Dear brothers and sisters,

How sad it is that this second day of the feast of the Transfiguration is overshadowed by the Verkhovna Rada passing a resolution aiming to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Only yesterday, I wrote that the way of the Cross is the way that leads us upwards to the Mountain of the Transfiguration and to the Saviour, Who calls us into His glory in the radiance of His Kingdom. Though its personal Golgotha, the struggle that faces the Church in Ukraine, will ultimately lead the Church into Christ’s radiant glory, but the times ahead may be hard and painful, and our prayers are needed. Our thoughts are particularly with our temporary parishioners from Ukraine, who are children of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Despite this sorrowful event, we rejoice in the feast of the Saviour’s Transfiguration, celebrated with the Divine Liturgy and a lunch in the Oratory Church, yesterday. A dozen of us gathered to celebrate the feast, with some of enjoying lunch in the church hall after the service.

Our sincere thanks go to Father Sebastian, who came to church to greet the faithful before Liturgy, having heard the joyful news that the Hawaiian Myrrh-Weeping icon of the Mother of God will be coming to Cardiff on 12 November, on which evening a moleben will be offered before the icon, in honour of the Mother of God. St John’s will be in use that evening, so by providence, and perhaps the will of the Mother of God, her icon will – once more – be venerated alongside the relics of the Holy Protomartyr, Alban, as happened in St Alban’s Abbey, on the day when Father Mark was made a reader. Please mark this much anticipated visit on your calendar. The icon will be brought by His Grace, Bishop Irenei, and we greatly look forward to welcoming him and the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Father Mark and I felt greatly blessed to travel to Cheltenham, where we celebrated the feast of the Holy Youths of Ephesus, with Father Mark the Younger celebrating the Divine Liturgy, whilst I looked after confessions, helped in the oltar and sang on the kliros with our sisters, reduced in number, due to summer holidays. It was a lovely celebration, and it was lovely to have lunch together, and to then bless mama Galina’s flat and to relax and have tea before our journey back to Wales. Though the Cheltenham visits make for a long day, and can be very tiring, we felt greatly blessed, invigorated and enthusiastic, returning home with a newly found energy and great appreciation for the love and devotion among the members of our little Gloucestershire community. Glory to God!

In Cardiff, on Sunday, Father Mark and I continued the pattern which will now be repeated, alternating the main celebrant, with the concelebrant offering the homily. It was good to see parishioners who have been away for a while and to welcome our new youngsters, and to see such warm conversation as people introduced themselves and made the acquaintance of our new faces. Thanks to all, who made it another lovely Liturgy, and looked after everyone with such warmth and kindness.

We must congratulate Kolya on his exam results, and forthcoming study in Bristol, and your prayers are asked for our students who are still travelling during the summer vacation, as well as for Sveta as she heads off for some summer teaching.

This week will see confessions on Thursday, on which day vespers for the feast of St Laurence will be chanted in the Oratory Church. Please get in touch if you wish to arrange confession.

We will celebrate the feast of St Laurence a day late in Bradford-on-Avon on Saturday (24^th August), honouring the hieromartyr in the beautiful Anglo-Saxon Church dedicated to him, with the Hours and Divine Liturgy beginning at 09:00. We hope that the weather will allow us to celebrate a picnic lunch, before serving a moleben to St Laurence in the afternoon. I am told that some of our cathedral youth will be making the journey, and hopefully helping with the singing.

Looking forward to next week, the Divine Liturgy for the Dormition of the Mother of God will be celebrated in the Oratory Church on Wednesday 28^th August, on which day there will be two Fathers Mark to serve, making confessions and proskomedia rather easier. A bring-and-share lunch will follow the Liturgy.

Being the afterfeast of the Transfiguration, we will repeat the blessing of fruit after this Sunday’s Liturgy, so please feel free to bring fruit to mark the second feast of the Saviour – the “Apple Saviour” – “Яблочный Спас”.

I hope that the Dormtion fast, in preparation for the Summer Pasha – the Dormition of the Mother of God – is proving spiritually fruitful for you.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

Hieromonk Mark

Sunday 11 August N.S.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today saw the celebration of the Nativity of St Nicholas in Cardiff after the feast of the Smolensk icon in Warminster yesterday.

In my homily in Warminster, I reflected upon the life of the Smolensk icon, being carried in battle against the Mongol Hordes and against the invading French Army of 1812, stressing that, as Vladyka recently pointed out to us, the ceaseless Christian war is actually one that exists in each of our lives – not against worldly powers and regimes, but against sin and temptation.

