Dear brothers and sisters, 

Greetings for the feast of the Holy Unmercenary Healers, Cosmas and Damian, a day for us to intensify our prayers for those sick or unwell in our community – especially for Ludmilla, Brigid (Mo), Andrew, Margarita and Mike.

I would usually be in Walsingham, this week, but with the tail-end of a throat infection and deafness in one ear, I remain in Llanelli.

We congratulate Norman John, for whom this feast is his ‘Orthodox’ birthday, having finally been united to the Church on this feast in Walsingham in 2020 after over a decade of lingering on the threshold and peaking over the wall!

Thank you to everyone in Cheltenham and Cardiff for their labours for Christ, in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in both places. I am particularly grateful to our young servers and the enthusiasm they show to serve in the altar. Even our little ones in Cheltenham were at my elbow for the proskomedia, absorbing what happens before Liturgy.

Despite a twenty minute late start for Sunday Liturgy, I was pleased that our celebration passed quite routinely and without any surprises – other than a rather reduced congregation.  

The windy and rainy weather, and rather dark day were dramatically different to our sunny Cheltenham on Saturday, and the cosiness of the church at Nazareth House offered quite a contrast to the world outside. Though the temperature often seems excessive, it was greatly appreciated, yesterday.  

On confession days, each week, we will chant vespers or a moleben in the afternoon – having chanted a moleben to Saints Demetrios and Nestor last week, and this week, confessions will be heard on Friday, both before and after the celebration of vespers at 16:00. 

As I have an early evening obligation on Saturday, vespers will be celebrated at the earlier time of 15:00, with time for confessions before the service. As usual I will hear confessions from 10:15 on Sunday morning. 

As announced, Saturday 25^th November, will see a parish pilgrimage to the beautiful Serbian Orthodox church of St Lazar in Bournville, Birmingham, which houses a wonder-working copy of the Trojeručica (Three Handed) icon of the Mother of God enshrined in the monastery of Hilandar, on Mount Athos. The Divine Liturgy commences at 09:00, and we will offer a moleben before the icon afterwards. 

Though I know that some of our students are keen to make this pilgrimage, as well as our own Serbian faithful and their usual companions, there have only been a few other declarations of interest. I would be grateful to know who would like to join us for this wonderful occasion. 

Many thanks to all who donated so generously to the collections for the Bethany Convent and Orthodox School, raising £473 for this needy cause in a time of great uncertainty and hardship. 

In your prayers, please remember the newly-departed handmaiden of God, Nadezhda, mother of our parishioner Olga (McKellar) and we pray for Olga and Allan, who are in Italy for the funeral, and for all of their family. Please also pray for the newly departed Photina. Memory Eternal! 

Please remember that we have a mid-week service each Wednesday evening in Llanelli, and will chant compline at 19:00 on Wednesday night in the chapel of St David and St Nicholas in Llanelli, with a litia for the newly departed Nadezhda and Photina.

Please contact us for directions if you wish to attend and are unsure of the location. Please note that the front door is locked once we retire to the garden chapel for the service. 

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark 

Dear brothers and sisters,

Tomorrow evening, our parish book club will have its first meeting at the Wenvoe Arms, Old Port Road, Wenvoe, CF5 6AN, and will be commencing St Philaret of Moscow’s Sermons on the Spiritual Life, available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sermons-Spiritual-Life-Philaret-Moscow/dp/1735011606/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1697996493&sr=8-3

Everyone will be most welcome, and the first meeting will start with the first sermon in the anthology.

This coming St Demetrios Saturday will see our October parish pilgrimage to honour of St Cadoc in  the medieval church on the site of his monastery at Llancarfan, in the Vale of Glamorgan.

We will celebrate the Hours and Liturgy at 10:00, followed by a general panikhida for all of the faithful departed, after which we will enjoy lunch and time together in the Fox and Hounds.

