annual visit to the Bulgarian monastery of Zographou will become a feature of parish life.

Some changes in Nazareth House have posed obstacles to Sunday worship, limiting our ability to hear confessions, set up the church, and generally celebrate as we need to. Weekday Liturgies on feasts have become difficult, hence celebrating in Llanelli. The lack of trapeza has rather dented the life of the parish (though boosting business at our local café), especially as the massive geographical spread of our parishioners across South Wales and Wessex means that Sunday is the only opportunity for parishioners to spend time together, and some have a long journey home. This has a been a growing topic of conversation, with some parishioners expressing the need for much-missed facilities, and a less limiting physical environment.

As a result of such conversations and discussions, Deacon Mark and I recently visited Llys Esgob, in Llandaff, and spoke with Mother Frances’s appointed successor at St John’s, Canton, the Reverend Andrew Sully. He and Andrew, the starosta, are enthusiastic about the parish returning to Canton and building a community partnership, so that our parish is very much an active part of the life of St John’s. So, we have agreed that we will return to St John’s Canton for Liturgy from Sunday 28^th January. Until then, our worship continues in Nazareth House. Parishioners who visited St John’s were delighted to discover that the central heating system now works splendidly. I hope that having the leafy, tree-lined grounds will allow fuller parish life, with adult baptisms in the church garden, processions on each feast, picnics and outside eating in the summer – with occasions to get together with the Anglican faithful.

We extend our thanks to the Sisters of Nazareth for their hospitality over the last thirteen months, and Fathers Alexander and David for their kindness during the previous chaplaincy, when they did everything to help, with great respect for our presence. May God bless them.

We will have the task of moving our furnishings and possessions from Nazareth House to St John’s towards the end of the month, and will appreciate assistance at that time.

Next weekend, our Nativity Vigil will be at 19:00 on Saturday evening and on Sunday 7^th January, our Nativity Liturgy will start as close to 11:00 as possible.

Looking beyond Nativity, Theophany falls on Thursday 19^th January (New Style) and given that neither Nazareth House chapel or St John’s are available on Thursday mornings, a group of us will attend the celebration of the feast in the cathedral in Chiswick. However, we will perform the Great Blessing of the Waters in Nazareth House after Liturgy on Sunday 22^nd January.

The following day, I look forward to an outdoor water blessing in Wiltshire when our Wessex parishioners have the first meeting of their local prayer-group. With the blessing of Bishop Irenei, we will be supporting our loyal Wessex ‘pilgrim-parishioners’ with a local mission, and we are presently looking for a place to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. Please keep this intention in your prayers.

So… we begin 2024 with some major changes and developments in the life of our scattered community, but ones which I look forward to, seeing great opportunities for positive development after a period in which parish life has become limited and faced obstacles. We pray for God’s blessing and guidance.

May God bless you and your families in the year ahead.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

The last few days have certainly been busy, and I hope that those who made the journey to Birmingham to venerate the Trojeručica-Hilandarska icon of the Mother of God, in Bournville, have been spiritually buoyed and encouraged in their Faith by a wonderful day, with a moleben with the akathist before the icon.

Our pilgrimages over the last ten months have been such an encouragement and a common celebration of our Faith, bringing the different generations of our parish together for prayer, Liturgy and social time. I hope and pray that we will continue in these pilgrim endeavours, especially now that we have an active and energetic core of young people.

With so many things going on in December, our plan is to make a local pilgrimage to the Cardiff Oratory, to venerate their portion of the relics of St Alban, enshrined in the church of St Alban-on-the-Moors. Given that this is so local, I wonder whether we may do this on a mutually convenient weekday evening, and we will discuss this over the next week or so. Father Sebastian and his confreres are very keen that we avail ourselves of the shrine and church for devotions to the Protomartyr of Britain, having welcomed us so many times in the past. I will approach him with our request.

For anyone who may be interested in travelling further afield, the ‘Midlands Orthodox Christians’ group (of which we met some members in Bournville), will be making a December pilgrimage to Stoke St Milborough, near Ludlow on Saturday 16^th December, and I hope to join them, possibly blessing St Milburgha’s Well. They would be delighted for any of our parishioners to join them!

