On 11 February Abba Seraphim visited the Portsmouth Parish of St. Mary & St. Moses the Black, which worships in St. Faith’s Church, Cresswell Street. There was a good attendance with representatives of the Bournemouth Parish and Southampton community and it proved a busy day, as prior to the Divine Liturgy Father Simon Smyth had baptised three children, whom Abba Seraphim welcomed into fellowship. On presenting them with neck crosses he reminded them of the importance of the cross as a witness to our faith and spoke of the ancient tradition among Copts and others of having their children tatooed with a cross on their wrists.

The congregation was also delighted to welcome Abba Seraphim’s mother, Joyce Edwards, who had accompanied him and is now fully recovered from her mini-stroke.  At the conclusion of the service they enjoyed a fellowship meal together provided by the family of the newly baptised children. After leaving the church Abba Seraphim went to inspect a local property which the parish is considering purchasing for their own use as they have been actively searching for suitable premises for some months.

Mrs. Joyce Edwards, Abba Seraphim’s mother, suffered a slight stroke during the early hours of 23 January. She contacted Abba Seraphim complaining of a numbness in her face and hand on the left side but otherwise had no other symptoms. Abba Seraphim accompanied her to Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Woolwich by ambulance first thing in the morning, where she was admitted for tests. Immediately after the Catholic-Oriental Orthodox Regional Forum book launch at Westminster, Abba Seraphim returned to the hospital, where his PA, Mr. Trevor Maskery, had been staying with her. The doctor’s diagnosed that she had suffered a slight stroke and arranged for her transfer to the Princess Royal University Hospital at Farnborough, Kent, which has a specialist Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU), which opened last year. It has a higher number of specialist stroke doctors and nurses than a normal unit and also provides the thrombolysis procedure to break down blood clots, as well as high-tech CT scanning equipment, and  treats more than 1,000 patients a year.

Joyce Edwards, who is in her 98th year is an active member of the British Orthodox Church and travelled to Babingley last Saturday for the Christian Unity Week of Prayer service. She still lives in her own flat near to Abba Seraphim in Charlton.