Dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings for the Feast of St Silouan the Athonite!
Before we gather to celebrate the Leave-Taking of the Nativity of the Mother of God tomorrow, I would like to forewarn you that unless my blood pressure is dramatically lower, we will NOT be celebrating the Liturgy, but rather distributing Holy Communion after the Hours and Typika (Obednitsa).
The unavoidable reality is that my high-blood pressure potentially makes the celebration of the Liturgy impossible.
I felt extremely unwell last Sunday night, at the end of a long day (as Sundays always are), but characteristically ignored it once the week progressed. However, I felt alarmingly unwell on my return from Cardiff last night, and together with the way I felt on getting up this morning it made it obvious that Liturgy may not be possible this weekend, and possibly over the next two or three weeks.
Since taking over from Fr Vitaly, I have only missed Liturgy when I had covid, despite juggling the parish with demanding full-time work for five difficult years, but now is different. I have to face the facts, and until medication and treatment manages the situation, we will have ALL to be flexible, adapt and to face this unpleasant but unavoidable reality, continuing parish life in a slightly different way over the next month.
I ask parishioners to be understanding and to only telephone me out of absolute necessity as I try to rest over the next few weeks. So, if possible, email with any needs that may not be able to wait. My movements will also be limited, as six hours a day on public transport with no time to eat normal meals is not tenable.
Asking your prayers, and happy that our young men are praying for us all on the Holy Mountain…
In Christ – Hieromonk Mark