Dear brothers and sisters,

With the hot days of summer behind us, the darkening nights, the yellowing trees laden with berries and fruit, and the blessing of honey, fruit, herbs and flowers during the Great Feasts of August completed, we come to the end of the Church year.

Each year the development of the parish seems to gather pace and, as we reflect on parish life since last September, this year has certainly been different to past years in many respects, particularly in terms of the new faithful in Cardiff – whether converts to Holy Orthodoxy, present catechumens, those fleeing conflict in Ukraine, or those who commute from England and have made their spiritual home in Cardiff.

The parish has proved itself to be a place where everyone can feel safe and secure, and where people of all nations and cultures can share and celebrate their Faith.

In addition to our local parishioners, our weekly congregation usually includes parishioners from Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, showing the seriousness of people’s spiritual life, when the need for a traditionalist and maximalist parish is worth a journey of a hundred to a hundred and fifty miles for Liturgy. Praise God for such resolute firmness of Faith!

On a few occasions, I’ve been able to be the one making the journey to serve in the west of England in addition to our Gloucestershire activities.

I have been overjoyed by the selfless offering of our singers and altar-servers during the year. Even when there have only been several singers, or even a lone chanter, the Liturgy has been chanted with prayerfulness and devotion. Having Aleksandra with us whilst she completed her studies was a great blessing, and she is sorely missed!

Apart from the period of my last covidious imprisonment, and the Sunday when we supported Father Luke’s first Liturgy in Mumbles, we have celebrated the Liturgy every remaining weekend of the year, and even on the weekend of my self-isolation the parish came together for a sung typika and trapeza, even sending home-cooked Russian food to Llanelli with Deacon Mark and matushka Alla.

The same love and care is reflected in the generosity of our parishioners and spiritual children from other communities, week by week, as we are nourished with food cooked with great love and generosity, as well as by the spiritual food God gives us.

Our Deacon continues to do so much in addition to his liturgical role, acting as parish administrator for both Cardiff and Cheltenham, and ensuring that everything runs smoothly. We are also blessed to have such a dedicated starosta and trustees, who are an incredible support to the clergy and everyone in the parish, ensuring that a warm welcome is offered to all who come through the doors of St John’s or St Mary’s.

Our oltarniky have served with great competence and care, impressing visitors with the dignity and devotion with which they fulfil their obedience.

Though we took it for granted that we would have returned to Nazareth House by now, we remain in St John’s, and though financially challenging (costing £100 every Sunday) it has been popular with many of our families, especially given the ample space for children and for us to enjoy trapeza without moving buildings.

We have come to find how to use it best for Orthodox worship, and the Anglican parish has been happy for us to leave the Lady Chapel looking very much an Orthodox chapel after each Sunday’s worship. With Ukrainians using the vestry for language lessons each week, this allows somewhere for them to visit and pray, whilst in St John’s.

The greatest challenge with St John’s is that of time, with such a short time to set up, say the entrance prayers, hear confessions and perform the proskomedia. Every Sunday is a challenge, and sometimes only Father Luke’s presence has made it possible to celebrate Liturgy without turning people away from confession.

I know I keep repeating this, but I still suspect that many people do not appreciate the difficulties and the seriousness of the situation. We need a place of worship that offers sufficient time to prepare for worship without either rushing or having to continue priestly ministrations whilst the community shares trapeza without the priest, who is not interested in the food, but does want to spend time with the faithful and welcome new faces.

We have also been greatly blessed in having the constant use of St Mary Butetown for feast-day and Lenten services, confessions and catechism (where we struggle to get Father Dean to accept any money). Equally, the Oratorians regularly welcome us to use St Alban’s for day-time confessions.

Our profound thanks go to Fathers Dean and Sebastian and the Congregation of the Oratory in Cardiff. Like number 62 Park Place (when an Oratorian household) and Newman Hall under Father Sebastian’s custody, the Oratory remains a peaceful and hospitable refuge for an ever-walking, tea-seeking and foot-weary hieromonk.

A great challenge this year has been the loss of Newman Hall, where the Little Oratory was dearly loved, and saw its last Orthodox service just before the beginning of the new Church Year. It always seemed that Orthodox services were the time when his humble little sanctuary took on a new significance and really became the foot of Jacob’s Ladder. It evidently seems that our presence also kept it clean, cared for and loved.

