The Shepherd, August 2006
BROOKWOOD NEWS
VISIT OF ICONOGRAPHERS FROM RUSSIA AND ESTONIA
WHEN, on 22nd May / 4th June, Seraphima Dembri was baptised at St Edward’s, her parents, Dionysii and Irina, brought an icon of St Edward to be blessed for her, so that she would have an icon of the saint in whose church she had been baptised. It was one of the most beautiful icons of the saint we had seen and we were told it was painted in St Petersburg.
On 20th July, the painter of the icon, Tatiana Kolibaba, visited Brookwood, and hearing that we had liked the icon brought a second one for us. On Sunday 23rd July, an iconographer from Tallinn, Estonia, Nikita Andrejev attended the Divine Liturgy at Brookwood, along with his wife, Maria, and their infant son, Jonas. Nikita is in England as an instructor at the course being run by the Fellowship of St Luke.
PRECIOUS GIFT TO BROTHERHOOD
MRS ANNA STONELAKE recently gave the Brotherhood a photograph, signed by Princess Alice of Hesse when visiting Harrogate. The Princess, who in the year that she signed this photograph, 1894, married the Tsar Nicolas II Alexandrovich and became the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, is now glorified as a saint among the Assembly of the New Martyrs of Russia.
FREEWILL OFFERINGS
FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS of this year, the average weekly offerings in the almsbox at the back of the church have been as follows:- January £252.04; February £227.28; March £231.88; April - £393.11; May £316.22; and June £371.73. May God’s blessing ever be upon all of you who have thus contributed to the running of the church and brotherhood and supported our mission.
BUILDING FUND APPEAL
AS WE SEND this issue off to Gabriel & Helena Lawani (31/7/06) to be prepared for printing, the Building Fund Appeal stands at £483,730.10, 74.42% of our target figure of £650,000. God bless all those of you who have helped us raise this sum, and who are still contributing to the fund. Our special thanks to Protopresbyter-Stavrophore Vido Vukovic and the parishioners at the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elias in Corby for making a collection for us.
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PRACTICAL TIP
BEAR IN MIND that temptations can be like epidemics. They can spread from person to person. This is particularly the case with those temptations which are destructive of church community life. One person is lazy in their observance, and sure enough another will take example from that. Without judging others - (they may have weaknesses), - be on your guard against taking example from bad practice, but always be ready to see and follow a good example. Also be on your guard against giving a bad example or even promoting your own little epidemic of temptations by gossiping, complaining, judging. We have communities of Christians (familial, monastic, parochial and diocesan), so that we may support and edify one other, but be on your guard because the same system can very easily work the other way.
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