Despite it being the second Saturday of the month, there will be no Cheltenham Liturgy, as the United Reformed Church is unavailable. Cheltenham Liturgy will be on Saturday 16 October.
Compline will be celebrated at St John’s, as usual, at 16:30 with confessions being heard during the service.
The Divine Liturgy and Hours will be celebrated on Sunday at 11:00.
Would those requiring Sunday confession please contact me – otetzmark@hotmail.com – so that we have some idea of how many are confessing. We need to consider how we manage this, as there is presently insufficient time for everything that needs to be done before the beginning of Liturgy.
Please consider preparing food for our post-Liturgy ‘social’, being mindful that some of our faithful have a very early start and long journeys to and from the Liturgy.
Dear brothers, sisters and friends of our Cardiff and Cheltenham parishes,
The Liturgy in Cardiff today was greatly blessed by the addition of Father Luke to the celebrating clergy, much to the joy of those who have not seen him for a considerable time, with parishioners from deepest Wiltshire thinking they might drive all the way to West Wales to see him.
Father Luke was a very great help today, given parishioners had travelled from Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Swansea, and all required confession.
We congratulate all who partook of the Holy Mysteries on this Leave-Taking of the feast of the Dormition, when at the end of Liturgy, after the chanting of the encomia and velichanie for the Dormition, the plashchanitsa of the Mother of God was returned to the sanctuary.
Sunday was also the feast of St Irenaeus of Lyons and Bishop Irenei was greeted for his nameday by telephone yesterday evening, as he was leaving church after the vigil in our parish in Lyons. After the dismissal today’s Liturgy, we chanted Mnogaya Leta for our bishop, with an icon of St Irenaeus, written within the parish, being blessed before presentation to His Grace when the clergy visit the cathedral for its altar-feast: the Nativity of the Mother of God.
I was also very pleased to bless an icon of St Andrei Ufimsky by the hand of the same iconographer, and will be cherishing this in my cell.
The parish received a wonderful blessing this week, as our Chancellor, Archpriest Paul, commended the old candlestands from ROCOR‘s former Bradford parish the care of our community, and we were able to put them into use, knowing that these humble stands had been used in the worship of the Russian Church Outside of Russia since 1946. We sincerely hope they will still be in use in another seventy-five years.
In addition to visiting Wallasey and the Parish of St Elizabeth this week, Father Deacon Mark and I have also had the pleasure of visiting Vladika Irenei in London and the Cheltenham parish yesterday, so it has been a very busy week with significant mileage. To add to this, Deacon Mark is driving to Heathrow to meet matushka Alla and Yuriy who are on their return journey from Crimea at this very moment.
Though matushka and Yuriy are still in transit, other parishioners have arrived home, and it was lovely to have faithful back from Ukraine and Russia and to celebrate the Liturgy and the end of our ‘Summer Pascha’ with them.
As I explained at Liturgy, a very difficult work rota for me will make confessions a challenge this week, but I hope that it will be possible to hear confessions on Thursday. Given the challenges of the week, may I ask all requiring confession, and who are able to do so on Thursday to contact me by Wednesday lunchtime (indicating any time that you would NOT be available that day), so that I may endeavour to make arrangements: otetzmark@hotmail.com
Given that next Sunday’s Liturgy is followed by a General Parish Meeting, it will only be possible to hear a few confessions before Liturgy, and there will be no possibility to hear either long confessions, or confessions after Liturgy. I am sorry, but on top of my work rota, the meeting makes this unavoidable. Also, there will be no Saturday evening service.
As always, our thanks go to everyone who made our celebrations in Cardiff and Cheltenham possible this weekend, particularly our servers and singers, and our sisters who prepared the food enjoyed by our hungry and appreciative faithful.
May I remind you that this coming Sunday of the Dormition, God willing, our Liturgy will be at the unusually early time of 06:00, due to Anglican use of St John’s around noon.
The Liturgy itself, NOT the hours, will start at this time, and we must vacate the church by 08:30, as there is an Anglican service at 09:00. Please arrive promptly. Although this is an extra early start, especially as we usually begin the Liturgy three hours later, all (especially communicants) should be in church for the initial blessing of the Liturgy. We understand that those travelling distances may be unable to be there for 6:00, but those living in Cardiff should be in church for this early start. Remember, this is what our Romanian sister-parish has to do EVERY week!
The early start will make it impossible to hear confessions before Liturgy, but although it cannot be guaranteed, there may be time for confessions for those travelling from Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, afterwards. In this case, confessions will need to be brief, as there is no leeway regarding our departure time. Anyone hoping to confess on Sunday should email me: otetzmark@hotmail.com
Parishioners have suggested a post-Liturgy gathering for ‘coffee and cake’ (or something more substantial in the café, perhaps) in Canton’s Victoria Park, which seems an excellent idea. So, those who would like to join this gathering should bring their flasks and supplies, or we could stage an Orthodox takeover of the park café. It should open at 08:30 and provide shelter, should the weather be inclement… which would be traditional for our Welsh summer.
Should anyone feel so inclined, the remaining day could possibly accommodate a visit to a local holy place. Suggestions please!
Confessions for local parishioners will be heard on Saturday, when – God willing – we will celebrate compline at 16:30. Sadly, although Saturday is the feast of the Dormition, I was unable to take the day off from my secular employment and will have to work until 14:30.
Sunday, the second day of the Dormition, will be the feast of the Icon of the Saviour ‘Not Made by Human Hands’ (the Mandilion / Holy Face) and the Icon of the Mother of God the Giver of Reason (Pribavlenie Uma).
The variables may be found, as usual, at the Orthodox Austin website:
This coming weekend we will celebrate Troitsa – Trinity-Pentecost – with vespers at 16:30 on Saturday and the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning at 11:00.Continue reading →
This canon, which is to be found the Greek Great Book of Needs, is also chanted at Tuesday Compline in the week of tone six of the Octoechos. Whilst we are having confessions during Saturday Compline, this may be pertinent to be chanted at that time, and would certainly be valuable for parishioners as they prepare for confession and Holy Communion. In the Euchologion (Book of Needs) it is followed by a prayer of absolution by St John of Damascus, making it clear that it is intended for use in this context.