As an Hodegetria Icon in which the Mother of God is ‘she who shows the way’, pointing to Christ as the very centre of her and our lives, it is through her example and guidance, following that iconographic hand in Her Smolensk icon, to concentrate upon Christ as the focal point and meaning of lives obedient to the Law of God, determined by the Gospel, and fighting against sin and temptation, that we will gain the real victory.

A great example of this is to be seen in St Nicholas, whose very name means Victor, or Winner – as explained to our youngsters at the end of Liturgy. The Mother of God and the Holy Wonderworker Nicholas show us that there is no victory unless we fight and labour for Christ.

If there is no battle, we will be spiritually crushed and lose the crown prepared for us by the Saviour, Who was victorious over hades, death and Satan through in His Life-Giving Passion and Glorious Resurrection. Victory was gained through the Cross, reminding us that without struggle and fighting for the Kingdom of Heaven, there will be no victory. The Cross is our weapon and token of victory, but only if it is lived and embraced!

Thank you to all who laboured for our weekend celebrations, especially for such generous hospitality and support whilst travelling away from home. It was lovely to have new people to join us for Liturgy, and wonderful that parish hospitality embraced them as they stopped to have lunch and  chat, and to have our young people engage and make them welcome.

It was a blessing to have Father Mark the Younger preach the homily at Liturgy, an we are grateful for such a well expressed encapsulation of the Sunday Gospel, highlighting that like the blind men, we need to follow Christ, keeping up with him and being persistent in our prayers when He may not respond to them in our time, rather than His time. Thank you, Father!

This Wednesday, the feast of the All-Merciful Saviour and the Procession of the Cross marks the beginning of the Dormition Fast, and Vespers will be chanted in the Oratory Church on Tuesday, the eve of the feast at 15:00. This is the first feast of the Saviour in August, known to us as the ‘Honey Saviour’ – ‘medovy spas’.

To once more quote St Nikolai Velimirovich:

“This feast was instituted by a mutual agreement of the Greeks and Russians at the time of the Greek Emperor Manuel and the Russian Prince Andrew in commemoration of the simultaneous victories of the Russians over the Bulgarians and the Greeks over the Saracens [in 1164]. In both of these battles, crosses were carried by the armies from which heavenly rays shone. It was therefore instituted that, on August 1, the Cross be carried first to the middle of the Church of the Divine Wisdom [Hagia Sophia] and after that, along the streets for the people to venerate as a commemoration of the miraculous help of the Cross in previous battles. This was not an ordinary cross but the true Honourable Cross which was kept in the church of the imperial court. On July 31, the Honourable Cross was carried from the imperial court to the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God and from there it was carried along the streets for the consecration of the earth and the air. Finally, on August 14, it was again returned to the church of the imperial palace.”

As most parishioners will be at work on the feast, we will bless honey after next Sunday’s Liturgy, so please bring your honey, honey-cakes, mead, poppy seeds and poppy-seed cakes and any other festal fare to be blessed, so that we can rally “taste and see how good the Lord is.”

Rather than vespers, Thursday will see the chanting of a moleben to St Vasily the Blessed of Moscow, in our usual Thursday afternoon 3 o’clock gathering in the Oratory Church. Please message me if you’d like confession on Thursday.

Saturday is our monthly Cheltenham visit, with the Hours and Liturgy in Prestbury United Reformed Church at 10:30. We look forward to Father Mark’s first priestly celebration on Cheltenham, and will perform the honey blessing at the end of the service.

Monday 19th August (6th Old Style) is the feast of the Transfiguration, and will be marked by the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and blessing of new fruits in the Oratory Church at 10:30. I know that Masha very much wants to remain in Cardiff on Sunday night to be with us for the Transfiguration in Liturgy, so if anyone is able to offer a night’s hospitality, please get in touch with her.

As previously announced, Saturday 24th August will be see our Wessex pilgrimage to the Saxon church of St Laurence in Bradford-on-Avon, with the Hours at 09:00, followed by the Divine Liturgy at 9:30. Weather permitting we will have a picnic lunch in the churchyard after the service.

Please think about what you can take on during the short fast ahead of us, in order to dedicate the thirteen days – fourteen with the feast of Dormition – to the Mother of God. If possible, read a supplication canon in her honour every day. Use these days to spiritually prepare for our Summer Pascha, when we will celebrate the falling asleep, resurrection and assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos into heaven.

May God bless you.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

Hieromonk Mark

Monday 5 August N.S.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings for the feast of the Pochaev and St Petersburg Joy of All Who Sorrow icons the Most Holy Mother of God!