We were happy to welcome past visitors to yesterday’s Liturgy, as well as welcoming new people to our worship, and welcoming home those who have been away. We are grateful for those who helped set up the church in such a short time, not to mention packing things away.

In future, we will start chanting the Hours before the Roman Catholic service, as the more than doubling of the length of the mass makes it impossible for us to set up, chant the Hours and celebrate the Liturgy at such a late hour, though the confession situation continues to work extremely well.

Tomorrow sees the beginning of the Nativity Fast. There are some variations in local practice, but the common foundation is that food is vegan, without wine and oil, though with wine/oil or fish as permitted additions on certain days.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are essentially ‘dry days’, Tuesdays and Thursdays ‘oil days’, and Saturdays and Sundays ‘fish days’. Whenever fish is permitted, so is wine and oil.

I know that many of our parishioners follow the St Herman Calendar, which has some differences in the fasting rules, but we will be publishing rules according to ROCOR’s printed calendars, and encourage you to follow these guidelines.

Tuesday 28 (15) November:  Holy Martyrs and Confessors Gurias (299), Samonas (306), and Abibus (322), of Edessa. St. Paisiy (Velichkovsky) of Moldavia and Mt. Athos (1794). Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits etc)

Wednesday 29 (16) November: Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew (60). Wine and oil allowed.

Thursday 30 (17) November: Venerable Nikon, abbot of Radonezh, disciple of St. Sergius (1426). Wine and oil allowed.

Friday 1 December (18 November): Martyr Platon of Ancyra (266). Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits etc)

Saturday 2 December (19 November): St. Philaret, metropolitan of Moscow (1867). Fish, wine and oil allowed.

Sunday 3 December (20 November): Forefeast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. Venerable Gregory Decapolites (816). Fish, wine and oil allowed.

I hope that we will all add to our prayer-life and spiritual reading, to focus Advent and our preparation for the Lord’s Nativity.

This Friday would usually be our discussion group, but as there is a rail-strike, I will not be venturing beyond Llanelli – already having such a regrettable time using the railways for travel to and from Cardiff. So, I will hear confessions on Thursday, and will offer an Advent moleben at 16:00, as well as hearing confessions before celebrating vespers at 16:00, on Saturday.

As announced by Marina on Sunday, the next deadline for blanket collection for children in Ukraine is 8^th December, and new fleece blankets will be greatly appreciated.

Another charitable focus over the next few weeks will be the concert in St John’s, Canton, on Wednesday 13^thDecember at 19:30, with all proceeds supporting suffering Christians in the Holy Land, where the Bethany Christian School is suffering immense hardship

Please endeavour to support these worthy causes!

Next Sunday will be the forefeast of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple, and the following morning the Liturgy for the feast will be in Llanelli, with the Hours starting at 10:00. Given the challenges we face before every morning service in Cardiff, our weekday Liturgies will be in Llanelli for the foreseeable future.

May I ask for confession requests for Thursday to get to me by noon on Wednesday, please?

May God bless you all. Good strength for the fast!

In Christ – Fr Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings for the Church New Year!

I have just come through the front door and set the kettle to boil after a busy week in the parish, having spent the more than twenty six hours travelling to and fro across South Wales, but having used the time for prayer and reading, as well as keeping touch with our scattered parishioners.

Monday saw the celebration of the Divine Liturgy for the feast of the Beheading of St John the Forerunner, with one of our young brothers chanting Demestvenny melodies at the kliros, contrasting with the harmonised singing of the previous day’s Liturgy, and bringing a very different liturgical aesthetic to our worship.

A community choir practice in church precluded the celebration of vespers and the Lesser Blessing of Water on Wednesday evening, though I still returned to Cardiff ready for an early start on Thursday, arranging the church for Divine Liturgy for the Church New Year, and to perform the proskomedia before confessions and the expectation that I would chant. Unfortunately, a motorway puncture prevented Fr Luke and one of his parishioners from being with us, so I combined roles during the Liturgy, though there was some welcome help from the kliros. Confessions after a break for refreshment, then putting things away in church made for a long day, but a very blessed and productive one.

