The Shepherd, October 2007
After the kissing of the Cross and the distribution of the antidoron, while His Grace took off his liturgical vestments, the choir chanted the Supplicatory Canon to the Mother of God. We then made our way to the New House, where on the patio at the front a lectern had been set up with the Afidnai icon of St Edward, and before it a small table with the things necessary for the house blessing. This blessing consists of three essential acts: the sprinkling of the house with holy water, the anointing of the walls with blessed oil, and the censing of the rooms with incense. The Bishop sprinkled the house, while Fr Alexis anointed the walls and Fr Stephen censed each room in turn. Afterwards, His Grace made a further short address about the significance of the event and thanked all those who had helped, and in turn Fr Alexis thanked the Bishop.
After the blessing, as if to emphasis that the Mother of God herself was imparting her blessing to the event, Mrs Chrysanthy Lemos from London unexpectedly presented us with a most beautiful icon of the Theotokos, by the hand of the renowned iconographer Photios Kontoglou. The icon depicts the Mother of God as the “Platytera” - she who is more spacious than the heavens, because she contained the God Whom they cannot contain. In this depiction, the Theotokos is shown half-stature with her hands upraised in prayer, while Christ Emmanuel is shown in front of her with His hands outstretched in blessing.
Mrs Sarah Goad JP, the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, and her husband Timothy, were present at the ceremonies, as were our local councillor, Philip Goldenberg, and the managing director of the Brookwood Cemetery, Mr Erkin Guney and his wife, Melanie. Our architect Irina Aldersley, our landscape designer Annie Shaw, our project manager Tony Sumners, and our fund-raiser Graham Collings, the couple who offer us the hospitality of their home at Chertsey each year for the Theophany Blessing of Waters Robin and Mary Haigh were also present, as were a large number of our friends and supporters both from the Orthodox community and from other denominations and religions (Jewish & Muslim), as well as a number of unbelievers. We were moved to see Mary Keogh and Marjorie Cooper among the crowd, who had come despite being “well stricken in years,” and living some considerable distance away: Mary in Englefield Green, and Marjorie, even further, in Worthing - but come they did! Our county councillor, Elizabeth Compton, was unable to attend as she was on holiday in Greece, but she sent us a postcard of the monasteries at Meteora! We are particularly grateful to all those who made the effort to be with us on this occasion; the blessing of a monastic house in this country and in this day and age is not an insignificant event, and we would like to thank you for the love you thus showed us by making the effort to be with us.
After the ceremonies, a buffet lunch was offered to all present; the food, and there was an abundance of it, was spread out on tables in the main hall of the Old Mortuary building. Our thanks are due to Elena Holden and all the women (and some men) who obviously worked extremely hard to provide such a feast. The weather was glorious and so everyone was able to take their food and eat it on the lawns.
Bishop Ambrose did not hurry away,. He stayed with us until nearly four o’clock, talking to all the people who approached him, getting to know them, hearing of their troubles and woes, which in itself was a great ministry of love and concern and underlined what he had said in his sermon.
The Bishop stayed in England for the Beheading of St John the Baptist on the Tuesday. For this feast, he served at the Convent of the Annunciation for the Monday evening Vigil and for the Liturgy on Tuesday morning. At the Vigil, the congregation was literally doubled by a group of young Traditionalist Orthodox Romanians, with whom the Bishop spoke at the end, before joining the Sisters for supper. At the Divine Liturgy, he preached about following one’s conscience, and how as Herod silenced John the Baptist we often attempt to silence our conscience. After the Liturgy and breakfast, he went to the cemetery at Gunnersbury, accompanied by Mother Vikentia and her sisters, the clergy and a number of the faithful. There His Grace chanted a pannikhida at the graves of the two former Abbesses of the Convent, Abbesses Elisabeth and Seraphima, and thus he brought to an end his pastoral visit to England.
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