Category Archives: Parish News

Parish News

Today in Cardiff – Tomorrow in Walsingham

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Our busy weekend continued with our celebration of the Divine Liturgy in Nazareth House, and we were very pleased that our kliros was well provided with singers, making for strong and confident singing. Together with the continued blessing of double-deacons, this made for a splendid Liturgy and I greatly appreciate having two deacons with whom to concelebrate and share the Holy Mysteries.

Though we were a little thin on the ground due to half-term, we were very happy to have four new students visiting and experiencing their first Orthodox service, and were able to chat after the service.

After refreshments to break to our fast, we held our AGM, with reports from the clergy and treasurer. Among the topics discussed were the provision of resources and information for visitors and those exploring Orthodoxy, the availability of printouts of the creed and Lord’s Prayer for visitors, developing pilgrimage and reflecting our local culture in parish life – including use of Welsh in the Liturgy. With our bishop having blessed a parish brotherhood, we also touched and the need to invigorate our parish sisterhood, noting that it is not simply our catering department.

As announced at the Liturgy, I will be serving in Walsingham this week, travelling with Norman and Georgina tomorrow. We look forward to the joy of being with our friends there, especially Mother Melangell, whom we have known for many years. Our Liturgy will be blessed by the presence of Father Mark Tattum-Smith from Mettingham, with whom I will concelebrate as a priest for the first time, and with whom we will be discussing local devotions and promoting ROCOR pilgrimage to Walsingham – with our diocesan connections going back to the very first days of the shrine church. We look forward to the development of local Orthodox Walsingham cells.

Whilst I will obviously be contactable in emergencies, may I remind you that Norfolk is a very long way away, and any interactive pastoral needs need to be directed to Fr Deacon Mark. So that he is able to arrange any provision of support.

However, we will be VERY pleased for us to email us with requests for intercessions and intentions: otetzmark@hotmail.com

We will return on Friday, in time for our pilgrimage to Llandaff cathedral on Saturday, where we will celebrate our moleben to St Teilo at 10:00. After our service and time around the cathedral, we will enjoy the hospitality of the Maltster’s Arms for drinks and lunch at midday.

Just to remind you that we are in the eve of Cheese-Fare week and that meat should be consumed by tonight, though fish will be permitted throughout next week. As Orthodox maximalists, we refute the idea of pancake day… but rather enjoy a whole week. So… enjoy!

The first opportunity to hear confessions will be in Nazareth House on Saturday, after our ‘pilgrim lunch’, and I would like those wishing to confess to email me by 16:00 on Thursday to allow me to email as we will be travelling for much of Friday.

Sunday will be Forgiveness Sunday, and we will celebrate the Vespers of Forgiveness after Liturgy, marking the liturgical beginning of the Great Fast.

Please make the most of the week and get ready for the Fast – in terms of food, prayer and reading.

Looking forward to the Fast, it is our hope that by finding twenty readers to commit to reading a kathisma of the Psalter each day, it may be read every day until the eve of Lazarus Saturday. We really need commitment to this rather than people wanting to join in for a week or two, so if you would like to participate in this spiritual offering, as an act of intercession for our parish, please email psaltergroup@fastmail.com for further information.

With love in Christ – Hieromonk Mark

The Feast of St Philip of Moscow With Bishop Irenei

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Given the great spiritual, physical and culinary labours of the last few days, there are, no doubt, many people in our community who are tired, but saying “Slava Bogu… glory to God!” for the blessing of being able to welcome our hierarch and archpastor, Bishop Irenei to Cardiff – with today’s hierarchical Divine Liturgy as the crown of our celebration.

After more than a year and a half since his last hierarchical visitation, Vladika’s visit was important, especially given the great changes and expansion in our parish and local missions since the trials of covid and lockdown.

We rejoice that we were able to come together as a scattered community of Orthodox faithful, representing our Cardiff parish and our Cheltenham and Swansea missions, with the blessing of welcoming Deacon Andrey and Reader George to serve with us. The contribution of Hierodeacon Avraamy – now blessed to serve in our South Wales communities – was also most welcome.

Gathered around our hierarch, the Liturgy expressed the spiritual bond and catholicity/sobornost of our common and shared life as the Church, in which each of us called to individual ministry and vocation, as alluded to by Vladika in his homily.

