Dear brothers and sisters,
This weekend started with our sunbathed Liturgy for the feast of Saints Chariton the Confessor and St Wenceslaus in Warminster, following Great Vespers for the feast in the Oratory Church the previous afternoon. As always, it was a joy to serve in the Chapel of St Lawrence, where we look forward to a pair of eighteenth century “Tables of the Law” (Ten Commandments) being fixed to the east wall, either side of the stained-glass window.
Yesterday saw the celebration of the Uncovering of the Relics of St John the Wonderworker of Shanghai, Brussels and San Francisco, sometime bishop of our God-protected diocese, and one of the greatest shepherds of the Orthodox Church in the twentieth century.
As I reflected in the homily, in the wake of the revolution, the systematic attempt to destroy the Church, and the mass displacement of people, with ensuing poverty, hunger, homelessness, arrests, imprisonment, fear, and uncertainty, God raised up great hierarchs who stand out as outstanding shepherds of their flocks.
Together with St John, we remember the likes of St Basil of Kineshma and Patriarch St Tikhon.
The calling of these great pastors was not to organise, polemicise, or to leave a corpus of theological writings, but to lead, teach, unite, protect and nurture the Lord’s flock in adversity and trial.
They shone with selfless, sacrificial love, devotion, dedication and the willingness to not only defend their flocks, but to suffer and to die for their sheep. They knew their sheep and their sheep knew them.
St John protected his flock in their sheepfold in Shanghai, guiding them through the horrors of Japanese occupation, later leading his spiritual sheep and lambs (some of them the orphaned and abandoned children he saved from poverty, squalor, and even dustbins and starving dogs) to safety from the Red horror of Maoism to refuge in the Philippines, and then through negotiation and campaigning to safety in the United States.
St John was then set as arch-pastor over the Western European flock, ruling our diocese, building and developing spiritual life, visiting his parishes, consoling and healing, encouraging education and learning, expanding the flock through openness and mission to the people of Western Europe, just as he would later do in Western America.
Not only did his sheep knew him, but others recognised him as a man of God, overflowing with grace and holiness.
In the “Vita Prima” of St John, Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) of Platina wrote that,
“Vladika loved to visit the sick and did so every single day, hearing confessions and giving Holy Communion. If the condition of a patient should become critical, Vladika would go to him at any hour of the day or night to pray at his bedside…
Vladika visited the prison also, and celebrated the Divine Liturgy for the convicts on a primitive little table. But the most difficult task for a pastor is to visit the mentally ill and the possessed – and Vladika sharply distinguished between the two. Outside Shanghai there was a mental hospital, and Vladika alone had the spiritual power to visit these terribly sick people. He gave them Holy Communion, and they, surprisingly, received it peacefully and listened to him. They always looked forward to his visits and met him with joy.“
We see St John not only as a dedicated but also fearless shepherd – eating little and usually only once a day, never sleeping in a bed from the day of his consecration in May 1934 to his death in July 1966.
In his labours he risked life, he faced persecution and what could have been seen as humiliation, had his deep humility not made this impossible.
We continue to turn to him as a shepherd, remembering his words. “Although I am dead, I am alive…” encouraging his spiritual children to continue to come to him and talk to him, just as St Seraphim had done.
Thus, he continues as a great shepherd of souls for us, now even more capable of working miracles and hearing our pleas, freed from earthly limitations (which he already superseded in earthly life!) now in he glory of the Kingdom of heaven!
Having celebrated his memory, we would do well to seek St John’s intercession for Metropolitan Tychikos, who has travelled to Constantinople today for his appeal against his anti-canonical deposition. Please keep him in your prayers.
We look forward to celebrating the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God in the Oratory Church tomorrow, and will celebrate the Divine Liturgy at 10:45, after the second morning mass. I will complete the proskomedia do that I am able to hear confessions from 10:00.
Given tomorrow’s feast, I will not be in Cardiff on Friday, but confessions and our 18:00 celebration of Small Compline will be in Nazareth House, as usual, on Thursday, and we will chant the akathist to the Protecting Veil.
Our next Cheltenham Liturgy will be on Saturday, and – following the practice of the last few years – we will again honour the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God, and we look forward to our celebration, and time together over our usual bring-and-share lunch. The Liturgy will be in Prestbury United Reformed Church, Deep St, Cheltenham GL52 3AN, commencing at 10:00.
We will also chant a litia in honour of the Protecting Veil after Sunday’s Liturgy in Cardiff, the day being the feast of the Holy Apostle Thomas.
The variables may be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wSKJixpFw85lyfLSkIIVNQewrwfq8-Hs/view
Thanks to those who baked cakes for after last week’s Liturgy. The simplifying of refreshments made cleaning so much easier, allowing us to leave on time. Oddly, despite, this change being announced at Liturgy, posted on Facebook and WhatsApp, and emailed in the news bulletin, there were still those who claimed they did not know. There’s only so much we can do to share news without resorting to letters through your letter box. Please read the parish news!
We look forward to a shared lunch on feasts, but should remember that as Becky, the treasury, of the St Mark’s – St Philip’s community has informed us, there will be six weeks of weekday internal alteration work which will mean there is no operative kitchen in St Philip’s. The start date is yet to be confirmed.
Despite some reservations, the expanded opportunities for parish giving continue to make a considerable difference to our parish collections, as Father Mark has reported, total electronic donations this week of £1,245, are split as follows
Monday 06/10 – Online Donations from website: £10 – General Collection; £30 – Building Fund.
Friday 10/10 – Online Donations from website; £20 – Stipend Fund; £1,000 – Building Fund; £5 – Candles.
Sunday 12/10 – Digital collection plate Machine; £115 General Collection; £40 – Building Fund; £10- Stipend Fund; £15 – Candle Purchases. DCP TOTAL = £180
£1,160 of the donations were gift aided, giving an additional £290
Cash donations: £33 – Plate collection; £20 – Candles.
Therefore, total donations (cash and electronic) total of £1,298 (£1,588 incl. gift aid).
Again, for weekly analysis purposes removing the large one off donation, weekly total donations are £298 (£338 incl. gift aid).
Thanks to Fr Mark for this report.
The last few days have seen further plannings and discussions regarding the visit of the Kursk-Root Icon, which Father Paul and I will bring from East Anglia, arriving for vespers on Saturday 15 November.
The Icon will grace our Liturgy on Sunday 16 November, before afternoon Cardiff home visits and several visits on Monday morning (17 November), after which it will depart for afternoon visits in Somerset and Wiltshire, before our evening service in the Chapel of St Lawrence in Warminster at 18:30.
The following morning, Tuesday 18 November, we have requested the use of the chapel to celebrate a morning Liturgy, and as the chapel will already be set up from the previous evening, I have scheduled the service for 10:00, rather than 10:30. I will confirm this once confirmation is received. That evening, there will be a service in Llanelli at 19:00, and this will be in Father Luke’s home chapel.
We pray for Olga, Valentina Nikolaevna, Svetlana, matushka Alla and Nataliya as they travel; for the health of Liza, Irina, Pavel and Brigid; and for Masha and Neil as they soldier on with house restoration.
Asking your forgiveness for Christ’s sake.
May God bless you.
Hieromonk Mark
