The Shepherd, July 2004
BROOKWOOD NEWS
ARCHIMANDRITAL VISIT
ARCHIMANDRITE DANIEL (Toyne) of the Church of the Resurrection in Singapore (ŒP), came to stay with us for a few days at the end of June. In the eighties, Fr Daniel spent several months at Brookwood testing his monastic vocation. He is now the only Orthodox pastor living and serving in Singapore, and has a mission parish there which comprises peoples of many and diverse ethnic backgrounds.
“A RUSSIAN WEEK”
In the “Coming Month” section above we mention that July is a month of Russian saints. For us the week after the Great Feast of Trinity-Pentecost this year turned out to be a “Russian Week.” On the Monday, the Day of the Holy Spirit, our small weekday congregation was joined by a large contingent of Russians from the London parish, who then stayed over to have breakfast with us, fortunately bringing a chef with them. On the Thursday, a Russian family from Moscow came bringing with them Elena, the matushka of the ROCA priest serving in Moscow, and attended the Divine Liturgy, it being the festival of Sts Constantine and Helena and matushka’s nameday. That same afternoon, Anna V. Pavlovskaya, the head of the department of Russian, American and European Studies at the Moscow State University came with a film crew to interview Fr Alexis, about Saint Edward the Martyr, the Brotherhood’s history and our place in the Russian Church.
www.saintedwardbrotherhood.org
THANKS to the good offices of our parishioner, David Jepson, the Brotherhood website is now up and running at the above address. David, who is director of Information Technology at the American School, Thorpe, has done the lion’s share of the work in designing and setting up the website for us. We ask our readers’ indulgence if they, therefore, find some American spellings thereon! We hope from now on to post the whole Shepherd each month on the site.
NEW CHURCH HANGINGS
BLUE HANGINGS for the Holy Table, Proskomidi and the analoys in church have arrived from the Holy Nativity Convent in Boston. They were donated as alms in memory of the late Major Edwin and Mrs Joan Carn. Our thanks are due to Mrs Mary O’Brien for posting the package on to us from America, and to Mrs Justina Trollope for covering the cost of the extortionate customs and excise and VAT charges.
GROUP VISITS
MEMBERS of the University of the Third Age, led by Jane Clarke, visited Saint Edward’s on 24th June; and on 28th, teachers and assistants from the Brookwood Primary School also came to visit the church.
NEWSPAPER COVERAGE
THE WOKING NEWS AND MAIL (10/6/04) carried an half page feature on the publication of John Clarke’s “London Necropolis.” The article by Philip Skelton dealt for the most part on the Brotherhood and included a picture of the fathers here with John. This was followed up on 26th June by a similar article in the “Woking Review.” On 17th June the News and Mail also carried a piece with a picture on the setting up of the Brotherhood website.
PRACTICAL TIP
DO NOT JUST attend the church services; pray them. Orthodox services tend to be rather long - although their length is often exaggerated, and among some Orthodox there seems to develop a kind of pride in their very length, as if this was in some ways a virtue! Because the services are long, it is very natural to find them at times tedious and boring. But this happens most when we simply attend church, and do not join in the worship by paying heed to the services which are being read and chanted, by trying to comprehend the various ceremonies, and most of all, in our hearts and minds by joining in the prayer that is being offered.
|
