Launch out... and sow bountifully.....  

On the day four fishermen were called to be with Jesus in his earthly ministry ( Luke 5: 1-11), two things happened. Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret ( The Sea of Galilee ) pressed by the crowds who wanted to hear what he had to say. So he climbed into a boat which belonged to Simon and asked him to put out from the shore. He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

Then, when he had finished, he said to Simon, " Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." At first Simon protested that they had toiled all night and caught nothing but as Jesus insisted, " Launch out into the deep....", Simon and his fellow fishermen did as they were bidden. Now they had such a large catch of fish that the nets began to break. Simon and the other fishermen had heard Jesus' teaching by the Lake shore. Now they had followed his encouragement and they were overawed and overwhelmed by what had happened. The result of this experience was that " they forsook all and followed him."

St Paul echoes these events in his letter to the Corinthians ( 2 Cor. 9: 6-15 ). He writes, "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." ( 2 Cor 9:6-8)

This is Paul's landmark teaching on Christian stewardship. It is not about giving money but the sowing of seed for a harvest. It is not about giving extravagantly but being generous to God so that his saving work for all men and women might be accomplished.

The words, which Jesus spoke are the words of Life. The crowds who stood on the lakeside heard them. And as Jesus spoke them from the boat in which he was sitting, they were heard by those first disciples. Since then these words of life have been echoed across the whole World and in every age. They are always accompanied by the following encouragement: " Launch out into the deep, and let down YOUR nets..." By doing so you will receive the abundance of God's grace, what he has to give to you for yourself and for those around you.

Now that we have moved on and we begin our new phase of life in Saint Leodegarius, we are already discovering a new lease of life and a greater awareness of the wider world around in which we live. We too should be prepared to ‘Launch out into the deep and sow bountifully’ to enable our Lord's work to be made more freely available to all whom He is calling. May God bless us. May He make all grace abound towards us that we too may have sufficiency in all things and an abundance for every good work.


May we be able to discern His will and be made worthy of the tasks He sets before us.

Fr David

We moved to our new place of worship in St. Leodegaruis, Basford at the beginning of the Church's New Year, from 14th September, Old Calendar. We have been made very welcome. St Leo's is fine and holy place very conducive to Orthodox worship. We are very grateful to The Reverend Nigel Rooms, the former Priest in Charge who suggested it.

Bishop Basil of Amphipolis served Hierarchical Liturgy with us on Sunday, 4th October. It was time of great blessing as a full congregation turned out to be present. This was also a time of sadness as Bishop Basil prepared to retire, He has played and important part in our parish life over these past fourteen years and we have been very grateful for his wise counsel and unwavering support. We wish him well and every blessing for his life ahead

Article by Loueen Skinner, Assistant Priest of the Parish of St Leodegarius

Getting to know The Orthodox Church

When I heard that the Orthodox Church wanted to use Saint Leodegarius church for their worship I was excited about this new use of the church, and very pleased that we were invited join in the worship.

The only image I had of the Orthodox Church was of old ladies in headscarves and priests wearing golden robes, icons, incense and singing. So what was I to wear, so I wore trousers and brought a headscarf in case I needed to cover my head. I could not see that the image of the church members I had seen on TV would be the people who were coming because I had known Father David and Margaret Handley for so long.

On the first occasion the Orthodox service was to be held I wondered what to expect. As we cleared up after the service at Saint Leodegarius people arrived carrying boxes, cases, bags and stands – all this luggage for one service! Soon the church was transformed with golden drapes, icons, candles, a choir established itself to one side, and the Lady Chapel became the focus for some sort of preparation. All those leading the worship were dressed in the same sort of golden robes I had seen on TV.

During the service I sat at the back of church and stood up when it seemed appropriate, the church seemed full of words, music and incense. After the service I found out that people had fasted from midnight and that explained why there was a lot of food. I was invited to have some food and this gave me the chance to talk to people and get to know them. I was surprised to find out the distances people had travelled.

I was invited to attend the celebration for the Feast of the Transfiguration at Stow Minster in Lincolnshire. Due to road works Margaret and I arrived late and slipped into a corner in the chancel. During the service I went to the back of the church, stood and looked at the chancel. It seemed as if I witnessing something that had happened many centuries earlier, the chancel was full of a golden light with robed figures moving in it, it was a Transfiguration experience. I enjoyed the meal together at the local pub.

