Tag Archives: Parish News

Parish News – Sunday of the Cross

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Sunday’s celebration of the Adoration of the Life-Giving Cross came at the end of a blessed four days of services with three different Liturgies: the Liturgy of St Gregory the Dialogist on Friday; of St John Chrysostom on Saturday; and of St Basil on Sunday.

It has been a joy to celebrate the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the Sunday of the Cross in conjunction, with the life and martyrdom of the Holy Great Martyrs showing us the Cross bearing fruit in the life of the Church, calling us to selflessness and attachment to the things of heaven, rather than the transitory things of the earth. “Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad; for great is your reward IN HEAVEN!”

The Liturgies of the past few days have been a blessing and a joy, with our relatively quiet celebration in the Oratory Church, ending with the blessing of larks, and our Llanishen Cross-celebration ending with the blessing of more larks, and of Serbian Mladenci.

It has been good to see the faithful enjoy time together in fellowship and conversation over shared refreshments and meals, with the shared-table a continuation of the Liturgy!

Thanks to all who contributed to our celebrations, particularly our singers and bakers, our young brothers who were such a great help moving furniture, and our “myrrh-bearing” women who quietly and devotedly look after our clergy do well and generously!

Thanks to matushka for decorating the frame for the Godenovo Cross.

Thanks also to the Oratorian Fathers for their ongoing support, especially in the hiatus in our move to Tremorfa.

In the week ahead we will have our usual Thursday akathist in Nazareth House at 18:00 on Thursday, and devotions before the Cross in the Oratory at 14:00 on Friday. 

I will be available for confessions before and after services on those days.

There will be no Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified in Cardiff this week, though there will be one in Llanelli at 18:30 on Wednesday.

Soborovanie / Hierarchical Holy Unction will be celebrated in the cathedral at 14:00 on Saturday, and we hope to have a handful of parishioners in attendance. Those being anointed should prepare with confession, and those unable to make the journey will have the opportunity to be anointed at a local celebration of the Service of the Oil during Holy Week.

Sunday will see us return to St Faith’s for 11 o’clock Liturgy and trapéza.

In your prayers we ask you to remember Liudmila amongst the sick; Margarita, Piran and Stefan on their the travels; our students with their demanding academic work; and our catechumens – Chris, Adam, Serwaa and Lloyd.

Wishing you a renewed and blessed struggle for the second half of the Great Fast, through the power of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross and through the prayers of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.

Parishioners seeking English language spiritual reading are encouraged to look at the soul-profiting, traditional books sold by the St Edward Brotherhood (also a source of good quality incense and candles): 

https://shop.saintedwardbrotherhood.org/collections/books

May God bless you!

Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.

Hieromonk Mark

Parish News – Third Week of Great Lent

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Having posted service times on WhatsApp and Facebook, the news email is late this week.

Thanks to everyone for such a lovely Sunday Liturgy, following our Saturday celebration in Cheltenham, and the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy in the Cardiff Oratory.

Our Cheltenham Liturgy was blessed with a profound sense of peace and joy, and – as we will not be returning until the Saturday of Pascha – we blessed zhavoronki (sky-larks), the traditional celebratory offerings for the feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, which we will celebrate in the Cardiff Oratory this coming weekend (see below). We will be happy to bless any baked offerings in honour of the holy-martyrs on Sunday, as well as Saturday, and will have the icon of the martyrs at our Sunday Liturgy.

It was good to have a well supported kliros on Sunday, especially for the anaphora for the Liturgy of St Basil. Thanks to all of our singers.

We would be very happy to see more singers on the kliros, and also for more servers in the oltar. It has been lovely to have our younger servers over the last few weeks, and it would be very good to get back to having four or five servers on a Sunday. Perhaps our forthcoming baptisms may help on this front!

St Faith’s is proving to be a bright and cheery place to celebrate, and everyone seems very happy there. However, we know that it is a challenge for some parishioners without their own means of transport, and that public transport is somewhat unpredictable, which perhaps accounts for Sunday’s slightly reduced numbers.

At the time of writing, the rector of Gabalfa-Tremorfa is conferring with other stakeholders in St Philip’s, getting everyone on board and aware of our forthcoming presence, and we look forward to hopefully moving to Tremorfa in the next few weeks. In the meantime, we are very happy to be able to worship in St Faith’s and have the warm support of Elaine and Ruth, the clergy, and Marilyn the church warden.

