The Shepherd, April 2007
BROOKWOOD NEWS, 1
TWO BAPTISMS AT SAINT EDWARD’S
IN FEBRUARY / MARCH, we were blessed to have two infant Baptisms at St Edward’s Church. On Saturday, 18th February / 3rd March, the feast of St Leo the Great, Pope of Rome, Yann, the infant son of Stuart and Natalia Lacy of Farnborough, was baptised and chrismated. Patrick Lewis is his godfather. On the next day, Yann, who is named after St John the Baptist, made his first Communion at the Divine Liturgy. A week later, on Saturday 25th February / 10th March, Stuart and Elena Matthews’ daughter, Nina, was baptised here. She is named for St Nina the Peer of the Apostles, the Enlightener of Georgia, and her godparents are Yordanka Grigorova and Marina Popova. She also made her first Communion on the Sunday morning at the Divine Liturgy, at which also the eighth-day prayer for Yann was read. May the Lord God keep both of His newly-illumined children in the faith of a good confession all the days of their lives.
“FRANKINCENSE”
SOME TIME AGO we were visited by Juliet Highet, a writer and photographer, who has a love of incense and of the Arab world. She has now published a beautiful book entitled simply “Frankincense,” which tells the history of incense and of the many cultures that use it. The book which has a preface by Koichiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO, and a foreword by His Excellency Sheikh Ghassan Shaker, the personal advisor to His Majesty Qaboos Bin Said, the Sultan of Oman, is published by Prestel and is magnificently and lavishly illustrated. It contains pictures of our Fr Thomas making incense here at Brookwood and a short interview with him, as well as references to the excellent work of the perfumers, the Illustrious Michael and Margaret Woodrow (Perfume & Flavouring Essences Ltd) of Sunbury-on-Thames.
VISITORS
RECENT VISITORS to Saint Edward’s include the Very Reverend Archpriest Alexander Fostiropoulos (ER), who called in and stayed for Yann’s Baptism and later came over to the house for a chat about recent developments in the life of the Orthodox Church in this country and for a mug of cocoa (we had run out of coffee!). On Monday, 12th March, Fr Stephen Platt of the St Nicolas the Wonderworker Parish in Oxford (MP) brought a small group of pilgrims to pray at the Shrine of St Edward. On Wednesday 7th March, Fr Paul Davis of Sunbury-on-Thames and Fr Christopher Swift of Shepperton (CofE) visited us, stayed with us through our quiet hour and attended the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, later joining us for our meal, before leaving to attend a deanery meeting in their Church. We also seem to have somehow become an attraction for the fitness fanatics. “Bob and the Bikers,” or rather Robert Castle, the husband of our treasurer, Elizabeth, and a group of about 40 cyclists from Age Concern (I jest not!) came to look at the old South Bar Station site on 12th March, before cycling off for a pub lunch at Pirbright. And on the following Thursday, fifteen ladies from the Guildford Fitness League, suddenly turned up to see the church. We hope that none of them want to shake us couch potatoes out of our sluggish ways. On 16th March, Stuart Davies of the United Reformed Church in Worplesdon brought a group to see St Edward’s Church, and they were given a talk by Fr Niphon.
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