The Shepherd, June 2008
SiR UK* NEWS
* Synod in Resistance Churches in the UK
WEDDING AT BROOKWOOD
ON THE SUNDAY of the Samaritan Woman, 12th / 25th May, we celebrated the wedding of Matias Fagerlund and Elizabeth (Liggy) Meade at Saint Edward’s Church. For the occasion, members of Matias’ family came from Scandinavia, as did many of the people who had once been parishioners at the old Russian Cathedral at Emperor’s Gate in London, friends and relatives of the bride’s family. Some of Liggy’s friends, from the days when she helped with the Greek Orthodox Youth of Great Britain summer camps also attended and helped in the choir, and Alexander Suscenko read the Apostle. There also seemed to be a large contingent of people, both Greeks and Russians, from Australia. The prayers were led by Fr Alexis and Fr Stephen Fretwell together, and after the service the wedding party left for a reception at Syon House in London. Special thanks are due to Justina Œ. Trollope, who, because the wedding was being celebrated at some distance from the bride’s family home in East Anglia, put up Elizabeth and her maid of honour, Theodora Margetas, for the night and allowed the family to use her home as their base for the day. Thanks also to the friends who came on the Saturday to help decorate the church for the occasion, and to Nicolas Papanicolaou and his daughter for taking the photography in hand. And our thanks also to all those who, in Christian love, joined them on this significant day in their lives. May that love find its response from the Lord. Please continue your prayers for the bridal pair as they begin their new life together. Whatever the years ahead may hold for them, may they, as the prayer says, obtain favour in God’s sight, and at the last shine like the stars in heaven. Many Years to Matias and Elizabeth!
VISITORS
SIR WILLIAM PERKINS SCHOOL, Chertsey, brought three coach loads of their girls to Saint Edward’s on Tuesday 20th May. They were doing a special project, and had “reflection sheets” to complete. They were also going to visit an Anglican church later, so that their impressions of both could be compared. Fr Niphon welcomed them and gave them a talk. Apparently there were so many questions afterwards that they had to be cut short, so that they could go on to their next assignment. Kitty Price, who had organized the visit for the school, later wrote saying: “Please can you pass on our sincere thanks to Fr Niphon for such an amazing experience on Tuesday. The girls and staff were overwhelmed by the spiritual atmosphere and sheer visual appeal of St Edward’s Church. In the feedback from some of them in subsequent lessons they all commented that it would have been good to have had more time exploring the church. Indeed seeing the exhibition room would have widened their Orthodox experience [They did not have time to do this - ed.]. The visit was a delightful contrast to our local Anglican church in xxx and so the pupils came away with a proper flavour of the variety of the Christian tradition.” Fr Niphon was in turn very much impressed and pleasantly surprised by the good behaviour of the girls and by the quality of their intelligent questions.
On 20th May, Marjo Marthin, who visited us many years ago for the first time, came from Sweden with her friend, Lea Suudstrôm-Laitimeu. The next day, which was Mid-Pentecost, Marjo, who is a parishioner of one of the Synod in Resistance parishes in Sweden, also attended the Divine Liturgy at the Convent of the Annunciation in London.
Archimandrite Daniel (Toyne) of the Greek Orthodox parish of the Resurrection in Singapore (Œc.Patr.) visited us on Friday 30th May, staying overnight and leaving after the Divine Liturgy on the Saturday, so happily he was with us on the year’s mind of the late Bishop Constantine of Richmond, who celebrated the first Liturgy here at Brookwood on the Saturday of the Laudation of the Mother of God in 1982.
FOAL BLESSING
WHEN ON THEOPHANY, Robin and Mary Haigh offered us the hospitality of their home for the ceremony of the Blessing of the Waters on the old Abbey site there, they told us that one of their miniature Shetland ponies, Fred, had recently died, but that they thought his mate, Libby, might be pregnant, and so they asked us especially to sprinkle her with the blessed water. Indeed, Libby was pregnant, and she gave birth to a foal in mid-May, which the Haighs have called Frederica-Alexis - the first part of her name in honour of her father, the second we cannot quite comprehend! We were asked to go over and bless the new arrival, and using the prayer from the Book of Needs for blessing livestock, did so on Saturday 4th/17th May. Fr Thomas came to chant the paschal troparion, and Fr Niphon acted as server. To our surprise, about thirty friends and neighbours of the Haighs had gathered for the short ceremony. Afterwards, afternoon tea and was served from their tea-wagon and in their barn, which had once been part of the medieval monastery. Our thanks yet again to the Haighs for their kindness and hospitality, and to their friends and neighbours who welcomed three Orthodox monks into their midst so warmly. The Surrey Herald published a full-page report with pictures on the birth of the new foal on 14th May.
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