The Shepherd, July 2006
BROOKWOOD NEWS
BAPTISM AND MARRIAGE AT BROOKWOOD
JONAS WHITFIELD, who was made a catechumen on the last Sunday in Great Lent, was baptised on Pentecost-Trinity Sunday at Saint Edward’s Church. Father Stephen Fretwell stood as his sponsor, and on the following Sunday he celebrated an Orthodox wedding service for his new godson and his wife, Nina. We ask the prayers of the faithful for the newly married couple, and for Jonas that he might receive the mercies of our Saviour during his illness.
KEOTCoLtd AGM
THE AGM of the charity which administers the property here at Saint Edward Brotherhood, the King Edward Orthodox Trust Company Limited, was held at the Brotherhood house immediately after the Divine Liturgy on Sunday 25th June. As one member had emigrated and left the Trust, Fr Stephen Fretwell was proposed and voted as a member, an appointment which he accepted by joining us for the last minutes of the meeting. For legal reasons the Trust has to be run as a company, and the present directors are: Archimandrite Alexis, Fr Peter Baulk, Father Niphon, Father Hierodeacon Sabbas, and Mrs Elizabeth Castle. The members at present are: Fr Stephen Fretwell, Gabriel and Helena Lawani, Laurence Bloom-Davis, Ivan Aleksic OBE, Grace Meeking, Irina Aldersley and James Merritt.
NEW ICONS
IN THE PAST MONTH, several new icons have been donated to Saint Edward’s. Some time ago, Aidan Hart volunteered to paint an icon in support of our Building Fund Appeal, and we suggested that he paint the holy Great Martyr Eirine, the namesaint of our architect, Irina Aldersley. Aidan has produced a very beautiful and striking icon, with particularly lovely complimentary colours, which at the moment Annie Shaw of the Fellowship of Saint Luke is finishing in readiness for its blessing. Irene Howe of Ash Vale brought us a very darkened icon of the Theotokos, which on cleaning carefully we have found to be an old Greek icon of the Theotokos of the Great Cave, the Spelaiotissa. Also one of our visitors, Fr Deacon Nikolai from Bulgaria brought us an icon of the New Martyrs of Batak, whom we mentioned in our last issue. And the sisters of the St Elizabeth Convent in Etna, California, completed three commissions for our church: icons of Sts Peter and Paul the Chiefs of the Apostles, and of St Anna with the Mother of God, and of the holy Peer of the Apostles Mary Magdalene. These were given by anonymous donors from among our parishioners. May the Lord, who knows you, reward you for loving the beauty of His house.
VISITORS & PILGRIMS
BESIDES, the visitors we have mentioned elsewhere in this issue (Archpriest Nikolai Florinsky from Moldova, Fr Deacon Nikolai from Bulgaria), we were also visited, on 14th June, by Archimandrite Nektarios Papaghannoulis, who serves at the Cathedral of Haghia Sofia in Bayswater, and Archimandrite Nektarios Spyrou from the Greek Cathedral in Golders Green. Both Archimandrites Nektarios were brought to Brookwood by Andreas Stratis, and Fr Nektarios Spyrou, although he had never before visited Brookwood, had painted many of the icons in our church when he was living in Cyprus. On Saturday 11th / 24th June, the feast of the Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas, a coachload of pilgrims from the Greek Orthodox Church of Sts Cosmas and Damian in Gospel Oak joined us for the Divine Liturgy at Brookwood. They brought with them a picnic breakfast of fasting foods, which they shared with the Brotherhood and others attending the service, and left about noon to visit Windsor Castle on their way back to London. In the way of things, they left two of the ladies here, and Fr Sabbas had to give chase to the coach in our car to make sure they could rejoin the rest of the pilgrims! John Clarke, the author of “London’s Necropolis,” also brought two special interest groups to look at the church. On 11th June, the Walton History Group came, and on 25th the Gosport Railway Group. As usual Fr Niphon showed them the church, gave a short talk and answered their questions.
BUILDING FUND APPEAL
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THE PRESENT EXACT TALLY for the monies received or pledged for the Building Fund is £418,003.27, with a promise of £1,000 more shortly. It is always a great joy when Orthodox from other dioceses show their brotherly love in making contributions, and so we would particularly like to note that recently a second donation was given by the parish of the Holy Fathers of Nicea in Shrewsbury
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PRACTICAL TIP
DURING the Thanksgiving Prayers after the Divine Liturgy, one should remain quiet and in church. There is a tendency for people, after they have come up and kissed the Cross and received the antidoron, to think that we have broken up, and either to leave the church or, worse still, to start talking with the neighbours. The prayers are continuing, and most important ones in which we give thanks to God for the great blessing we have received in being granted Holy Communion. If we have received Holy Communion at that Liturgy, it is particularly important that we stand reverently, attend to the prayers and show gratitude for the blessing. After all, at the Mystical Supper itself, only one person rushed out and did not leave in orderly fashion with his (former) brethren; and he was the betrayer. If for some reason, we have not received the Holy Mysteries at a particular Liturgy, it is of course not so important that we stay, but to do so can nonetheless be of benefit. We can give thanks that our brethren, our loved ones, have received, and stand and pray with them. This is particularly important for those of us who are English converts to Orthodoxy because we have grown up in a culture where individualism is stressed, and one of the things in Orthodox Christianity which we need to impress upon ourselves is that it is communal. The very word, Communion, itself tells us this, but often we think (if we think at all) that our receiving is an individual act of piety. We can give thanks for Communion, even if we have not ourselves received that day, because the community of believers in our church, the people who are our brothers and sisters in Christ, has received, and their joy is our joy.
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