The Shepherd, April 2006
BROOKWOOD NEWS
COSSACK FUNERALAT SAINT EDWARD’S
THE ATAMAN of the Kuban Cossacks in London, Colonel Michael Taratuchin, was laid to rest in the Saint Edward Cemetery on Wednesday 1st March. The funeral service, during which a guard of honour stood beside the coffin with colours, was conducted by the deceased’s son, Father Michael Taratuchin of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia Church in Brooklyn, New York, assisted by his brother, Archdeacon Andronik from the Joy of All who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco. At the end of the service, which was conducted in Slavonic and English, Fr Michael gave a moving tribute to his father, and his fight for freedom. After the interment, a mercy meal was prepared for participants in the Brotherhood house. Eternal be the memory of the servant of God, Michael.
VISITORS
AMONG recent visitors to Saint Edward Brotherhood, we have welcomed Hieromonk Nectarius of Sfanta Manastire Sihastria Putnei in Romania, who came with a small group of Romanian pilgrims on St Edward’s spring feast, and Fr Deacon Nicolas, who attended the Divine Liturgy here on Sunday 2nd April. Father Nicolas is a clergyman of the Traditionalist Episcopate of the Church of Bulgaria, under the omophorion of His Grace, Bishop Fotii. We also had a group of young schoolchildren from the Hoe Bridge School in Woking visit the church in mid- March.
THE NEW BUILDING
AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRESS, our building fund total stands at £380,496.98. Our architect, Irina Aldersley, has put the finishing touches to the plans for the new house and the necessary re-appointments in the present Old Mortuary Building. Annie Shaw is using her professional skills to plan the layout of the grounds immediately adjacent to the proposed house. And our QS, Tony Sumners of King Sumners Partnership has approached contractors inviting tenders for the work and selected four with this in view.
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Two Reminders about Easter
FOR THE MIDNIGHT SERVICE ON PASCHA, bring baskets of those foods which we have not eaten in the fast, to be blessed, so that with a blessing you may break your lenten fast after the Divine Liturgy. In many countries, these foods are brought in decorated baskets expressing the joy of the festival, and they may either be eaten at the paschal breakfast with your brothers and sisters in Christ, or if you wish, after the blessing, you may take your basket home to bless your paschal fare there.
IF YOU ARE ABLE to read in a foreign language, bring your Gospel Book with you for the Vespers on the day of Pascha, 4 o’clock in the afternoon on Sunday, 23rd April. The section you will need to read is John 20:19-25. It is read in three sections, verses19-20, 21-23, and 24- 25. Consult with Fr Thomas on the choir before the service in what sequence we shall read the different languages. At Brookwood, this service has become one which is very popular with the non-Orthodox friends and acquaintances of our community, so this is an opportunity to clearly show them that God’s love for mankind reaches out to all peoples.
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PRACTICAL TIP
DURING GREAT LENT, conscientious Orthodox Christians have made an effort to deepen their spiritual life, to exercise a little self discipline, to try more determinedly than usual to counter the passions and exercise the virtues. I suppose that few of us will have made great strides, but perhaps we have crept forward a little. Then be attentive not to jettison everything that has been achieved within a few hours of hearing the first “Christ is Risen!” The fast periods come through the year, so that gradually using them we make make a spiritual ascent, but that is of no use if we treat the end of the fast as if it were a kind of end of school term, - if, in giving up the fasting disciplines, we also give up any pretence of a conscientious life centred on the Church. Hold what you may have gained in the fast and try to add to it in the festal period, then you will be able to meet the next fast and take another step up. 
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