Next Sunday is the mid-point of Great Lent, being the Sunday of the Adoration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, and though I know we will have a number of active parishioners away, I do hope that we will see those parishioners who have not been to Liturgy during the Fast. Pascha is fast approaching, and we need to show our readiness for the Lord’s Life-Bestowing Passion and Resurrection.

This week’s services will start with the Akathist to the Passion in Nazareth House at 18:00 in Thursday. On Friday we will celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts in the Oratory at 14:00, returning on Saturday to celebrate the feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste with the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom at 10:30.

Sunday’s Divine Liturgy of St Basil for the Sunday of the Holy Cross will be celebrated in St Faith’s, Llanishen at 11:00.

With regard to Holy Unction / Елеосвящения during Lent we would like to clarify that:

  • The rite of Soborovanie / Concelebrated Holy Unction will be celebrated in the cathedral at 14:00 on Saturday 29 March, with the parish clergy concelebrating with the bishop.
  • There will not be a bus, as very few parishioners indicated their interest in this option, making it prohibitively expensive. So, we hope that parishioners will organise car-shares to maximise the number of those able to attend.
  • Additionally, we will be celebrating the Rite of the Mystery of Holy Unction (Чин последование таинства Елеосвящения) in the parish, hopefully on the Wednesday of Holy Week. However, until we move to St Philip’s and know the availability of the building for Holy Week, we are unable to arrange or announce anything.
  • This local celebration will be with the bishop’s special blessing, as the Lenten ‘Soborovanie’ is only usually celebrated by a bishop and six concelebrating priests in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
  • The baptised and confessed faithful may receive anointing at ONE of these services, and NOT multiple times.
  • Confession is a requisite and not an option, as this is a Holy Mystery. Therefore, children whose age means they are not yet going to confession do not yet partake of this anointing.

It has been a great blessing to have the Psalter group reading the whole Psalter each day during the Fast, and I hope that this brings a greater understanding of the Psalms and their spiritual meaning for the Church, far removed from ancient Israelite society.

As several of our young people have commented, the Old Testament can be extremely challenging for us as Christians and the Church of the New Israel, but beyond the literal imagery of war and violence, the Psalms now teach us the importance of spiritual warfare, bear great moral truths, call us to prayer, admonish us to repent and call us to worship the Lord, falling down before His greatness, glory and majesty, as well as bearing prophetic images of the Saviour, His saving Passion, Resurrection and Ascension.

For those for whom this reading has been a beginning, I very much hope that the Psalter will continue to be a valuable resource in their spiritual lives after the Fast.

May we ask your prayers for the sick / unwell in our community and among the friends and families of our faithful, as well as those with more long term health issues: Liudmila, Brigid, Maria, Valery, Galina, Irina, and Marina.

As we have been informed of developments regarding the former Serbian Church property in Ely, we ask your prayers as we consider its possibilities and viability as a permanent ROCOR base in the city. We especially ask your prayers to St Nikolaj (Velimirović). It was on his feast, yesterday, that we received news via London.

Hierarch of Christ, Nikolaj, pray to God for us!

Troparion, Tone 8: O golden-tongued preacher proclaiming the risen Christ, / everlasting guide of the cross-bearing Serbian people, / resounding harp of the Holy Spirit, and dear to monastics who rejoice in thee, / pride and boast of the priesthood, teacher of repentance, master for all nations, / guide of those in the army of Christ as they pray to God, / Holy Nikolaj teacher in America and pride of the Serbian people, / with all the saints, implore the only Lover of mankind / to grant us peace and joy in his heavenly kingdom!

Asking your forgiveness, for Christ’s sake.

May God bless you.

Hieromonk Mark

Holy Week Parish News

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As the Lord went to His voluntary Passion, He said to His apostles on the way: “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed, as it is written of Him.” Come, then, and let us also journey with Him, purified in mind; let us be crucified with Him and die for His sake to the pleasures of this life, that we may also live with Him and hear Him say: “No longer do I ascend to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer, but I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God; and I shall raise you up to the Jerusalem on High in the Kingdom of heaven.”

Dear brothers and sisters, greetings as we begin Holy Week, after our Palm Sunday celebration of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem, with many of the faithful confessing and communing.

