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News from the British Orthodox Church
Abba Seraphim at Eritrean Embassy
On 7 July, accompanied by Father Sergius Scott and Yohannes Sibhatu, Abba
Seraphim was received at the Eritrean Embassy in London by His Excellency Negassi
Sengal, Ambassador of the State of Eritrea to the United Kingdom and the Republic
of Ireland , where they were able to discuss a number of issues of mutual interest.
Glastonbury Pilgrimage
At the invitation of Bishop David Silk, Chairman of the Glastonbury Pilgrimage
Association, Abba Seraphim, accompanied by Fathers Martin Lee and Simon Smyth,
with Subdeacon Paul Ashdown, attended the 80 th annual Glastonbury Pilgrimage
on 10 July as an official guest. They were accommodated in the former sanctuary
of the ruined Abbey during the outdoor concelebration of Mass by the traditionalist
Anglican bishops and, following lunch, participated in the procession of witness
through the town which proceeded Vespers. Abba Seraphim in Istanbul
Accompanied by Archimandrite Deiniol of the Wales Orthodox Mission, Abba
Seraphim visited Istanbul from 4-11 August as the guest of His Beatitude Patriarch
Mesrob II, Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul. On 5 August they attended an Ecumenical
Service at St. Gregory the Illuminator's Church on the island of Kinali (Proti)
to pray for peace in Iraq in the face of escalating violence. After entertaining
the church representatives to dinner, a concert was held in the church grounds,
followed by a show of slides related to the situation in Iraq , and prayers
for peace in many languages at which Patriarch Mesrob presided. On 6 August Abba Seraphim and Father Deiniol attended the Divine Liturgy
for the Feast of the Transfiguration celebrated at the Monastery of the Transfiguration
by His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomaeous, the Ecumenical Patriarch, after
which they joined the Patriarch and Metropolitan Iakovos of the Princes Islands
for lunch. This was followed by an entertainment by the Greek Orthodox youth. On 7 August Abba Seraphim and Father Deiniol travelled with Patriarch Mesrob
to the Armenian Orthodox Church in Ferikoy where His Beatitude inaugurated
the restored altar of St. John the Baptist and everyone was entertained to
tea by the parish council. On 9 August Abba Seraphim and Father Deiniol visited
the Greek Orthodox College on Halki, where they were conducted around the building
and the library by Hierodeacon Dorotheos and entertained to lunch. On 10 August
they visited several historic sites in the old city and stayed overnight at
the Armenian Patriarchate in Kumkapi before flying back to London early on
11 August. Clergy Conference at Walsingham
Abba Seraphim presided at a clergy conference held at the Shrine of Our Lady
of Walsingham in Norfolk on 19-20 August. The purpose of the meeting was to
review the past decade and plan for the future and it was generally agreed
that the conference was characterised by a firm spirit of unity.
Funeral of David Melling
Abba Seraphim attended the funeral and burial of David
John Melling (1943-2004) at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation
of God at Salford , Manchester , on 28 September 2004 , where His Eminence
Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira presided. Speaking afterwards, Abba Seraphim
praised the indefatigable work of David Melling, who not only worked tirelessly
to make the Orthodox faith and tradition accessible to British people, but
was also an energetic and zealous worker for the Greek community in Manchester
, among whom he was greatly loved and respected. “He was also a firm friend
to the Coptic Orthodox Church as well as other Oriental Orthodox communities
and he did much to give practical support to the implementation of the dialogue
between the two families. With his own deep commitment to Orthodoxy as well
as his expert knowledge and understanding of non-Christian faiths he promoted
deep affection and mutual respect where, sadly, suspicion and hostility too
often result.”Centenary observed
On 7 October 1904 Bishop Julius Ferrette, the first bishop of the British
Orthodox Church, died in Geneva aged 76 years. He was consecrated as Bishop
of Iona and its dependencies in 1866 at Homs , in modern Syria , by Mutran
Butros, who as Mor Ignatius Peter IV was Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch
1872-1894. Commemorative prayers were said throughout the British Orthodox
Church. Abba Seraphim in Languedoc
At the invitation of Father Elias-Patrick Leroy, priest of the Sanctuaire
de Saint Elie at Montpeyroux, near Montpellier , Abba Seraphim visited Languedoc
and its neighbours from 3-10 November. Father Elias-Patrick is a priest of
the Metropolis of France (under His Eminence Abba Marcos) of the French Coptic
Orthodox Church, our sister metropolis in the West.
