The Orthodox Parish of St Aidan & St Chad, Nottingham
ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE
EPISCOPAL VICARIATE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
Exarchate of Parishes
of Russian Tradition in Western Europe
Extracts from Parish Newsletter, November 2007
FATHER DAVID’S LETTER:
Standing in Holy Places
Each year, in October, I visit Mount Athos. I do so because it is one of the ‘thin places’ where heaven and earth seem to commingle; heaven seems present on earth and earth seems caught up into heaven. It is a place of beauty, tranquility and deep peace, where the presence of Our Lord, the Mother of God, and the Saints is easily discerned. It is a place of prayer.
Such ‘thin places’ are found everywhere to a greater or lesser degree. The most common location is that of the icon corner in the Orthodox Christian home. Here the icon, with its candle burning, becomes a place where the man, woman, or child can stand ‘within the space of the heart’, the area between the chest and the icon, some 18 to 20 inches, and be aware of the intimate presence of God, really present. It is a place of prayer where one is readily drawn into an atmosphere of prayer.
Then there are those holy places in Churches, on holy islands, on mountains, in locations where people for centuries have dedicated their lives to God or gathered for prayer. Just over a year ago, at the height of our present troubles in the parish, I found myself visiting Southwell Minster. In one of the side chapels, now used as dedicated chapel for quiet prayer, the atmosphere was of great holiness, prayerfulness and wonder. It was as if the walls whispered and proclaimed the presence of ‘the Other’. I was deeply aware that thousands of men and women for over a thousand years had prayed in this location and I was reminded that I stood part of a vast ‘cloud of witnesses’ of the Christian Church of these Islands. I was reassured that all is well in Christ, all such conflict has happened
before so many times and yet the Great British Orthodoxy had never been extinguished.
Archimandrite Aimilianos, Abbot of Simono Petra Monastery on the Holy Mountain says this: ‘Prayer is the journey of the soul towards God, the purpose being to reach Him and to be united with Him. If a car or a ship is going the wrong way, it will never reach its destination. If the soul at prayer is not going in the right way, it will never reach God. It would be like being in a boat, with the boatman pulling wrongly on the oars, and in the end achieving nothing except to go in circles around the one point’. Fr Aimilianos then goes on to warn that if we do not become people of prayer, we remain earthly people, and never become heavenly because we do not know how to read the map or navigate the ship of prayer.(1)
The secret, as exemplified in the lives of the Elders of Mount Athos, is to strive daily for the purification of the soul and understanding that God has given us, through the mystery of Holy Baptism, and the most precious thing in the world, the grace of the Holy Spirit. The ‘striving’ which we undertake is to accept and give space for this transforming grace to work within us. In a real sense, the less we do, the more we accept, the more we trust in the Holy Spirit, our helmsman, the smoother and more goal-directed the journey.
To stand in Holy Places, ‘thin places’, at home, in church, in ancient places of worship, on Holy Islands and Holy Mountains is a means of fostering this.
(1) Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra, The Church at Prayer, The Mystical Liturgy of the Heart.
Archimandrite Aimilianos, Abbot of Simono Petra Monastery on the Holy Mountain says this: ‘Prayer is the journey of the soul towards God, the purpose being to reach Him and to be united with Him. If a car or a ship is going the wrong way, it will never reach its destination. If the soul at prayer is not going in the right way, it will never reach God. It would be like being in a boat, with the boatman pulling wrongly on the oars, and in the end achieving nothing except to go in circles around the one point’. Fr Aimilianos then goes on to warn that if we do not become people of prayer, we remain earthly people, and never become heavenly because we do not know how to read the map or navigate the ship of prayer.(1)
The secret, as exemplified in the lives of the Elders of Mount Athos, is to strive daily for the purification of the soul and understanding that God has given us, through the mystery of Holy Baptism, and the most precious thing in the world, the grace of the Holy Spirit. The ‘striving’ which we undertake is to accept and give space for this transforming grace to work within us. In a real sense, the less we do, the more we accept, the more we trust in the Holy Spirit, our helmsman, the smoother and more goal-
To stand in Holy Places, ‘thin places’, at home, in church, in ancient places of worship, on Holy Islands and Holy Mountains is a means of fostering this.