Yesterday saw the celebration of feast of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles, Mary Magadalene, with a prayerful and joyful Liturgy celebrated by Father Mark “the Younger”, who is settling into priestly liturgical life quite naturally and without any fuss. This allowed me to hear quite a large volume of confessions and to then make commemorations in the early part of the Liturgy. This flexibility is very welcome. However, we must be clear that on alternate Sundays when I will act as primary celebrant confessions must end during the sixth hour, allowing me time to vest. This means that confession time on those Sundays will be around an hour, from 10:15.

It made a great difference for clergy to arrive yesterday and find that our starosta and parishioners had already made a good start on setting up the church, and we are grateful to all who were there to assist and who came early, to be of help. We need to remember that we are each an integral part of the parish, and are needed for its community life and to make things work effectively. I was surprised and relieved by the speed and smoothness of the packing away after, and glad to se that Father Mark was able to sit at table and be with parishioners whilst I saw those who needed to talk individually during the afternoon.

During Liturgy, it was a great joy to welcome baby Sophia as she made her fist communion, after her baptism the previous Sunday afternoon, to have quite a few new faces, and to then for Joseph to enter the catechumenate through the rite of making a catechumen.

Thanks to all who laboured for the celebration, and a nod to the young people whom it was good to see in the kitchen helping our sisters after the service.

I would like to remind everyone that during the summer months the doors of St John’s remain open, and there is often a quiet flow of people coming in and out of the church, some of whom come and chat, others remaining for a short time, some probably entering and leaving without us even noticing. With this in mind, can I please ask parishioners to be careful and responsible and NOT to leave handbags, purses/wallets or any valuables in the body of the church whilst they are in trapeza, and have little or no view of the body of the church. Let’s please be responsible and avoid risk.

As some of you know, the Llanelli parish presented an icon of St Seraphim to his newly-enlightened namesake as a baptism present. If anyone would like to contribute to the cost of the icon, could they please contact me so that I can let Father Luke know.

As mentioned in our previous newsletter and announced at Liturgy, we have some extra dates for diaries, this month.

• Saturday 10th August: Warminster Hours and Liturgy at 10:30
• Wednesday 14th August (1st according to the Church Calendar) Dormition Fast begins
• Saturday 17th August: Cheltenham Divine Liturgy in Prestbury United Reformed Church at 10:30 – honey blessing at the end of Liturgy.
• Sunday 18th August: Cardiff Hours and Divine Liturgy at 11:00 – honey blessing at the end of Liturgy.
• Monday 6/19th August: Transfiguration Hours and Divine Liturgy in the Oratory Church, in Swinton Street at 10:30, with the blessing of fruit at the end of the service. 
• Saturday 24th August: Wessex pilgrimage to the Saxon church of St Laurence in Bradford-on-Avon. Hours at 9:00, followed by the Divine Liturgy at 9:30. Picnic lunch after the service.
• Sunday 25th August: Afterfeast of the Transfiguration – Cardiff Hours and Divine Liturgy at 11:00 – fruit blessing at the end of Liturgy.
• Wednesday 15/28thAugust: Hours and Divine Liturgy for the Dormition in the Oratory Church at 10:30.

This week, vespers will be chanted before the relics of St Alban in the Oratory Church on Thursday at 15:00, followed by confession, and if anyone needs an evening confession I will meet them at Nazareth House, but need to know asap, so that I can make arrangements with the Sisters. 

As you will have possible seen on WhatsApp, the Book Club will be restarting, reading the Popular Patristics Series volume “On Christian Doctrine and Practice” by St Basil the Great:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0881414581/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Please contact Menna for any book club details/info. Menna will also be the happy recipient of any unwanted Orthodox books for parish lending, especially given the number of enquirers and new people. It’s good to see so many books in circulation at the moment, and we would like to build on this.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

May God bless and protect you all.

Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

How good it is to sit down and catch a breath after a couple of very busy weeks surrounding the ordination of our new priest and my duties in Walsingham. It seems things have caught up on me, so I shall have a quiet first half of the week and not be in Cardiff until Thursday. Slightly alarming blood-pressure and photosensitive headaches seem to be the theme of this new week, but will hopefully relent as the week progresses.

It was good to have time to pray for our parish, the faithful, their loved ones and intentions in Walsingham, and to lift everyone before the Lord and His All-Holy Mother, and it was a blessing to celebrate the Divine Services in the shrine, with the unexpected presence of Father Cosmas from Rugby, an old friend of St Seraphim’s in Birmingham. Sadly, the schism instigated by the Phanar in Ukraine precluded celebrating together, but we were happy that he and his matushka could pray with us and share the feast of the Chilandar Three-Handed Icon of the Mother of God. After more than a quarter of a century since last being at Liturgy with him, the Mother of God did what so often happens in Walsingham, in bringing people together after so many years.