The loss of the facilities of Newman has been a particular challenge since my full-time employment by the parish, as I no longer have a personal base in Cardiff.

It is wonderful to be able to be employed by the parish, and to not have to juggle secular employment with ever-expanding parish needs, but commuting to and from Cardiff, from home in Llanelli has been a major challenge, with in excess of twenty-four hours a week sometimes spent on public transport. The equivalent of one day in seven on buses and trains is not sustainable in the long term – physically above all – and continued full-time ministry will come to depend on the establishment of a priestly-base in the city, and this needs to be under our own roof, not reliant on the generosity and charity of other good souls.

To return the passing year… One of our greatest joys has been the baptism of our adult converts, most of them having been prepared for baptism through our Butetown catechism sessions.

Early Advent saw Aldhelm’s baptism in the waters of the River Ewenny at Ogmore Castle, with the brave young man being plunged into the icy waters on a beautiful December afternoon.

April and Lazarus Saturday saw George’s baptism in the sea at Watch House Bay, in Barry, in rather warmer circumstances, so that he was able to commune on Palm Sunday and was sacramentally prepared for his Pascha holiday in Greece.

Saturday of the Ascension, in June, took us to St Nicholas-in-the-Vale, where Melangell was baptised in the garden of the Old Church Hall.

We returned on the eve of the Dormition to baptise Mary before vespers for the feast, which was also her first nameday. We are very grateful to Melangell for making the garden available for adult baptisms and for expressing willingness to do so in the future.

James would have been baptised last month, had family illness not prevented it, and we look forward to doing so in the next few weeks, on his return from Seattle.

We also look forward to the baptism of our student catechumen, Thomas, who will be baptised and named in honour of St Vasily the Blessed around the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God. This is no coincidence, as St Vasily – the Blessed Basil – was buried in the cathedral of the Protecting Veil, on Red Square, where his shrine is still a place of pilgrimage.

During the Church Year, pilgrimages have seen small groups of us head to Llancarfan, Llandaff, Bradford on Avon, Glastonbury, with parishioners also visiting Penrhys, and Pennant Melangell.

We have also made several local pilgrimages to the shrine of St Alban in the Cardiff Oratory, praying before his relics and icon.

I had rather hoped that we would have regular pilgrimages, but – for various reasons – this has not happened, this year.

I have also been blessed to serve in Walsingham in February, April and July, and look forward to hopefully returning in November, possibly with a parish group. ROCOR has been part of the life of the shrine since the 1930’s, and it is a great joy to continue the diocesan presence. It is a place where the Mother of God feels extremely near, and pilgrimage to this little corner of North Norfolk is special time spent with Our Lady.

House blessings have taken the clergy to Wiltshire and Somerset, as well as visiting parish homes in Cardiff and its environs, and the greatest blessing of all was the visit of the Kursk-Root Icon, which visited some parish homes in Chippenham, Cardiff and the Vale, in addition to services in Cardiff and Cheltenham, and the clergy’s journey taking the icon to Telford.

After previous visits of the Kursk-Root Icon, most parish homes have been visited, though there are several exceptions which are our priority next time the Mother of God blesses us with a visit of her wonderworking-icon.

Deacon Mark and I have also served in the cathedral during the year, concelebrating at some of the great feasts, including the altar-feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God and being part of a parish group who celebrated Theophany in the cathedral, where – for once – I had the pleasure of blessing the faithful with copious amounts of holy water. Following the ROCOR tradition, I also concelebrated the Mystery of Holy Unction (Soborovanie) and the Liturgy of Holy and Great Thursday with Bishop Irenei and the clergy of the diocese during Holy Week, with the beautiful rite of the washing of the feet.

The Cheltenham parish continues to be served from Cardiff, and after internal problems last summer (and despite the loss of the use of All Saints, Pittville), parish life has settled down.

We sometimes struggle musically, and lack the beauty of All Saints, but the little community overflows with love and is so incredibly prayerful and spiritual that every visit to the little nonconformist chapel we use in Prestbury is a wonderful blessing.