(1) Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra, The Church at Prayer, The Mystical Liturgy of the Heart.
Harvest Festival
By Father David
By Father David
On Sunday, 7th October, I listened to the morning service from Pershore Abbey. It was a Harvest Festival but it could not celebrate a harvest of the fruits of the earth because Pershore was one of the areas in the south-west which had suffered severe floods in the summer. Crops had been devastated, pasturelands turned to mud plains, animals had been stranded, chickens had been drowned in their pens, and to this had been added the restrictions imposed for the foot and mouth outbreak. In fact the farmers had had a dreadful time. Yet, as the Rector pointed out, good comes out of every crisis and the ‘town and the land had come together with a great community spirit.’ People and animals had been rescued, everyone brought out their rowing boats to help with this, the homeless and travelers had been given shelter and food,
residents had run a 24-hour tea and coffee facility; in short, people had opened their homes and their hearts. Therefore this was not a Harvest Festival of fruits of the earth, but a celebration of a ‘harvest of love’.
We too have seen a vineyard, a beautiful garden, nurtured by care and love, damaged by the events of the past eighteen months. The blossoms of relationships have withered, the flowers of friendship have been damaged, the fruitfulness of outreach to those seeking a home in Orthodoxy has disappeared. All this harvest is diminished for the time being. Our task must surely be to pray for a ‘harvest of love’, so that the former vineyard can be restored, the garden brought into blossom again, and the Church re-established. In this, each one of us must play our part again, in our likeness to Christ, humility, repentance, and love, as we proclaim his Gospel and through him, bring Life to the world.
On the Mother of God
Monica Brameld
Monica Brameld
When I first became Orthodox, I found it difficult to understand the importance of the Virgin Mary in Orthodox worship and theology. I discovered that the veneration of the Holy Mother of God was a gradual development since the fifth century.
In the New Testament there are very few references to her, but apocryphal writings about her life were circulating by the end of the second century. Eventually, because of her closeness to Christ, and the fact that her personal holiness and purity made possible the Incarnation of the Son of God, she was seen as first among all the saints. With them, she intercedes before Him on behalf of mankind. In direct contrast to Eve, who represented disobedience, the Virgin Mary was upheld as a model of obedience and virtue.
There is a letter, preserved in Coptic, which is said to be written by Athanasius, describing her good works and her life as one of constant prayer. The Byzantine empire officially sanctioned the veneration of Mary, the Mother of God, by the early fifth century. This increasing desire continued after the Council of Ephesus in 431 and hymns to her began to appear in the liturgy. When Constantinople was besieged in 626, their enemies were defeated, they believed because the Patriarch had organized processions of clergy and people carrying icons, singing hymns, and praying to God and to the Virgin Mary.
In the New Testament there are very few references to her, but apocryphal writings about her life were circulating by the end of the second century. Eventually, because of her closeness to Christ, and the fact that her personal holiness and purity made possible the Incarnation of the Son of God, she was seen as first among all the saints. With them, she intercedes before Him on behalf of mankind. In direct contrast to Eve, who represented disobedience, the Virgin Mary was upheld as a model of obedience and virtue.
There is a letter, preserved in Coptic, which is said to be written by Athanasius, describing her good works and her life as one of constant prayer. The Byzantine empire officially sanctioned the veneration of Mary, the Mother of God, by the early fifth century. This increasing desire continued after the Council of Ephesus in 431 and hymns to her began to appear in the liturgy. When Constantinople was besieged in 626, their enemies were defeated, they believed because the Patriarch had organized processions of clergy and people carrying icons, singing hymns, and praying to God and to the Virgin Mary.