Friday teatime saw confessions for those working and studying in the daytime, before our evening study group met in the nuns’ choir, and the following afternoon a group of us arranged the church for worship before we had our Saturday evening service.

I’m not sure that everyone realises the great amount of effort that goes into arranging the church for worship and putting everything away. This can easily takes three hours each day, and sometimes more, when clergy are doing this without assistance, and on a Sunday our servers have much to do after Liturgy. We are very grateful to them.

Despite Saturday’s church set-up, today saw even greater pressure on our final arrangements, as mass became even longer, and this situation will be closely monitored. Hearing confessions at the back of the church (from 10:15) makes a great difference, but not being able to set up the church until 10:45 makes the time before our service extremely pressurised. Mercifully, we were able to commence the Hours at 11:05.

We were blessed with another lovely Liturgy today, with a slightly smaller choir than the last few weeks and only a few servers. Once again, the icons looked lovely with the flowers adorning them and I am glad to hear that our sisterhood have a flower rota in place for the next few months.

It was lovely to see parishioners who have been away in Greece and Ukraine and to welcome them home, and we are always glad to be joined by parishioners from Llanelli, who are now with us regularly on the Sundays of the month when there is no Llanelli Liturgy.

The coming week will see Deacon Mark and I go to the cathedral for the altar-feast, together with several of the young brothers of our parish, and we will be away on Wednesday and Thursday, looking forward to seeing other parishioners there.

I will be able to hear daytime confessions in church on Friday, and anyone only able to confess on Saturday should let me know, and arrangements will be made to do so after our visit to Llantwit Major and its ancient church of St Illtyd (see below).

Again, on Sunday, I will her confessions from 10:15 until the end of the Hours.

As announced at today’s Liturgy, despite assurances that we were welcome to visit Llancarfan once again, our communication regarding celebrating the Divine Liturgy received no response. Therefore, there is a change of plan next Saturday, and rather then heading to Llancarfan, we will visit St Illtyd’s Church at Llantwit Major, meeting at the church at 11:00.

Having visited the church with its museum of ancient Christian carved stones, and prayers to honour St Illtyd, we will have lunch in one of the local hostelries and enjoy time together. Given that Father Luke’s background is in archeology and medieval history, we will be glad to have him with us in a place so central to Christianity in South Wales.

We look forward to returning to Llancarfan in the near future, when our previous guide has returned from his travels.

Would anyone requiring confessions on Friday or Saturday please email by Wednesday evening?

Looking ahead to the end of the month, may I remind you that the feast of the Exultation of the Cross falls on Wednesday 27^th September  (14^th September on the Church Calendar), on which day the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at 11:00.

Finally, we congratulate Adam, on his reception to the catechumenate, and thank our outgoing starosta, Norman John, for his generous support for the parish. I personally would be lost without the immense support and help from both Norman and Georgina. We pray that God will grant them and our brother Adam “Many, blessed years!”

Asking your prayers.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

As all who participated in today’s Liturgy were well aware, changes in our circumstances certainly posed new challenges, as did the intense heat in the convent church, particularly for those vested in the sanctuary. In priests vestments, I must admit that today was a real trial – especially after the same challenge in Cheltenham, yesterday, where Deacon Mark and I struggled through Liturgy and on the homeward journey.

With one of the new Catholic chaplains celebrating, the Mass was close to double its usual length, making for a very late and pressurised set up for Liturgy.

However, quietly hearing confessions at the back of the church during the service alleviated some of the pressure, but our deacons and servers still had a rather short time in which to ready the church for our Orthodox service.

I will repeat today’s confession arrangement next week, having walked round to the back of the church at 10:15, with parishioners already waiting for confessions – which continued in a steady and smooth progression until towards the end of the Sixth Hour.

Looking ahead, I hope that I will have already been able to her the majority of local confessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons. See below.

Despite the pressure and the rush, today’s Hours began only five minutes late, at 11:05, though I hope it will begin at 11:00 as scheduled, next week – even if the Church set-up continues after that time. However, I will put out everything needed in the nave, so that things simply have to be moved a few metres.