The church of Saint Aidan and Saint Chad coming to worship in Saint Leodegarius church is a great event in the long history of the church in Basford. The saints to whom the churches are dedicated all lived in the seventh century, and were important people in living and preaching the Gospel. We are soon to be a joint parish with the other church in Basford dedicated to Saint Aidan, so it will be the Anglican Church of Saint Leodegarius and Saint Aidan and the Orthodox Church of Saint Aidan and Saint Chad, all worshipping in the same building.

Thank you for coming to use Saint Leodegarius Church for your worship, and  I am happy you will be with more often, and sorry about the distress you have had in not being able to use the church in Carlton. It has been good to make new friends and to renew my friendship with Father David and Margaret Handley.


Lou Skinner
Saint Leodegarius Church.  

Another impression of the Church of St Leodegarius

My first impression was one of disbelief. Here is an ancient church tucked away in a little copse less than 100 yards away from the Nottingham ring road. A squirrel leapt among the branches of some sycamore trees and the inscriptions on some of the 18th century gravestones are still as clearly defined as though they were engraved last week. Time seems to have stood still.

St Leo’s must once have been the centre of a thriving village community. There must have been wealth as the church is of generous proportions with a very solid tower containing eight bells.  Even so times change and fortunes change.  If the original worshippers could somehow be transported to the present day, they would still recognise the Liturgy. Dozens of generations must have worshipped here and all have left something of themselves behind. My impression of the present congregation is that they embody a real family atmosphere. We have been made to feel so welcome are truly grateful for the hospitality and warm hand of friendship which has been offered to us.

Frances Thompson

Instruction for explorers of the Orthodox Faith ( Catechesis ) began in September and is continuing well. It is open for others to join at any time. The next dates planned are for Tuesdays, 27th  Oct, 10th  Nov and 1st December.

Monthly study group. We continue to explore the writings of the remarkable martyr of modern times, Dietrich Bonhoffer. The next meeting on 11 November considers the title. 'Salt of the earth'. The title of the session in December is still open.

Parish Meeting. The next meeting will have been held on Wednesday, 28th October at 7.30 p.m., at St Leodegarius. A good turn out is hoped for. A full report will follow.

Reader Training will be held from 3.0o p.m. before the Saturday Vigil of the first Sunday of each month. Again open to all interested. In Orthodox Tradition all faithful should be able to lead a service in the absence of Priest, Deacon or Reader. The senior lay person present takes responsibility for the opening and concluding prayers and offers incense.

Pilgrimage to Iona. Fr David with John and Tatiana Butler had a most enjoyable and spiritually refreshing time on this holy island in September. It would be good to arrange a visit for more members of the Parish to have this experience. It will be discussed at the Parish Meeting but please express your interest to Fr David

Visit to Hibaldstow. The Parish on many occasions has marked the Feast of St Hibald by serving the Liturgy in Hibaldstow Parish Church where his relics are buried. We shall visit this year on Saturday, 12th December. The Liturgy will be at 10.30 a.m and we shall then proceed for lunch locally. Our grateful thanks to Fr. Deacon Ian and Diaconissa Frances for arranging this and for their vital support to the Parish is so many ways.

Bishop Basil comes to Nottingham

I first met Bishop Basil in the 1970’s, when a friend from a neighbouring parish asked us to go with him to the Orthodox Christmas Service in Oxford.  At the time, we were living in Wiltshire and as the week after Christmas is traditionally the time when clergy have a holiday, we were free to spend the whole day on this outing.  Much of the service was lost on me, apart from the music and the number of people.  Many years later, we heard that this same priest, now a bishop, was holding a service once a month at a college chapel in Cambridge, where we went regularly for five years.  By now Father Peter and I were looking to Orthodoxy as a possible future spiritual home, and we came to know Bp. Basil very well.

All subsequent meetings with him have felt like being with an old friend, so I was delighted when he was able to visit our Parish on the first weekend of October this year.  After all the events of the past few years, it was a relief to see him looking so relaxed.  When he arrived for the Vigil he greeted everyone warmly then joined the choir, providing much needed ballast to our singing.  This was especially noticeable during the Megalynarion and the Doxology.  Afterwards, some of us repaired to Katherine and Barry’s house for supper which was a superb three course meal culminating in us all toasting Bp. Basil’s health with champagne.