The Liturgy variables may be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ugbN-baM2N9aXv4S6-mBOZauLGsqpiU-/view

After lunch, we will chant a moleben to St Cadoc, and I will hear some confessions at the end of our visit. Those who confessed in preparation for Holy Communion last Sunday are blessed to commune at Saturday’s Liturgy, subject to proper preparation.

Many thanks to Tracy, our pilgrimage secretary, who organises and acts as the hub for our monthly pilgrimages. We very much appreciate the time and effort spent on emails, telephone calls and messaging – to say nothing of coordinating bookings and menus to feed hungry pilgrims.

Please remember that we turn the clocks back one hour on Saturday night / Sunday morning for British winter time.

At the end of Sunday’s Liturgy, we will welcome offerings for a second collection to support Bethany Orthodox Christian school in the Holy Land. Mother Maria, who is in charge of the school has expressed the need and crippling hardship of the conditions in Bethany to parishioners, and given the recent visit of some of our faithful to Bethany, we must try and support this unique and threatened Orthodox school – already struggling as a Christian institution before the outbreak of the current conflict, and now in dire need. Every pound will help, so please give if you are able.

Given the absence of Deacon Mark on Sunday, Father Hierodeacon Avraamy and I will gratefully appreciate help in a quick church set-up, after a constantly lengthening morning mass. I hope that our young brothers will be able and willing to arrange the front of church as promptly as possible. Sunday confessions will start at 10:15, at the back of the church.

May God bless you all!

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters, S prazdnikom!

We have just returned from Cheltenham, where we had a sun-bathed Liturgy, and a glorious autumn day as we celebrated the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God – for whom our parishioners brought many flowers.

As we have previously reflected, so many feasts of the Mother of God and her wonder-working icons coincide with the pattern our Cheltenham Liturgies, and when the vestments are blue, it seems that we are always blessed with blue sky and the sun shining. However, when we arrived this morning, despite the sunshine outside, the chapel had a chill in the air and needed heating for a while before the faithful arrived.

It was very odd, gathering for Liturgy without Nataliya and mama Galina, but before set up there was the joy of a brief telephone greeting from them in Odessa, where Liturgy had already finished, with the news that their parish priest had donated an icon of the Protection to our little mission – a wonderful blessing and gesture on this feast of the Pokrov.

Many thanks to our sisters for reading and chanting on the kliros, and to Timofey for helping – unexpectedly for him – in the entrances, as he was beckoned into the oltar by Deacon Mark to carry a candle, and we were impressed that he was so helpful after Liturgy, looking for practical tasks to do.

It was lovely to sit down to a relaxed meal in the church hall after Liturgy, and to discuss some plans for the new year, with the hope to have occasional services across the whole parish area of Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds, especially to reach out to those who live at the southern ends of our pastoral area.

We look forward to our return in November, when Liturgy will follow the pattern of being on the SECOND Saturday of the month: 11^th November, when we will celebrate the memory of St Anastasia the Roman.

With love in Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

It was a joy to celebrate the feast of St Sergius of Radonezh in Cardiff on Sunday, and we are grateful to all who contributed to our celebration, with holiday effects on our kliros seeing the second coopting of our hierodeacon by the choir. Many thanks to Edmund for filling Olga’s place and coordinating our chanting and to Hierodeacon Avraamy for moving from the sanctuary to the kliros. Spasi Gospodi!

Despite those abroad, we still mustered over forty worshippers, though we are always swallowed by the vastness of the convent church!

Again, we are extremely grateful for parishioners making the hour of confessions before Liturgy run so smoothly.

This was the first week without trapeza in church, but it was lovely to follow parishioners over the road to our friendly local café, and to enjoy a cup of coffee there, largely with our Wessex contingent, who had a considerable drive home ahead of them.

Our celebration of St Sergius came at the end of a busy week, which saw Tuesday in Peterston-Super-Ely to arrange the funeral of the newly departed handmaiden of God, Irina, for whom your prayers are greatly appreciated. With permission from the Anglican Archbishop of Wales and the approval of the Bishop of Llandaff, I am extremely grateful that the funeral service will be able to be celebrated in the little medieval church – a building I had passed on the train for much of my life, but had never entered until the past week. It was a pleasure to talk with Fr Martin and have a few hours in the village.

Wednesday saw the baptism – in Nazareth House – of the newly enlightened Sabine, who travelled on the train from Stroud with her mother, Anna. Please remember them in your prayers.

Both Wednesday and Friday saw the hearing of confessions in Nazareth House, with a talk on intercession following Friday confessions, and confessions also followed Saturday’s celebration of Great Vespers for the Feast of St Sergius of Radonezh, for which I am grateful to our young brother, George, for reading.

This week, I will hear confessions on Thursday, and would like to stress that – if required – this will include the evening as well as the afternoon. As Saturday sees Deacon Mark and I in Cheltenham, there will be no Saturday tea-time service in Nazareth House. 

I’m very happy that the October Liturgy in Cheltenham will fall on the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God – a wonderful celebration of our Lady’s protection and intercession. We know that some core parishioners will be away, but we will soldier on.

As usual, our Cheltenham Liturgy will be celebrated in Prestbury URC Church, Deep St, Cheltenham GL52 3AW, with confessions heard from 09:15, and the Hours and Liturgy commencing at 10:00. There will be the usual bring-and-share lunch after Liturgy.

As announced, we will be making a local pilgrimage to Llancarfan on Saturday 28^th October, and plan to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at 10:00 – though this will depend on having someone to chant on the kliros. Anyone interested should speak to Tracy, or email her: t_sbrain@yahoo.co.uk

We continue to keep Olga, Valentina, Maria, Nikolai, Nataliya, Galina, Catalin, and Oswald in our prayers, on their travels; Mike and Steve, who are unwell and Porphyrios’s father Paul as he undergoes medical treatment; and Isaac and mum Xenia in the search for a new school.

Finally, I would like to remind you of a few things:

• Commemoration books and lists should be updated REGULARLY.
• In commemoration books and on lists, clergy and monastics should be referred to by rank – bishop, archimandrite, hieromonk, archpriest, priest, deacon, monk, nun etc. Nobody should be listed as vladyka, father or mother.
• All others in your commemorations should be referred to by full baptismal names – no Mashas, Sashas and Natashas, but Marias, Alexanders and Natalias!
• Branka is kindly baking small commemorative prosphory all week, and it is our tradition to present them for our commemoration. There are very few each week, which is bizarre in a parish of no fewer than thirty to forty adults each week.
• As with communion, the antidoron distributed at the end of Liturgy is to be consumed FASTING – i.e. on an empty stomach.
• With the commencement of the Hours, Liturgy (in the broadest sense) has begun, and parishioners should refrain from conversation.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

Though I have only just walked through the door, and tea is still brewing, I thought I should type this week’s news whilst I am still buoyed by today’s lovely Liturgy in Nazareth House, reasonably well attended despite the road closures.

Though the road closures dissuaded some parishioners from Penarth and Barry, and made logistics totally impossible for a few others, visitors more than took the place of those unable to be with us, and we had a goodly Wessex contingent from across the Severn.

We are grateful for our trio on the rather reduced kliros for increasing the chanting in English, with Hierodeacon Avraamy being coopted from the sanctuary to help today. Having experienced church-singers, who can adapt to the various challenges of the seasons is a great advantage. Our visitors expressed their appreciation for the kliros, complimenting us on the quality of chanting.

Our flowers were beautiful again, though I wish someone had photographed them in situ, adorning the icons, especially the festal icon of the Exaltation of the Cross. I was quite serious in suggesting that the flowers are not just a task for the parish sisterhood, but that with some assistance, the gentlemen of the parish could help. Those of us who are monks are used to sewing and embroidery, baking, cooking and flower-arranging, and doing every other task that might wrongly be seen as work for the ladies. Some of the parish brothers might surprise themselves!

Being the Sunday after the Exultation of the Cross, the Cross and the bed of flowers from the feast-day celebration were brought from Llanelli, so that the faithful could venerate the Life-Giving Cross at the end of Liturgy. Before that, we were able to greet our sisters, Ludmilla and Jessica Anne on their recent name-days and sing ‘Many Years’ to them. Congratulations, dear sisters!

Given the amount of tidying necessitated by refreshments, today’s informal trapeza was the last for the foreseeable future. Those travelling fair distances may wish to bring a packed lunch for the car, and we have the excellent café across the road – a very welcoming refuge where I and parishioners spend many hours talking, discussing spiritual matters, and doing ‘office’ work.

Having been the Vale and city for a couple of days for funeral arrangements and a baptism in the middle of the week, I will hear confessions on Friday afternoon/early-evening and we will have a further talk on prayer at 19:00 – focussing on petitionary/ intercessory prayer. Confession requests would be appreciated by noon on Thursday, thank you.

Our Saturday evening service will be at 16:00 (rather than 17:00), just to allow more travel time for my return to Llanelli. As you know, this can be rather unpredictable, to say the least. I would prefer that any Saturday confessions are before the service, to allow for a timely departure.

I am happy to be able to announce that having heard from Father Michael at Llancarfan, we will be celebrating a pilgrimage Divine Liturgy in the wonderful medieval church at on Saturday 28^th October, with the Hours and Divine Liturgy at 10:00. The church, with its medieval wall-paintings, is on the side of St Cadoc’s community. Please contact Tracy if you are interested in attending: t_sbrain@yahoo.co.uk

October service times may be found below.

Your prayers are asked for: SICK – Paul (non-O), Ludmilla, Brigid, the priest Anthony; TRAVELLERS – Olga & Valentina, Galina & Natalya, Maria and Nikolai (travelling on Sunday); DEPARTED – Irina (newly-departed), Nina (ninth anniversary of repose).

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

+

Sunday 1 October: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 11:00 (confessions from 10:15).

Friday 6 October: Nazareth House, afternoon/evening confessions time tbc depending on requests. 19:00 Discussion Group on prayer.

Saturday 7 October: Great Vespers 16:00, confessions by arrangement.

Sunday 8 October: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 11:00 (confessions from 10:15).

Monday 9 October (September 26 Old-Style): Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian – Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 11:00

Thursday 12 October: Nazareth House, afternoon/ evening confessions time tbc depending on requests. 

Saturday 14 October: The Protecting Veil of the Mother of God (Pokrov), Hours and Divine Liturgy, Cheltenham, 10:00.

Sunday 15 October: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 11:00 (confessions from 10:15).

Friday 20 October: Nazareth House, afternoon/evening confessions time tbc depending on requests. 19:00 Discussion Group on prayer.

Saturday 21 October: Great Vespers 16:00, confessions by arrangement.

Sunday 22 October: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 11:00 (confessions from 10:15).

Thursday 26 October: Nazareth House, afternoon/evening confessions time tbc depending on requests.

Saturday 28 October: Pilgrimage to Llancarfan – Hours and Divine Liturgy, 10:00.

Sunday 29 October: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 11:00 (confessions from 10:15).

Dear brothers and sisters,

How wonderful it has been to start the season with some beautiful autumnal days under blue skies and in the September sun (despite the rather wet interludes), and such a day blessed our celebration of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the cathedral, on Thursday. 

The altar-feast is always a very welcome occasion on which clergy are united in the celebration of the Liturgy with our bishop, and for those of us who are far from Chiswick and other parishes within the diocese, it is good to come together and share such an important feast.

The Nativity of the Mother of God – and previous to that, the Dormition – is part of the cement that holds the parishes and clergy of a scattered diocese together, and an embodiment of common life in Christ, united around our hierarch.

Our return from London was followed by a busy few days, with confessions in Nazareth House on Friday, and our lovely local pilgrimage to St Illtud Fawr on Saturday – another day blessed by lovely autumn weather, which was made all the more pleasurable by being in the surroundings of the Vale of Glamorgan.

Though we conceived of the day as a rather low-key and ad hoc substitution for Llancarfan, it turned out to be a wonderful occasion, with Father Luke enthusiastically sharing insights on Roman-British Christianity, St Illtud and his great college, the ‘university’ of Wales in the Age of the Saints. Our time in the remarkable church was followed by a moleben to St Illtud in the church yard and a meal in the Old Swan Inn.

We are grateful to Father Luke for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for this important chapter in the Orthodox legacy of our God-preserved Welsh land, so blessed by places of sanctity and hallowed by the countless men and women who shaped the Church in its early, formative centuries.

Many thanks to Tracy and Menna for their input, and to Rhydian for taking Father Luke and I in his car. Diolch!

Sunday saw the celebration of the after-feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Nazareth House, and the colours of autumn entered the church in the lovely icon adornments, with fragrant herbs and autumn berries, as well as flowers bringing a seasonal offering to the Lord, the Mother of God and the saints.

Again, thanks to our choir for their prayerful chanting, and the return of English as well as Slavonic hymns. I hope that we will see a steady progress in this.

I would also like to express my gratitude to parishioners for making confessions work so well on Sunday mornings, despite the time pressure. Having people ready and waiting to confess at 10:15 has made a vast difference, and rendered it possible to have an hour of confessions before the end of the Hours. Thank you, everyone!

One issue that I must raise is the supervision of children during the Liturgy.

All childen MUST be supervised at all times, and that means that parents/responsible adults MUST be able to see their charges at all times. After several occasions on which children have tried to leave the church via the staircase, I cannot stress this enough.

Looking forward in this week, our plan had been to celebrate the Exultation of the Cross in Cardiff, but I received a message a few days ago to say that the church is not available on Wednesday, due to a funeral.

This has made it necessary to cancel services in Cardiff, and the Divine Liturgy for the feast will now be celebrated in Llanelli, in the Chapel of St David and St Nicholas, at 11 New Rd, Dafen, Llanelli SA14 8LS. The Hours and Liturgy will be celebrated at 10:00.

Thanks to Father Luke for making this possible and to the Partridges who had an unscheduled visit from me today, and supplied prosphora for the celebration. 

At the end of the week, I will hear confessions on Friday afternoon/evening, and would appreciate requests by noon on Thursday.

I had planned a prayer discussion session for Friday, but as the following day’s rail strike may already see cancellations of services already on the previous evening, I feel caution must see this postponed until the following week. 

The following day – Saturday – as there is a rail strike, I will be unable to travel to Cardiff and hear confessions or celebrate vespers.

I would like to remind that the Cardiff half-marathon will see some road closures on Sunday morning. Please check your journey and allow extra time, if necessary.

We will endeavour to start the Sunday service at 11:00, although the new later Sunday Mass and narrow time-space between services has pushed this to 11:05 thus far. Confessions will be heard from 10:15, at the back of the church. Please enter quietly, as Mass is still being celebrated at that time.

In your prayers, please pray for Thérèse (non-O) Brigid and Liudmilla among the sick and infirm, for Catalin, Nataliya and Galina as they travel abroad, for the newly departed servant of God, Alexey, and for Vladimir, whose anniversary of repose falls at this time.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

As we look forward to next weekend, the important news for everyone to note is that with the new chaplains taking over duties at Nazareth House, Sunday Mass will now be beginning at the later time of 10:00.

Unfortunately, this pushes our start-time later. However, we have no alternative.

This has a massive impact on our worship, which has already been starting at a very late hour for an Orthodox Liturgy. We have been able to set up the church for Orthodox worship and hear Sunday confessions from 10:10, and losing thirty minutes every Sunday will make it impossible to begin the Hours before 11:00.

Confession time will be limited, so it is especially important that those requiring confession on Sundays inform me and that all who can confess in the week do so. On whichever day I am confessing, there will be time for confessions in the evening as well as the day time.

Given the pressures which we now face, I will endeavour to be in Cardiff on Saturdays, as well, unless there is rail industrial action. Please feel free to discuss any specific limitations in your opportunity to confess, so that we can endeavour to make things work.

I will hear confessions on Thursday of this week from around 15:00 (according to need), and will be available for the afternoon and the evening. It will not be possible to be in Nazareth House this Saturday as we will be in Cheltenham, but as always, any Cardiff parishioners supporting the Cheltenham Liturgy can be confessed on Saturday.

Further to the notice of September dates, a few services may need to be relocated due to maintenance, and community choir practices recommencing at Nazareth House on Wednesday evenings.

So… just to be absolutely clear:

The Hours and Liturgy will now (hopefully) start at 11:00 in Nazareth House, and confessions will begin as soon after 10:30 as is possible.

Please be mindful of time constraints if you are confessing and understand that timings will be approximate and experimental until we experience Sunday with the new chaplains.

If you arrive before the end of Mass – probably around 10:25 – please remain at the back of the church until the residents leave the church.

Finally, thanks to all who have contributed to our services during the octave of the Dormition, which ends tomorrow.

We appreciate each contributors gift: musical, liturgical, floral and culinary – or in any other way in which our parishioners made this Dormition such a glorious and wonderful celebration!

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Sadly, the rail strike yesterday and today, rendered planned activities impossible, so the list of dates and activities starts with tomorrow’s Liturgy.

Again, may I stress that confessions on days when there is no service or talk following them continue till whatever time the last confession finishes.

They are not day-time confessions only, but can and continue until the end, and we have been clear that confessions can be heard after evening services or talks, also.

I would like to be able to do the same on Saturday, with confessions – vespers – confessions, but as I have been relying on public transport over the summer, this has not been possible due to the three hour journey each way (if transport runs according to plan) and repeated cancellations of services beyond Swansea.

We always stress that Sunday morning is the only chance for West of England parishioners, we have also made clear that as confessions begin at 10:10 we can arrange things to accommodate those who may not have been able to come during the week. This continues to work as people have not left confession till last minute, have arrived in good time, and have taken advantage of the time slot.

If the parish is willing to pay for accommodation each Saturday when public transport is my only option, the present very imperfect situation can easily be resolved.

Sunday 3^rd September, After-feast of the Dormition: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 10:45 (confessions from 10:10).

Thursday 7th September: Nazareth House, afternoon confessions time tbc depending on requests

Saturday 9^th September, Holy Great Martyr Phanourios: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Cheltenham, 10:00.

Sunday 10^th September, Uncovering of the relics of Venerable Job of Pochaev (1651): Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 10:45 (confessions from 10:10).

Monday 11^th September, Beheading of St John the Forerunner: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 11:00.

Wednesday 13^th September, Eve of Church New Year: Vespers and Water Blessing, Nazareth House 18:00.

Thursday 14^th September (1^st September Old Style), Church New Year: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 11:00. Confessions heard in the afternoon, depending on requests.

Friday 15^th September: Nazareth House, afternoon confessions time tbc depending on requests, 19:00 Discussion Group on prayer.

Sunday 17^th September, Translation of the relics of Saints Peter and Febronia, Wonderworkers of Murom: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 10:45 (confessions from 10:10).

Thursday 21^st September, Nativity of the Mother of God: Altar-feast of our cathedral – clergy to attend and concelebrate. We hope that some of our parishioners will also join us in this celebration.

Friday 22^nd September: Nazareth House, afternoon confessions time tbc depending on requests.

Saturday 23^rd September: Pilgrimage to Llancarfan, details tbc.

Sunday 24^th September, After Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 10:45 (confessions from 10:10).

Tuesday 26^th September, Eve of the Exultation: Great Vespers, Nazareth House, 18:00.

Wednesday 27^th September, The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 11:00.

Friday 29^th September: Nazareth House, afternoon confessions time tbc depending on requests, 19:00 Discussion Group on prayer.

Sunday 1 October: Hours and Divine Liturgy, Nazareth House, Cardiff, 10:45 (confessions from 10:10).