The Shepherd, December 2005
BROOKWOOD NEWS
RUSSIA'S CHILDREN VISIT
A SMALL GROUP of children from the Russian School attached to the Dormition Church on Harvard Road, Gunnersbury, visited the Saint Edward Brotherhood on Saturday, 26th October. They were brought by the choir-mistress there, Anna Kobrina, and other parents and carers. Their mini-bus was driven by Oleg Myslov. In the church they were given a talk by Father Niphon, then they came over to see the house, meet the pets, see the book-binding in progress, and then walk around the Orthodox cemetery here. They were also given custard pies to sustain them on their return journey to the metropolis, and in return they gave us lots of names to commemorate and piles of provisions for the fast.
BUILDING COMMITTEE
THE APPEAL COMMITTEE for the Monastery Building Fund held a meeting at the Brotherhood on Wednesday 16th November. Foreseeing, that although we still have to raise about £300,000, much of the committee work has been done, and the pattern set for continuing the Appeal in the months ahead, it was thought that we should appoint a smaller Building Committee, to begin the work of scheduling the actual building of the new house. On Sunday, 21st November, a meeting of the King Edward Orthodox Trust Co Limited was held immediately after the Liturgy and this idea was adopted by the charity. Fr Alexis, Mrs Irina Aldersley - architect, Mrs Elizabeth Castle - treasurer of the charity, Mr James Merritt (trustees), and Mr Christopher Shaw were appointed as this committee, which then held its first meeting. On the advice of Mrs Aldersley and of Mr David Dromgoole, who is a member of the Appeal Committee and has been advising us from his professional experience, we decided to adopt a form of the JCT Minor Works Building Contract with contractor’s design, and to begin implementing this process, Mrs Aldersley has begun contacting Quantity Surveyors so that we might engage one as our Employer’s Agent for the scheme.
MOSCOW UNIVERSITY BOOK & DVD
IN AN EARLIER ISSUE, we mentioned the visit of Professor Anna Pavlovskaya of the faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies of the Lomonosov Moscow State University to the Brotherhood. A film crew accompanying her filmed the Brotherhood and and she interviewed Fr Alexis. Now the University has published a book (in English), “England and the English,” to help students embarking on English studies in Russia. The book includes a piece about the Brotherhood and two pictures taken here. It is accompanied with a DVD, in which there is a piece about St Edward, and the interview with Fr Alexis, telling of his experiences with the Russians, is included with four or five other pieces. We are hoping to be able to show the DVD which George Knupffer made of the blessing of the site of the new Monastery house by Metropolitan Lavr at the Christmas Breakfast this year, and will perhaps be able to include the relevant piece from the Moscow University DVD. If anyone can offer practical help in this regard it would be appreciated.
VISITOR FROM RUSSIA
WE WERE JOINED on Sunday 13th November at the Divine Liturgy by a visitor from St Petersburg, Fr Igor Zavaritskii, who kindly left us a cassette of church music and a beautiful book about the church where he serves, the Transfiguration Church which was founded in 1754.
BUILDING FUND PROGRESS
AT THE TIME of going to press, the last day of November (n.s.), our fund stands at £337,815.25, approximately 51.97% of the target figure of £650,000. This month’s increase has been boosted by a donation from H.R.H. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, made through the Edinburgh Trust, No 2 Account. (This is in addition to the donation received from H.R.H. The Prince of Wales a few weeks ago, reported in our last issue). God bless the Duke of Edinburgh and all of you who have contributed.
CLOTHES COLLECTION
OUR THANKS to all those parishioners who brought clothes to the Brotherhood to be sent to the Oxfordshire Search and Rescue for the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan, North India and Afghanistan. We filled two car loads! Our special thanks are due to parishioners, Nicolas and Yordanka Kalnakov, who brought this appeal to our attention and took the clothes to Reading for the charity.
“FORERUNNER”
IN ITS WINTER 2005-2006 issue, “Forerunner,” the journal of the Orthodox Fellowship of St John the Baptist, included a mailing of the small leaflet on the Monastery Building Fund Appeal. We are extremely grateful to Bede and Jenny Gerrard for their Christian love in making this possible and thus helping our efforts.
GREETINGS
We greet all of our readers and supporters on the approaching festal days of the Lord’s Nativity and Holy Theophany, and we hope that their celebration will fill your hearts and mind with the light of His Gospel to illumine you way throughout the Coming Year.
****************
PRACTICAL TIP
REMEMBER that in the Orthodox Christian understanding, each day begins liturgically the evening before with Vespers. “And the evening and the morning were the first day” - Genesis 1:5. It is an understanding which reaches right back to Old Testament times, and even to the beginning of creation, and has a very deep and important significance. This means that celebration of the feasts and of the Lord’s Day (Sunday) itself begins on the evening before. In church we have services marking this, Vespers or the Vigil Service, and a conscientious keeping of a feast or of one’s Sunday observance should include attending these services. If, as so often happens, for various reasons it is not possible to adhere to this practice strictly, one should at the very least keep that evening holy as part of the holy day. Especially is this the case if one is preparing to receive Holy Communion at the Liturgy. One should not attend parties or entertainments on those evenings, much less entertain oneself and thus tempt others away from their proper observance. Rather one should spend the evening quietly, and if unable to attend church, at least read the services or other spiritually profitable works, and not waste the evening or spend it in what our grandparents would have called “diversions.”
|