Yesterday’s feast followed the joyful celebration of the Lazarus Saturday, celebrated in St Nicholas with the Liturgy and Ambrose’s baptism, with the Lazarus’s rising setting the scene for the Saviour’s entry into Jerusalem, to the acclaim of the crowds who had heard the wondrous news that he – already dead for four days – had been called forth from the tomb, and had risen from the dead, as we heard in the beautiful sequence “Rejoice, O Bethany”, chanted at the end of the Liturgy: 

“Rejoice, rejoice, O Bethany! On this day God came to thee, God came to thee; and in Him the dead are made alive, as is right for He is the Life!

When Martha went to receive Him, grieving loudly with bitter tears, bitter tears, she poured out the sorrow of her heart to Him, with great sadness, wailing her lament.

She at once cried out unto Him, “My most compassionate Lord! My Lord! At the great loss of my brother Lazarus my heart is broken, help me!

Jesus said to her, “Cease thy weeping, cease thy grieving and sad lament, sad lament; for thy brother, My most beloved friend Lazarus, very soon will live again! He will live again!

Then He, the faithful Redeemer, made His way unto the tomb, unto the tomb, where He cried unto him who was buried four days, calling him forth, saying, “Lazarus, arise! Lazarus, arise!

Come with haste, ye two sisters, and behold a wondrous thing, wondrous thing, for thy brother from the tomb has returned to life. To the beloved Redeemer now give thanks! Now give thanks!

To Thee, O Lord of creation, we kneel down in reverence profound, reverence profound; for all we who are dead in sin; in Thee, O Jesus, are made alive!

Rejoice, rejoice, O Bethany! On this day God came to thee, God came to thee; and in Him the dead are made alive, as is right for He is the Life! He is the Life!

Lazarus’s rising was, of course, a foretaste of the resurrection, as was the baptism, but the baptism was more than this, as the initiation into the Saviour’s death and resurrection, which – though only a few days on from the raising of Lazarus – was yet to be accomplished to seal the promise of the life of the age to come and the Paschal Mystery.

We now enter this week of solemn commemoration of the saving acts of the Saviour’s Passion, culminating in the Resurrection form the Life-Giving Tomb, through which we are called to follow the repentant thief into Paradise.

After our weekend in Cardiff, due to our ongoing lack of local worship space, the services of Great and Holy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Liturgy of Great and Holy Thursday are in Llanelli, where matins is celebrated at 19:00 each evening, and where the Holy Thursday Liturgy will be celebrated on Thursday morning at 10:00.

From Thursday evening the following services will be celebrated in Cardiff:

2nd May – Holy Thursday evening: Service of the Twelve Gospels, 19:00 in St Mary’s Butetown, NOT St John’s

3rd May – Holy Friday afternoon: Vespers and the bringing out of the winding-sheet, 16:00 in St John’s, Canton

3rd May – Holy Friday evening: Matins of Holy Saturday – Burial service of the Lord, 19:00 in St John’s, Canton

4th May – Holy Saturday: Midnight Office, 23:30, St John’s, Canton – immediately followed by…

5th May – Sunday of Pascha: midnight 00:00 Paschal matins and Divine Liturgy, followed by blessing of Paschal foods and Paschal Breakfast

5th May – Sunday of Pascha: Paschal Vespers, 12:30, St John’s, Canton

Food baskets will be blessed after the Paschal Liturgy and before/after the Paschal vespers, as required.

As we have some parishioners who are unable to travel to Cardiff during the night of Pascha, I will administer Holy Communion after the Paschal Hours in St John’s on Sunday morning, with the Hours at 11:00. This will allow a chance to sit and have a cup of tea before vespers.

As was blessed last year, those who confessed before last weekend’s services are blessed to receive Holy Communion at the Paschal Liturgy. I will hear confessions before Thursday evening’s services, between the Friday services and before the Paschal night services.

With regard to the service of Pascha night, even though we finish at a late hour, we still need to clear the church, even though we will return the next day, so may I please remind everyone able to help that your assistance is very much needed. We will all be tired, but we still have t pack away!

Those who are able to stay after the night Liturgy are invited to bring food to share as we break the fast and enjoy the Lord’s bounty, after more than forty days of abstinence. I know that this is not the norm in most places in Eastern or Balkan Europe, but it is most certainly is in parishes in western Europe, where parishioners often also share food after Paschal Vespers on Sunday afternoon – even if only kulich, paskha, eggs and cheese. Simplicity is good!