The arrival of our greatly loved ‘extended parishioners’ from Ukraine has brought great joy, and we have parishioners travelling from as far as Exeter each month. This Saturday, in fact, will see our last Cheltenham Liturgy of the Church Year, when we shall celebrate the Saints of the Far Caves, in Kiev.

With a reduction of the number of Liturgies in Llanelli, we are benefitting from having Father Luke with us, and are very happy to have some of the faithful from further west joining us every few weeks, with Nicholas and Silouana assisting with reading the Hours and thanksgiving prayers, and Isaiah taking photographs for our local Facebook pages.

On the theme of readers, it is good that we now have a small band of very capable readers from the Cardiff and Llanelli parishes, and look forward to advancing several of our men towards being tonsured by Vladika Irenei in the not-too-distant future.

I am planning some practical workshops for the autumn, and hope that we can spend time looking at the structure of the services and how they ‘fit together’ in terms of variables and the sources of texts. Several parishioners have asked for something of this sort since buying the recently published Anthologion. As a start, I will talk about the Hours and the Psalter after compline this Friday. We will also undertake formal training of readers.

Having already mentioned our Friday catechism / discussion group in St Mary Butetown, I should say that this has not only been for the benefit of catechumens, but also for other parishioners who have attended and deepened their knowledge of the Faith. Our Friday evenings in St Mary’s have also been a social time of great joy and fellowship.

We recently observed that such joyful community celebration seems to be the character of every gathering at St Mary’s, where parishioners clearly feel at home. This is why it was such a joy to celebrate Holy Week and Pascha in the great Victorian sanctuary, gathering in the choir-stalls and celebrating at the high-altar. Following this great success, our weekday Liturgies for feasts have been celebrated at St Mary’s, with a festive trapeza following each Liturgy in the parish room.

There are no doubt things that I’ve forgotten – and I AM so forgetful, these days – but I’m sure that there will be be gentle reminders pointing out things to add to our round up!

Many thanks to everyone who had been so positive, so supportive and so generous during the last year. The parish only operates so well because its brothers and sisters work together, and give so much, as do our benefactors.

Parish life and priestly life is still a challenge, given the lack of our own temple, but the Lord knows far more than us, and such is His will that this is our lot until He sees fit to grant us our heart’s desire.

In the meantime we struggle forward in Faith and prayer: for one another; for our parish and other diocesan communities; for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia; for our bishop, Vladyka Irenei, and for all of our bishops as they approach the procedure to elect our next First-Hierarch.

We remember those who have gone before us in Faith, particularly our recently departed and beloved First-Hierarch Metropolitan Hilarion, of Blessed Memory.

And – soon we will invoke God’s blessing for the new Church year, knowing that it will bring blessings and challenges, and that with God’s help, we will have more to celebrate at this time next year, when – as now – we will say, “Glory to God for all things! Слава Богу за всё!”

With love in Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings for the Dormition of the Mother of God and the feast of the icon of the Saviour ‘Not made by human hands’: the Holy Mandylion.

Many thanks to all who made the weekend’s services so joyful – the latest of our summer festal celebrations, which unlike the previous ones also included a baptism.

We congratulate the newly-enlightened handmaiden of God, Mary, named to honour the Mother of God and her Dormition.

Saturday afternoon’s baptism and celebratory tea preceded the celebration of vespers of the feast, and the beginning of the nameday for our newly-baptised sister.

We pray that the Lord will grant Mary and her sponsors, Melangell and Peter, many, blessed years!

Our Sunday Liturgy was blessed with the presence of Father Luke, who heard many confessions, and when we counted we reckoned that we had heard at least thirty confessions between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Our Dormition Liturgy was very joyful, with around forty adults, plus the children, with most staying for the lovely festal lunch at which we broke the Dormition Fast.

Many thanks to our singers and servers, to the sisters who cooked and catered and to all who brought flowers and herbs for blessing – including the Marsh children who – with Grandma Georgina – made lavender bags to be blessed and distributed  as evlogia from the feast.

The feast will continue until its octave, next Sunday, when we will celebrate the icon of the Mother of God, the ‘Giver of Reason’: Pribavlenie Uma.

Wishing you a joyful ongoing celebration of the feast!

In Christ – Fr Mark

A Canon of Supplication to the Most Holy Theotokos.

Ode 1, Irmos: Let us all chant a triumphant hymn unto God * Who wrought wondrous miracles * with His upraised arm, * and saved Israel, * for He hath been glorified.

 Holy Theotokos, save us.

Thou art a haven of salvation and protection for those who call upon thee, О most pure Theotokos. Wherefore, I fervently cry out to thee from the depths of my soul: О Lady, save me!

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

O most pure Mary, Mother of the Creator, in that thou art good and easy to reconcile, heal thou my lowly soul which hath been corrupted by the passions and transgressions.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  

О Lady unwedded, cease thou never to entreat my Creator and God on behalf of one who ever flees to thy protection, that I may receive mercy.

Now & ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.  

О animate palace and fiery throne of the King, with the holy martyrs and apostles do thou ever entreat Christ, that He deliver us from perils.

Ode III, Irmos: The stone which the builders have rejected, * the same hath become the cornerstone: * this is the rock upon which Christ hath established the Church, * which He hath redeemed from among the nations.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

The darkness of transgressions surroundeth my heart, О Lady, and I dare not lift up mine eyes to heaven. Wherefore, I cry: Enlighten my mind, soul and heart with the precepts of Christ!

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

I gaze upon thy divine image, and I honor thee, the seal of the Master, the most pure Mother, as the prototype. And I kiss it, and bow down, and praise it, knowing thine honor and His alone.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  

Halt the cruel assaults of the body, and quench thou the flame of the passions, О Virgin, wherewith the cruel serpent weaves greatly tangled bonds offenses round about me, desiring to drag me down to destruction.

Now & ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.  

Issuing forth bodily, the Word clothed Himself wholly in Adam through thee. Him do thou therefore beseech, that He deliver us from the passions, from divers perils and everlasting fire.

Ode IV, Irmos: Foreseeing in the Spirit O Prophet Habbakuk, * the incarnation of the Word, * thou didst proclaim, crying aloud: * When the years draw nigh, Thou shalt be known; * when the season cometh, Thou shalt be shown forth! * Glory to Thy power, O Lord!

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Having given birth to the Creator and Fashioner of all, О Virgin, thou hast ineffable power and invincible might, and savest those who approach thee with faith. Wherefore, I cry to thee: О Sovereign Lady of the world, help me!

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Set at naught the battles of the invisible and noetic foe who assail in vain my wretched heart, О Lady, and grant me divine serenity and peace, that I may hymn thee in gladness.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  

Thou art the hope of the hopeless, helper of the poor, consolation of those who weep, cleansing of the sinful, guide of the lost, healer of the sick and righting of the fallen.

Now & ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.  

О pure and blessed Virgin Mary, who alone hast done away with the curse of all; with the apostles, martyrs and prophets entreat Him Who issued forth from thy womb, that He save the souls of those who hymn thee.

Ode V, Irmos: Grant us Thy peace, O Son of God, * for we know no other God than Thee, * and we call upon Thy Name, * for Thou art the God of the living and the dead.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Save me from the abyss of perils, tribulations, griefs and bodily passions, О Lady, and preserve my soul in divine tranquility.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Thou art my fervent and steadfast preservation all throughout my life, О most immaculate one. Wherefore, I beseech thee; even after my death, extend unto me thy rich loving-kindness.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  

О thou who hast given birth to the Creator and Redeemer of all, deliver me from the bodily passions which consume my heart and drag me into unseemly deeds.

Now & ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.  

In that thou hast been revealed to be a place of noetic sanctity, О Virgin Lady, wholly sanctify me, and with the holy and wise apostles pray that I be saved.

Ode VI, Irmos: Emulating the Prophet Jonah, I cry aloud: * Free Thou my life from corruption, O Good One; * and save me who crieth out: * O Savior of the world, Glory be to Thee!

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Thou preservest me alive, delivering me from dangers. In thy loving-kindness do thou also stand before me when I depart this earth for life everlasting, О Virgin Mother.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Thou art an indestructible rampart, thou art a firm wall of protection, thou art a mighty intercessor for thy servant, О good Theotokos; wherefore, I ever call upon thee.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  

Having acquired powerful supplications before God, О good Theotokos, disdain not me who fervently flee to thy protection and cry aloud: Have mercy on me, О Mother of the God of all!

Now & ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.  

Reject me not, neither spurn me, О Savior, for the ewe-lamb who gave Thee birth in the flesh entreateth Thee with Thine apostles, prophets
and passion-bearers.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now & ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Sessional hymn, Tone I: О most pure Maiden, the prophets foretold thee as the cloud of the eternal light of God, the ark, the candlestand and jar, and the unquarried mountain; for in the latter times Christ our God came forth from thee without seed, as was the Father’s good pleasure.

Ode VII, Irmos: Thy children who were in the furnace O Savior, * were neither touched nor troubled by The fire. * Whereupon the three sang, as with a single mouth * Thy praises and blessed Thee, saying: * ‘O God of our fathers, Blessed art Thou.’

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Hastening in thy loving-kindness, О most pure Lady, deliver me, who am brought to despondency by transgressions and the pleasures of the flesh and who am thrust into the abyss of destruction, О pure one.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

О Theotokos, thou art the refuge and mighty protection of all the faithful. Be thou for me a guide to the Creator, granting me deliverance from transgressions in thy compassion.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  

Thou hast destroyed the curse, О pure one who hast given birth to Christ our joy. By thy power, О most immaculate one, break thou also the curse which I have incurred through sin, and grant me joy.

Now & ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.  

О most holy and pure one, thy servants ever entreat thee day and night, praying with contrite thoughts. Grant us deliverance from our offences by thy supplications.

Ode VIII, Irmos: Him of whom the angels and all the hosts of heaven are in awe * as their Lord and Creator, * ye priests hymn, ye children praise, * ye peoples bless and supremely exalt * throughout all ages.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Arise, go forth and do battle against the enemies who trouble and oppress us in vain, delivering us by thy power, О holy virgin, thou helper of the world!

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Thou hast saved the world from death and corruption by thy divine birthgiving, О good Virgin; and now, by thy supplications, rescue from the passions and save us who praise thee.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  

Great and ineffable is thy might, О Virgin, and many and invincible are thy divine compassions and loving-kindness. Wherefore, save us who call upon thee in truth.

Now & ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.  

As an animate vine, О Virgin, thou didst put forth for us the ripe Cluster, Who hath poured forth the wine of remission and dried up the
drunkenness of sin.

Ode IX, Irmos: The light-bearing cloud upon whom * the beginningless Master of all descended from heaven, * like the dew upon the fleece, * and of whom He was incarnate, * becoming a man for our sake, * let us all magnify as the pure Mother of God.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

Greatly tempest-tossed upon the sea of life by carnal pleasures, I fall down before thee and cry aloud: Have mercy on me, who flee unto thee, О Lady, and extend to me a hand of salvation, delivering me from the abyss of destruction!

Most Holy Theotokos, save us.

To thee do I confess my sins, О Virgin; before thy face do I disclose my shame; and I cry to thee from the depths of my soul “Have mercy and take pity, О most pure one, for on thee and God have I set my firm hope”!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  

With all my soul I call upon thee who hast given birth without seed to the Creator and Master, and I cry out earnestly: Save me from the corruption of manifold transgressions, and deliver me from the unquenchable fire, О most holy and good Theotokos!

Now & ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.  

О pure one, thou impassable door, gate of paradise, path of the saved, way of salvation: with the martyrs and prophets, the righteous and venerable, and the divine apostles, pray thou, that our souls be saved.

Dear brothers and sisters,  

Festal greetings to you on this glorious feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord – not just metaphorically glorious, but truly so, as Mount Tabor became a place where the glory of Christ-God was revealed to the disciples, as far as they were able to bear it. 

The Saviour revealed something which had not been seen by the men and women of the Gospels: not by the magi, even though they fell down and worshipped Him as they laid their gifts before Him; not by the shepherds, even though an angel revealed the new-born Lord to them; not by Symeon the God-Receiver, even though he took the Infant-Saviour into his arms and recognised Him as the Light to enlighten the gentiles; not by the many sick, disabled and possessed people whom He healed and set free, even though He, as their Creator made them into new creations through the miracles He wrought. 

Peter, James and John beheld the Saviour in a way that none of the disciples had so-far beheld Him, as Christ revealed His divinity on Mount Tabor. 

The glory that radiated from the Saviour and enveloped Him in the Transfiguration was not something put on for the occasion. As the Church Fathers clarified, when Jesus was transfigured He did not take upon Himself something new that He did not formerly possess, or change into something or someone else. Rather, in the radiant splendour of the godhead, He showed Himself to His disciples as He already was, and as He always had been, though His divinity was temporarily hidden when He was incarnate, as the Saviour of the World 

In the words of St Gregory Palamas, 

“We believe that at the Transfiguration He manifested…  only that which was concealed beneath His fleshly exterior. This Light was the Light of the Divine Nature, and as such, it was Uncreated and Divine.” 

The Saviour revealed what His humility, His love and compassion had hidden when He was obedient to the Father’s will in the incarnation, clothing Himself in Adam and hiding what the Prophet Ezekiel had seen and struggled to describe when the Lord-Yahweh, the pre-incarnate Saviour, appeared on the heavenly chariot-throne in 

“… a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also, from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the colour of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” 

The uncreated-light of Christ’s divinity on Mount Tabor echoed the glory that Ezekiel could only approximate in words and images, and also the glory that Moses encountered when he ascended Mount Sinai: glory that was such that Moses himself was transfigured by his encounter with Christ-Yahweh, as St Gregory reminded his listeners: 

“Even the face of Moses was illumined by his association with God. Do you not know that Moses was transfigured when he went up the mountain, and there beheld the Glory of God? But he (Moses) did not affect this, but rather he underwent a Transfiguration.” 

On Mount Tabor, Moses, present in spirit, again reflected the divine-glory, whilst Elias who had ascended into heaven reflected the light of the Transfiguration both physically and spiritually. 

And, the Saviour appeared in glory, not simply to show the glory of His divinity to the disciples, but to prepare them for the suffering which would obscure this glory more and more, as He went to His voluntary passion like a lamb to the slaughter, with the appearance of the suffering-servant foreseen by the Prophet Isaiah, who 

“hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” 

Behind this sacrificial-suffering, self-emptying and selfless giving was the same Christ who was transfigured, to show the certainty of the glory which lay beyond the Cross, in the eternity of the Kingdom, and His divinity which was concealed beneath the robe of His suffering flesh. 

The Transfiguration pre-empted His great suffering, so that the necessity of the Cross and the sacrifice of Christ, as the Lamb of God and New-Passover, could be understood by those closest to the Saviour, so that they would not be scandalised by the Cross of Christ, and His crucifixion. 

In the words of St Leo the Great: 

“And in this Transfiguration the foremost object was to remove the offense of the cross from the disciple’s heart, and to prevent their faith being disturbed by the humiliation of His voluntary Passion by revealing to them the excellence of His hidden dignity.” 

Paths of suffering-for-Christ would also be the lot of the disciples, given courage by the glimpsed glory of the Kingdom, which would be reinforced by their experience of the resurrection, of the glorious ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit, at Pentecost.  Through their spiritual labours and ascent, the Saviour sought to share His glory with them, so that they – and every generation of faithful – might be partakers and inheritors of His glory, to be transfigured like Moses and Elias, radiant in His light.

Similar paths have been trodden by the Saviour’s followers throughout the history of the Church, from the Roman persecutions to the trials of the new-martyrs and confessors of the Communist Yoke in the 20th century, and through this suffering countless people were transfigured, not literally, but spiritually – encountering God, with their endurance and courage buoyed by the promise touched upon by St Leo in his homily for the feast,

“About which the Lord had Himself said, when He spoke of the majesty of His coming, Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in their Father’s Kingdom Mat. 13:43, while the blessed Apostle Paul bears witness to the self-same thing, and says: for I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8:18: and again, for you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. For when Christ our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory Col. 3:3 .” 

– and in this he reminds us of the obvious: that most will have to wait for the life of the age to come to behold God’s glory, when the righteous shall shine like the sun. 

Few will have the foretastes of this glory, like St Symeon, St Seraphim or St John the Wonderworker, but we live in hope of this promise of the glory  of God manifest on the mountain.

But, to attain to this promise, glimpsed on Tabor by the disciples, we must take up our Cross to follow the Saviour in selfless love and obedience: thoroughly, faithfully, and maximally. 

This is the only way each of us can begin to climb the mountain, even its lowest and gentlest slopes: embracing Orthodox life as podvig/ascetic labour – praying, fasting, struggling for purity, through repentance and making the Gospel and the Law of God the entire rule of our lives, day by day.

Above all, let us pray, as this communion with God joins time and eternity, our finite and transient human lives with the changeless eternity of the life of God who always IS.

In prayer there is a certain transcendence of time and place, as there was when the Lord was transfigured on the mountain, and prayer may be the catalyst of our metamorphosis and transfiguration. 

St Gregory, (taking the Transfiguration Gospel from St Luke) observes that 

“That same Inscrutable Light shone and was mysteriously manifest to the Apostles and the foremost of the Prophets at that moment, when (the Lord) was praying. This shows that what brought forth this blessed sight was prayer, and that the radiance occurred and was manifest by uniting the mind with God, and that it is granted to all who, with constant exercise in efforts of virtue and prayer, strive with their mind towards God. True beauty, essentially, can be contemplated only with a purified mind.“

Let us raise up our hearts and minds to God, as even in wordlessness, this is prayer.  And, through prayer – sometimes easy, often a struggle – let us labour to purify our intellect, thoughts and senses, so that we may contemplate things divine and eternal, and join ourselves to things heavenly and changeless: racing to the mountain in this prayer, eager to behold and experience the glory of the Lord. 

“Arise, ye slothful thoughts of my soul, which have ever been dragged down to the earth! Be ye upborne and rise aloft to the summit of divine ascent! Let us make haste to Peter and the sons of Zebedee, and with them let us go to Mount Tabor, that we may see the glory of our God with them, and may hear the voice which they heard from on high; and they preached that Thou, in truth, art the Effulgence of the Father.” 

Ikos of the Matins Canon. 

In Christ – 

Hieromonk Mark 

Dear brothers and sisters, 

Apologies for posting later than intended, after a few busy days with parishioners in Wiltshire and Somerset, and a late arrival home. 

Our Cardiff parish has been blessed to have gained devoted parishioners in Wessex, initially due to their resistance to local attacks on Orthodox Eucharistic praxis, and their refusal to compromise the Holy Mysteries or doubt the healing efficacy of the Saviour’s Body and Blood. 

It was a blessing to be able to recognise their many journeys and great effort to support our services by travelling in the opposite direction to pray with them in Wiltshire and Somerset, making a few home visits – with Margarita’s home being blessed in the process – and to celebrate the feast of St Panteleimon with a pilgrimage visit to the beautiful church of St Laurence, at Bradford on Avon. As announced after Liturgy, this was a reconnaissance-visit prior to a parish pilgrimage, to hopefully be led by Bishop Irenei. 

It was wonderful to gather in the small chancel and serve a moleben to the Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Laurence of Rome and the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon, before a festal lunch and a time of fellowship and conversation. 

The short visit has galvanised our resolve to pray and worship on the other side of the Severn, recognising the constant travels to Cardiff on the part of our Wessex parishioners. 

Later this week and the beginning of the following week, I hope to visit some holy places with Cardiff parishioners. To maximise the opportunities on this front, I would like to hear confessions on Saturday, rather than Friday. I know that this may be problematic for a few people and will endeavour to work around this. Please email by Thursday 18:00 to arrange confessions.

Sunday is the Feast of the All-Merciful Saviour and the Procession of the Life-Giving Cross, and we will have the traditional blessing of honey at the end of Liturgy, so remember to bring your new honey, so that you can taste and see that the Lord is good!.

Following on from the feast of the Holy Great Martyr and Healer, Panteleimon, our small portion of his sacred relics will be available to venerate alongside the Life-Giving Cross. 

Service variables may be found here: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TmFLB3h_6gG6MhHKQJyIHu2EAtkGI0Wi/view 

Remember that Sunday marks the beginning of the Dormition Fast, and food for trapeza should be vegan, with wine and oil permitted. 

May God bless you, and your week. 

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark