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No. 099 February 2015
The Orthodox Parish of the Holy and LifeGiving Cross,
Lancaster, U.K.
The Stavroniana monthly magazine & newsletter published by the 'Holy Cross Synodia'
The Parish of the Holy and LifeGiving Cross,belongs to the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland.
The Patriarchate of Antioch is third senior of the Orthodox Churches.The Patriarch is His Beatitude John X.
The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch(Acts 11:26)
ACTIVE STILLNESS
I find myself yet again travelling on thetrain from Lancaster to London and back;twice in the space of four days at theresponse of invitations. However, thedaily commute for many to the City is amatter of necessity in order to work andearn their living. Often crowded like“sardines in a tin” the train journeybecomes a matter of accepting the dualburden of loss of time and lack ofcomfort. Some use their time profitably to“prep” their work on the lap top, balancecups of coffee and peruse the newspapers.For those who travel offpeak and avoidthe “rush hour,” such journeys can bemore leisurely, affording opportunities tocatch up on sleep, to read or to meetpeople who join the train on the way.
So I am moving on this train at aspeed of 150+ kph and yet I am sittingperfectly still viewing the passingcountryside. This passive movement isboth a paradox and a metaphor. True Ihad to make the effort of acquiring theticket, getting to the station at the righttime and finding the correct platform andtrain but then I am moved inexorably tomy place of destination. In a similar waythe Holy Liturgy and indeed our Christianlife is a journey in which, at the invitationof our heavenly Father we join Christ andthrough the abiding presence of the HolySpirit are moved ever nearer to theKingdom of Heaven. John 14:6; Jesus saidto him, “I am the way, the truth, and thelife. No one comes to the Father exceptthrough Me.
We need to respond with commitment to this invitation and when do wefind that the synergy of our will inresponse to God’s grace is a beautifulmovement. Faith like our salvation is notstatic, it has a dynamic which moves us atcertain times with great speed of direction and at others gradually and with
such subtlety as not to be perceived byourselves. Such active stillness is theopposite of anxious business which seeksfor distractions, like the man who runsfrom the last carriage of the train to thefirst in the vain belief that he will be athis destination the sooner. There may beinterruptions and delays to our progressbut this is where we grow in patience.Even the anonymous strange and strainedsilence of the metro commute can betransformed into an opportunity for prayer and an adventure of new encounterswith fellow travellers.
Fr Jonathan
Prayer of the Optina Fathers
O Lord, grant that I may greet the comingday in peace. Help me to rely upon yourholy will at every moment. In every hourof the day, reveal your will to me. Blessmy association with all who surround me.Teach me to treat whatever may happenwith peace of soul and with firmconviction that your will governs all. Inall my deeds and words, guide mythoughts and feelings. In unforeseenevents, let me not forget that all are sentby You. Teach me to act firmly and wiselywithout embittering and embarrassingothers. Give me strength to bear thefatigue of the coming day with all that itshall bring. Direct my will. Teach me topray. Pray Yourself in me. Amen.
Meteora Monasteries, Greece
TALES FROM GREECE 2014
Meteora: I was walking from VarlaamMonastery to Roussanou early onemorning. I had dashed out to catch theonly bus of the day to the mountainmonasteries. As I was walking along,about halfway to Roussanou, there by theroadside was a loaf of bread. I had noteaten breakfast and so I was hungryenough to stop and examine it. Was thissome dry, rejected prosphora left out forthe birds? No! There in my hands was aperfectly baked fresh loaf of bread. Ibroke it, pulled out some big handfuls ofpure white crumbs and ate them untilonly the crust remained.
I know of noone who would stop toleave a freshly baked loaf halfway up amountain, only that it must have been leftthere that very morning and was notmore than a few hours old at the most! Iwent on my way to Roussanou praisingand thanking God that He has providedprecisely what I needed exactly whereand when I needed it!
post script As I was sitting in the morning sunshineeating my bread, I meditated upon thelife of St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (whoseicon we venerate at Holy Cross). One dayhe was walking in a remote place. “Whereshall we find food” asked his student.“Trust in the Lord” was Cuthbert's answerto the young monk. Just then an eaglecircling overhead dropped a salmon at theholy bishop's feet. The young monkeagerly wanted to keep and eat all thisfish, but St. Cuthbert insisted they givehalf back to the noble fisherman whocaught it. I remembered these things andalso how close the saint was to my patronSaint Aidan; and scattered the crusts ofmy new found loaf to the little birds inthe hollyoaks.
cf: Matthew 6: 1934 Bibliography: Adam, D (1993) Fire of the North, the illustrated life of St Cuthbert
Aidan WearingLancaster
THE DIVINE ODYSSEY
Some of the faithful were reflecting aftera Holy Liturgy on holy places that wehave visited. We thought how good itwould be if we could go, as a Parish, toCephalonia and Ithaca, Greece, thissummer. We have connections there notonly Old Stavronians who could offer usaccommodation but Pater TheodosiosDendrinos on Ithaca who has invited usto go back and who years ago entrustedus with the divine commission totranslate the book about St Joachim ofVatopaedi and Ithaca through anotherprovidential connection with an OldStavronian in Cyprus.
It was some years between oursynodia undertaking this holy task intranslating the book on Saint Joachim in2007 and my visit in 2014. I came acrosssome lines by the Greek poet C. P. Cavafyentitled Ithake (Ithaca). They have acertain resonance to my own journeythere. The purpose of our odyssey asChristians is not to accumulate earthlywealth, experiences and treasures butheavenly ones in our pilgrimage of faith.
One way we do this is by visiting theplaces where the saints have trod, havelived, have written, have proclaimed thetruth of the Gospel, have prayed, havebeen martyred for their faith in Christand by venerating their Holy Spirit filledrelics. We should also visit the monasteries which are power houses of prayerand light houses for those sailing throughstormy waters. This of course should start
at home by recovering and uncoveringour own saints and visiting those placesof our own British Orthodox: “When theChurch in the British Isles begins tovenerate her own Saints then the Churchwill grow.”St Arsenios of Paros ( 1877)✝but it should not end there because, as weproclaim on the Sunday of Orthodoxy:This is the Faith of the Apostles, this is theFaith of the Fathers, this is the Faith of theOrthodox, this is the Faith which hasestablished the Universe.
It should be our joy to make it ourlife task to visit the places throughout theworld associated with the Saints of God. Iremember many years ago at an earlymeeting of our clergy the advice ofArchimandrite Athanasios Ledwich (nowof blessed memory) to soak yourselves inthe spirit of Orthodoxy. This is no lessthan a movement to Paradise it is nomuseum crawl or historical visit it is aLifeenhancing walk with Christ who isthe Way with his chosen containers ofsalvation connecting the Church on earthwith the Church in Heaven. Keep Ithaca always in your mind. Arriving there is what you are destined for. But do not hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you are old by the time you reach the island,wealthy with all you have gained on the way, not expecting Ithaca to make you rich. Ithaca gave you the marvellous journey. Without her you would not have set out. She has nothing left to give you now...
Well perhaps she has! Fr. Jonathan
NAMES OF DEPARTED LOVED ONES TO BE REMEMBERED THIS MONTH
Feb. 21: Pisistratos
Please send us the names of your departed loved ones and date of their departure in order for them to be remembered.
PARISH NEWS
We wish to wholeheartedly thank theanonymous donor who has given £200 tothe Parish; may God grant His blessing inreturn for this generous gift! We alsothank Aidan Wearing for cleaning andrestoring our candle stand for the HolyTable! :)
OLD STAVRONIAN CORNER
We extend our thanks to Maria Verrafrom Athens, Greece, who sent us incenseand floating wicks. Eftychia Schini fromCyprus, sends her greetings to the Community along with Christos Vasilopoulosfrom Kozani, Greece, who also sends hisgreetings.
Konstantinos Voutzoulides fromPatmos, Greece, has been to the HolyMountain and along with his greetings hesends a few photos of his pilgrimage; hisletter is included below:
Dear Father,
How are you these days? How's the Parish?We're still enjoying the winter here. I just
came back from my yearly pilgrimage toMt Athos where I stayed for 7 days. I'msending you some pictures from there.
I initially visited the Holy Mountainfor the Feast of St Simon, the founder ofSimonos Petra Monastery. I then visited theMonastery of Agios Pavlos and Koutloumousi, where I had the Blessing to visit StPaisios' Hut just a day before his Sainthoodwas officially declared! Megisti Lavrafollowed, where we stayed for 2 days andAgia Anna's Skete, where we had thechance to walk to the Katounakia area andvisit several Huts such as the Thomades,Danielei, the Cave of Sts Dionysios andMitrophanes and others. Lastly I visited theDionysiou Monastery.
Thank you very much again for yourtime and prayers for us! Kissing your righthand and asking for your Blessing,
Konstantinos
MAJOR CELEBRATIONS THISMONTH
1 st Feb: Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee: Triodion Begins Today; St Bridget of Kildare ( 525)✝2 nd Feb: The Meeting of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Temple3 rd Feb: St Nicholas, Archbishop & Enlightener of Japan10 th Feb: Hieromartyr Charalampus18 th Feb: St Colman ( 675)✝22 nd Feb: Forgiveness Sunday23 rd Feb: Clean Monday; St Polycarp the Holy Martyr & Bishop of Smyrna24 th Feb: First & Second Finding of the Venerable Head of John the Baptist26 th Feb: St Photine, the Samaritan woman
For the lives of Saints please visit theCalendar of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America: www.calendar.goarch.org
Services during February*Sat. 14th 10:00 am Holy Liturgy in R.C.Sat. 21st 10:00 am Holy Liturgy in R.C.Fri. 27th 6:30 pm Akathist to the Theotokos in R.C.Sat. 28th 10:00 am Holy Liturgy in Q.R. followed by Parish lunch
*Help setting up the church is greatly appreciated and starts from 9.15 a.m.
“God cares for everyone. Despair is in effect a lack of faith”
St. George Karslides
For further information please contact:
Father Jonathan Hemmings67 Sibsey Str., Fairfield, Lancaster, LA1 5DQTel: +44 1524 840759, +44 1524 580600
Email: [email protected]lancaster.org.ukwww.antiochianorthodox.co.uk
Top and bottom sketches are created at the Holy Monastery of “The Annunciation of the Theotokos” Chios, Greece, courtesy of Fr Theodosios Dendrinos, Ithaca, Greece. The sketch of Christ by Photis Kontoglou was scanned from the Orthodox calendar of the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece.