The Shepherd, October 2004
BROOKWOOD NEWS, 1
BAPTISM AT BROOKWOOD
On Sunday, 30th August / 12th September, the feast of St Alexander Nevsky, Maxim, the infant son of Ivan and Rumyana Nenov, was baptised at Saint Edward’s Church. Nicholas Kalnakov and Elena Matthews, both Bulgarian members of our church like Maxim, stood as his sponsors. Father Peter Baulk officiated at the mystery. We ask the prayers of the faithful for this new brother in Christ, that he may run the course before him well and gain the crown of victory.
VISIT OF BISHOP
His Grace Bishop Ambrose of Methoni, from the Monastery of Sts Cyprian and Justina, Fili, Greece, visited us briefly on 8th September, attending Vespers with the Brotherhood, then being given a meal that might remind him of his old school days at Winchester before returning to London.
KURSK ROOT ICON VISIT
His Grace Archbishop Mark brought the Wonderworking Kursk Root Icon for the celebration of the Dormition at the London Russian Orthodox Church on Harvard Road. On Bank Holiday Monday, 30th August, the Archbishop celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Convent of the Annunciation in the presence of the Icon. On the Tuesday, the Icon was brought to Saint Edward’s and was with us for our Tuesday evening Paraklesis and for the Divine Liturgy on the Wednesday. During its relatively brief stay in England, before being taken back to London to be taken on to Dublin, the Icon was taken to the homes of some of the elderly and those in hospital. On the Wednesday, in taking it to someone in Poole and having to continue our journey to Wareham, we also included Corfe Castle and Shaftesbury in our journey and so took the Icon to the three places in Dorset that are most closely associated with Saint Edward.
SAINT EDWARD’S DAY
This year we were blessed to have many more people than usual at our Saint Edward Day celebration. For the Vigil we were joined by a contingent of pilgrims from the Patriarchal Parish in London, and one of them, Michael Sarni, kindly brought us a skufya from the sacred relics of St Tikhon of Zadonsk, as a blessing for our brotherhood. On the day itself, a group of Romanian pilgrims from London surprised us by turning up two hours early for the Liturgy! After the Blessing of the Waters, the four golden crosses that are being erected on the Brotherhood house were blessed, and an extra short moleben was sung for one of the pilgrims, Vasilissa, whose nameday and sixteenth birthday fell on that day. Afterwards a buffet lunch was served in the Brotherhood and we would like to thank all those who contributed to making this so abundant.
BUILDING FUNDRAISING PROGRESS
Our fundraising consultant, Graham Collings, has in the past weeks been preparing for the proper launch of our appeal to raise funds for the building of the new monastic house here at Brookwood and various other restoration works necessary for the church and for the old mortuary building, in which we now live. A group of those who have volunteered to help us are having an inaugural meeting with Mr Collings on 20th October. One of the projects that the planners require that we undertake is the provision of a small museum in the old mortuary, and we are extremely grateful for John Clarke, the historian of the cemetery and the founding chairman of the Brookwood Cemetery Society, and to Tina Cockett, the Education and Community Outreach manager of Woking Galleries, for the valuable and dedicated work which they are doing in helping us with this aspect of the project. Despite the fact that we have not as yet issued even an appeal brochure, but have simply mentioned our need for funds in occasional paragraphs in this magazine, our Building Fund account now stands at £114,380.00 & US$4,268 (approx. £2,370.00 - making a total of approx. £116,750.00), something approaching a quarter of the sum we will need to raise to build the new house. Our thanks to all who have already helped us in raising this sum.
RELICS DONATED
Portions of the sacred relics of St Gregory the Great, St Patrick of Ireland, the Venerable Benedict of Nursia, the Venerable Bede of Jarrow, and the Righteous Joseph of Arimathea, have been donated to Saint Edward’s Church, by John and Ruth Hinton of Alexandria, VA. The sacred relics were brought to England in time for St Edward’s feast, by Mrs Mary O’Brien. Our thanks to the donors of these precious gifts and to Mary for bringing them. May God grant you His mercies and blessings through the prayers of the five saints.
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