Within our community we glorify God for so many vocations, great gifts and talents – in singing, reading, icon painting, cooking, liturgical expertise, floral craft, and the simple ability to organise hospitality and to welcome all who gather not only to the Holy Table of the eucharist, but also to the table of Christian fellowship to share in food and drink.

As well as catching up with familiar parishioners in the parish, His Grace was able to meet those who now travel from England for Liturgy, those baptised since his last visitation, and our catechumens, several of whom will be baptised in the next couple of months. For many parishioners this was their first meeting with Vladika, and for some, it was there first encounter with an Orthodox bishop – and such a personable, warm and positive one.

We were also very happy to welcome our brother-priest, Father Sorin of the Romanian Parish of St Stephen, and were so pleased that he was able to meet Vladika Irenei once again, and join us for trapeza.

The festive table on this feast of the Holy Hieromartyr, Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow summed up the wonderful diversity of our parishioners – with Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Romanian, Spanish, British and Caribbean fare feeding all those assembled, as well as supplying many parishioners with meals for the next few days.

We are so very grateful to all who contributed so generously, and especially for Melangell who took on the role of Senior Sister, having this episcopal visitation as her first rather daunting duty, ceremonially starting with the welcome she offered to Vladika, with the traditional offering of bread and salt, after which the children of the parish offered posies of flowers to their bishop.

We are particularly indebted to our kliros and oltarniky, for their part in the Liturgy, particularly to our oltarnik Oswald, who so capably served with Reader George in fulfilling what would ordinarily have been the obedience of subdeacon.

As Vladika commented, it is the choir who face the greatest challenge in the Hierarchical Liturgy, given the many variations from our usual celebration. May God bless you all!

Thank you everyone for your many and varied offerings, obediences, gifts, generosity and goodwill in making the feast of St Philip such a truly memorable and joyful day and for welcoming Vladika Irenei to lead us in our celebrations.

Above all, we express our thanks to His Grace Bishop Irenei, for his fatherly love and care, and for visiting and nurturing his flock in the fullness of Orthodoxy within our God-Preserved Diocese.

Eis polla eti Despota!

Confessions This Week

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Dear brothers and sisters, 

As announced at Liturgy on Sunday, confessions will be heard on Thursday and Saturday this week. 

Those who confessed last weekend are blessed to commune at the Theophany Liturgy, and those preparing for communion on Sunday may confess after the Great Blessing of the Waters. 

There will be limited time before our 11:00 Liturgy, so I would appreciate an idea of how many confessions are expected. I have already received several requests, and will confess those respective parishioners first. If needed, parishioners may be confessed and communed after the service. Please let us know if you would like to confess on Thursday. 

On Saturday, we will celebrate Great Vespers with Vladika at 17:00, and I and Father Luke will be available to confess people before and after the service. 

There will be confessions before the Sunday service, but these must end by 10:55, as Vladika will be greeted at 11:00. Those confessing should be mindful of the time, and long confessions will NOT be possible. 

Whatever day works best for you, please drop us a line. 

May God bless you all! 

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Nativity Celebrations in Cardiff

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Dear brothers and sisters, Christ is Born!

Wishing you a joyful, ongoing celebration of the Lord’s Nativity.

What a wonderful three days of celebration in our parish, with services in both Nazareth House and St John’s, where we celebrated Liturgy today, so that we could then have our parish Christmas lunch.

The Nativity brought parishioners together from our unlikely catchment area, enveloping South Wales, Hereford, Gloucestershire, Bath and Wiltshire. Not having had a night Liturgy after the vigil we thought that there might be quite low attendance on Friday night, but we were pleasantly surprised.

We were glad to have parishioners from our Llanelli mission for the well attended Christmas Liturgy, with over seventy people, including parishioners’ visiting families, the core of our Cheltenham mission, and new visitors. The Nativity Liturgy was particularly joyful, with extra Ukrainian singers moving to the kliros for the Liturgy and then for koliadky after the service. One of our young parishioners commented on feeling awestruck and spiritually warm at the Liturgy – and hearing this brought great joy.

As we no longer have anywhere to eat in Cathays,  we were glad to celebrate the Synaxis of the Mother of God in St John’s today, where our parish had it’s ‘temporary’ home for several years. The familiarity of the church, with its kitchen and space to eat, was much appreciated and nobody was in a rush to leave.

We were happy to welcome first-time visitors, including friends of our Serbian parishioners, for whom bread, zhito (kutia) and wine were blessed in honour of the holy Apostle, Protomartyr and Archdeacon, Stephen, for their family slava, tomorrow. After the blessing of the offerings, the golden Slavski kolač was incised with a cross into which the blessed wine was poured, before the turning of the loaf by the members of the Terzic family and the priest. Young Stefan, played his part in the breaking of the loaf and the kiss of peace as the halves were placed back to back and turned.

For many of our parishioners, this was the first time they had witnessed the slava prayers and blessing – and a good opportunity for them to learn the Orthodox traditions of their brothers and sisters.

We wish Branka, Stefan and Tara a blessed and joyful feast: Srećna slava!

Following the slava blessing, parishioners enjoyed a wonderful Nativity feast of delicious festive food, with plenty of Russian, Ukrainian and Serbian favourites, with the rector being very happy to celebrate the Nativity with shuba and kulebiaka!

So many people worked very hard, singing, serving, baking and cooking, arranging flowers, setting up the churches and putting everything away again – as well as transporting things to and fro. Thank you everyone!

Also, thank you for the great seasonal kindness and generosity shown to the South Wales ROCOR clergy. Thanks also to the Sisters of Nazareth, who have shown such incredible warmth, generosity and kindness in positively encouraging our return to Nazareth House. It is wonderful to be back there, and to have their friendship and encouragement. We are truly blessed.

Glory to God for all things!

May God bless you all.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

The past weekend and the weekend ahead…

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Despite the impact of illness and parishioners being away, it was a joy to celebrate the Liturgy in Cardiff  yesterday, and slightly lower numbers did little to lessen the numbers confessing and communing, or to diminish the joy of worshipping together.

Our starting time has been somewhat affected by numbers of confessions, and realistically, I think this will continue to be the case as we settle back into life in Nazareth House. However, it is impossible to confess all needing to do so in thirty minutes, so those wishing to confess need to arrive a little earlier than at present, and we will hopefully resolve this over the coming weeks so that the Hours can begin at 10:30.

Deacon Mark and I have been very pleased with the beauty of our Liturgies since our return to Nazareth House, recognising the hard work of our small but conscientious kliros. We thank our singers and also our oltarniky, reduced to only two yesterday, but working hard and serving well.

Before the kissing of the cross, we chanted years for our parish elder Andrew (Allan) who celebrated his nameday in the past week. Many, blessed years to him!

Compared to last week, we were very thin on children, but the few we did have happily spent time at during the homily, arranging lovely little ikebana flower arrangements, which they showed to us at this time. Giving some of these as gifts.

The Liturgy was only the first part of our day, and as members of the congregation chatted and visitors were greeted after the service, a team of our parish gentlemen prepared for the afternoon’s baptism, filling our pop up ‘font’ with enough water to immerse a ten-year-old: the youngest son of one of our Herefordian families. Though his older brother was baptised as an infant in Tikhvin, Josh – Georgiy in Holy Baptism – was never been baptised. So, it was a very great joy to welcome Tom and Julia with their family, with Georgiy’s older brother Maximus representing godfather Igor, who was unable to travel here from Russia.

After the reading of the exorcism prayers, Georgiy ably made his baptismal renunciations and after spitting on the devil, overseen by his older brother, he turned to the east and confessed the creed.

It was lovely to baptise someone who is still a child, but old enough to really take part, so explanations were interspersed between the actions so that our newly enlisted soldier of Christ could appreciate what was happening.

As most of those involved were British, the baptism was largely celebrated in English, but with some Slavonic, as the baptism was being filmed for godfather Igor, in Russia, whom we remembered in our prayers.

Having been anointed with the oil of the catechumens, our youngster climbed into the water and knelt to be fully submerged and baptised in honour of the Holy Great Martyr and Trophy-Bearer George. So, we now have two Herefordian Georges in our community, and Yuriy was happy to hear that there would be another Georgiy, and gave his namesake the ikebana he had arranged.

We look forward to welcoming Julia with both of her sons to commune of the Holy Mysteries! Many years to Georgiy, his godfather Igor and all of the family!

Deacon Mark and I would particularly like to thank Oswald for being such a great help, staying to help with the packing away and clearing of the church, not setting off for Stroud until after 17:00. We are very grateful.

This morning, we celebrated the feast of St Nicholas with Divine Liturgy in Llanelli, with Father Luke celebrating as I chanted on the kliros with Ruth-Silouana and Nicholas, and following the Liturgy, a panikhida was chanted to mark the anniversary of  the repose of the mother of one of the Llanelli parishioners. It was a lovely, prayerful Liturgy, and only a pity that more people did not come to celebrate the feast.

Tomorrow, we celebrate another great Church Father, St Ambrose of Milan and our wonderworking father St Nil Stolbensky, and later this week we will celebrate the feast of the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by St Anna and the Icon ‘Unexpected Joy’.

Next weekend will, of course, be Western Christmas, and as such will occupy many of our parishioners with family commitments. However, we shall still celebrate Liturgy for the feast of St Spyridon the Wonderworker of Tremythus. Even though there will be few of us, I greatly look forward to this feast.

Anticipating only a small number of confessions, I expect to be able to hear all confessions before Liturgy. However, I would still appreciate an email from those wishing to confess and commune on Sunday, asking that emails are received by Thursday.

Finally, may I ask that on arrival each Sunday, parishioners remain towards the back of the church until all residents have exited, given the number of viruses, coughs and colds that are in circulation and the age and vulnerability of those who live in Nazareth house.

May God bless you all. Struggle to maintain the momentum of the Nativity Fast.

In Christ – Fr Mark

A Busy Weekend

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Dear brothers and sisters,

This has been a very busy weekend for our clergy, with services in Cheltenham and Cardiff.

Our Saturday started early and finished late, with a prayerful Liturgy in Cheltenham to celebrate the feast of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. We greatly enjoyed being with our small, but faithful and loving community, honouring the Mother of God in the place where we had venerated her wonder-working icon only eight months before, with yesterday’s Liturgy and feast bringing us together from South Wales, the Forest of Dean, Bath, the Cotswolds, Cheltenham and Gloucester.

We were very pleased to admit Germaine and Kyle as catechumens before the Liturgy, and we pray for God’s blessing on their journey towards the Mystery of Holy Baptism.

Having celebrated the Liturgy, it was lovely to relax over lunch and to have time to chat and socialise. We then made a hospital visit so that I could hear a confession and perform Holy Unction.

After collecting prosphora for the Liturgy on our homebound journey, we arranged the convent chapel for this morning’s Liturgy, looking forward to not only celebrating the Liturgy, but serving a litia in honour of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God.

Today’s cold start made us wonder whether parishioners from the valleys beyond the Severn would make it to church, but we were very happy to have faithful from Merthyr Tydfil, Bath and Wiltshire, who were determined to make it to Liturgy… and what a beautiful and prayerful Liturgy it was, ending with the litia before our copy of the Kursk-Root Icon, and St Nectarios’s ‘O Holy Virgin’ chanted during the kissing of the cross.

Many thanks to all who contributed to the celebration, serving, singing, giving lifts, doing crafts with the children, bringing flowers, and packing away – as well as those who have given support throughout the week.

This week will be a rather static one for me, given the train strike, so I intend to hear confessions on Saturday afternoon after setting up the convent church for Liturgy. Will those requiring confession please email me by Thursday midday.

May God bless you and your continuing journey through the Nativity Fast.

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Sunday 20 November: Looking Forward to Our Return to Nazareth House

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Dear brothers and sisters, 

Thanks to all who laboured for the celebration of today’s service, and to everyone for their patience given the number of confessions today and the delayed start to Liturgy. 

Today’s Liturgy was one tinged with sorrow, as we prayed for the repose of the soul of the newly departed Andrzej and Sara: a double loss for the Pietraszkewicz family, with Lukasz having lost both brother and goddaughter within days. Following Liturgy, I celebrated a panikhida, and we will continue to remember the newly-departed, praying for their repose in a place of refreshment, light and peace. May the Lord remember them in His Kingdom, and may their memory be eternal! We pray for all who sorrow and mourn at this sad and difficult time, commending them to the maternal care and protection of the Mother of God. 

As announced after Liturgy, today’s service was our penultimate celebration in St John’s, as we will be returning to Nazareth House for the first weekend in December, at the beginning of the Nativity Fast. I was very happy to visit and spend time with Sisters Aquinas and Marie, and the greatly-missed Morag the West Highland Terrier, yesterday – entering the church for the first time since the beginning of lockdown. 

After a series of ‘false-starts’ and disappointments, we will be returning just over five years since we first arrived in Cathays, and will do so with so many new parishioners who have never been inside the convent church. So much has happened since our initial arrival, with a whole series of baptisms, parishioners travelling from England for Liturgy, and so much growth in our community. 

The Sisters have missed our parish presence greatly and look forward to welcoming us back, to being surrounded by icons and having Orthodox worship within the House once more. We know that even in such a long absence, so many prayers have been offered before the shrines and icons. We have not been forgotten, and the imprint of Orthodoxy remains. 

I will be having further discussions with Sister Anna, the new superior on her return from a week away, and will confirm our new timings.

Though the Fathers of the Oratory are no longer Catholic chaplains to the univeristy, they retain spiritual care for Nazareth House and its residents, as well as the convent, and we are grateful for their ongoing support and concern for the Russian Orthodox parish faithful and clergy.

Father Luke, Deacon Mark and I will be in London for the diocesan clergy convocation from Thursday to Saturday and will be able to meet brother clergy from across our vast Western European Diocese as we celebrate services together and discuss diocesan and parish life. As I still feel under the weather, and will no doubt be very tired after these days away, there will be no possibility of hearing confessions on our return journey on Saturday.

Sunday morning confessions will be for those who did not confess this weekend, and who are preparing to commune of the Holy Mysteries. Those who have confessed this weekend may be blessed to commune next weekend unless a pressing need for confession arises. 

May I ask those requiring confession next week and who did not confess today to email me by Friday evening, just to establish how many will need to be confessed before Liturgy. 

We ask your prayers for Svetlana’s daughter, Julia, who will be returning to Ukraine for a week, for Lukasz who left for Poland today, for Masha and Neil, who are in Cyprus, and for our clergy who will be travelling to London from so many countries within Western Europe. We ask the Lord to bless their journeys. 

Looking forward to the week ahead, we celebrate some notable commemorations: 

  • Monday 8/21 – The Synaxis of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel, and Jeremiel and the Other Bodiless Powers. 
  • Tuesday 9/22 – St. Nectarius (Kephalas), metropolitan of Pentapolis (1920) and the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “She Who Is Quick to Hear” of Docheiariou, Mt. Athos (10th c.). 
  • Wednesday 10/23 – The commemoration of the beginning of the torture of Great-Martyr George (303). 
  • Thursday 11/24 – The Great-Martyr Menas of Egypt (304) and Blessed Maximus of Moscow, the fool-for-Christ (1433). 
  • Friday 12/25 – St. John the Merciful, patriarch of Alexandria (616-620) and Blessed John “the Hairy,” fool-for-Christ, of Rostov (1580). 
  • Saturday 13/26 – St. John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople (407). 

I will post lives of the saints and some of their canon as the week progresses. Please try to celebrate the saints in your daily prayers. 

May God bless you all. 

In Christ – Fr Mark  

The Week Ahead

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Dear brothers and sisters,

As usual, our Sunday Liturgy was a joyous gathering, bringing people from yet further away from Cardiff, with new faces from Bourton-on-the-Water – adding Oxfordshire to the English counties from which worshippers ‘commuted’ across the Bridge to Wales.

We were also very pleased to have some of the faithful from our Romanian sister parish join us, sharing the communion of the Lord’s Body and Blood. Congratulations to all who partook of the Holy Mysteries!

Trapeza was a lively gathering, and it was lovely to see such animated conversation and so many happy faces, with new visitors being welcomed and engaged by our parish regulars.

Having discussed the arrangements for the brother of one of our young Hereford parishioners, we can now look forward to our next baptism, and hope that this will be in Nazareth House, where the Sisters look forward to welcoming us back: praise God! I look forward to discussing practicalities with Sister Anna later in the week.

This Friday is the feast of the Kazan Icon, and we will celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the Church of St Mary, North Church Street, Butetown, commencing the Hours at 10:30 and the Liturgy at 11:00. We will have a bring and share lunch after the Liturgy, so you are invited to bring food to share in the community hall.

We will continue our celebration of the Kazan Icon when we are all together on Sunday 6th November, when we will serve a special moleben at the end of Liturgy, praying especially for the parish as we prepare to move back to Nazareth House and resume parish life in Cathays. As usual, the Hours and Liturgy will commence at 11:00.