Yesterday, the feast if the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles the Holy Great-Prince Vladimir, brought further confirmation of how naturally Father Mark the Younger has taken to priestly duties, and it is a joy to have him beside me. It is strange to only have one deacon after the rather symmetrical luxury of a deacon on either hand, but the advantage of having a priest to perform proskomedia whilst I hear confessions makes a vast difference to Sunday mornings.

Sunday mornings would be easier still, if we had more assistance to set up the church, so may I please prompt our young people, in particular, to be in church early to assist and make it possible for everything to be in place as soon as possible.

Hierodeacon Avraamy is keen to develop reading skills in the parish, and has already started working with Tracy, who assisted with services in Walsingham, during he blitzkrieg visit, last week, and I hope that others will follow.

As we look forward to August I would like to flag some dates for diaries.

• Saturday 10^th August will see the monthly Liturgy in Warminster for Cardiff parishioners living in Wessex.
• Dormition Fast begins on 14^th August (1st according to the Church Calendar) and lasts until the feast of the Dormition on Wednesday 15/28^th
• Saturday 17^th August will see the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in Cheltenham.
• The following day, being the Sunday after the feast of the All-Merciful Saviour, we will perform the traditional honey blessing at the end of Liturgy.
• On Monday 6/19^th August, the feast of the Transfiguration will be celebrated in the Oratory Church, in Swinton St, with the Hours and Liturgy commencing at 10:30, with the fruit blessing at the end of Liturgy. There will also be a blessing of fruit on the following Saturday and Sunday, when the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated in Bradford-on-Avon and Cardiff.
• There will be a Wessex pilgrimage to the Saxon church of St Laurence in Bradford-on-Avon, near Bath on Saturday 24^th August, with the Divine Liturgy being celebrated in honour of the patron of the temple – St Laurence of Rome, whose feast falls the previous day. This is a unique and wonderful place, and some South Wales parishioners have already expressed interest in attending. The Hours will be celebrated at 9:00, followed by the Divine Liturgy at 9:30, ending with a cross procession and followed by a picnic if the weather is favourable.
• The Divine Liturgy for the feast of the Dormition will be celebrated in the Oratory Church on Wednesday 15/28^thAugust, with the Hours commencing at 10:30.

We are delighted to announce that Germaine-Mary’s husband José will be baptised in the London Cathedral on Thursday 29^th August, and that they will be crowned in the Orthodox marriage ceremony the following day. Please keep them in your prayers!

This week, I will chant the akathist before the icon of the Walsingham Mother of God at 15:00 in the Oratory Church on Thursday, and will be available for confessions after the service. As I have to potentially wait for up to four hours for a delivery in St John’s, Canton, on Friday, I will also be able to hear confessions from 11:00. Please get in touch.

My presence in town on Saturday will very much depend on progress reducing blood pressure, so please watch WhatsApp for any announcements. Hopefully, once the hot, humid weather subsides, things will be a little easier – particular on presently crowded trains, which are airless and rather hot for cassock clad clerics.

Thanks to all who labour for our parish, and serve the Lord with gladness, and thanks for so many kindnesses to the clergy… from books, icons and food to vitamins and supplements.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

May God bless and protect you all.

Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

Having spent time preparing for Deacon Mark’s ordination, this week’s news is not only a little late, but being sent from the passenger seat of Deacon Mark’s car, as he, matushka, Yuriy and I travel to London. I will return on Friday, to be able to celebrate Great Vespers for the summer feast of the Kazan Icon in the Oratory Church, on Saturday afternoon.

It is a great joy to have so many of the faithful travelling to London for the ordination, and being able to share this wonderful occasion on the altar feast of the lower cathedral. There will be over thirty of the Cardiff faithful from South Wales and Wessex, as well as former South Wales faithful who now live in the South West and West of England.

Those who have booked the bus from Deacon Mark’s office in Morganstown should remember that 05:30 is departure time, and not assembly time. The bus will leave at 05:30 and will collect additional faithful at Premier Inn, at the Coldra junction in Newport at 06:00. Return to South Wales will be at 15:00.

The newly-ordained priest Mark will remain in London until Saturday, taking his first steps of priestly celebration, and I will remain with him until Friday.