Arriving at Montpellier airport, where he was met by Father Elias-Patrick
and Subdeacon Alan de Quincy, he was driven to Father Elias-Patrick's home
where he was welcomed by Madame Leroy.
The next morning, 4 November, accompanied by Father
Elias-Patrick, Abba Seraphim visited the Cathedral and Cloister of Lodève, founded by St. Fulcran.
Later he was driven to Le Pouget, where he lunched with Alan & Madame
de Quincey in their home, which is built into the mediaeval city walls. In
the afternoon they visited the remains of an ancient Visigothic Church at
Lunas and saw the Lake of Salagou at sunset.
On
5 November, with Father Elias-Patrick & Madame
Leroy, they visited the Chateau de Margan, near Roujan, where the lunched
with the Comte and Comtesse de Margan. On the way back to Montpeyroux they
visited the shrine of Notre Dame de Grace at Gignac, where a shrine had
been erected in 1360 following the discovery of a miraculous statue of the
Virgin.
 On
6 November Fathedr Elias-Patrick and Abba Seraphim drove to Mont St. Bodille,
which is 849 km. above sea level, from which it is possible to see the
Gulf de Lion. Driving across the arid Plateau of Larzac they encountered
many hunters in search of wild boer. In the afternoon, accompanied by Alan & Madame
de Quincey, Abba Seraphim visited the ruins of a nineteenth century chapel
erected to mark the original settlement of St. Benoit at Aniane, before
visiting the historic church of St. Martin de Londres; the tiny, but beautifully
maintained church at Mas de Londres and the prehistoric village of Cambous.
On Sunday, 7 November, assisted by Father Elias-Patrick, Abba Seraphim celebrated
the Divine Liturgy at Montpeyroux, at the conclusion of which he presented
Father Elias-Patrick with a Coptic handcross to signify the fraternal relations
between the British and French metropolia. Abba Seraphim then lunched with
Dr. Yannik Rospars and his family at the ancient town of St. Guilhem le desert,
after which they visited the ancient abbey.
On 8 November, accompanied by Fr. Elias-Patrick and
Madame Leroy, they travelled into Pyrenees-Oriental to within eight miles
of the Spanish border to visit Arles sur Tech, an ancient shrine of two
Persian martyrs. After this they visited the nearby village Corsavi, where
a group of local enthusiasts have been engaged for the past 23 years in
renovating the twelfth-century church, St. Marti de Corsavi, abandoned
since 1500 and used as a cistern from 1870-1917. Encouraged by the local
mayor and with a team of committed enthusiasts, their efforts have been
impressive and archaeologically sensitive. Afterwards they were entertained
to lunch at the home of Colonel Jean-Pierre Vergès. Before returning
to Languedoc , they also visited another contemporary chapel, dedicated to
St. Peter, which had survived as a mortuary chapel for a local family.
On 9 November, accompanied by Father Elias-Patrick, Madame Leroy and Dr.
Rospars, Abba Seraphim visited the Camargue and the ancient church of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer,
traditionally the site where St. Mary Jacob and St. Mary Salome (accompanied
by their maid, Sara) arrived by boat. After lunch they visited the great Abbey
of St. Gilles, founded by a hermit of that name in the ninth century, where
they admired the carvings on the west front and venerated the saint's tomb
in the crypt.
On 10 November, accompanied by Father Elias-Patrick and Madame Leroy, Abba
Seraphim visited Montpellier and then the ancient island cathedral of Saint-Pierre
at Maguelone, which was the ancient episcopal see until 1536 when it was transferred
to Montpellier . Later that afternoon Abba Seraphim flew back to London . New Members at Babingley
On 31 October,
accompanied by Deacon Seraphim Ava Mina, Abba Seraphim visited St. Felix Church
at Babingley where he baptised and chrismated Martin Thomas Wiggins and Lynda
Frances Wiggins of Dersingham. A parish lunch followed at which both members
and friends attended.
Abba Seraphim supports campaign Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the British Orthodox
Church's “Law and Parliamentary Committee” Abba Seraphim praised the initiative
of the Barnabas Fund in launching a major campaign raising concerns about proposed
government legislation to ban incitement to religious hatred.
“It is not the responsibility of governments to legislate
in areas of religious belief and I have to say that I have no faith in this
administration not to use such laws to stifle legitimate dialogue and debate
between faiths. Such dialogue to be meaningful has to be open and frank.
A government with such a dismal record on political correctness will be tempted
to use the threat of prosecution as a means of blunting anything thought
likely to bruise religious sensibilities. Existing laws banning incitement
to racial violence and other religious aggravated crimes such as assault
and harassment already exist and, if properly employed, would be sufficient
to prevent extremists from inciting hatred between different faiths.
Like many other recent laws touching on religious and
moral sensibilities, this legislation has been incorporated slyly into a
bill dealing with wider issues of national security, in the hope that it
will receive little attention in itself. It is thanks to an alliance of vigilant
parliamentarians, concerned religious and secular bodies as well as organisations
like the Barnabas Fund, that this legislation is receiving proper attention.
Contradictory or ambiguous statements by government spokesmen have tended
to imply that the proposed laws would effectively serve as a blasphemy law,
protecting religious beliefs rather than believers. Whilst this is not what
the government is proposing, fear of litigation and aggressive rejoinders
simply alleging religious hatred, may well result in the creation of a “no-go” area
of religious debate and effectively impose an undesirable measure of censorship.
The fact that the government appears to have introduced
the proposed legislation following demands from certain vociferous parts
of the Muslim community, rather than pressure from faith groups generally,
raises serious concerns that this is intended as a political sop to a community
alienated by recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq . As Christians we
naturally respect other faiths, but there are occasions when – in unambiguously presenting the Christian teaching – we
may find ourselves clearly opposed to the teachings of another faith. The differences
between the Christian and the Islamic understanding of ‘martyrdom' or ‘apostasy'
are obvious examples of this divergence. The tendency of government sponsored ‘Faith'
dialogues is to neutralise serious colloquy and the resulting anodyne declarations
are both worthless in their blandness as well as disingenuous and positively
injurious to those living in less open societies than our own.”
New Treasurer Appointed
With effect from 1 January 2005 Andrew Chadwick will become the new treasurer
to the Church Trustees in succession to Subdeacon Peter Farrington, who has
faithfully discharged these duties since 2001. Snippets
On 19 July Abba Seraphim, accompanied by Andrew Chadwick,
Martha Mulugeta-Berihun and Vanessa Tinker, attended the opening of an
exhibition in the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre of the School of Oriental
and African Studies at the University of London entitled “The Indigenous
and the Foreign: Art and Architecture of 17 th Century Ethiopia.”
On 28 July, Deacon Simon, formerly of the Eritrean Orthodox Church in London
, but now living in Canada , visited the Church Secretariat at Charlton with
Father Yohannes Sibhatu, to greet Abba Seraphim and Father Sergius Scott.
Father Anthony Clements and Deacon Mark Saunders attended a clergy lunch
at the Coptic Centre at Stevenage and an address to the clergy by His Holiness
Pope Shenouda on 5 August, when he stopped in England en route to
the United States .
On 11 October, in the Chamberlain's Court at the Guildhall
in the City of London , Abba Seraphim, having taken the oath and signed
the register, was admitted as a Freeman of the City of London .
Abba Seraphim
made a private visit to Toronto from 18-24 October to undertake research
into various archive repositories there.
The annual dinner to mark the
anniversary of the birthday of the late Archdeacon James Goddard was
held in Greenwich on 29 October and a cheque for £200
sent to St. Christopher's Hospice at Sydenham.
On 22 November, during a brief
visit to London , His Grace Bishop Marcos of Massawa, accompanied
by Father Yohannes Sibhatu, visited the Church Secretariat to greet Abba
Seraphim Professor Robert Gribben of Melbourne lunched at the Church Secretariat
with Abba Seraphim and Father Sergius on 9 December. Forthcoming Events
Abba Seraphim will lead a group of church members on a visit to Egypt from
12-19 February.
Abba Seraphim will be accompanying the Eastern Christian Links Pilgrimage
to Turkey from 7-17 May.
The Fast of Nineveh will be 21-23 February; Great Lent starts on 7 March;
Palm Sunday is 24 April; Holy Pascha is 1 May and Pentecost is 19 June.
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