On 11 August Abba Seraphim was pleased to welcome to lunch at the Church Secretariat, Father Habton Ftuwi, priest of the Medhane Alem Eritrean Tewahdo Church of Greater Manchester. Father Habtom was ordained priest by Abba Seraphim in November 2011. Father Habtom was able to report on the progress of his community and together they discussed the many issues facing the Eritrean community both at home and in the diaspora, with both expressing profound distress at the plight of so many Eritrean Asylum seekers. Abba Seraphim also asked Fr. Habtom to convey his hearty congratulations to his wife on her recent graduation with a B.Sc. Hons in Dental Technology. Father Habtom is also engaged in translating liturgical and other church texts and is making studies of ancient Ethiopic manuscript collections in the British Library.