Dear brothers and sisters,
After what looked liked what would be a rather low attendance for our Liturgy for the Sunday of St Gregory Palamas, we ended up with sixty worshippers, including our children.
However, the attendance number for our Annual General Meeting, following Liturgy, was extremely disappointing.
We need to understand that it is our duty to support parish meetings, and to be part of discussions of parish life. This is an expression of being a stake-holder in the parish, and a sign that parish memberships is taken seriously and has obligations and responsibilities.
We understand that it is simply not possible for all parishioners to attend, due to work and family commitments, but when an annual meeting draws little more than a dozen individuals, plus the committee, we clearly need to reflect on what it means to belong to an Orthodox parish.
Our meetings should be a true reflection of our parish, with both young and not-so-young, and our broad mix of parishioners from across the Orthodox world and here in the UK. I Very much hope that our next parish meeting will be rather more representative of our community!
During the meeting, there were some welcome suggestions regarding developments in parish life, and we will seek to implement them: including a moleben for the parish and special collection for the building fund on the first Sunday of the month, and a monthly Saturday vespers – though I would like to see this extend the first and third Saturdays, if we are able to cover the cost of hiring St Philip’s.
Some of you will remember that we used to celebrate Saturday vespers on most weekends in Nazareth House, when we had unhindered use of the church, and set up on Saturdays.
As proposing parishioners rightly observed, the service for the eve of the Lord’s Day and feasts have a very special and very different atmosphere to the morning Liturgy.
At the moment, we are only able to celebrate vespers in the Oratory Church on the eve of feasts, and at a time that is impractical for most parishioners. So, we hope that a Saturday evening vespers, hopefully expanding to the vigil service, will find broad support.
We very much look forward to gathering for vespers, and will seek to arrange the use of St Philip’s.
We are happy that, at the moment, we are able to have a weekday evening service, in Nazareth House, though this is compline, rather than vespers. During Great Lent, and other fasting periods, this is Great Compline, with a supplicatory canon to the Mother of God.
A monthly moleben for the parish will be a welcome prayerful reminder of our need to work together, spiritually and materially, for the development of the parish.
We have continued to have a weekly moleben in the Oratory at 15:00 on Fridays, but will replace these with the Divine Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts, during Lent. Anyone communing should fast from 09:00 at the latest. Our first Cardiff Pre-Sanctified Liturgy will be this Friday at the usual service time of 15:00.
If anyone is able to travel to Llanelli, the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy is also celebrated there, but at 18:30 on Wednesdays. Fasting should be from 12:30 at the latest.
Next Saturday, the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated in the Chapel of St Lawrence, in Warminster at 10:30, serving our Cardiff parishioners in the West of England. Confessions will be heard before the service, and in the general memorial service for the departed, after the service, we will remember the late Archimandrite Barnabas on the thirtieth anniversary of his repose. Saturday will be St David’s day according to the Church calendar: a worthy day of repose for our late Tâd Barnabas. Memory eternal!
We look forward to welcoming Father Paul and a group of pilgrims who will visit St David’s on Saturday, before joining us for Sunday Liturgy in Tremorfa. I have unfortunately received no concrete times regarding their service in St David’s, but will share, should specifics be forthcoming.
Saturday 21 March, will see the hierarchical celebration of the Mystery of Holy Unction (Soborovanie) in the London Cathedral at 14:00. Again, any parishioners able to offer a spare seat to a non-driver are encouraged to car-share.
The last Saturday of the month, 28 March, will see the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in Cheltenham, starting at 10:00, in Prestbury United Reformed Church.
Returning to Cardiff matters, discussions in our AGM highlighted the generally poor response to Joanna’s request for assistance setting up St Philip’s for Sunday Liturgy.
This has resulted in our starosta arriving up to several hours before Liturgy to set up the church. This is an unreasonable lack of sharing of duties. We cannot take it for granted that the building will miraculously be ready for worship.
The same presumption has come to characterise the lunch table after Liturgy, with a quite unreasonable shouldering of the responsibility for hospitality falling on very few ladies. Again, this responsibility needs to be fairly shared, and we need to share the responsibility of not only sharing food with one another, but welcoming our stream if guests.
In general, we each need to ask the questions, “What can I do for the parish?” and “What can my talents and abilities bring to our community?”
Can you bake a cake or a pie? Do the washing up? Bring flowers? Give an hour to set up church for Liturgy? Serve in the sanctuary? Sing on the kliros? Give lifts to those without transport?
There are a myriad ways in which the community can be supported, and aided. Let’s take time to find ways to offer ourselves and build the parish.
We continue to ask your prayers for Anastasia and Tomasz, who are travelling, and for the sick servants of God, Pavel and Diamantis, and for God’s help for Joseph during officer training whilst feeling viral and under the weather.
Asking your forgiveness, for Christ’s sake.
May God bless you.
Hieromonk Mark