Kulichy, are still on sale before and after services, priced at £6, as a fund-raiser for our parish.

Lest us all remain steadfast in this week, and if we have been slack or negligent, use this week to prepare for the commemoration of the Lord’s Passion through fasting and prayer, immersing ourselves in the saving events of the last week of the Saviour’s pre-resurrectional earthly life.

Good strength!

In Christ – Hieromonk Mark

Parish News: 5th February

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Dear brothers and sisters, 

Our week begins after a characteristically busy Sunday, with a well attended Liturgy in St John’s, and a larger than usual number of the faithful confessing and communing, though the number of communicants has been significantly growing over the last five or six weeks. I am grateful for the patience of our parishioners as confessions were concluded during the preparation of the chalice with the Holy Gifts.

It was wonderful to look out of the altar at the beginning of the Liturgy and see all of our children assembled to join in the chanting of the litanies before the Gospel. It was equally wonderful to see so many flowers in vases and adorning the icons.

I was very happy to see so many people enjoying trapeza after Sunday Liturgy, and particularly to see so many young people enjoying one another’s company, with students from Cardiff, Bristol and Bath joining other young people from our South Wales parishes.

A thank you to all who have been helping in the setting up and rearrangement of the church before and after Liturgy, and remind all that everyone’s aid makes these movements considerably quicker and easier.

With the growing numbers of worshippers, with more people staying for this bring-and-share lunch, I hope that we may ensure that there is enough food to at least offer some simple refreshment to all who join us.

Again I would like to thank parishioners for their greetings and gifts for the feast of St Mark of Ephesus. Having a Torte Napoleon to share with our students was very much appreciated and made for a festive student gathering.

Intercessions 

As we begin our week, the news is dominated by the cancer-diagnosis of His Majesty the King, and we offer our prayers for his health and treatment during his illness, and for a swift and speedy recovery, turning to the Mother of God ‘the Queen of All’ before whose icon we pray for all of those – including our own loved ones and parishioners – affected by cancer.

Among those who are sick, we also pray for Ludmilla, Brigid, and for Steven, Martin, Nigel and Jacky among the friends a family members of our parishioners.

Having chanted a post-Liturgy memorial service for the newly-departed Alexey, we continue to pray for the repose of his soul, also remembering His Grace Archbishop Anatoly, Yulia and Barnabas. Memory Eternal!

Confessions in Nazareth House this week

Given the limited time we have before Liturgy, if you know that a confession lasting more than five minutes is required, we will need to hear such longer confessions and commune the faithful after Liturgy. We must be firm in starting the Hours and proskomedia at 11:00, but will find appropriate ways to meet the pastoral and sacramental needs of the faithful.

Of course, we very much hope that those living in Cardiff will avail themselves of the opportunity to make their confession on Thursdays, when they may do so in the afternoon or evening, according to circumstance and need. Please email by 18:00 on Wednesday to arrange a Thursday confession, and by Saturday midday to notify us of Sunday confessions, purely to give me an idea of number.

Thursday confessions continue to be heard in Nazareth House!

Cheltenham Liturgy: 10 February

Next Saturday will be our February Liturgy in Cheltenham, when we will celebrate the feast of Saints Ephrem and Isaac the Syrian in Prestbury United Reformed Church, Deep St, Cheltenham GL52 3AN.

Due to the pastoral needs for confession, as well as setting up the church for Liturgy, from Saturday, the Hours and Liturgy will now start at 10:30: half an hour later than previously. However, confession will still begin around 9:20, and will end at 10:20. We will have our customary bring-and-share lunch after the Liturgy, and look forward to spending time with both parishioners and visitors.

Llanelli Liturgy for the Meeting of the Lord: 15 February

As the coming feast of the Meeting of the Lord on 2/15 February falls on a Thursday, we are unable to celebrate in St John’s, due to weekly use in the morning. Therefore, the Divine Liturgy of the feast will be celebrated in the chapel at Father Luke’s home in Llanelli, with the Hours and Liturgy commencing at 10:00.

Pilgrimage to the Oratory Church and Caerleon: 24 February

Looking forward to the coming months, we will recommence our pilgrimages on the fourth Sunday of each month, and will begin with a local pilgrimage in honour of the protomartyr of Britain, St Alban, and the protomartyrs of Wales, Julius and Aaron. Through the good offices of Father Sebastian and the Cardiff Oratory, we will head to the Oratory Church in Swinton Street, Splott, where we will offer a moleben before the sacred relics of St Alban at 10:30, before heading to Caerleon for lunch and a visit to the amphitheatre and Roman excavations, offering prayers to Saints Julius and Aaron,

Pilgrimage to Margam Abbey: 23 March

Our pilgrimage on Saturday 23 March, in honour of the Mother of God, will be to Margam Abbey, near Port Talbot, where we hope to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, share a picnic lunch and explore the church and neighbouring abbey ruins, returning to church for devotions to the Theotokos, whose shrine in the abbey was destroyed during the reformation. We will announce details after further discussions with the Margam clergy.

Food Bank

Thank you to all who contributed to St John’s Food Bank on Sunday. I hope that those parishioners who are able might make Sunday contributions of non-perishable foodstuffs part of their weekend routine.

Telephones

May we remind everyone to turn off their telephones before the beginning of Sunday worship, and stress that it is not appropriate for children to be using smart phones for entertainment/occupation during the Liturgy. We have some very young children who need occupying during the service, and recognise this, but ask that they play in the children’s corner, so that there is are no distractions for the clergy and faithful at the front of church during our worship.

I look forward to being with our Cheltenham parishioners on Saturday, and Cardiff parishioner on Sunday, which is the feast of the Translation of the Relics of the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer.

The variable of the day may be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HDV9a4R90dQWfAgp8DXETQnOP39NLCq0/view

May God bless you.

Hieromonk Mark

Parish News: 26 June

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Having already celebrated the Sundays of All Saints and of All Saints of the lands of Rus’, yesterday was the Sunday of All Saints have who have shone forth in the Isles of Britain – though some Orthodox parishes across different jurisdictions celebrated this the previous Sunday.

Through prayer and pilgrimage over the last year, as groups and individuals, we have been blessed to deepen our relationships with our local saints who are part of the vast cloud of witnesses we celebrated – St David, St Non, St Teilo, St Illtyd, St Brigid, St Melangell, St Aldhelm and other saints of the British Isles: visiting their shrines and the places where they lived, venerating their relics, chanting their hymns and services. We look forward to continuing building on this wonderful foundation of holiness.

Next Sunday, as well as celebrating the saints of the day, we will also celebrate the memory of St Calogero, the refugee-saint of Sicily, whose icon was gifted to us by Father Efraim Augello and matushka Olympia, who serve in Sicily. At this time, when so many refugees have found temporary refuge in South Wales, our Venerable Father, Calogero (wherever he hailed from… North Africa, Byzantine Asia Minor?) reminds us that many saints fleeing heresy, persecution, war and revolution have sowed the seeds of Faith in foreign fields far from home, and have brought an abundant harvest to Christ.

Given the ongoing hot weather and its effects on health and mobility, to say nothing of the transport system, I am limiting my movements this week – especially as my weekend continued with a pastoral visit in Cheltenham last night and several more today, with the temperature and humidity on the trains and in hotel accommodation being a challenge.

Norman and Georgina have confirmed that we are able to resume our discussion group, on prayer, this Friday at 19:00 in the parish room at the church of St Mary the Virgin, North St, Butetown. I shall hear confessions before the service, making time for any longer confessions – as needed –  in Nazareth House in the afternoon, as well as for those who are unable to come later on. Please email me regarding confessions by Wednesday midday.

As there will be visitors from London next Sunday, I would also appreciate knowing who wishes to confess that morning. If impediments make weekday confession impossible when I am not in Cardiff on Saturdays, please check regarding Sunday morning. There is usually a gap of twenty minutes before anyone arrives for confessions, which potentially provides time for several people. As announced at Liturgy, please persist in trying the door-handle if you are struggling to enter the church, turning it to the left. Yet again, this work, we had people unable to access the church for confessions because of recurring problems.

As our numbers are already dented by parishioners’ travels and knowing of the holidays booked by our “pilgrimage-core”, looking forward to July, there is no organised parish pilgrimage apart from the visit a few of us will make to Walsingham.

