Dear brothers and sisters,
Christ is Risen! Христос воскресе! Hristos a înviat! Χριστός ἀνέστη!
It was a great blessing for us to welcome those newly arrived from Ukraine at Sunday’s Liturgy, and we are grateful to those who provided transport and made everyone welcome.
It was something of a novelty to serve Liturgy in Cardiff without a deacon, for once, but it was good to be reminded of how much our deacons do – particularly in St John’s, with all of the setting up and putting away. I am extremely grateful to our oltarniky and others who made this work so smoothly.
After our moleben to the Holy Great Martyrs and Trophy Bearer George, we were able to greet our parishioner George and sing Mnogaya Leta for him and Alexandra, who celebrated their name days on Friday, and we look forward to doing the same for Deacon Mark and Yuriy who were away at the weekend.
This work sees the resumption of our catechesis at St Mary’s Church, North Church Street, Butetown, where we will meet in the parish room at the usual time of 19:00.
I will hear confessions before this, from 17:00 – hoping to start with those who are not staying for the study group. I hope that we will be able to limit confessions to Friday, as Deacon Mark and I will be celebrating the Divine Liturgy in Cheltenham on Saturday.
Will those wishing to confess on Friday email me by Wednesday night, please: otetzmark@hotmail.com
On Saturday, the Fest of the Unexpected-Joy Icon of the Mother of God and of St Paphnuty of Borovsk, our Cheltenham Liturgy will be celebrated in Prestbury United Reformed Church, with confessions from 09:15, the Hours at 10:00 and Liturgy at 10:30. There will be a bring-and-share -lunch after the service, and all contributions to the table will be welcome.
I will be available after the service to hear confessions for any Cardiff parishioners attending and wishing to commune on Sunday.
In Cardiff we will celebrate as usual on Sunday, with the Hours at and Liturgy at 11:00, followed by refreshments and a bring-and-share -lunch.
Please ensure that visitors and new parishioners are cared for and looked after at this time. The clergy are usually not free for a while after Liturgy, so it’s important that everyone welcomes those whom we may have not met before. Being new and unknown can be rather daunting, and a friendly word and encouragement to stay for a cup of tea, a bite to eat and a chat can make a massive difference. Let’s also make sure that people can get to the food, when it’s on the table.
Keep celebrating Pascha, and keep hold of the joy of the season.
May God bless you all.
In Christ – Hieromonk Mark