The Shepherd, September 2009
SiR UK NEWS
VISIT OF BISHOP AMBROSE
HIS GRACE, Bishop Ambrose of Methoni very briefly visited England over the weekend of 5th and 6th September (n.s.). On the Saturday afternoon, he came to Brookwood to look at the progress on the restoration of the church building, but he did not serve here as the church is out of commission. In the evening, he went to the Convent of the Annunciation, he was greeted by Mother Vikentia and her sisters, and he served at the Vigil Service. In the morning, he celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Convent and preached about the responsibility of handing on our Orthodox Christian Faith to our children and others, and of the necessity of people to put their various talents at the disposal of the Church rather than being simply attenders at church.
A WEDDING AT ST BONIFACE’S
THE FIRST WEDDING at St Boniface’s Chapel, Ryde, Isle of Wight, was celebrated on Sunday, 27th July / 9th August, the feast of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon. The bridal pair, Martin and Melanie Swan were wed, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Ambrose, to regularize their marital status in the eyes of the Church. Our congregation there was joined by friends from the London Russian Orthodox Cathedral at Ennismore Gardens, who were holidaying on the island, and after the ceremony, as is the Orthodox custom, everyone was invited to share refreshments provided by the family. The celebration, though modest, was a joyous and uplifting one, and we ask the prayers of the faithful for the bridal pair, and their families, for their life together.
ALSO at St Boniface’s, on the previous weekend, on Saturday 19th July / 1st August, the feast of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, after the Divine Liturgy, a pannikhida (memorial service) was chanted for the newly departed Anna Kudryck, for her fortieth day. After the prayers, her daughter, Olga, and family provided the most sumptuous Mercy Meal imaginable in her memory. May Anna find rest with the Saints and Memory Eternal.
A CHURCHING AT THE LONDON CONVENT
ON THE GREAT FEAST of the Transfiguration, the forty-day prayers for Catherine Lincoln were read at the Convent, and her infant son, Jon, was churched at the Convent. To them both: Many Years!
VISIT TO LESNA CONVENT IN FRANCE
AT THE BEGINNING of September, Fr Alexis paid a two day visit to the Convent of the Lesna Icon of the Mother of God at Provemont in Normandy, to visit Mother Pelagia, a founder of ourcommunity at Brookwood, who had recently suffered a fall and was reported to be very frail. On the contrary, she was, of course, extremely perky! The Convent is now under the omophorion of Archbishop Tikhon and his Synod, the Russian True Orthodox Church, and it was good to see it so thriving, with so many visitors there from all over Europe and from America. The sisters very kindly gave us a copy of the Lesna Icon with a small portion from the wood of the Pear Tree in which the original icon was found attached to it, an icon of the New Martyrs of the Catacomb Church of Russia, and a plentiful supply of fruits and provisions, including cheeses for Fr Niphon. While at the Convent Fr Alexis was able not only to attend the monastic services, but to visit the cemetery, particularly to visit the grave of Mother Elizabeth (Walsh), whom he tonsured some years ago at the Brompton Hospital in London, and also to pray at the other graves, of Bishop Seraphim, Father Nicander, Abbess Athanasia, and the other sisters laid to rest there on the very outskirts of the village.
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