The highlight of the weekend was Julian’s Ordination as Reader during the Liturgy.  After  the Bishop was vested he prayed to God to “sanctify him and enable him with all wisdom and understanding, to exercise the study and reading of thy devine words, preserving him in blamelessness of life”.  Julian then, facing east, read a few verses from one of the Epistles, after which he was vested in the dalmatic made by Frances.  The service then continued, and as it was the Leave Taking of the Exaltation of the Cross we were able to combine some of this music with our usual hymns.  For example, the Troparion ‘O Lord, Save Thy People and bless Thine inheritance, granting Orthodox Christians victory over their enemies and guarding Thy commonwealth with Thy Cross’.  Some friends we had not seen for years joined us plus one or two members of St. Leo’s and there was a wonderful sense of peace throughout the service which brought back memories of our times at Cambridge.

At the end the Bishop said he was pleased to see us in such good spirits and felt we could only go forward from now on.  Father David wished him well in his retirement.  It was not only an honour to have the Bishop with us but he left us with a positive feeling that we have been uplifted by his presence so that we felt we could “take up the whole armour of God, that we(sic) may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, stand”.  (Ephesians 6, v.13).  

Monica Brameld

Footnote
Overheard:
What a wonderful Liturgy! The choir sang so beautifully.
Sue Thompson’s reply to this comment:  ‘Well, they always do but today they seem to have excelled themselves.’

Orthodox Retreat on Iona, Sept. 2009

With the blessing of Metropolitan Kallistos, Reader Ignatios Bacon of the Highland Orthodox Community hired a house in Iona for 3 weeks in September, and invited fellow Orthodox to stay – a week being suggested, more or less. From our parish, Fr David with John and Tatiana, took up the opportunity.

Lying off the western coast of Mull, Iona is not very big, with one small village of not more than 50 houses, but every day, via two ferries and a bus, pilgrims make the three hour journey there from Oban.  Historical Christianity first arrived in 563 with St Columba though, in the mystic fairyland, which opens up to all who love the Hebrides, one feels that sanctity is naturally here. Action takes place around the thrice ruined and restored abbey, most recently inspired by George MacLeod, a Glasgow clergyman who, in the depression of the 30’s, sought to make his Church more relevant to people’s daily life. His legacy - the Iona Community, puts on wide ranging programmes of Christian concern and, with admirable open heartedness, welcomed our little Orthodox presence in their midst.

Beneath the anoraks and woolly caps, it’s wonderful to feel that almost every person one meets shares in the faith that need is best met by turning to God. Long lists of requests for prayer wakened my interest in what it is and how it works, and how the practice may improve.

Iona is described as a place where the veil between heaven and earth grows very thin. I remember an old man with shaky legs, feeling his frailty on rocks above the sea; and also the ferry, bringing its daily input of humanity - to disappear again, as temporal as tides.

The search for truth in man is helped by seeing and letting go of what he’s not – the changeable and fallible that lacks and dies. What happens then? The pure, unsullied person comes to light – now free of worldly cares. To some extent, everyone who visits Iona will shed some outer dross, feel cleansed and purified – renewed. Iona shows up parts that come to pass – but feeds us with the Spirit that endures. All this seems part of prayer.

Quiet and attentive before the face of Nature, hearts may open to receive yet more. Then wind and water, earth and sky, angels of every sort recall us to graciousness, our poverty to providence, and transience, in part at least, to everlasting life. Our Holy Mother, Mother Earth readily connects with still, reflective depths (or heights) which, in us too, can bring to birth a realisation of the Lord, I am. Compared with ordinary thought, this lifts us up to thereby see the whole and perfect One, I am, in all.

 … which brings us back to prayer. What is the aim of it? A hope of further change on earth, or spiritual salvation of the soul? Human helplessness before those lists compels surrender to Almighty God though, not surprisingly, we cling to form until it’s clear that Spirit is I am. Watching the varied pilgrims in the abbey; thinking of that world-wide need for prayer; somehow in my own heart, too … it seems … that all the prayers of all mankind are channelled through one heart, One heart of all. Iona of my heart, my love, as St Columba is reputed to have said.

When a great stone Celtic cross stands unmoved for 1,000 years, it brings more than tears to the eyes. In ancient St Oran’s chapel, last resting place of long forgotten kings, Orthodox have had their turn to pray beside the graves. I hesitate to give our names – our moments of appearance on this island stage. These stones have seen it all. Three billion years of Hebridean granite puts man in proportion. Walking home half sheltered by a rocky ridge from the force of a westerly gale … even Christianity seems but a breath in time.

The Iona Community in the abbey nearby fulfils its mission to encourage souls to God. Beyond … Iona calls. On occasions at night when cloud allows, stars shine amazingly clear. Well washed by pure Atlantic rain, sheep’s wool is bright and clean, as are the frogs, and pristine colours on the autumn moors. Pure places wash us, too. Impurity recedes and God appears. Celtic tradition says that God wrote two books – a great one and a small – Nature and the Bible. The abbey worship book confidently states that God is everything, each stone His word, each item of our food His flesh and blood. Iona really helps us understand it.

We come and go by sea. Surrounded by pure elements, churches rise and fall; words fade into silence; our presence shrinks in absence of a world which makes us more important than we are.  Iona does not flatter man but helps him to expand. She opens up to Spirit. Nameless and formless may seem daunting to the unprepared, but when it happens naturally e.g. before great space and beauty, it’s found to be fulfilment, and leads us ever further in development of prayer. Allowing ourselves to transcend limit unifies the separate, while man in sin is rediscovered spiritually free.

In unlit darkness before dawn, a buffeting wind throws me off the path which leads to St Columba’s shrine. Outside, a massive cross … inside, in Spirit … wholeness, as the world can never be.

We’ve long been looking for a holiday with nature, modest living and spiritual purpose. Communal life can bring a mix of blessings, but there’s always space on Iona to escape. There’s hope of the retreat being repeated next year if sufficient interest is found. Both feeling so enriched by the experience, we would be glad to return.

It rained as we hurried from our last morning office to the pier. I’m sure that many people, saying good-bye, would feel they leave some heart behind and find themselves in tears. It happened so to me.

John Butler

“It is incumbent on one who expects to receive from God the seed of grace to first of all cleanse the earth of the heart, in order that the seed of the Spirit that falls on it may bear perfect and abundant fruits"

   I think it began in about 1980, though my memory for dates is not quite what it was. At any rate I was in the middle years of my career as a teacher, and I had received a letter of complaint from a parent objecting to a book which his son was reading as part of his English course. The book was The Owl Service by Alan Garner OBE, as wholesome a novel as one could wish and wise with a wisdom that reminded me strongly of the Beatitudes. It had won the Carnegie Medal for Children’s Fiction (the highest award of its kind), was widely used in schools, and was very popular with the pupils.

The nature of the objection surprised me, since I had never encountered anything like it before. What the parent deplored was the fact that the book had a supernatural dimension, culled from an old Welsh folk legend. In other words it was a sort of ghost story. Now it had never entered my head that there was anything morally wrong with ghost stories – even though, as a child, I had sat rigid with terror listening compulsively to the latest radio instalment of Appointment with Fear (Valentine Dyall, BBC Home Service). However the parent thought otherwise. Anything supernatural, I was informed, was the work of the devil, or at least, of diabolical agency, and was totally unsuitable for study in schools.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I mean, once you go down that road, where do you stop? Must teenagers not read Macbeth, because it involves witchcraft, or Hamlet, because the Prince of Denmark has a late night interview with the ghost of his father, or Wuthering Heights, or A Christmas Carol, or The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, all of which contain supernatural elements? * The complaint was, I judged, unreasonable and off-centre, and I tried to convey this to the parent as kindly and delicately as I could.

Some days later, a colleague of mine received a similar letter from another parent about a different book, and during the next few weeks there were two or three more, all couched in the same vein. What all of these letters had in common was that they came from families who worshipped at a local pentecostal church. Clearly they had been urged or instructed to complain by their pastor.

The letters continued to arrive, by ones and twos, sporadically over the next few years, though whether they were all from the same source I cannot now say. It was all very small scale, but the complaints were all dogma-driven (there was never any attempt to evaluate a book as literature or to consider whether it embodied Christian values), and replying to the parents was a chore that I could have well done without.