Feast-days in honour of the Mother of God were gradually introduced into the Church calendar. These commemorate the major events in her life. At the beginning of the Church’s year, we celebrate her birth (8 th September), the Entry into the Temple (21st November), the Meeting of our Lord or Presentation (2nd February), the Annunciation (25th March), and finally the Dormition (or Falling Asleep) of the Mother of God on the 15th of August.
This year, by kind permission of the Acting Dean and Chapter, we were able to hold our liturgy for the Dormition in the Minster of Southwell. The texts for the services are based primarily on non-biblical material: it is believed that at the time of her death, the Mother of God was living in the house of St John on Mount Zion and the Twelve Apostles and St Paul carried her down to the valley of Cedron, close to Gethsemane. At the Vigil, held on the Eve of the Feast, we sing the Exapostilarion, or Hymn of Light:
‘O ye Apostles assembled here from the ends of the earth. Bury my body in the village of Gethsemane. And Thou, O my Son and God, receive my spirit.’
After the opening Litany, at the service in the Minster, we sang verses from Psalms 65, 47, and 75, with the refrain between each verse: ‘At the prayers of the Mother of God, save us, O Saviour!’ There are two special hymns for the day called the Troparion and Kontakion:
After the opening Litany, at the service in the Minster, we sang verses from Psalms 65, 47, and 75, with the refrain between each verse: ‘At the prayers of the Mother of God, save us, O Saviour!’ There are two special hymns for the day called the Troparion and Kontakion:
‘Neither the tomb nor death had power over the Mother of God
Who is ever watchful in her prayers and in whose intercession lies unfailing hope,
For as the Mother of Life, she has been transported into life
Who is ever watchful in her prayers and in whose intercession lies unfailing hope,
For as the Mother of Life, she has been transported into life
By Him who dwelt within her ever-Virgin womb.’
The words for the gradual hymn, or Prokeimenon, are from St Luke 1: 46-47: ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.’ Then followed the Epistle and Gospel of the day. During the priests’ communion, we sang the Megalynarion or Magnification: ‘We magnify thee, O undefiled Mother of Christ, our God, and we praise thine all-glorious Dormition.’ After the people received communion, the service closed with the priest censing the icon of the Dormition, encircling it three times, while the choir sang the Troparion:
The words for the gradual hymn, or Prokeimenon, are from St Luke 1: 46-
‘In giving birth, O Mother of God, thou has retained thy virginity,
And in falling asleep thou hast not forsaken the world,
Thou who art the Mother of Life, hast passed over into life,
And by thy prayers thou dost deliver our souls from death.’
And in falling asleep thou hast not forsaken the world,
Thou who art the Mother of Life, hast passed over into life,
And by thy prayers thou dost deliver our souls from death.’
All the music for the service is sung unaccompanied by a choir singing in four-
The music is the choir’s offering of praise on behalf of all the faithful and has to be as harmonious as possible so as not to distract people from their prayers. However, mistakes are tolerated: our Bishop told me that one of the most prayerful services he has ever attended was sung by three nuns, completely out of tune.
Afterwards, we all repaired to my house for a huge feast, made more enjoyable by the spiritual fragrance of the service and the fact that we had all been fasting for the past two weeks!
His Holiness Patriarch Alexis of Moscow and All Russia visited France in early October, 2007
At a meeting of hierarchs including Archbishop Gabriel of Comane, Archbishop Innokenty of Korsun and Metropolitan Kyril of Smolensk, Patriarch Alexis emphasised the need for discussion of ways for carrying out pastoral ministry in a spirit of conciliarity and through improving co-
Churches must engage in a common witness and co-operation both here and in France. He expressed a wish that the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops in France present a united voice to all Orthodox in the country. He stated his belief that the contribution of each local Orthodox Church is equally important in the common task of witness.
Though concerned mainly for the well being of members of the diaspora, he clearly sees the need for all local Churches to work together. In a private comment, he again expressed his desire that all of Russian tradition should eventually be united.
(Fr David)