However, I am always happy to go on pilgrimages should those round next month wish to visit a local holy place, and would like to encourage parishioners to, perhaps, visit the Serbian Orthodox Church in Birmingham for the weekly Friday akathist before the Three-Handed Icon of the Mother of God, painted in the Athonite Monastery of Hilandar. It is a copy of the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God, and has itself been a source of grace for the faithful.

Happily, after Liturgy and trapeza, yesterday saw Steve being admitted to the catechumenate, and we congratulate him on this step towards Holy Baptism.

May God bless you all, and the week ahead.

In Christ – Fr Mark

Parish News Round Up

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Dear brothers and sisters, 

I hope that the Advent Fast is proving to be a spiritually fruitful time for all in our Cardiff and Cheltenham parishes. 

It is wonderful that my full-time appointment coincides with this season, allowing me to spend time with parishioners – especially those who have joined us since the summer. Simply having the time to chat and correspond by whatever means suits people is wonderful. 

It has also been good to spend time with friends of the parish, with last week seeing ‘catch-ups’ at the Oratory and the Catholic Chaplaincy, allowing discussion of present Russian Orthodox life and the development of the parish – not to mention some temporary limitations since the community left Nazareth House and moved to St John’s. 

One of the fruits of these discussions is the hope (and intention) to establish regular prayers before the relics of St Alban, who is the de facto patron of the British part of our diocese. It is a great blessing that a portion of his sacred relics are here in Cardiff, and we look forward to regular prayers and veneration at the shrine in the Oratory Church. 

Last weekend saw the celebration of the Kursk-Root Icon in Cheltenham (albeit a day late), with the Divine Liturgy celebrated in Prestbury, where the United Reformed Church remains our temporary home. 

It was a joy to be together, with the gathered congregation witnessing to the parish’s faithfulness to ROCOR and our Diocese, whatever virtual-reality, PR and spin is being propagated in cyber-space. 

Though Cardiff friends of the parish were unable to attend Liturgy this month, the faithful still travelled from North Wiltshire, Exeter, and the Forest of Dean, in addition to our Cheltenham and Gloucester parishioners. It was a great joy to see parishioners who are usually unable to attend on Saturdays, due to work commitments, but who changed their work plans to be able to attend Liturgy during the Fast. 

Though the little chapel is bare, as we would expect in a Nonconformist setting, our faithful brought icons to place on the window-ledges, vases of flowers to place before the icon-stands, and fragrant herbs with which to adorn the icons. 

We very much enjoyed being able to sit down to a hearty lunch after Liturgy, with friendly conversation and social-time together. 

Sunday’s Liturgy, in Cardiff, was especially bright and joyful, reflecting Aleksandra’s return from London. The singing on the kliros was excellent, with Agni Parthene (O Pure Virgin) chanted beautifully during the veneration of the Cross and the parish Kursk-Root Icon. We look forward to the visit of the Kursk-Root Icon itself to Great Britain, hoping that there may be a visit, however short to our Welsh capital and our Cheltenham Community. 

This Friday will see another Advent Moleben and reflection in the parish-room at St Mary Butetown, which provided an excellent venue, last week. 

Having reflected on the many meanings of Christ as the Eternal Logos, last Friday, we will remain with the Prologue of St John’s Gospel, reflecting upon the Saviour as the Creative Word of God: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” 

Many thanks to Norman and Georgina for making arrangements with Fr Dean, to whom we are especially grateful for allowing use of the parish-room. 

Though I will confess a few parishioners on Friday, the weekly parish confessions for our locals will be on Saturday, so please let me know, as usual and the clergy will arrange a ‘rota’.  

I will, of course, confess those travelling from farther afield on Sunday, though there will be no ‘over-flow’ after the Liturgy, as we will have the joy of baptising baby Adam from Hereford at 14:00. This will mean that trapeza will not be so long in duration. Support at the baptism would be lovely, and we look forward to seeing Adam, as the last time we saw Ekaterina she still had a few months of pregnancy left. 

I will confess our travelling parishioners from 10:15 before Sunday Liturgy, and ask for advance notice, given that this time is a challenge for us. 

We very much look forward to celebrating the feast of St Nicholas, and the variables for the Liturgy may be found here: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zWuJ3fNC7zmad4RljYYPPBbw1K8Lojry/view

In Christ –

Hieromonk Mark