Having celebrated the memory of the Holy Great Princess, Olga last Sunday, and St Vladimir’s Day with a lovely Liturgy in Walsingham, on Thursday, it was a joy to celebrate the Baptism of Rus’ today, when we could be together as a community.
Thanks to all who made today’s well-attended Liturgy such a joyful occasion, continuing into such a lovely lunch celebrating not only the feast, but also Margarita’s nameday, yesterday.
Our kliros and oltarniky performed their obediences very ably, and we were blessed to have Father Luke with us, with his assistance with confessions being a tremendous help, given the number of communicants.
It also allowed clergy participation in lunch whilst I celebrated a memorial service for the servant of God, Nikolai, whose anniversary falls at this time, and for whose repose we ask your prayers. Memory Eternal! Вѣчная память!
As those in church are aware, we are trying to slow down Holy Communion, so that those communing have consumed the Holy Gifts before their mouths are wiped and they kiss the chalice.
None of us should be consuming the Holy Gifts whilst moving away from the chalice, but we often do so, having formed bad habits in crowded Liturgies, where we are not given sufficient time to consume the Gifts and are ushered on. We have no need to rush in St John’s and will not be doing so, since this is our meeting with the Saviour, who offers Himself to us in the Holy Mysteries and comes to dwell in us.
Again. May I remind all who have communicated that they should not leave the body of the church until the thanksgiving prayers are complete, unless their obediences require them to do so.
Our ‘holiday’ from catechesis continues, but we look forward to forthcoming baptisms, when James will be baptised in honour of St James the Faster and Tracey with the name Mary, for the Mother of God, whose Dormition we will be celebrating at the time of the baptism. We also look forward to Thomas’s baptism around the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God – a wonderful and beautiful feast.
May I ask those wishing to confess, on Friday to email me by Wednesday evening, and thanks to all who have been so prompt in their requests: otetzmark@hotmail.com
I wish you all a happy feast of St Seraphim, tomorrow, and encourage you all to pray the canons or akathist in his honour! We also celebrate other important feasts in the week ahead:
Tuesday – the Holy and Glorious Prophet Elias
Wednesday – the Holy and Glorious Prophet Ezekiel and St. Symeon of Emesa, the fool-for-Christ
Thursday – the Holy Myrrh-bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles, Mary Magdalene
Friday – the Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos of Pochaev and “The Joy of All Who Sorrow” (with coins) of St. Petersburg
Saturday – the Holy Martyrs and Passion-bearers Boris and Gleb
Having enjoyed tea and pirozhky with Father Luke, on returning home, I will now settle down with a cup of tea and enjoy ‘Wimbledon in a cake’, as one of the desserts was described.
Thank you all for your constant labours and many kindnesses.
As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Great-Martyr, Margarita of Antioch (Marina), we send our greetings to our Margaritas in Cheltenham and Warminster, wishing them both a happy nameday and praying that God will grant them many, blessed years! Многая и благая лтѣа!
The Holy Great Martyr Marina was born in Asia Minor, in the city of Antioch of Pisidia (southern Asia Minor), into the family of a pagan priest. In infancy she lost her mother, and her father gave her into the care of a nursemaid, who raised Marina in the Orthodox Faith. Upon learning that his daughter had become a Christian, the father angrily disowned her. During the time of the persecution against Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), when she was fifteen years old, Saint Marina was arrested and locked up in prison. With firm trust in the will of God and His help, the young prisoner prepared for her impending fate.
The governor Olymbrios, charmed with the beautiful girl, tried to persuade her to renounce the Christian Faith and become his wife. But the saint, unswayed, refused his offers. The vexed governor gave the holy martyr over to torture. Having beaten her fiercely, they fastened the saint with nails to a board and tore at her body with tridents. The governor himself, unable to bear the horror of these tortures, hid his face in his hands. But the holy martyr remained unyielding. Thrown for the night into prison, she was granted heavenly aid and healed of her wounds. They stripped her and tied her to a tree, then burned the martyr with fire. Barely alive, the martyr prayed: “Lord, You have granted me to go through fire for Your Name, grant me also to go through the water of holy Baptism.”
