Monday 5 August N.S.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings for the feast of the Pochaev and St Petersburg Joy of All Who Sorrow icons the Most Holy Mother of God!
Yesterday saw the celebration of feast of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles, Mary Magadalene, with a prayerful and joyful Liturgy celebrated by Father Mark “the Younger”, who is settling into priestly liturgical life quite naturally and without any fuss. This allowed me to hear quite a large volume of confessions and to then make commemorations in the early part of the Liturgy. This flexibility is very welcome. However, we must be clear that on alternate Sundays when I will act as primary celebrant confessions must end during the sixth hour, allowing me time to vest. This means that confession time on those Sundays will be around an hour, from 10:15.
It made a great difference for clergy to arrive yesterday and find that our starosta and parishioners had already made a good start on setting up the church, and we are grateful to all who were there to assist and who came early, to be of help. We need to remember that we are each an integral part of the parish, and are needed for its community life and to make things work effectively. I was surprised and relieved by the speed and smoothness of the packing away after, and glad to se that Father Mark was able to sit at table and be with parishioners whilst I saw those who needed to talk individually during the afternoon.
During Liturgy, it was a great joy to welcome baby Sophia as she made her fist communion, after her baptism the previous Sunday afternoon, to have quite a few new faces, and to then for Joseph to enter the catechumenate through the rite of making a catechumen.
Thanks to all who laboured for the celebration, and a nod to the young people whom it was good to see in the kitchen helping our sisters after the service.
I would like to remind everyone that during the summer months the doors of St John’s remain open, and there is often a quiet flow of people coming in and out of the church, some of whom come and chat, others remaining for a short time, some probably entering and leaving without us even noticing. With this in mind, can I please ask parishioners to be careful and responsible and NOT to leave handbags, purses/wallets or any valuables in the body of the church whilst they are in trapeza, and have little or no view of the body of the church. Let’s please be responsible and avoid risk.
As some of you know, the Llanelli parish presented an icon of St Seraphim to his newly-enlightened namesake as a baptism present. If anyone would like to contribute to the cost of the icon, could they please contact me so that I can let Father Luke know.
As mentioned in our previous newsletter and announced at Liturgy, we have some extra dates for diaries, this month.
- Saturday 10th August: Warminster Hours and Liturgy at 10:30
- Wednesday 14th August (1st according to the Church Calendar) Dormition Fast begins
- Saturday 17th August: Cheltenham Divine Liturgy in Prestbury United Reformed Church at 10:30 – honey blessing at the end of Liturgy.
- Sunday 18th August: Cardiff Hours and Divine Liturgy at 11:00 – honey blessing at the end of Liturgy.
- Monday 6/19th August: Transfiguration Hours and Divine Liturgy in the Oratory Church, in Swinton Street at 10:30, with the blessing of fruit at the end of the service.
- Saturday 24th August: Wessex pilgrimage to the Saxon church of St Laurence in Bradford-on-Avon. Hours at 9:00, followed by the Divine Liturgy at 9:30. Picnic lunch after the service.
- Sunday 25th August: Afterfeast of the Transfiguration – Cardiff Hours and Divine Liturgy at 11:00 – fruit blessing at the end of Liturgy.
- Wednesday 15/28thAugust: Hours and Divine Liturgy for the Dormition in the Oratory Church at 10:30.
This week, vespers will be chanted before the relics of St Alban in the Oratory Church on Thursday at 15:00, followed by confession, and if anyone needs an evening confession I will meet them at Nazareth House, but need to know asap, so that I can make arrangements with the Sisters.
As you will have possible seen on WhatsApp, the Book Club will be restarting, reading the Popular Patristics Series volume “On Christian Doctrine and Practice” by St Basil the Great:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0881414581/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Please contact Menna for any book club details/info. Menna will also be the happy recipient of any unwanted Orthodox books for parish lending, especially given the number of enquirers and new people. It’s good to see so many books in circulation at the moment, and we would like to build on this.
Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.
May God bless and protect you all.
Hieromonk Mark