Dear Sons and Daughters of Our Parish,

On the instructions of our beloved Metropolitan Silouan our church is to be closed for public services. You can see Metropolitan Silouan's instructions to the clergy below.

Much Love,

Fr. George.

The directions from the Archbishop for January 

 

Dear in Christ fathers of this Archdiocese,

 

God bless.

 

 

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

 

I hope you and your family and your parish are well.

As you know from the newspapers, deaths are now running at nearly 1,000 a day with almost 56,000 cases in the last 24 hours. Over the next seven days, this may get much worse because of all the gatherings that took place here over Christmas and New Year. The government is now changing its policy about opening all the schools next week, and the vaccinations have only just started. The scientists tell us that we will probably be in full lockdown until April at the earliest. Two-thirds of the country is already in this level of lockdown, and the remaining third will almost certainly follow in the next two weeks.

With all these severe factors in mind it is vitally essential, please, that the Churches remain closed until the rates of infection, hospitalisations and deaths are significantly reduced. The new strain of the virus, which is much more contagious, is responsible for this worsening situation. “Let us commend ourselves and each other to Christ our God that our souls may be saved”.

I direct for all parishes and communities throughout our Archdiocese:

 

1. If the church is in Tier 1 or Tier 2, you may open the church for the public but take the usual precautions.

2. If the church is in Tier 3 or Tier 4, you must not open the church for the public, but you may privately serve the Liturgy with only one server and only one chanter and stream it online if possible.

3. Anything above Tier 4, you must not open the church, but you may serve the Liturgy from your home and stream it online if possible.

This directive from me remains in force for the entirety of January 2021.  I will announce our Archdiocese’s policy for February in due time.

I know that you are praying for this pandemic to end, but I would like to organise something for the whole Archdiocese. We shall, altogether, pray a Paraklesis Service to the Mother of God: I suggest once a week on Wednesdays at 7 pm London time. You could pray alone or with the parishioners online. So altogether in the Archdiocese we will pray to God, like the three Holy Youths as though from one mouth, to end this pandemic.

You can see, attached to this email, a Paraklesis service in traditional English.*

Your prayers!

I remain your father in Christ,

+Silouan

(*Note from the editor: if you have not received the email detailing the Paraklesis please let either Fr George or myself know and we will forward a copy to you. James [This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.])

 

PLEASE PRAY WITH ME. 

As we continue this period of lockdown I would like all of you to join with me each evening in your own homes, at 10pm, to say the short prayer rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov for our troubled world. 

If you are unable to say the rule at this time because of work or other commitments, then simply say it when you can. The saying is the most important thing. 

The Short Rule. 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 

(To be said three times in honour of the Trinity) 

Hail Mary! Full of grace, the Lord is with Thee, O Virgin Mother of God: blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, for Thou hast borne the Saviour of our souls. 

(To be said three times) 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. 

And in One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten, begotten of the Father before all worlds; Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation , came down from heaven; and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate and suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again according to scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. 

And I believe in the Holy Spirit the Lord and Giver of life who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. 

And I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. 

Much Love, 

Fr. George.

Welcome

Welcome to our website which we hope will be of interest or a source of information to you. Ours is a parish of the Antiochian Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, which is in communion with all the canonical Orthodox Churches and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In line with Orthodox practice, our services are in the language of the people; in our case, English, Orthodox visitors of other backgrounds saying the Lord's Prayer in their native tongue. 

The Orthodox Church lies in a tradition that goes back in an unbroken line to the Church of the Apostles and the earthly life of Christ Himself. We are often portayed as a very conservative church but this is a matter of faith and history; one cannot change the truth to fit into a very fleeting, passing, timescale when viewed with the eternity of God and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

In our church you will see many icons of Christ, the Mother of God and many saints and sacred events; a feature of Orthodoxy that proclaims the Incarnation of our Lord and God Jesus Christ and are often referred to as "windows into heaven". The priestly vestments are very beautiful; not for the glorification of the clergy but for the glory of sinful humanity transformed by the Grace of God. The Divine Liturgy is the principal service, when the faithful may receive the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Incense is used in all our services and permeates the fabric of the church itself. Thus we have a church that is internally very beautiful visually, has the aroma of sanctity and our ears are filled with beautiful music (Just human voices: instruments are not allowed). In some way the church building reflects the glory of Heaven and a place fitting for God.

Anyone may come to our church to "have a look" and you are assured of a warm welcome. Do not worry about how to act or what to do; just let the experience take care of itself. If you need any information about any aspect of our church or the Orthodox Church in general, do not hesitate to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Fr. George (Evans), Parish Priest.

Fr George's Letter for January

The virtues build a new person radiating love to the world.”

(Metropolitan Paul (Yazigi) of Aleppo who consecrated our temple.)

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was  in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16.

“WHO IS THE THEOLOGIAN?

In answer to this challenging and hard question, I would like to tell you first the following story. Three students from the Theological School of Thessaloniki visited Mount Athos, seeking to see a monk. After welcoming them, the monk asked them: “Who are you?” And they replied: “We are theologians.” Astonished, he asked them again:  “I know that there are three Theologians in the Church. Do we now have six?”............... (Metropolitan Paul (Yazigi) of Aleppo 17^th January 2013. The three Theologians of the Orthodox Church are St. John the Evangelist, St. Gregory Nazianzus and St, Symeon the New Theologian.)

SUNDAY  10^th JANUARY. 31st  SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. Sunday after the Theophany. Afterfeast of Theophany. St Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa (circa 395), and his wife, St Theosevia the Deaconess (385). St Marcian, Presbyter, of Constantinople (5^th). St Dometian, Bishop of Melitene (601). St Paul, Abbot of Obnora  (Vologda 1429). St Antipas the Hesychast (Romania 1882). Bishop Theophan the Recluse (Russia)1894).

Today’s Gospel Reading: Matthew 4:12-17. "Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.

And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

"The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

By way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles.

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,

And upon those who sat in the regions and shadow of death

Light has dawned."

From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand."  

In today’s Gospel we have the prophetic fulfillment of Isaiah. For us “Galilee of the Gentiles” and “Light has dawned” are all important. Christ goes to Galilee “of the Gentiles” or rather comes to us to bring us the Light that “...has dawned” on us. This Light that comes to us shone in Galilee and little by little spread over the entire earth and gives hope and light in the darkness of the world. We feel that we are in a dark place at the moment because of the pandemic that has blighted all our lives. Let us not forget that while we are all pre-occupied with this, wars still rage with innocents being killed and maimed, children and adults are dying of hunger, people are persecuted for their faith and powerful and greedy human beings still exploit the weak and needy. The Light of Christ shines in all these places and the Church should be there to carry it wherever we go.

Sometimes it becomes evident that we are more interested in church politics or ritual or ceremonial and feeling the need to be doing something. We always have to be “doing” which makes us feel that we are actually achieving something when in reality we are merely boosting our own egos and building a wall to surround ourselves with. Let us not forget the strong walls of Jericho which came tumbling down at the blast of trumpets!!

As the psalmist says “Be still, and know that I am God;....” Psalm 46:10. Being still does not mean doing nothing or becoming lazy. It means to be untroubled or undisturbed by what goes on around us but trusting in the love of God for all of His creation. Many of the Church Fathers place great importance on stillness. So in the midst of all of this let us try and be still instead of rushing around and trying to fill our lives with pointless activity. Be still so that all around us may hear the ”....still small voice...” of God.

Much Love,

Fr. George.

PS: Please let us know of you need Holy Water from Theophany as I don’t think we can distribute this from church at the moment.