The Shepherd, January 2010
SiR-UK NEWS
BISHOP SOFRONIE AT BROOKWOOD
HIS GRACE, Bishop Sofronie of Suceava, Moldavia, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Saint Edward’s Church, on Sunday, 30th November / 13th December, which was also the festival of the Holy First-Called Apostle Andrew. His Grace was accompanied by the Priest Marcel from Romania, who concelebrated with the Bishop and our resident clergy. The church was packed for the occasion. After much persuasion, His Grace preached in Romanian (he has a theory that the people would prefer English - even when, as on this occasion, many of them are Romanian) and, on his insistence, Fr Alexis said a few words in English. After the Liturgy, the Bishop and Fr Marcel baptised Lucia, the infant daughter of Dimitri Iftimut and Sorina Buzdugan, with Costel and Nonica Azoitei standing as her sponsors. After some light refreshments and meeting a number of our parishioners in the hall, His Grace hurriedly left for London, where that day, he was to baptise another baby, Sebastian. For this ceremony, they loaned our font, but ensured that it was returned from Boreham Wood the next day. One of our parishioners subsequently wrote about the Bishop’s visit: “From what I have observed, Bishop Sofronie is a kindly man who is thoughtful of other people; who needs [worry about] language barriers when the man’s actions tell us so much?”
ANOTHER BAPTISM AT SAINT EDWARD’S
AFTER MUCH ADO, Amelia, the infant daughter of Matthias and Elizabeth (Liggy) Fagerlund, was baptised at Saint Edward’s on St Nicolas’ day, 6th / 19th December. Her godparents were Joseph Eleazar-Hurzon and Nektaria Papanicolaou. Amelia is named after the venerable Amelia of Maubeuge (10th July). Her first-day prayers were read at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital where she was born; her eighth-day ones and her naming at her home in West London, and she was churched immediately after the Baptism on St Nicolas day. The next day she was brought to her first Communion at Brookwood. After the Baptism itself, the family provided light refreshments and Swedish mulled wine in the Old Mortuary hall for their guests. One young man, remembering the delays at Amelia’s parents’ wedding, came 24 hours late, but nonetheless joined us for Sunday evening Vespers. May the Lord keep in the faith of a good confession the three newly baptised infants, Lucia, Sebastian and Amelia, and grant them Many Years!
ORTHODOX AID FUND
This year, 2009, the Orthodox Aid Fund, run by the Saint Edward Brotherhood, gave a total of £12,016.92 to various church, humanitarian and environmental charities. We have been running this fund since 1999, and so for eleven years now. Although in 1999, we paid out just under £5,000 and US $3,000, after that things settled down, and for each of the subsequent years the sum given each year seems to have hovered around the £4,000 mark. So this year’s total is extraordinary, the more so because we have also been asking for funds to complete the building work at the Brotherhood itself. This year’s figure was boosted, though, by two or three very generous gifts to help the Oxnard Parish Defence Fund, the foundation of the ROCA (Agafangel) centre in NewYork State, and for their mission in Haiti. We are extremely grateful, as we suspect the recipients of your generosity are too, for your generosity in almsgiving. God’s blessing be upon you.
BUILDING FUND
DURING the New Calendar year, 2009, our Building Fund received £84,449.53, for which we are very thankful to our donors. May God bless them. By far, the greater part of this has already been paid out in paying the professional consultants and the contractors. Within the next few weeks, we shall also have to pay the last remaining sum, the retention fee, to our roofing contractors, Marshels of Runfold.
NEW HOLY TABLE
IN PREPARATION for the consecration of Saint Edward’s Church, which His Grace Bishop Ambrose is keen to celebrate, we are having a new Holy Table made. About the time we moved to Brookwood, an elderly lady in the old Russian cathedral congregation in London, Tatiana Bergman, died, and left Fr Alexis £100. With this money we bought the timbers, and a member of the congregation made us the present Holy Table. However, for the ceremony of the consecration a new one will be necessary - part of the service is the nailing of the top to the stand with trunnels. The new Table has been commissioned from a local craftsman and will cost us approximately £1,200. If any would like to contribute to this sum, please send donations, made payable to King Edward Orthodox Trust Co Ltd. And God bless you for doing so.
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