I am glad, nevertheless, to have been alerted to the problem for I was able to follow its progress and to see where it led. When, in the late 1990s, certain Christian groups began to attack the Harry Potter novels, most people assumed that it was a spontaneous reaction. My experience shows that it was not. It was part of a carefully planned campaign whose original aim was to hijack the teaching of literature in schools.

There is an obvious parallel here with the campaign to resist the teaching of evolution in American schools and to replace it with creationism. The two movements came from the same stable, they made their appearance at about the same time, and they exhibited the same fundamentalist attitude to life. They were a calculated attempt to manipulate state education in order to impose a minority viewpoint on society as a whole.

As regards its original objectives the literary campaign made little headway. You can’t go telling the world that celebrated authors, poets and playwrights are agents of the devil and not end up with egg on your face. The field had to be narrowed down for credibility’s sake. The decision to target J.K.Rowling was entirely predictable. Unlike some other fantasy authors (Philip Pullman and Ursula le Guin come obviously to mind), Rowling seems to have been regarded as a soft target. Also, of course, she was becoming a household name.

I am not going to defend the Harry Potter novels in detail because there is no need to do so. Better minds than mine have rallied to their defence. I will merely say that I would be proud to have written any one of them. What disturbs me about the Harry Potter business is the way in which virtual morality is being used to overturn real morality. The books themselves are transparently healthy.

Again and again Rowling emphasises the power of love and deplores the love of power. To be fully human, she insists, is to place love above self, even at risk to one’s life. By contrast the objections urged against the books are abstract and artificial – calumnies which are read into the books, not out of them.

The Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, recently remarked that ‘in a society in which adolescents are precociously adult, and adults are permanently adolescent, thank heavens for J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter, who between them have reclaimed the kingdom of childhood, proving that you don’t have to betray to enchant.’ There is an excellent Wikipedia article, Religious debates over the Harry Potter series which may be consulted by anyone interested in the subject.

Honi soit qui mal y pense.

Deacon Ian.

* The same is true of fairy tales of course, which also have their critics. Yet without imagination, without an element of fable and magic, how much more difficult it is for children to grasp the essential truth that reality is multi-dimensional, and that the material world is invested with moral and spiritual purpose. Fairy tales, tales of magic, etc., are healthy even when – especially when – they deal with dark matter, violence and the like. So Little Red Riding Hood has an important theme in a modern context, warning young girls of the dangers of ‘the woods’ and ‘the wolf’. Hansel and Gretel offers help for children who are orphans. Humpty Dumpty reminds us that some things can’t be mended. Childhood delight in fantasy and magic may be likened to the roots of a great tree which spread unseen, in subterranean darkness, yet without which there can be no sustained or healthy growth.

Saints Cosmas and Damian (died ca 287)

These two saints practised the art of healing. They accepted no payment for their services, which led them to be nicknamed anargyroi (The Silverless); it is said that by this, they led many to the Christian faith.

Orthodox icons of the saints often depict them vested as laymen holding medicine boxes and spoons for dispensing cures. The handle of the spoon is normally shaped like a cross to indicate the importance of spiritual as well as physical healing, and that all cures come from God.

Unmercenaries and wonderworkers, they were brothers in the flesh and in the spirit, born somewhere in Asia of a pagan father and a Christian mother. After their father’s death, their mother Theodota devoted all her time to the bringing up of her sons as true Christians. God helped her, and her sons grew as two choice fruits and as two holy lamps. They were skilled in medicine and ministered to the sick without payment, and so fulfilled Christ’s command: ‘Freely have ye received; freely give’ (Matt. 10:8).

They were so strict in their unpaid ministry to men that Cosmas became greatly enraged with his brother Damian when he took three eggs from a woman, Palladia, and gave orders that, after his death, he should not be buried with his brother. In fact, holy Damian had not taken those eggs as a reward for healing Palladia’s sickness, but because she had sworn to the Most Holy Trinity that he should have them. However, after their death in Fereman, they were buried together in obedience to a revelation from God.

These two holy brothers were great wonderworkers both during their lifetime and after their death. A farm labourer, on lying down to sleep at one time was attacked by a snake, which entwined itself around his mouth and stomach. This poor man would have breathed his last in the greatest torment had he not at the last moment invoked the help of Saints Cosmas and Damian. Thus the Lord glorified forever by miracles those who glorified Him on earth by their faith, purity and mercy.

From The Prologue from Ochrid