Hearing the word “water”, the governor gave orders to drown the saint in a large cauldron. The martyr besought the Lord that this manner of execution should become for her holy Baptism. When they plunged her into the water, there suddenly shone a light, and a snow-white dove came down from Heaven, bearing in its beak a golden crown. The fetters put upon Saint Marina came apart by themselves. The martyr stood up in the fount of Baptism glorifying the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Saint Marina emerged from the fount completely healed, without any trace of burns. Amazed at this miracle, the people glorified the True God, and many came to believe. This brought the governor into a rage, and he gave orders to kill anyone who might confess the Name of Christ. 15,000 Christians perished there, and the holy Martyr Marina was beheaded. The sufferings of the Great Martyr Marina were described by an eyewitness of the event, named Theotimos.
Up until the taking of Constantinople by Western crusaders in the year 1204, the relics of the Great Martyr Marina were in the Panteponteia monastery. According to other sources, they were located in Antioch until the year 908 and from there transferred to Italy. Now they are in Athens, in a church dedicated to the holy Virgin Martyr. Her venerable hand was transferred to Mount Athos, to the Vatopedi monastery.
Troparion, Tone 4: Thy ewe-lamb Marina crieth out to Thee with a loud voice, O Jesus:/ “I love Thee, O my Bridegroom,/ and, seeking Thee, I pass through many struggles:/ I am crucified and buried with Thee in Thy baptism,/ and suffer for Thy sake, that I may reign with Thee;/ I die for Thee that I might live with Thee./ As an unblemished sacrifice accept me,/ who sacrifice myself with love for Thee// By her supplications save Thou our souls, in that Thou art merciful.
Kontakion, Tone 3: Arrayed in the beauties of virginity, O Virgin Marina,/ thou wast crowned with imperishable crowns;/ and stained with the blood of thy martyrdom, O martyr,/ thou hast received the trophy of victory for thy suffering,// piously shining forth miracles of healing.
Though I have never seen photographs, some of the elders within our diocese recall the apse that was started in Walsingham, remaining incomplete – never to be part of an Orthodox Chapel that was conceived and planned to adjoin the south aisle of the Anglican shrine church, in the garden of St Augustine’s, where the confessional rooms now stand.
The ground had been blessed by Metropolitan Seraphim of the Russian Church in Exile (as our ROCOR was then called), though I am still searching in ‘Our Lady’s Mirror’ from the 1930’s to find when.
It would be wonderful to see drawings and plans of the intended chapel, whose construction was prevented by the outbreak of war.
The ‘temporary’ chapel within the shrine church – in which we are still celebrating – adjoins the proposed site, and has been in use since 1941, when it was used by both Eastern European prisoners of war from a nearby camp, and the Free-Polish armed forces.
It was consecrated by Archbishop Sava of Grodno on Trinity-Pentecost 1945) not 1944 as incorrectly repeated on the internet), and St Nikolaj Velimirovic served in this little chapel during his Walsingham convalescence, after the Second World War.
The original dedication of the chapel was in honour of the icon of ‘The Mother of God, of Perpetual Succour’, as can be seen on the foundation document. It was much later that the dedication was changed to the ‘Life-Giving Spring’, and this seems to have had no canonical sanction or official status.
Having celebrated the feast of the Holy Equal to the Apostles, St Vladimir in the ‘temporary’ chapel, yesterday, on the very hand-drawn antimension that was placed on the Holy Table on that day, we are aware of how blessed Orthodox pilgrims are to be continuing as part of the ‘Orthodox story’ of Walsingham, treading where holy men have gone before them.
In the ‘pilgrim language’ of Walsingham, I have just made my ‘last visit’ of the day to the Holy House, which is at the centre of prayer and devotion in the Anglican Shrine, in which the Orthodox have maintained a chapel and spiritual presence since 1941 (having being involved in Walsingham pilgrim life since 1931), with the chapel being consecrated on Troitsa 1945.
I have previously written of the origin of the Holy House, and will simply quote from a past posting:
“The Mother of God appeared to Richeldis (Rychold), Lady of the Manor of Walsingham in the 11th century, commanding her to build a replica of the original Holy House of Nazareth, later dismantled and rebuilt in Loreto, in Italy, after the Islamic conquest of the Holy Land.
The great shrine and priory, which developed around the chapel of the Holy House was endowed through royal patronage and was renowned throughout Europe, but despite its sanctity and fame it fell victim to the ravages of the reformation and the destruction of the holy places by King Henry VIII and his henchmen.
The 20th century saw the restoration of Anglican religious life around a newly built Holy House and shrine complex.”