From the choir’s initial amen, the Liturgy was a joyous celebration, with our singers chanting harmoniously and confidently, showing sympathy and sensitivity to one another, and supporting and helping one another. Thanks to our regent Olga, and to our two young basses, who acquitted themselves very well.

Yet again, the flowers adorning our icons, and vases of late summer blooms added so much to the makeshift setting for our Orthodox worship, tangibly showing parishioners’ love for God and the saints.

It was lovely to leave the church, at teatime, today, seeing the flowers on the shrines ready for the morning Liturgy for the Beheading of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John. The Liturgy will commence at 11:00, as I will pray the Hours after the proskomedia before church set-up.

On Thursday, our Liturgy for the Church New Year will be celebrated at 11:00, and I will be available to hear confessions as needed in the afternoon, after lunch. However, due to a choir practice in church, there will be no service on Wednesday evening, as previously hoped.

Friday sees the resumption of our discussion group on prayer, at 19:00, in Nazareth House, and I will hear confessions beforehand, and after, if – again according to demand.

I will celebrate Great Vespers at 16:00 on Saturday, and any confessions will need to be BEFORE the service, as I have a potentially long journey home afterwards.

Please email regarding confessions on any of these days, so that I can plan, accordingly, and do so by 18:00 on Wednesday.

Tomorrow: Monday 11 September, New Style, Beheading of St John the Forerunner – Liturgy, Nazareth House 11:00. 

Thursday 1/14 September – Church New Year – Liturgy, Nazareth House 11:00. Afternoon confessions by arrangement.

Friday 2/15 September – Church discussion group 19:00. Afternoon/evening confessions by arrangement.

Saturday 3/16 – Great Vespers, 16:00. Afternoon confessions by arrangement.

Sunday 4/17 September. Hours and Liturgy 11:00. Confessions from 10:10

Please email me regarding weekday confessions by Wednesday, 18:00.

In Christ – Fr Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

S prazdnikom – greetings for the Transfiguration of the Saviour!

It was a a great blessing to visit our Cheltenham mission today and to celebrate the feast with our Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire faithful, and though we are few in number the zeal and devotion of our parishioners always make our celebrations joyful and inspiring, especially on feasts.

We are grateful to Masha and Margarita for chanting, especially given the festal chants unfamiliar to our usual singers, of whom several are away on holiday. Our Gloucestershire faithful were very enthusiastic in expressing their thanks, and were very happy to be joined by our ‘Wessex’ pilgrims for this wonderful feast.

As is usual in Cheltenham, virtually everyone confessed and communed, which is always a source of great joy, and one of the children reminded us that he needs a stikhar so that he can serve for the next Liturgy. We look forward to having him serve in the altar.

At the end of the Liturgy, we blessed fruit and honey, as there was no local Liturgy or honey blessing for the feast of the All-Merciful Saviour, and we then enjoyed time together as we shared our customary lunch, for which we thank the sisters who contributed so generously, and also for the floral arrangements which graced our icons.

Our next Cheltenham Liturgy, will be in Prestbury, on 9^th September – just before the end of the present ecclesiastical year – and I greatly look forward to celebrating the feast of the Holy Great-Martyr, Phanourios, hoping that some of our South Wales parishioners might join us to honour this greatly loved saint. This will occasion the introduction of our Cheltenham sisterhood to making Phanouropita!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to such a lovely feast. We look forward to the second day of the Transfiguration, in Cardiff, tomorrow, when we shall once again bless fruit and produce at the end of the Liturgy.

Encouraged by the vision of the Saviour’s glory on Mount Tabor, and the strength it gave the disciples in enduring His passion and their own sufferings, let us struggle to climb our own spiritual mountains, leaving behind the fallen things of the world, to attain to the high calling of our baptism, as children of the Light and heirs of the resurrection. Leaving behind the darkness of the world, let us hasten to the Light of Christ, glimpsed in the world, but a foretaste of the glory and divine vision of the age to come.

May God bless you all.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark