Here we are at the end of another week of peripatetic parish life, spread between Cathays, Splott and Llanishen, and hoping that tomorrow will bring some clarity regarding Holy Week, Pascha, and St Philip’s.
Additional to our Cardiff wanderings, yesterday saw seventeen of us participate in the rite of Holy Unction in the cathedral, with six priests concelebrating with our bishop in the blessing of oil and anointing the faithful – of which there were hundreds of people, many of them young.
As Father Mark the Younger enthused at the end of today’s Liturgy, it was a wonderful image of the Church: young and old, cradle Orthodox and convert, those on their feet and those helped by a friend or support worker in their additional needs, reminding us that disabilities are not a limitation on God’s grace and power.
The fact that people with various physical and cognitive challenges were part of our celebration was a visible sign of the loving and supportive character of our ROCOR community in our God-preserved diocese.
We will celebrate Holy Unction according to the parish rite in Cardiff during Holy Week, so that those unable to attend in London may partake of this Holy Mystery.
Perhaps Mothering Sunday dented our congregation a little today, plus the absence of some of those who had a long day in London yesterday, but it was lovely to return to St Faith’s on the Sunday of St John of the Ladder and the feast of St Patrick, Apostle of Ireland.
It was good that parishioners experienced the rite of the blessing of vestments after the Hours, and I was very pleased to be able to wear the vestments that Fr Mark blessed.
We will return to St Faith’s to celebrate the Sunday of St Mary of Egypt, next weekend, though we hope that we will then be able to be in St Philip’s for Palm Sunday.
As already posted on WhatsApp, due to our present circumstances, there will be no Cardiff evening service for the Great Canon next Wednesday. However, the Great Canon will be chanted in Llanelli at 19:00, and it would be lovely to welcome Cardiff parishioners.
In Cardiff, we will chant the entire Great Canon and read the life of St Mary of Egypt in the Oratory Church at 14:00 on Thursday afternoon (St Mary’s Standing / Мариино стояние).
There will also be the usual early evening service in Nazareth House at 18:00.
Confessions will be heard before the Thursday afternoon service and after the evening service.
The Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts will be celebrated at 14:00 in the Oratory Church on Friday afternoon, and I will be available to hear confessions before and after the service.
It is important that all who are able to make their confessions during the week avail themselves of the opportunity to ease the situation on Sunday. We will start ending confessions during the hours on the alternate Sundays on which I should be the main celebrant, as I continually miss the first part of the Liturgy.
Saturday is the Laudation of the Mother of God, and some of parishioners will get enjoying a pilgrimage and walk around Oldbury on Severn – honouring St Arilda. I will be heading to Lazarica in Bournville, and would be very happy to be joined by any parishioners. The service begins at 09:00.
Your prayers are requested for Lyudmila (sick); Piran, Svetlana, Stefan (travelling); and for our students. Prayers are also asked for Nicholas, Daniel, Nikolaos and his family.
We ask your prayers for the repose of the soul of matushka’s newly-departed cousin, Aleksey, and for his elderly mother Raisa, and for all of the family at this sorrowful time. Memory Eternal! Lord, have mercy!
Sunday’s celebration of the Adoration of the Life-Giving Cross came at the end of a blessed four days of services with three different Liturgies: the Liturgy of St Gregory the Dialogist on Friday; of St John Chrysostom on Saturday; and of St Basil on Sunday.
It has been a joy to celebrate the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the Sunday of the Cross in conjunction, with the life and martyrdom of the Holy Great Martyrs showing us the Cross bearing fruit in the life of the Church, calling us to selflessness and attachment to the things of heaven, rather than the transitory things of the earth. “Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad; for great is your reward IN HEAVEN!”
The Liturgies of the past few days have been a blessing and a joy, with our relatively quiet celebration in the Oratory Church, ending with the blessing of larks, and our Llanishen Cross-celebration ending with the blessing of more larks, and of Serbian Mladenci.
It has been good to see the faithful enjoy time together in fellowship and conversation over shared refreshments and meals, with the shared-table a continuation of the Liturgy!
Thanks to all who contributed to our celebrations, particularly our singers and bakers, our young brothers who were such a great help moving furniture, and our “myrrh-bearing” women who quietly and devotedly look after our clergy do well and generously!
Thanks to matushka for decorating the frame for the Godenovo Cross.
Thanks also to the Oratorian Fathers for their ongoing support, especially in the hiatus in our move to Tremorfa.
In the week ahead we will have our usual Thursday akathist in Nazareth House at 18:00 on Thursday, and devotions before the Cross in the Oratory at 14:00 on Friday.
I will be available for confessions before and after services on those days.
There will be no Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified in Cardiff this week, though there will be one in Llanelli at 18:30 on Wednesday.
Soborovanie / Hierarchical Holy Unction will be celebrated in the cathedral at 14:00 on Saturday, and we hope to have a handful of parishioners in attendance. Those being anointed should prepare with confession, and those unable to make the journey will have the opportunity to be anointed at a local celebration of the Service of the Oil during Holy Week.
Sunday will see us return to St Faith’s for 11 o’clock Liturgy and trapéza.
In your prayers we ask you to remember Liudmila amongst the sick; Margarita, Piran and Stefan on their the travels; our students with their demanding academic work; and our catechumens – Chris, Adam, Serwaa and Lloyd.
Wishing you a renewed and blessed struggle for the second half of the Great Fast, through the power of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross and through the prayers of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.
Parishioners seeking English language spiritual reading are encouraged to look at the soul-profiting, traditional books sold by the St Edward Brotherhood (also a source of good quality incense and candles):
Having posted service times on WhatsApp and Facebook, the news email is late this week.
Thanks to everyone for such a lovely Sunday Liturgy, following our Saturday celebration in Cheltenham, and the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy in the Cardiff Oratory.
Our Cheltenham Liturgy was blessed with a profound sense of peace and joy, and – as we will not be returning until the Saturday of Pascha – we blessed zhavoronki (sky-larks), the traditional celebratory offerings for the feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, which we will celebrate in the Cardiff Oratory this coming weekend (see below). We will be happy to bless any baked offerings in honour of the holy-martyrs on Sunday, as well as Saturday, and will have the icon of the martyrs at our Sunday Liturgy.
It was good to have a well supported kliros on Sunday, especially for the anaphora for the Liturgy of St Basil. Thanks to all of our singers.
We would be very happy to see more singers on the kliros, and also for more servers in the oltar. It has been lovely to have our younger servers over the last few weeks, and it would be very good to get back to having four or five servers on a Sunday. Perhaps our forthcoming baptisms may help on this front!
St Faith’s is proving to be a bright and cheery place to celebrate, and everyone seems very happy there. However, we know that it is a challenge for some parishioners without their own means of transport, and that public transport is somewhat unpredictable, which perhaps accounts for Sunday’s slightly reduced numbers.
At the time of writing, the rector of Gabalfa-Tremorfa is conferring with other stakeholders in St Philip’s, getting everyone on board and aware of our forthcoming presence, and we look forward to hopefully moving to Tremorfa in the next few weeks. In the meantime, we are very happy to be able to worship in St Faith’s and have the warm support of Elaine and Ruth, the clergy, and Marilyn the church warden.
Next Sunday is the mid-point of Great Lent, being the Sunday of the Adoration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, and though I know we will have a number of active parishioners away, I do hope that we will see those parishioners who have not been to Liturgy during the Fast. Pascha is fast approaching, and we need to show our readiness for the Lord’s Life-Bestowing Passion and Resurrection.
This week’s services will start with the Akathist to the Passion in Nazareth House at 18:00 in Thursday. On Friday we will celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts in the Oratory at 14:00, returning on Saturday to celebrate the feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste with the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom at 10:30.
Sunday’s Divine Liturgy of St Basil for the Sunday of the Holy Cross will be celebrated in St Faith’s, Llanishen at 11:00.
With regard to Holy Unction / Елеосвящения during Lent we would like to clarify that:
The rite of Soborovanie / Concelebrated Holy Unction will be celebrated in the cathedral at 14:00 on Saturday 29 March, with the parish clergy concelebrating with the bishop.
There will not be a bus, as very few parishioners indicated their interest in this option, making it prohibitively expensive. So, we hope that parishioners will organise car-shares to maximise the number of those able to attend.
Additionally, we will be celebrating the Rite of the Mystery of Holy Unction (Чин последование таинства Елеосвящения) in the parish, hopefully on the Wednesday of Holy Week. However, until we move to St Philip’s and know the availability of the building for Holy Week, we are unable to arrange or announce anything.
This local celebration will be with the bishop’s special blessing, as the Lenten ‘Soborovanie’ is only usually celebrated by a bishop and six concelebrating priests in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
The baptised and confessed faithful may receive anointing at ONE of these services, and NOT multiple times.
Confession is a requisite and not an option, as this is a Holy Mystery. Therefore, children whose age means they are not yet going to confession do not yet partake of this anointing.
It has been a great blessing to have the Psalter group reading the whole Psalter each day during the Fast, and I hope that this brings a greater understanding of the Psalms and their spiritual meaning for the Church, far removed from ancient Israelite society.
As several of our young people have commented, the Old Testament can be extremely challenging for us as Christians and the Church of the New Israel, but beyond the literal imagery of war and violence, the Psalms now teach us the importance of spiritual warfare, bear great moral truths, call us to prayer, admonish us to repent and call us to worship the Lord, falling down before His greatness, glory and majesty, as well as bearing prophetic images of the Saviour, His saving Passion, Resurrection and Ascension.
For those for whom this reading has been a beginning, I very much hope that the Psalter will continue to be a valuable resource in their spiritual lives after the Fast.
May we ask your prayers for the sick / unwell in our community and among the friends and families of our faithful, as well as those with more long term health issues: Liudmila, Brigid, Maria, Valery, Galina, Irina, and Marina.
As we have been informed of developments regarding the former Serbian Church property in Ely, we ask your prayers as we consider its possibilities and viability as a permanent ROCOR base in the city. We especially ask your prayers to St Nikolaj (Velimirović). It was on his feast, yesterday, that we received news via London.
Hierarch of Christ, Nikolaj, pray to God for us!
Troparion, Tone 8: O golden-tongued preacher proclaiming the risen Christ, / everlasting guide of the cross-bearing Serbian people, / resounding harp of the Holy Spirit, and dear to monastics who rejoice in thee, / pride and boast of the priesthood, teacher of repentance, master for all nations, / guide of those in the army of Christ as they pray to God, / Holy Nikolaj teacher in America and pride of the Serbian people, / with all the saints, implore the only Lover of mankind / to grant us peace and joy in his heavenly kingdom!
After the rigours of the first week of the Great Fast, with the penitential themes of the Great Canon of Repentance, our Sunday celebration in St Faith’s offered a festal day, as we celebrated the Triumph of Orthodoxy and the restoration of the Holy Icons in 842, and the institution of this annual feast in 843. through the faith of the most-pious sovereigns, the Empress Theodora and her son, the Emperor and Autocrat Michael III. May their memory be eternal!
If we mention Orthodox Christianity to people, one of their primary associations is the central place of icons in our worship and culture.
The icons, rooted in the Lord’s Incarnation, with its material, physical, and representational possibility through the Saviour’s coming in the flesh, are not simply a physical manifestation of our Faith, but a sign of God’s entry into the physical realm of His creation.
In His prologue, St John the Theologian wrote that “…the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.» (John 1:14), and through the icons of the Lord, we continue to proclaim with St John, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.” (1st letter of St John 1:1)
St John of Damascus, a defender of the veneration of the Holy Icons wrote, “I boldly draw an image of the invisible God, not as invisible, but as having become visible for our sakes by partaking of flesh and blood. I do not draw an image of the immortal Godhead, but I paint the image of God who became visible in the flesh.”
When we encounter the icons we remember that “God is the Lord, and hath revealed Himself to us.” (Psalm 118:27), above all in the Incarnate Lord, Who is the perfect expression of the meeting of the Divine and the human, the heavenly and earthly, Spirit and matter/creation, the Uncircumscribable and the circumscribable.
In their reflection of Him, this meeting is also manifested in the lives of the saints, and, by extension, in the Holy Icons, through which we are able to physically express our spiritualw relationship with God, with the Mother of God and the Saints, recalling that St Basil clearly reminds us that, “ the honour given to the icon passes to the prototype.” Thus in our veneration of the Holy Icons, we worship God and honour the Theotokos and the Saints, through whom He has revealed and manifested His Grace, blessing the world through the God-pleasers who have shown us the path of the Christian life.
It was wonderful to e surrounded by so many icons in St Faith’s yesterday: some of the icons being people’s name-saints; others icons especially dear to our brothers and sisters; others important icons in the life of our Church, through which God has poured forth grace, miracles and healing.
After the Cross, the Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, led us in our procession, and the fact that we followed the Saviour’s Life-Giving Cross and the Mother of God, along with the saints, sums up what should be the true Christian life.
May the Holy Icons always be our window and invitation into the heavenly life, and into eternity and the glory of the age to come!
I am starting this week with a quiet few days after last week’s daily services in Cardiff and “abroad” – and what a wonderful week it was!
From Monday to Thursday, Great Compline with the Great Canon was chanted in the Oratory Church, and the Akathist to the Lord’s Saving Passion was chanted on Friday. In the coming weeks, this will be chanted in Nazareth House on Thursday evenings.
I would encourage the faithful to continue to turn to the Great Canon in their personal prayers throughout the Fast, and we will, of course, chant the whole Great Canon in the matins of Thursday of the fifth week.
The first Saturday of the Feast, that of St Theodore was celebrated in Warminster, where we were blessed with a quiet and prayerful Liturgy in the sun bathed Chapel of St Lawrence, where we enjoyed a Lenten lunch after the service. Thanks to our Wessex faithful for their labours and dedication. Those unable to attend through illness and family commitments were very much in our prayers.
This week, there will be a Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts in Father Luke’s lovely garden chapel in Llanellion Wednesday at 18:30, and this will be repeated every few weeks during the Fast.
In Cardiff, we will chant the akathist in honour of the Lord’s Saving Passion in Nazareth House at 18:00 on Thursday, and we will celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified in the Oratory at 14:00 on Friday – St David’s Day according to the Patristic Calendar!
We know that the time of our akathists in Nazareth House will change, but at the moment the Sisters have heard no news of forthcoming evening masses.
I will be able to hear confessions both before and after the Thursday and Friday services, but would appreciate an indication of any pre-service confessions, so that I know how early to arrive.
On the second Saturday of the Great Fast, we will celebrate the Divine Liturgy and a memorial service in Prestbury United Reformed Church, in Cheltenham at 10:00, and the variables for the Liturgy may be found at the orthodoxaustin website: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bRkhlpW0u0FFlAOy5yWLlQlGE6HYway1/view
On this coming Sunday of St Gregory Palamas, we will again celebrate Liturgy in St Faith’s, Llanishen, as we are still awaiting permission to move to St Philip’s.
Trapeza will hopefully be rather less rushed than on the last two Sunday’s, but can we please encourage every able person to roll up their sleeves to help tidy up, and please be proactive in looking for jobs that need doing, and ask if you can help in any way. This wil be greatly appreciated.
As clergy, Father Mark and I want the chance to join parishioners and talk with them at trapeza, and especially to welcome visitors, but for the last two Sundays have had no opportunity to do so, or to eat and drink anything before leaving Cardiff as we are still packing, together with young Stefan, until the last minute.
Let’s all please work together so that we can have fellowship and share time together after Liturgy, and young people… please take the lead! We are greatly blessed to have so many young people, and this is their chance to contribute to parish life.
This coming Sunday is dedicated to St Gergory (Palamas) of Thessaloniki, and the variables for the Liturgy may be found here:
As previously announced, the Lenten service of Holy Unction will be celebrated in our diocesan cathedral on Saturday 29 March at 14:00, and both Father Mark the Younger and I will concelebrate with our bishop in the Holy Mystery.
Though I mooted the idea of travelling by hired bus, due limited numbers of attendees and the cost of transport, we hope that parishioners will car-share to attend this celebration. The bishop has given the exceptional blessing for the Mystery to be celebrated in parishes without the presence of a bishop.
Though this is normal in some local Churches, it is not in ROCOR, where the unction is celebrated in assembly/sobor, hence its Slavonic name of soborovanie.
Only baptised and recently confessed Orthodox Christians may receive Holy Unction, with the blessing of their spiritual father, and no child who is not yet confessing partakes of this Holy Mystery.
Once we have news about St Philip’s we can discuss Holy Week and Pascha and publish our service schedule. Until then, we are unable to speculate. Please continue and pray for a smooth and favourable relocation to Tremorfa, and soon!
Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.
May God bless you all! Good strength in this second week of the Fast.
I think that all would agree that it was an immense joy to celebrate the Sunday of Forgiveness in St Faith’s Llanishen, in a church full of sunlight and warmth – both spiritually and literally, and it was a blessing to have so many young people, and to welcome new visitors.
Congratulations to all who confessed and partook of the Holy Mysteries!
After the last two weeks of Typika and communion – as lovely as our services were – it was reassuring to celebrate the Liturgy, and especially with such a well thronged choir who sang splendidly, with the gentlemen singing a Byzantine setting of the anaphora in English – seizing the chance before the longer melodies of the Liturgy of St Basil in the weeks to come.
Thanks to our singers and readers, and indeed to our servers – especially the youngest and newest additions.
Despite the limited time after our long liturgical run of the Hours, Liturgy and Vespers, we were glad that parishioners were able to enjoy a last pre-Lenten lunch before the discipline and asceticism of the Fast, in which we must eat according to need and NOT want.
There is no place for want and desire in the weeks ahead, in which each of us should learn that, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Let the Words of the Holy Scriptures – especially the Gospels and the Psalms – be our nourishment in the coming weeks, together with the lives and teachings of the saints made perfect in Christ!
We had so much hoped that we would already be settled in St Philip’s, with Lenten services at traditional times this week, but this is sadly not to be this year! As a result, we must fit in with Oratory services.
I will pray vespers very simply in the Oratory at noon each day from Monday to Thursday, with the Great Canon being chanted at 15:00, and we are very grateful to have somewhere to pray, despite the early hour, encouraging parishioners to pray the Great Canon at home… ideally in the evening.
The Divine Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts will be celebrated at noon on Friday, and the normal Eucharistic fast should be kept by those communing, with the customary prayers of preparation.
The Divine Liturgy for the Saturday of St Theodore will be celebrated in the Chapel of St Lawrence, in Warminster, on Saturday, with the Hours and Liturgy commencing at 10:30.
We will return to St Faith’s in Llanishen to celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy and the restoration of the Holy Icons with the Hours, Divine Liturgy and traditional moleben. Weather permitting, we will make the most of the setting with a procession around the church – so please bring an icon to carry! During the Liturgy, our icons can adorn the window ledges and bring the faces of the saints to St Faith’s!
We will again have trapeza, enjoying vegan fare. No shellfish please. Though some local Orthodox Churches are very keen on shellfish in Lent, we will stick to the ascetism of vegan food.
As we celebrate “clean Monday”, we now enter the season of turning off the TV and i-player, putting aside the games console, loosing ourselves from the grip of social media, and turning to our icon-corner to pray: picking up our prayer rope and Psalter, persevering in spiritual reading and asserting the sovereignty of the soul over the body.
For some of our parishioners, this is their first “involved” Great Lent, and we encourage them to enjoy the simplicity of the season by putting needless things on hold, not worrying about rumbling stomachs or the aches from prostrations, and to proactively look for opportunities to pray more and enjoy spiritual reading.
An important detail is to cut down social life to spend more time in prayer and seclusion, and less time talking, so that when we do get together, it really is an occasion to enjoy one another’s company and conversation.
It is also the season to avoid unnecessary travel, which undermines the praxis of the Fast for Orthodox Christians. It is sthe season forelf-renunciation, action and spiritual struggle… and it is NOT meant to be easy, like giving up chocolate or watching soaps. Orthodox Great Lent is not tokenistic: it is maximal and a time of spiritual warfare.
Fight well!
“My soul, my soul arise! Why art thou sleeping? The end is drawing near and thou wilt be confounded. Awake then and be watchful, that thou mayest be spared by Christ God, Who is everywhere and fillest all things.
Душе́ моя́, душе́ моя́, воста́ни, что спи́ши? Коне́ц приближа́ется,/ и и́маши смути́тися. Воспряни́ у́бо,/ да пощади́т тя Христо́с Бог, везде́ сый и вся́ исполня́яй. ”
Dear brothers and sisters, thanks again to the parishioners who supported our Sunday service in the Oratory.
Once again, the choir’s joyful singing was a great consolation and helped make Sunday feel as normal as possible despite the lack of Eucharistic Liturgy.
Thanks to all who helped in their various ways… but a little reminder that things need putting away as well as putting out, so if you helped at the set up, it would be much appreciated if you put the same objects away – wherever we are.
It was a joy to have Yuriy serving for the first time, on the same day that he made his first confession, and we are happy to report that he is keen to serve each week under the watchful eye of Stefan, his honorary ‘big brother’.
I was very happy that the faithful were able to venerate the relics of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross and the Holy Protomartyr of Britain, St Alban, at the end of our service, with a few others also able to venerate the relics of St Ambrose of Milan and St Gerasimos of Jordan that I finally found in the large collection of relics in the sacristy.
I now look forward to a moleben to these Holy Fathers, and will bring a larger reliquary to house the small theca (moshchebnik).
After a visit to Cheltenham for house blessings – and a quick excursus into my home county of Worcestershire, to bless a home in Pershore – I am currently in Wiltshire, where we had our end of month service of compline with the akathist to the Mother of God, in honour of her icon ‘The Healer.’ After the service, we blessed Porphyrios’s home and enjoyed supper together.
I still have a few house blessings to do in Cardiff and hope that these can be completed in the next week and a half.
Looking ahead, this week, we will meet for our customary akathist at 18:00 in Nazareth House on Thursday, though the time will change in future weeks due to the University chaplain celebrating Mass at 18:00 on weekdays.
I will be available to hear confessions from 17:00, and will continue to do so after the service.
We will have our customary Friday devotions before the Cross, in the Oratory at 15:00, and will again chant the Ninth Hour and Akathist to the Precious and Life-Giving Cross.
Please message me if you would like to confess before the service. I will also be available for confessions afterwards.
As those in church heard, we seem to finally be making headway with St Philip’s, through the friendly contact between our chancellor and the archdeacon of Llandaff.
However, with some administrative arrangements to be completed, next Sunday’s Liturgy will need to be in St Faith’s Church, Morris Ave, Llanishen, Cardiff CF14 5JW.
We will have access from 10:30, and commence the Hours and Liturgy at 11:00, and, as it will be Forgiveness Sunday, vespers and the rite of mutual forgiveness will follow.
Please, make every effort to ensure that you are reconciled with everyone, mend any broken relationships before we begin the fast, and make peace in the case of outstanding arguments and conflicts.
Though we will have trapéza, we must watch the clock, as the Anglican parishioners will be setting up for a children’s service at 15:00.
Things may look a little minimal, but I am sure we can live with that!
Can those able to offer lifts to carless parishioners who live in town please get in touch?
Having already finished eating meat on Sunday, this week’s fasting rules allow the consumption of dairy foods and eggs every day… so please enjoy the traditional cheese-fair / bliny week before we commence the Great Fast on Monday 3 March – a day of total abstinence for all who can do so.
Please use the remaining time before the fast to sort spiritual reading material, and to print any texts that may be needed for prayers. Though we now have a good number of parishioners, we are still a few short of the hoped-for twenty participants, and would welcome a few more people to join us.
Just to clarify for those who may be reticent, our Psalter reading is simply a personal offering at home in our daily prayers, rotating the 20 kathismas (sections of the Orthodox Psalter) as we read them, so that in the forty days, we read each the 20 kathismas twice.
Each of us starts on a specific kathisma and we work through the Psalter and go back to the beginning after kathisma 20, so it’s just a staggered start and between us, we read the complete 150 Psalms every day.
It doesn’t involve going anywhere or needing to read in public, just a small chunk of each day for extra prayer at home during the Great Fast.
Heartfelt thanks to those who supported our rather different Sunday service, with the chanting of the Ninth Hour and the Typika in the Oratory Church, with the added blessing of having our familiar shrines and the candlestands from the old Sheffield parish at the centre of our worship.
Praise God that we were able to pray together and partake of the Holy Mysteries, trying to keep the service as familiar and normal as possible, with the choir singing most of the service, rather than a reader chanting everything.
It was strange not to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, but nevertheless a joy to mark the second day of the Meeting of the Lord, having kept the feast in Cheltenham, on Saturday.
Parishioners commented how reassuring and comforting it was to receive such a warm welcome from the Oratorian Fathers and the Latin Mass congregation, and were touched by such kindness and generosity, and it was reassuring to see parishioners relax and enjoy time in the hall after Liturgy.
Although we still await news of St Philip’s, I am pleased to anounce that through the good offices of the Reverends Elaine Jenkyns and Ruth Greenaway-Robbins, we will soon be able to celebrate Sunday Liturgies in St Faith’s Church, Morris Avenue, Llanishen, CF14 5JD, as a temporary solution.
I am awaiting confirmation as to whether we would be able to start this Sunday, so please keep an eye on our social media and on your email inboxfor updates.
This week, we will follow our current practice of chanting an akathist on Thursday evening, in Nazareth House at 18:00. This week, we will chant the akathist to the Mother of God, in honour of her icon,”The Softener of Evil Hearts” – «Умягчение Злых Сердец».
We will celebrate devotions before the relic of the Cross in the Oratory Church on Friday afternoon at 15:00.
As Great Lent approaches, we are keen to arrange the cutomary Lenten parish Psalter reading group, wishing to ensure that the complete Psalter is recited every day. Those wishing to participate should email psaltergroup@fastmail.com
Our Lenten services will greatly depend on what happens in the next few weeks, in terms of permissions for church use. We will endeavour to have as full a week of worship as possible in the first week of Lent, but we must bear in mind that our first week of the Great Fast conincides with the beginning of western Lent, so this may affect the evening chanting of the Great Canon.
Last year saw us anticipate compline by chanting the Great Canon at 15:00, which was not ideal, but there was no alternative in the Oratory. We will however explore opportunities for evening worship, though public worship on western Ash Wednesday may not be possible.
Please think about spiritual reading for the approaching Fast, and consider some of the titles already recommended, as well as acquiring a copy of the Great Canon: an essential resource for the season.
The Great Canon: The Work of St. Andrew of Crete
The Ladder of Divine Ascent, by St. John Climacus
The Lausiac History of Palladius (Lives of the Monks of Egypt):
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Apophthegmata Patrum: The Alphabetic Collection: 59 (Cistercian Studies Series, 59)
The Paradise of the Holy Fathers Vol II (Sayings of the Fathers and Questions and Answers about the monastic life)
The Arena, by St. Ignatii (Brianchaninov)
The Field: Cultivating Salvation: 1 (Complete Works of Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov)
The Refuge: Anchoring the Soul in God: 3 (Complete Works of Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov)
My Life in Christ, by St. John of Kronstadt
A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God (St Ephrem the Syrian)
Father George Calciu: Interviews, Talks, and Homilies
Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
Monk of Mount Athos: Staretz (St) Silouan 1866-1938
Saint Silouan, the Athonite
The Divine Liturgy: A Commentary in the Light of the Fathers:
Homilies on the Divine Liturgy, by Hieromartyr Seraphim Zvezdinsky
As the Great Fast draws closer, we must continue to pray fervently as we await permissions to settle into our hoped-for new place of worship, and be ready to be flexible, creative and resourceful in the meantime.
How strange it is to write weekly news in which the headline is that our parish is now homeless in terms of Sunday Liturgy, as we await permission from the diocese of Llandaff for our eastward relocation. In these days we must continue to pray, hoping in the Lord’s plan for our parish.
Thanks to those who helped in the packing and moving, and those who have kindly agreed to store things in their homes, and especially to the fathers of the Oratory, who are so kindly keeping large items in St Alban’s Church, where we are so blessed to meet and worship week by week.
Thanks to all who gathered in Canton for our well-attended final Liturgy, and for those who sang and read, set up and helped pack the remaining things for our exit. After a tiring week, and yesterday’s celebration in Warminster, I was very glad that Father Mark the Younger celebrated, allowing me to sing and read.
St John’s has been a valued spiritual base for parishioners not only living in South Wales, but also those coming from the west of England and the Marches, and I know that parishioners have enjoyed the parish’s sojourn in Canton.
We have some excellent memories of St John’s, of episcopal visitations, the visit of the Kursk-Root icon, the Great Water Blessings of Theophany, radiant Paschal services, of the arrival of so many people, some as short term parishioners fleeing the war in Ukraine, some as seekers and catechumens who are now part of our community.
In the last few months, it has been a joy to not only baptise Joseph and Maxim, but even on our last day to receive three young catechumens, who have brought youth and energy to our community.
In the week ahead, we will have our usual services in Nazareth House at 18:00 on Thursday, and in the Oratory at 15:00, on Friday. These gatherings continue to allow ample opportunity for weekday confessions, and I am very happy to hear confessions before and after the services. I will be in Nazareth house from 17:00, and in the Oratory from 14:00.
Saturday sees our Cheltenham Liturgy in Prestbury United Reformed Church at 10:00, and this time of waiting and uncertainty could be a prompt for Cardiff-based parishioners to visit our outposts in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, seizing the opportunity to attend Liturgy whenever possible.
Although we had planned to make a morning pilgrimage to Llandaff Cathedral on Saturday 22 February (St Teilo’s Day), I will cancel that visit if we receive no answer from the diocese of Llandaff in the next few days. Given that our liturgical requisites are scattered across the catchment area of our parish pilgrimages will be difficult until we have a Cardiff base and are able to transport everything needed for Orthodox services.
If we receive no permission for our move to the east of the city in the next few days – as announced in church – we will gather in the Oratory Church in Swinton Street at 12:30, to chant the Typika and administer Holy Communion from the reserved Holy Gifts. In that case, I will hear confessions during the service, with Father Mark the Younger leading our worship. After some simple refreshments, we will take the welcome opportunity to offer a moleben to the Mother of God in honour of her Kazan Icon.
Having commenced the use of the Lenten Triodion / Triod Postnaya, and approaching the beginning of the Great Fast, we must not let our challenging situation distract us form the life of the Church and the season of repentance that lies before us. The persecutions of the Soviet Yoke failed to destroy Church-life behind the Iron Curtain, and we know that on a personal level our individual laziness and indifference can be even more destructive than the godless persecutions of governments and states. Let us remain, resolute, steadfast and watchful!
Our times may be challenging, but the history of our Church has taught us that adversity is a God-given opportunity to struggle and grow stronger in Faith and spiritual resilience.
As the Church in Exile, our Russian Church Outside of Russia was born out of homelessness and we are the spiritual heirs of the strength, resourcefulness and determination of those who did not allow this to undermine or rob them of Church life.
In these islands, these determined and dedicated people – among them Archbishop Nikodem, Bishops Nikolai and Konstantin, the Abbesses Elizabeth and Seraphima, the Archpriests Evgeniy Smirnoff, Georgy Sheremetev, and Mikhail Polsky – are the spiritual pillars upon which our diocese is founded, and as we face trials and uncertainty, we must be inspired by their determined Faith and labours for the Church.
The countdown to our exit from St John’s is now very real, and after long hours of packing, yesterday evening, most things can be removed on Wednesday.
Sunday Liturgy will be minimal, leaving only the bare necessities of worship for a sort of “catacomb Liturgy”.
I hope that some of our sacred items can be used in other places, until we have somewhere to use them in Cardiff, again.
I was very glad to be able to celebrate Sunday Liturgy yesterday, after a period of having to stand in for other rôles since Nativity, and thought it a very prayerful and joyful celebration.
Once again, it was good to see recently arrived faithful and some new faces.
Thanks to everyone for their labours for the glory of God! Spasi Godpodi!
As I’m still in Cardiff, there will be afternoon prayers in St Alban’s Church this afternoon, where we will pray the akathist to the Holy Archangel Michael, given that Monday is dedicated to the angelic powers.
We will also chant an akathist in Nazareth House at 18:00 on Thursday. With confessions possible both before and after the service.
Given the move from St John’s, I do not have concrete plans for Friday, as we need to see how the week progresses in terms of removals. I will make any service announcements on WhatsApp.
This coming Saturday – 8 February – will see the monthly Liturgy for our West of England parishioners, and we will celebrate, as usual, in the lovely Chapel of St Lawrence, in Warminster Market Place, with the Hours commencing at 10:30.
We also look forward to our Gloucestershire Liturgy, in Cheltenham the following Saturday (15 February) – the feast of the Metting of the Lord.
As you will be aware, we are still awaiting an answer regarding use of St Philip’s, Tremorfa, and are becoming concerned that this is threatened by negative voices and influences connected with our imminent eviction from St John’s.
Looking forward to Sunday 16th February, I will discuss the possibility of a noonday celebration of the typica and administration of Holy Communion with Father Sebastian, and report back to you.
We are delighted that the Oratory will house some of our larger church items, knowing that this will make it easy to create an Orthodox setting for worship.
Despite the uncertainties ahead, we must remain hopeful and fervent in our prayers!
We ask for prayers for Ludmila and Brigid among the sick; for David in Gower, as he becomes increasingly frail in his old age; for Xenia and Isaac in Cheltenham as they reluctantly move out of a much loved home; and for the newly departed Sergei and Elena, and for Valentina, whose eight anniversary of repose falls tomorrow.
With so much having been put on hold due to the move out of St John’s, I look forward to a subsequent busy few weeks of Theophany house-blessings. Thank you for your patience!
Greetings for the feast of the Holy-Equal-to-the-Apostles, St Nino of Georgia, the niece of the Holy Great-Martyr George, to whom the Mother of God appeared, commanding her to leave Palestine to preach the Gospel.
The glory of the Georgian Church is build upon her apostolic labours, and she is dear to Orthodox people across eastern Europe as well as the land she adopted.
May her prayers be with us at this crucial time in parish life!
Here we are in the last fortnight of our parish presence in St John’s, packing and waiting for the hoped-for higher permissions for the use of St Philip’s, Tremorfa. As the matter is now out of our hands, at the end of a very slow process of searching for a new location, all we can do is pray as we wait.
As next Sunday will have to see us packing, our trapéza will need to be kept to tea and biscuits/cake, as there will be much to do, and helping hands will be needed. Presuming that the following Cardiff Liturgy on Sunday 9th February is also in St John’s, this will be celebrated minimally, and our setting will be unfortunately, but necessarily bare.
Subsequently, if things continue to go slowly, we may have to be flexible in a stop-gap period, adapting liturgics, services and the opportunity to commune to suit our circumstances, as we have before. However, even if Holy Communion is administered during the Typika/Obednista in the Oratory Church after the late morning Solemn Mass, it would be no later than communion in St John’s.
The weather, studies/exams, and personal commitments dented yesterday’s attendance in St John’s, but we were very happy to welcome new Orthodox faithful. As Fr Mark the Younger announced, we will be very happy to welcome new singers and servers to the kliros and sanctuary, and see more people participating in obediences.
In the week ahead, we will chant an akathist in Nazareth House at 18:00 on Thursday, with the opportunity for confessions before and after the service.
There will be devotions in honour of the Cross and Passion in the Oratory at 15:00, on Friday, and having forgotten that I had said I would be available for confessions before last Friday’s service (apologies again to the parishioner who wasted time and petrol heading into town), I will be in the Oratory from 14:00. Confessions may also be heard after our service.
As shared on WhatsApp, I will be heading to the Church of the Holy Prince Lazar, in Bournville, for the feast of St Mark of Ephesus on Saturday, and would be very happy to see any parishioners who might be able to join the celebration. The Hours and Liturgy are at 9:00.
Our next Wessex Liturgy will be celebrated in the Chapel of St Lawrence, Market Place, Warminster, on Saturday 9thFebruary, with the Hours and Liturgy commencing at 10:30.
The next Cheltenham Liturgy will be celebrated in the United Reformed Church in Prestbury on Saturday 16thFebruary. Now that we have two clergy, we have returned to our old service time of 10:00.
After last Saturday’s West Wales pilgrimage to St Anthony’s well in Llansteffan, next month’s pilgrimage on the feast of St Teilo – Saturday 22nd February (9th Church style) will be a very local one, to Llandaff cathedral, where we will serve a moleben in the St Teilo chapel at 10:00.
Following Leprosy Sunday, yesterday, we will be pleased to continue accept any donations towards the work of the Leprosy Mission of England and Wales in eastern India: ideally SEALED in an envelope marked “leprosy collection”. Such as the poverty in Orisha, that people with bodies eaten away by leprosy lack the most basic needs… including shoes and clean drinking water. Please help if you can. Every pound makes a difference. Any funds will be passed to the Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, who are coordinating fundraising to support the mission’s work.
As we begin the new civil year, may we once again, stress the importance of Church calendars in our spiritual life, as the seasons, feasts and fast are all part of Orthodox living… and Orthodox living is calendric!
Who are the saints of the day? What are the readings of the day? What righteous people may have the anniversary of their death today? What are today’s readings? Is it the name-day of one of your fellow parishioners?
The beautiful, rich cycle of feasts and fasts that shape the Church’s year, is the sign of God’s grace in the life of the Church – through the saints He has glorified, through the Great Feasts that commemorate the events in the life of the Lord and His All-Pure Mother, in the God-given fasts and seasons of repentance and preparation.
We cannot be part of the life of the Church without living the calendar. So, please… whether on-line or on paper, make the Church calendar part of your spiritual life EVERY day!
If anyone wishes to buy the English language St Herman calendar (dedicated to the saints of Wales, this year) please ask the clergy. The cost-price is £10.
We “give up” the feast of the Lord’s Baptism today, and as we look forward to Lent and Pascha, it will be useful to remind ourselves of important dates.
Sunday 23rd February: Sunday of the Last Judgment (Meatfare: the last day for eating meat)
Sunday 2nd March: Forgiveness Sunday (Cheesefare – the eve of the fast)
Monday 3rd March: Clean Monday, first day of Great Lent
Monday 7th April (25th March old-style): the Annunciation
Sunday 9th March: First Sunday of the Great Lent – the Triumph of Orthodoxy.
Sunday 16th March: Second Sunday of Great Lent. St Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica
Sunday 23rd March: Third Sunday of the Great Lent: Adoration of Cross.
Sunday 30th March: Fourth Sunday of Great Lent. St John of the Ladder
Sunday 6th April: Fifth Sunday of Great Lent. St Mary of Egypt