After a demanding few days in London, Sunday’s summer feast of the Kazan Icon will be low key, especially given the absence of parishioners already away due to family commitments or on holiday. We pray for Nataliya as she prepares to travel; for Svetlana, Anna and Sofia, who are in Russia; and for Svetlana (Bromley) who is working away at the moment. We will keep the Autumn feast as our altar feast, when parishioners can be together.

We greatly look forward to Sunday’s Liturgy, and Father Mark’s first priestly Liturgy in Cardiff, with Father Luke and some of the Llanelli faithful joining us. As Fr Mark will be able to perform the proskomedia, there will be much more time for confessions. So… I will hear confessions in St Alban’s Church on Saturday and St John’s from 10:10 on Sunday.

I shall be in Norfolk from Monday to Friday the following week, fulfilling my summer Walsingham duties, and look forward to enjoying some time on pilgrimage.

May I please make a plea for help setting up on Sundays, as some weeks see us with hardly any assistance. Given that Father Mark the Younger will now be performing proskomedia, his attention will be needed in preparing the Holy Gifts and not on moving and arranging furniture/furnishings.

Thanks to all who contributed to our services over the end of week and weekend, when we celebrated a joyful Liturgy for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in the Oratory Church, with the Synaxis of the Holy Apostles in Warminster the following day, and then – of course – the Sunday of All Russian Saints in Cardiff.

We also celebrated the baptism of baby Yuriy from Basingstoke, baptised in Cardiff soo that his father’s relatives could be part of the celebration. Thanks to our sisters, who stayed in church till the end, carrying baptismal water to the garden, as well as feeding the clergy.

May God bless you all.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

It was our joy to celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Holy, Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John, yesterday, congratulating Norman John and Martyn John on their nameday, on which we also commemorated St Calogero the Wonderworker with a litia at the end of Liturgy before his icon  gifted to our parish by the priest-iconographer Father Efraim Augello and matushka Olypmia, in Sicily.

Our festal Liturgy ended with us singing “Many Years” not only for our Johns, but also for the newly elected, and newly enthroned Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria.

We were very pleased to have Father Luke with us, and I know that our parishioners appreciate having time to chat and catch up with him during trapeza, happily discussing not only Church matters, but also history and archeology, discussing what’s happening in the families of the parish, as well as having practical advice. With his many years managing the Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Llanelli and in benefit advice work in Neath / Port-Talbot, Father Luke has a wealth of practical knowledge that many of our South Wales faithful have found helpful!

Many thanks to all who made the Liturgy and trapeza such a joyful celebration, especially to our choir and sisterhood.

We look forward to there being three priests and a hierodeacon the next time Father Luke is with us on Sunday 21 July, when we will be blessed by Father Mark “the Younger’s” first priestly Liturgy in the parish. This will also be the Summer feast of the Kazan icon. As I mentioned on WhatsApp… “the Sunday after Deacon Mark’s ordination will be the summer feast of the Kazan Icon, and even though we will keep the principal celebration in November, this year, it would be good to make Sunday 21^st (not 20th, as I wrote!) a celebratory day. I hope that whilst having our usual bring-and-share lunch, we might “pull the stops out” a little to mark the feast and Father Mark’s first priestly Liturgy in the parish. There is no Llanelli Liturgy that day, with the intention that the Llanelli faithful will be able to be with us for a doubly-joyful celebration.”

This week will see the end of what is a short Apostles’ Fast for us, this year, and Great Vespers will be chanted in the Oratory Church at 15:00 on Thursday, following/followed by confessions, as needed. Confessions will also be heard in Nazareth House before Compline at 19:00. I know that this relocation complicates things, but the Oratory Church closes after the 17:30 evening devotions. Having the chance to not only hear confessions for those at work during the day, but also to chant Compline is an added blessing. The Liturgy for Saints Peter and Paul will be celebrated in the Oratory Church at 10:30 on Friday morning, and I will be able to hear quick confessions before hand, as well as having time for confessions in the afternoon.

Please let me know if you would like confession before Thursday vespers as soon as possible.

On Saturday, we will celebrate the Divine Liturgy for the Synaxis of the Apostles in the Chapel of St Lawrence in Warminster at 10:30, followed by a bring-and-share-lunch. Sunday will see our celebration of All Saints of Rus’ in Cardiff, the feast falling a week later this year, due to yesterday’s celebration of Saint John the Forerunner.

As Branka shared on WhatsApp, there has been a change of plan for provision of food for trapeza on ordination day in the cathedral, so assistance will be appreciated regarding provision of zakusky/starters, as well as dessert. Please let Branka know if you are able to assist.

I will be in the cathedral from Tuesday to Friday, next week, and serving in Walsingham for the first time this year the following week. Happily there will be much more time for confessions on the Sundays of those weeks, as our newly ordained priest will perform the proskomedia whilst I hear confessions.

Again – please keep Deacon Mark, Alla and Yuriy in your prayers as a momentous day draws near for them all.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings to you all in the week of All Saints – our weekend services having celebrated the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the great company of the saints across the ages, whether of the Old Covenant or New Covenant. In the coming weeks, we look forward to the various local celebrations of the saints of the Orthodox homelands, as well as those of these isles.

As we begin July, the ordination of our Deacon draws nearer, and your prayers are asked for Fr Mark, Alla and Yuriy. The transport for the journey to London is now confirmed and we look forward to around thirty parishioners celebrating the altar-feast of the lower cathedral church, and being present for the ordination.

As I’ve already commented on Facebook and WhatsApp – I’m extremely happy to have been able to use the Oratory Church for prayers, services and confessions so much over the last few weeks.

The schedule will continue, with the akathist at 15:00 on Tuesdays, Vespers at 15:00 on Thursdays and any Saturdays when I do not need to be in Warminster or Cheltenham.

We usually chant our services simply, gathered before the holy icons or the relics of St Alban, and sometimes have a little vocal competition with Saturday baptisms, but it is a blessing to offer the services of the Church on behalf of all.

Next week, there will be weekday services at 15:00 on Tuesday 2 July, Thursday 4 July and Saturday 6 July.

Thursday will be the eve of the feast of St Alban (and the summer feast of the Kursk Root icon), so Great Vespers will be offered before the enshrined portion of the Protomartyr’s relics.

The following week, there will be weekday services on Tuesday 9 July and Thursday 11 July at 15:00 – Thursday being the eve of the feast of St Peter and Paul.

The festal Liturgy will be celebrated in the Oratory Church on Friday morning (12 July) at 10:30. Our Ascension Liturgy proved how well the Sacred Heart chapel suits Orthodox services, and we look forward to regular feast day Liturgies.

If parishioners wish to use the church hall for refreshments, we will have shrine prayers before the relics of St Alban, and venerate them after lunch.

The following morning, Saturday 13 July, will see the Liturgy for the Synaxis of the Holy Apostles celebrated in Warminster, where our Cardiff parishioners living in Wessex will gather in the Chapel of St Lawrence for the Hours and Liturgy at 10:30. As our newly-ordained priest, will be in London for the days after his ordination, there will be no Cheltenham Liturgy the following weekend.

I will be available to hear confessions in St Alban’s on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons, after vespers, this week – and already have a request for a Thursday evening confession in Nazareth House. So, Thursday afternoon confessions will be in the Oratory Church, and evening confessions in Nazareth House for those who wish to take advantage of the Sister’s hospitality. As I will be there, compline will be chanted after confessions, at 19:00.

We very much look forward to celebrating the Nativity of St John the Baptist next Sunday, and the variables for the Liturgy may be found at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1POaQM4A-ZDAWlEocXTGnYvAvaXhhGJIg/view

We will also celebrate the memory of St Calogero the Hermit, whose icon was gifted to us by iconographer-priest, Efraim Augello and matushka Olympiada in Sicily.

Your prayers are asked for Masha’s aunt, Nataliya, as she returns home to Kiev. It was a joy for the Cardiff Wessex parishioners to pray with her and have supper on Porphyrios’s narrow boat last Monday, and it has been a joy having her as part of our community whilst she has been in Britain.

We also ask your prayers for the repose of the soul of Masha’s young pupil, Aurelia, who fell asleep in the Lord last Thursday, at the tender age of eight years. May the Lord remember her in his Kingdom. We continue to pray for the souls of the martyred Archpriest Nikolia and the martyred Mikhail, and for Anatoliy and Svetlana. Memory Eternal!

May God bless and protect you and our community.

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

S prazdnikom! Greetings for the feast of Pentecost-Trinity, and heartfelt thanks for those who worked to make our celebration in Cardiff such a wonderful and joyful occasion.

The abundance of flowers and greenery, made church feel very festive, and we are indebted to our sisters for their hard work in ensuring that everyone had flowers to hold during vespers, and also to those who brought birch and other greenery. It was wonderful to see people so happy and buoyant, despite the long services. Thanks also to Georgina, who – in addition to the new analoy covers – has made coloured top cloths in the various liturgical colours of the Church’s year, with green ones matching our vestments, today.

Having both Olga and Edmund on the kliros brought confidence to our singers, and having Hierodeacon Avraamy back from his summer vacation was timely, with his soaring voice adding greatly to the feast, especially with those wonderful words of the Great Prokeimenon: “Who so great a god as our God? Thou art the God Who workest wonders!”

As I observed in the homily, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in the upper room, was only the beginning of Pentecost in the Church, and the ongoing operation of the Holy Spirit in its life – especially in the Holy Mysteries – is the ongoing indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the continuation of the events of the birthday of the Church, with the sound of rushing wind and the tongues of fire resting upon the holy apostles.

In the aposticha of vespers, we heard –

“Now, the comforting Spirit hath been poured on all flesh; for, starting with the rank of the Apostles, He extended grace through the communion of believers, certifying His effective presence by the distribution of tongues to the Disciples in fiery likeness for the praise and glory of God. Wherefore, being noetically illumined with them and confirmed in the steadfast Faith, we beseech the Holy Spirit to save our souls.”

The pouring forth of the Holy Spirit started with the rank of the Apostles, but subsequently continues in each generation of the Church, and the whole communion of believers. By our baptism and chrismation, by our restoration in confession, by the spiritual food of the Saviour’s Body and Blood, and through each and all of the Holy Mysteries, we receive that noetic illumination and confirmation of Faith, and are joined to that first Pentecost in the upper room: not by being passive bystanders, but being active participants in the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church, and welcoming the Heavenly King, the Comforter and Spirit of Truth to enter, abide in us, cleanse us and heal us.

This will have been Father Mark’s last Great Feast as a Deacon, as we look forward to the Grace of the Holy Spirit, through the hands of our bishop – as a successor of the Apostles in the upper room – conferring the Grace and dignity of the sacred priesthood. As I looked at my old deacon’s stikhar, I wondered who will wear it next, and be called to serve by the Grace of the Holy Spirit!

Let us all actively labour for the Grace of the Holy Spirit, heeding St Seraphim, recognising the acquisition of the Holy Spirit as the most pressing and important thing in our lives, doing this above all by prayer.

Having posted prayer-resources on-line, may I commend them to parishioners for their spiritual praxis and prayer-life in these days of Pentecost.

A Canon to the Holy Spirit composed by Theophanes the Monk may be found here in English: https://russianorthodoxchurchcardiff.com/a-canon-to-the-holy-spirit-by-theophanes

… and St Maximos the Greek’s canon to the Holy Paraclete, may be found here: https://russianorthodoxchurchcardiff.com/a-canon-to-the-divine-worshipful-all-holy-spirit-the-paraclete

The corresponding Slavonic texts may be found here:

https://russianorthodoxchurchcardiff.com/канон-святому-духу

and http://hramnagorke.ru/dialog/index.php?topic=1164.0;wap2

After the joy of the feast in Cardiff, I have travelled to Bath, where we will have our end-of-month gathering of West of England parishioners, sanctified by prayer on the Day of the Holy Spirit, with time for spiritual conversation and fellowship.

In Cardiff, we are now very much enjoying the hospitality of the Oratory Church, having headed to Swinton Street last week for the akathist to Our Lady of Walsingham on Tuesday, and Vespers/confessions on Thursday and Saturday – with the privilege of being able to pray before the relics of St Alban and venerate them after each service.

The akathist hymn will be chanted in St Alban’s Church on Tuesday at the slightly later time of 15:00, and vespers will be chanted at the same time on Thursday and Saturday, with confessions as needed after each service. If anyone needs to confess on Thursday evening, may I have notification as soon as possible. As Sister Marie is away for a few weeks, I have to prearrange using Nazareth House with Sister Anna, and do not want this to be last minute.

Having discussed the issue of parish elections with our chancellor, I can confirm that Bishop Irenei will discuss issues of parish governance over the days surrounding the ordination of Deacon Mark, next month, and that he may bless Father Paul to oversee the conclusion of the election process, if required.

Remember that this week is fast-free, before we begin the Apostles’ Fast on

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings at the end of a joyful day which saw a few of us in Wessex make a pilgrimage to Shaftesbury, where we visited the site of the former abbey, where the relics of King Edward the Martyr were enshrined until the desecration of the great religious house and its dissolution at the reformation. Mercifully, through the grace and mercy of God, the Royal-Martyr’s relics were found during the excavation of the abbey by John Wilson-Claridge in 1931, and enshrined in the former ROCOR Monastery of St Edward, at Brookwood, in 1984.

The abbey ruins, surrounded by green lawns and herb and flower-filled borders are an oasis of tranquility, and we were overjoyed to be able to offer prayers to St Edward-the-Martyr close to the place where his relics were found, and the site of his medieval shrine. Having been greeted with warmth and friendly enthusiasm, we were invited to arrange and “after hours” pilgrimage, and look forward to returning and solemnly offering prayers in a holy place of as once great renown. Many thanks to the wonderful staff. 

In the evening, we enjoyed our end of month gathering on Porphyrios’s narrow boat, chanting compline with the canon to St Edward chanted after the supplicatory canon to the Mother of God. We enjoyed an evening of conversation and fellowship, with a lovely supper ending a blessed and grace-filled day.

Holy Right-Believing King, Edward the Martyr, pray to God for us!

Despite half-term, our Liturgy was well attended, even though the kliros and sanctuary were reduced to a minimum. We are grateful to all who contributed to our celebration, particularly for all who facilitated such a quick packing away and rearrangement of furniture. This was very much appreciated and we need this to continue.

As I will only be returning to Wales tomorrow, there will be no celebration of vespers in Cardiff in the afternoon. After a day preparing for our meeting,I will be in Cardiff on Thursday, and will celebrate the ninth hour and vespers in St Alban’s church at 14:30. Confessions will be arranged around the service. If required, I will hear evening confessions in Nazareth House. Please email me by 18:00 on Wednesday and be clear if you cannot confess until the evening.

Sunday will see our General parish meeting, with the elections of our new starosta and senior sister.

Deacon Mark and I have been struck by the lack of realisation of the responsibilities and tasks assumed by the starosta, and feel that parishioners should be made aware of serious duties that can be time consuming and sometimes require considerable input.

• Maintaining the church building and property: This may include overseeing cleaning and repairs, as well as ensuring the security of the church.

• Financial oversight: Church wardens/starostas assist the treasurer in managing the church’s budget, collect donations, and ensure financial accountability.

• Supporting the clergy: They may assist the clergy with administrative tasks, .

• Coordinating volunteers: Church wardens/starostas play a key role in recruiting and coordinating volunteers for various tasks required in delivering services and maintaining an efficient parish life.

• Liaison with the community: They may serve as a point of contact for community partners to promote the parish, represent the parish at community events. Liaising with local churches to arrange and schedule their use for services as needed

• Liaison with the congregation: They may serve as a point of contact for parishioners and address their concerns.

• Church Council: The Church wardens/starosta will occupy a seat on the parish council and vote on parish matters outside of the AGM

• Traditions and Protocols: As the clergy are unable to stop/interrupt services the Church warden/starosta will assist in ensuring those in attendance adhere to church traditions and protocols during services.

• Contact and welcoming: The Church warden/starosta will be a contact for general queries which do not require the clergy, eg service times, events etc. They should also welcome visitors and newcomers to the parish.

• Legal and Administrative duties: They may be involved in tasks like creating reports, attending meetings, and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations.

• Smooth Running: They will have oversight of the items which require regular ordering to ensure that services and specific feasts run smoothly. Eg. ordering wine, candles, palm crosses, candle guards etc

• Attendance: The Churchwarden/starosta should be present at the majority of services to ensure consistency and stability in their role

Both Branka and Menna were nominated by various individuals to both positions, with Menna accepting the nomination for starosta, and Branka accepting that of senior sister. Another sister declined candidature for the position of senior sister, having been nominated by various individuals, but kindly offered support and guidance, and her considerable practical knowledge and expertise.

As such, the meeting will be asked to approve  these sisters and ratify their assumption of positions of office. Regular baptised and communicant members of our parish,  who will be absent next weekend, but wish to communicate  their approval are asked to message our treasurer, Olga Azzopardi via WhatsApp, or request her email details from me or Father Deacon Mark (rather than our disclosing it here!).

May we have any items for the agenda by Wednesday, please.

Due to the pressures of time, may we keep refreshments on Sunday to tea/coffee and biscuits/baked goods., allowing people to break their fast and replenish their energy reserves before the service?

As we look forward to Deacon Mark’s ordination of Wednesday 17^th July, we would like to remind those who have requested places on the bus to give their deposit of £10 to Olga McKellar, and to do so as soon as possible. We have been much encouraged by the numbers hoping to travel from South Wales, the west of England, and perhaps even from Poole. This will be a great blessing, and will see much of the parish travel to the cathedral for this momentous occasion in the life of our community.

We hope that those who are away for various half-term breaks have a restful and relaxing time, praying for our travellers heading for France, the Lake District, Scotland and wherever else the week may have taken them.

May God bless you.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark