Dear brothers and sisters, after our Thursday and Friday services in Nazareth House and the Oratory, this weekend has been something of a whirlwind with our Warminster Liturgy, Wessex barbecue and today’s celebration of the Sunday of All Saints.
Having South Wales parishioners joining their brothers and sisters beyond the Bridge was wonderful, with reinforcements for the barbecue in the afternoon.
Having unrushed, relaxed, quality time together is so important, and even huddling together under the gazebo around Branka’s cooking pot during the rain showers was a time of fellowship, and conversation… and even entertainment, when the natural performers of the parish broke into enthusiastic, operatic song!
It is very important that we make an effort to connect with wider ROCOR life, particularly in our thinly spread presence on this western side of the mainland, as well as having a connection to our cathedral.
When we next celebrate in Warminster, it will be the feast of the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, on 12 July, and after our festal Liturgy, we will celebrate the solemn blessing (baptism) of the bells in the medieval tower of the chapel, anointing them in their consecration and naming them for the Holy and Right-Believing King Alfred, St Aldhelm and St Birinus.
This will be a rare and special occasion, and we are delighted to be asked to do so by the feoffees of the chapel, which is a “peculiar” outside the jurisdiction of the Anglican diocese, and a sanctuary in which our spiritual place is highly valued and in which we have a welcome degree of autonomy.
I very much hope that a few pilgrims might make their way from Cardiff to Warminster for this occasion.
With students away, parishioners on holiday, Wessex parishioners attending the Ukrainian parish Liturgy near Bristol, and Fathers’ Day, we were a little thin on numbers today, but celebrated the Sunday of All Saints in Cardiff with joy and enthusiasm.
We were happy to welcome back recent acquaintances and have first time visitors, whom we hope to see again soon.
Being the ninth day after the repose of Hierodeacon Avraamy’s father, Valery, we celebrated a litia, also praying for Lyudmila, Leonid, Alexey, and Irina, and for the departed kinsfolk of our parishioners.
In the week ahead, we will have our usual compline with akathist and confessions in Nazareth House at 18:00 on Thursday, and will chant the akathist to the Precious and Life-Giving Cross in the Oratory on Friday at 15:00, with confessions being heard after the service.
Later on Friday, Adam and Serwa’s baptism will be at 19:00 in St Philip’s, and I hope that local parishioners will be able to support our young people on this special day.
As announced on WhatsApp, Saturday will see our Cheltenham Liturgy, celebrated in Prestbury United Reformed Church, Deep St, Cheltenham GA52 3AN.
The Hours and Liturgy begin at 10:00 and we will celebrate the feast of the Yaroslavskaya Icon of the Mother of God, with our usual bring-and-share lunch after the service.
I am happy to hear that some of our Cardiff sisters are looking forward to this, and hope that a few more people may be inspired to venture to visit our lovely little Gloucestershire community.
The following Saturday (28 June) is St Vitus day, and the solemn commemoration of the battle of Kosovo and the Holy Great-Martyr, St Lazar. A number of us will make the journey to Lazarica, in Bournville for the Divine Liturgy at 09:00.
Next week’s Liturgy will mark the Sunday of All Saints of the Lands of Rus’, and the variables for Liturgy can be found at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ndLMA9dYyv0B-Vu2WPa3aD1rIMYVDjyM/view
The Apostles’ Fast begins in the morning, lasting until Saturday 12 June (Warminster Liturgy).
Calendars vary slightly regarding the allowance of fish according to local customs, and we should simply stick to the calendar we usually use, and not chop and change to reap the benefits of more generous allowances!
We should ALL try to do something extra in our prayers and spiritual reading during the Fast – perhaps reading a kathisma of the Psalter each day; reading from the Spiritual Psalter of St Ephraim the Syrian; reading the sayings of the desert father; trying to pray an akathist or canon to our name saint each day… and we can help you find this; or reading the appointed supplicatory canon to the Mother of God each evening. We should have a book for spiritual reading, and read every day.
Whatever we do, the days of the fast should NOT simply be like any other day. They should be days of extra prayer, spiritual struggle and devotion, consecrated and made holy to the Lord.
It may not be Great Lent, but it is, nevertheless, a God-given period of fasting and preparation, shaped by the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. So… Let us attend!
Asking your forgiveness, for Christ’s sake, and praying that you have a blessed and holy fast.
In Christ – Hieromonk Mark