The current Holy House, to which the image of Our Lady of Walsingham was translated in 1931, is a very plain structure, echoing the humble simplicity of the Holy House of Loreto, and the mediaeval recreation in the priory a few hundred metres from the current site.
It stands within the Anglican Shrine Church, just inside the ‘west’ door, towards which it is liturgically oriented. The chapel of the Annunciation and shrine of St Vincent of Saragossa are located behind it, between the Holy House and the door and, to its ‘liturgical north’, a Saxon well is accessed by north-south steps (not the original Holy Well, but nevertheless a constant source of healing and blessing from the Mother of God).
The second day of the consecration of the extended church, in 1938, saw the celebration of the Hierarchical Liturgy on the high altar by Archbishop Nestor of Kamchatka, and the memorials of the Walsingham ‘greats’ who welcomed him and the Orthodox pilgrims stand near the Holy House and the west door.
Above the well, in the north aisle of the church, the effigy of Fr Alfred Hope Paten (1885-1958), a great friend and benefactor of the Orthodox Church in Britain reposes, tomb-like.
Immediately next to the Holy House, a similar memorial to the sometime Bishop of Acra, Mowbray Stephen O’Rorke (1869-1953) – another friend and supporter of exiled Russian Orthodox Christians is to be found, with a figure of the Lady Richeldis kneeling on the west wall of the Holy House, just above the feet of his effigy. Thanks to Dr David Woolf, for pointing out that Bishop O’Rorke’s mortal remains rest beneath this stately memorial.
Lamps and candles burn in the Holy House day and night, for the intentions of parishes, families, pilgrims and their many intentions, and intercessory prayers are offered there every day of the year. Small paper shields, like zapisky, proclaim the intentions, and give the names of parishes and associations for which lamps burn, both inside and outside the Holy House.
Pilgrims pass through its doors from morning till night, and are struck by the peace and prayerfulness of this very special place in which the pilgrim feels the merciful care and loving solicitude of the Mother of God, ‘Our Lady of Walsingham,’ in its profound and hushed peace, amidst the flames of candles and lamps, gently flickering, blue and red.
Most Holy Mother of God, Our Lady of Walsingham, pray to God for us!
Recently, our community has been blessed with some wonderfully festive Liturgies – for the Forerunner, for the Holy Chiefs of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, and yesterday for the Royal Martyrs.
On these occasions we have been pleased to celebrate the namedays of the faithful, and we very pleased that Nicholas could be with us yesterday, on his first nameday, having been baptised by Father Luke in honour of the Holy Tsar-Martyr on Lazarus Saturday, (on the same day that we baptised George in the sea), after a long and thorough catechumenate.
As well as congratulating him, we would like to thank him for reading the Hours, the Apostol and thanksgiving prayers – of which he was not forewarned. Many Blessed Years!
We were also very happy to welcome Isaiah, one of the catechumens from the Llanelli Parish, and were glad for yesterday’s addition to our catechumens with Thomas’s quiet admittance to the catechumenate in the porch of St John’s, whilst the parish shared trapeza in the church.
We are now looking forward to James’s baptism in Chippenham in a fortnight, adding to the number of our Wessex faithful, and to Tracey’s baptism in St Nicholas on the Eve of the Dormition, at which time she will take the baptismal name of Mary, in honour of Our Lady, the Mother of God, and her feast.
Last Saturday saw a wonderful Cheltenham Liturgy, and next Saturday sees the celebration of the feast of Venerable Anthony of the Kiev Caves at the Urdd Centre in Llangrannog, on the Cardigan Coast, currently housing refugees from Ukraine. We hope to commence the Hours at 10:00 and Liturgy at 10:30, but given that this is a new setting we are keeping a slightly open mind. Directions may be found here:
Looking forward to next Sunday’s Liturgy, at 11:00, we celebrate more namedays, with the feast of the Holy Equal to the Apostles, Great Princess Olga, and the variables for the feast may be found at ‘Orthodox Austin’, as usual:
May I ask for confession requests by Wednesday evening please, as this is something of a challenging week, given a concentration of activities? I have already had a chance to confirm some confessions with parishioners.
Wishing you a sensible and cautious few days, and looking forward to seeing parishioners at the cooler end of the week.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters,
In so many icons of St Peter and St Paul, we see the Holy Chief Apostles embracing or exchanging the kiss of peace, but we should remember that the unity between the apostles is one that had to be striven for and only came after dispute and disagreement. The relationship between these very different men, was established through hard work and perseverance, and by allowing the Holy Spirit to act, speak and reconcile them in their lives.
Having been personally chosen by the Ascended Lord (whom Paul had never known during His earthly life) and called to a radically changed life of missionary apostleship and dedication to the Gospel, Saul became Paul, and a feared outsider was called into the apostolic circle, with a specific and heroic task ahead of him.
Saul, the zealous pharisee and persecutor of the first Christians was recast by the Saviour, who turned his life upside down, calling him to set all aside for Christ, looking to the Gentile world, outside Israel, outside the Torah, outside circumcision and the Covenant. The zeal for this vision and mission was to take him all around the Mediterranean world, risking danger, threats to his life and making him a vagrant and a ‘prisoner for Christ’.
For the first Jewish-Christians this challenged the very foundation of their understanding of Christ’s message, the application of the Gospel and the wider meaning of the Cross and Resurrection, outside the Jewish world.
Against a background of suspicion, in today’s Epistle reading, we heard Paul arguing for his place in the apostolic ministry:
“Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”
Paul challenges them, as if to say, ‘if you want to play a competitive game of measuring labours and endeavours for the Lord, fine… as I can outstrip many of you in what I have already experienced in the preaching of the Gospel!’
Paul and Peter took diametrically opposed views, and Paul saw the Gospel to the Gentiles as the fulfilment of the economy of salvation as envisaged by the prophets, and the meaning of his life.
The holy prophet, Zechariah, wrote that, “Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favour of the Lord… Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from nations of every language shall take hold of a Jew, grasping his garment and saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ”
… and, it was after conflict at Antioch that at the Council of Jerusalem that Peter the Apostle of the Jews, accepted the middle-ground and was reconciled with Paul’s vision of the call of the Gospel to the Gentiles, who – it was accepted – did not need to be circumcised and follow the Torah and Jewish traditions. Men from ‘the nations’ tugged on the sleeves of Paul, that they migt receive the Gospel, so that God could equally be with them.
Having been reconciled with Paul’s vision, the Acts of the Apostle sums up the sentiments of Peter and James, the Brother of the Lord:
“My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit just as he did us. He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts. Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they.”
For us as Orthodox Christians, this is the first council of the Church of Christ, and like all true Councils was guided by the Holy Spirit, which led the leaders of the infant-Church through disagreement, dispute and lively discussion to a position where they could be united in proclaiming the Faith of the Church.
In God’s hands, inspired by the Holy Spirit, such disputes become the convincing tool and spiritual-process through which minds and hearts change and are convinced of theological and philosophical Truths – struggling to grasp and understand, rather than passively nodding, with no understanding or conviction.
The Reconciliation of Saints Peter and Paul, Trophime Bigot (1579-1650).
Peter, and James the Brother of the Lord, with their deeply held Jewish-Christian convictions, and Paul, burning with zeal for those outside the Mosaic covenant, were at the heart of this Council – agreeing and disagreeing, disputing, discussing, looking for common ground and a way forward to reconcile different views, and unite them into a singular inspired vision, determined NOT by them, but by God, in the power and Grace of the Holy Spirit.
This reminds us to be realistic in our understanding of the Councils of the Church, warning us not to dumb them down and transform them into a polite, sanitised theological tea-parties, denying the passionate arguments of those taking part, or the fact that councils involved dispute and disagreement during discussions. Apostles and bishops have needed to sometimes go away, fast, pray and reflect, to be led into and confirmed in Truth.
If we allow ourselves to be tools of the Holy Spirit, with our ears and hearts open to the His voice in others, such discussion can lead us into Truth and Faith. Hearts and minds may be persuaded, changed and transformed, as the Holy Spirit speaks through the mouths of humans – acting though their actions, speaking through their words, being communicated by their enlightened minds, ideas and explanations.
And… even when we find unanimity, this does not negate our different temperaments, methods of communication, particular talents and, as we all dissolve into some sort of homogenised or cloned version of discipleship, but rather weaves us together in Faith and love, in a union which is both united and diverse – made strong, immoveable, and unshakeable in the power and unity of the Holy Spirit.
Old Believers’ Icon, Союз любви – the “Union of Love.”
But for this to happen, our hearts and minds must be open and receptive to His power, and we must pursue the unity of the Church through prayer precisely for this cause, through selflessness and self-denial, through fasting for unity and peace, and through the wider asceticism of Christian living.
Then, like Peter and Paul, we may embrace those very different to us, growing together and converging as we proactively overcome division by seeking reconciliation and unity in Faith and love – but also essentially in TRUTH!
Dear brothers and sisters, greetings on this feast of the All-Praised Chief Apostles, Peter and Paul.
As we celebrate this feast, we congratulate Peter and Paul on their nameday, as well as Pavel in the Llanelli parish, Subdeacon Peter in London and our Chancellor, Archpriest Paul.
Dear Father and dear brothers, congratulations and ‘Many Years’!
We will celebrate the Divine Liturgy this morning, with the Hours and Liturgy, starting at 10:00, in the Church of St Mary the Virgin, North Church St, Butetown.
In preparation for Sunday, confessions will be heard on Friday and you are asked – as usual – to email me at otetzmark@hotmail.com or message me via Facebook or send a text. Requests by Wednesday night please.
As announced on Sunday, we are now ‘on vocation’ from our Friday catechesis group, though there is still plenty to do with individuals on this front.
On Saturday, the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated in Cheltenham, with confessions from 09:15, the Hours at 10:00 and the Divine Liturgy around 10:30 (dependent, as always on confessions). We very much look forward to being with our Gloucestershire parishioners (though some come all of the way from Devon for Liturgy).
Saturday will also see our dear Alexandra singing in a concert in Llandaff Parish Hall at 13:00, and it would be lovely if some parishioners are able to support her. Please check here for details:
After a very prayerful and peaceful Liturgy, last Sunday, we look forward to celebrating the Holy Royal Martyrs this coming Sunday. The variables for the service may be found here:
We are not long home after a very prayerful Liturgy in Canton, at the end of which I was very pleased to be able to offer a litia in honour of St Calogero the Anchorite of Agrigento – observing in the homily how, even in adversity and the experience of being a refugee, the holy monk seized the opportunity to bring God’s love, light and grace to those who surrounded him in Sicily, his place of exile, where he died in his cave hermitage on Monte Kronio in 561, in the ninth decade of his long life.
We can say similar things of saints who acted in a like way in the emigration after the 1917-1918 Revolution: St John the Wonderworker in China, Europe and America; St Maria Skobtsova in inter-war Paris; St Seraphim (Sobolev) in Sofia. And, of course, countless other people of every level of society acted in like ways, showing a different way of Faith to the local religion that surrounded them.
God scattered the faithful to the four winds, and wherever they found themselves, temples rose up (sometimes in very humble makeshift settings), the Holy Mysteries were celebrated, encounters and conversations brought ‘outsiders’ to the threshold of the Church, which became their Church.
Out of adversity, exile and loss, came the Light of Christ, as God blessed the world by sending His faithful servants to so many nations, through their experience of revolution, social upheaval and exile.
In a parish like ours, in Cardiff, where we have just as many converts to Holy Orthodoxy as ‘native Orthodox’, we might reflect that without those who – like St Calogero – fled violence and persecution, the Light of Faith may not have touched our lives. For those of us who were taught and formed by émigrés, this is particularly true.
The Saviour teaches us that, “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”
Exiles like St Calogero, and so many saints exiled from their native lands never hid the Light of Christ, but shared it with those who surrounded them, and importantly, they did not allow adversity to crush and defeat them, but persevered so that others were enlightened, comforted, and touched by the love and grace of God.
This is a sober reminder for us.
The irritations and difficulties of our lives may be transformed from sharp sand and grit to pearls, as God transfigures and raises us up through our humility, patient-endurance, long-suffering, struggling, faithfulness and even joyfulness in trials.
And, in all of these things, the Light fo Christ still needs to shine.
The saints have found God even in starvation and cold, prison, exile, illness, torture, death and every adversity. None of these things have separated them from either His Presence or His love, and at the end of his life, in pain and privation in exile, this was so powerfully demonstrated in the dying words of St John Chrysostom, as he breathed his last at Comana Pontica, on 14 September 407 during a forced journey into further exile: “Δόξα τῷ Θεῷ πάντων ἕνεκεν” (Glory to God for all things).
Based on this, Metropolitan Tryphon Turkestanov wrote the well-loved akathist, which returns to St John’s words for its refrain, as in exile and imprisonment in the gulag, the godly hierarch still shared the Light of Christ, and saw His love in the glories of the world around him.
As St Paul wrote in the eight chapter of his letter to the Church in Rome:
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If we can keep recognising, seeing and finding God’s love and glory, then we have something pricesless and limitless to share… and it is always with us, whatever life sends us, wherever we are, however we are feeling – in sickness and health, plenty or privation, joy or sorrow. God’s love is always there.
The dark storm clouds of life bring no terror to those in whose hearts Thy fire is burning brightly. Outside is the darkness of the whirlwind, the terror and howling of the storm, but in the heart, in the presence of Christ, there is light and peace, silence: Alleluia!
(Kontakion 5 of the akathist, Glory to God for all things!)
The sight of the Archbishop of Canterbury kneeling to be ‘blessed’ by ‘Metropolitan’ Epifaniy Dumenko is a great insult to the suffering and persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church, under the leadership of Metropolitan Onuphry.
Day by day, the Phanar-sponsored schismatics – led by the none-ordained Dumenko – illegally transfer churches to their ownership, storming temples even during services; desecrating places of worship; beating and kicking priests and even throwing paint in their faces; attacking religious processions, even stoning an icon of the Mother of God; beating and throwing down the faithful, regardless of age and gender… and yet the Archbishop of Canterbury kneels before the leader of this vicious schismatic circus.
We remind the Archbishop of Canterbury that the head of the canonical Ukrainian Church is His Beatitude, Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, and that the vast majority of Ukrainian Orthodox faithful belong to the real Church over which the Lord has placed him as First-Hierarch – not the Phanar and CIA sponsored schismatic body of Messrs Dumenko and Zoria – neither of whom are clerics, as they possess no valid ordination, and merely dress up as clergy: wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Jumping on the politically-correct, virtue signalling, bandwagon – driven by blind-folded ‘well-wishers’ does little for Dr Welby’s spiritual kudos.
This is liberal ecumenism at its very worst – a schismatic charade paraded at the heart of the Anglican establishment – which seems to have decided that people like ‘us’ are to be avoided, and seen as enemy agents, even though the lives of our members of our own community, our parish families and of our friends are directly affected by the tragedy of Ukraine. It is very marked and interesting that after five months of war, the Diocese of Llandaff has yet to send a single communication to our parish. Very telling! Are we the enemy in the eyes of the Anglican leaders?
Whether the Anglican Primate understands, cares or is even bothered by the non-ordination of Dumenko, his schismatic accomplices and church-stealing, babushka-beating thugs, or the daily attacks on Ukrainian Orthodox temples, clergy and faithful is beyond our knowledge, but he should know that the ‘blessing’ of such a schismatic fake is nothing more than a spiritual curse upon his own head.
In the intense heat of the afternoon, it was a blessing to be in the cool interior of St Alban’s and enjoy the peace and tranquillity as everyone seemed to be hiding from the heat.
Just a few days after his feast, prayers were once again offered at the shrine of St Alban, for our parish, for our parishioners and friends – particularly asking the Protomartyr to show our parish the way forward in its search for a home which can be a ‘seven-days-a-week’ temple, with services in the same place, rather than in different parts of the city. However, we know that the Lord knows and the Lord allows, as we continually pray, “Thy will be done.”
As candles were lit, prayers were also offered to the Mother of God, before her Walsingham icon, especially for the sick among our parishioners and friends, and for those far from home, seeking refuge from war-torn Ukraine.
Parishioners will remember the icon of Our Lady of Walsingham from the Little Oratory of Newman Hall, where we often prayed the akathist in honour of the Walsingham icon as part of the many Orthodox services celebrated there. When the Oratorian Fathers were relieved of the chaplaincy and the care of Newman Hall, the icon was translated to the Oratory Church where it continues to be venerated, and where we continue to pray before it.
O Sovereign Lady, Mother of God most high, who didst inspire the Lady Richeldis to stablish the holy house at Walsingham for the veneration of thy holy Annunciation, entreat thy Son, even our God, to send down grace upon us for the healing of soul and body, that, as we approach and kiss thy holy ikon and drink the wholesome water drawn up from thy spring, we may ever praise and glorify the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
As we celebrate this feast, we congratulate Peter and Paul on their nameday, as well as Pavel in the Llanelli parish, Subdeacon Peter in London and our Chancellor, Archpriest Paul.