As explained by Deacon Mark, it is important that even those requiring Sunday confession give notification, as time is so limited. Once we are back in Cathays, this will be less of a problem, though time will always be something of a challenge, given the vast areas from which the faithful travel.

As for this week, may I have requests for confessions by Wednesday? Those who have confessed for this weekend may commune this Friday.

If needed, I shall hear some confessions in St Alban’s on Thursday, and I will be able to hear some brief confessions on Friday before Liturgy.

I shall depart for a few days in Somerset after next Sunday’s Liturgy, hoping to spend some time with some of our Wessex faithful in their own part of the world.

I ask you to continue to remember me in your prayers, as medications causes a few unwelcome side-effects and complications in an otherwise vastly improving situation!

In Christ – Fr Mark

 

From Father Mark: 23 October

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Here we are at the end of another busy day in Cardiff, having welcomed more new people to our Sunday Liturgy, including visitors from Weston-Super-Mare.

Having been baptised in Chippenham, on Saturday, our newly-enlightened brother, James, was ‘churched’ just before the Hours, and we were so pleased to welcome him to the chalice before everyone else to partake of the Holy Mysteries. It was also a joy for us to welcome his mum, with the journey bringing her to her native soil. 

We congratulate James on his first Holy Communion, having chanted ‘Many Years’ at the end of Liturgy, also praying that God will bless his supportive family and sponsors, Oswald and Despina.

From one James to another – it was our other James’s 6th birthday, and we were very happy to congratulate him at the beginning of trapeza, singing Happy Birthday and Many Years.

This will be a quiet week, as there will be no Friday gathering in St Mary’s or midweek service in Llanelli, as Fr Luke will be visiting family. However, I shall still be ‘on the road’ catching up with parishioners during the week.

May I ask for requests for confessions by Wednesday, 22:00, hoping to hear the majority of confessions on Saturday.

As announced at Liturgy, we look forward to celebrating the feast of the Kazan Icon in St Mary’s on Friday 4th November, with the Hours around 10:30, after the Anglican service, and Liturgy at 11:00. 

We shall continue our celebration the following Sunday, and hope that this will be a Liturgy in which our vastly geographically-scattered flock will be united for our altar-feast..

Tomorrow morning will see the funeral of Mother Germana, the last of the nuns of the Convent of the Annunciation (in Willesden), which had a very special place in ROCOR history, although the sisterhood rejected the rapprochement with the Moscow Patriarchate. With Mother Germana’s death, a chapter has closed and an era has ended. Please remember her in your prayers, together with the Abbesses Elizabeth and Seraphima, of blessed memory. 

May the Lord God remember them in His Kingdom. Memory Eternal!

May God bless you all.

In Christ – Fr Mark

Today in Cardiff

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Dear brothers and sisters,

It was certainly a whirlwind of a day today, with no gaps between confessions, proskomedia, Liturgy and the baptism of little Ilarion, whom we welcomed together with his mum, babushka and older sister whom we baptised in the Little Oratory four years ago. It was quite a journey for them, as they live in Taunton, but given the journeys of parishioners from other places in England, these days, it was not quite as unusual as it was in the past.

To have so many for confession over the last few days, and so many communicants was a great blessing, and we congratulate all who partook of the Most Pure Mysteries. Поздравление с причастием святых христовых тайн!

Sadly, I was unable to get a chance to talk to anyone other than those who came to confession, but I hope that next Sunday will be rather more leisurely, allowing the clergy time with the faithful.

As well as thanking everyone who laboured for the joy and beauty of the service, I would like to thank those who stayed to help with the baptism, with the onerous task of bucketing water in and out of the church.

We look forward to next Saturday, when James will be baptised in Chippenham, in honour of our Venerable Father St James the Faster.

Confessions will be heard before Friday’s catechesis session in the Church of St Mary the Virgin, in Butetown. Catechesis will commence at 19:00, and confession times will depend on numbers. Please email me by Wednesday: otetzmark@hotmail.com

Next Sunday will be the commemoration of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council and St Ambrose of Optina. The variables may be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l2COeNejN_tKQmiMsaZb6wSPGxdOEt-c/view

As things begin to get back to normal for me, I would like to thank parishioners for their prayers, good wishes and a plentiful supply of baked goods and pirozhki. The priest will never starve!

May God bless you all.