St. Mary’s Feast, the Feast of the Assumption, was celebrated by the British Orthodox Bristol community on Sunday, 9 August. In his sermon Father Simon addressed three points:

Firstly, the typical evangelical protestant response or demand to show or prove this matter from the Bible. Whilst noting that there were hints and parallels that could be drawn out of the scriptures Father Simon freely acknowledged that there was indeed no plain and explicit text in support of this belief but was not in the least perturbed by this as the source of the Orthodox Christian Faith is not the Bible but Tradition, the Apostolic Faith that has been passed onto us from the early Church and the belief in the assumption of the body of Saint Mary the Mother of God into heaven is part of that Tradition, that Faith.  The Bible is, of course, part of that Tradition but is not the whole of it which includes as well as the Holy Scriptures, the writings of the Fathers, the Councils and Creeds, iconography and liturgy; it being in all of these together that we encounter the Orthodox Christian Faith.

Secondly the sermon considered the place of Saint Mary in the Church, that she is at the heart of the Church, noting from the closing verses of the Praxis reading her presence “in one accord” with the Apostles.  Whilst accepting, due to time constraints, the words of the Pauline epistle (Hebrews 9:1-5) that in the sermon “we cannot now speak particularly” or in detail of these matters, Father Simon nonetheless touched on Saint Mary’s relationship (as fulfilment, as true Ark) with the Ark of the Covenant.  Within the Ark was “Aaron’s rod that budded…the tables of the covenant” and a pot of manna, the heavenly bread by which the Children of Israel were fed in their wilderness wanderings – and within Saint Mary, having conceived without human seed,  was the true Bread from Heaven, even the Word of God.  As for her being esteemed and revered or venerated in the Church, then, yes, of course she is, even as God has declared that one who honours Him, He will honour and if she (even as other saints)  is not honoured in the Church then she is certainly not going to be honoured by the world!

Thirdly and finally the sermon emphasised that in celebrating the feasts of Saint Mary that we are celebrating aspects of our own salvation too.  We, like her, are to hear the word of God and keep it, to obey His Will, to be filled with grace, to be blessed – that being the way, even like her, to enter into eternal, heavenly glory.

The British Orthodox Bristol Community, under the patronage of Saint Cyril the Great, meets in the Anglican Church of Saint Peter, Filton (a Church with long standing family connections for Father Simon).  Following the Liturgy Father Simon and Tasony Sheila remained at the Church, joining with the Anglican congregation in their short service of Compline that evening.  In thanks and appreciation for their kind hospitality in allowing us to worship in their Church building shortly before the start of the service Father Simon presented the Reverend Elspeth Desmond, curate at Saint Peter’s, with a copy icon of an Ethiopian original of Saint Mary in the British Orthodox Church of Christ the Saviour, Bournemouth.

Instead of their usual meditation during Compline, Father Simon was invited to speak briefly about the icon, so he drew attention to a few points: the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, the latter presenting Saint Mary a lily, a symbol of her purity, two of the monks from Syria who had brought the Faith to Ethiopia, each of them holding a Book of the Gospels, each book emblazoned with a cross, the heart of the Faith, the heart of the Gospel; then there was an Ethiopian hermit in the yellow robe typical of hermits in that land and blessing with a large wooden hand cross; there was Saint Stephen, protodeacon and protomartyr, in prayer, and there were priest and monk and a member of the congregation, one of the Faithful, between them all witnessing to the fullness of the Church and all gathered in the icon around the central figure of Saint Mary, at the heart of the Church, holding our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ in her arms.  Our Lord was holding the Book of the Gospels, again displaying a cross on its cover and with the Alpha and Omega thereon, witnessing to His eternal Godhead (Revelation 1:8) and thus to her as the Mother of God.

Following this brief explanation the congregation sat in silent contemplation before the icon for a few minutes.

The Reverend Elspeth thanked Father Simon for the gift which was appropriately timed for their own celebration of the Feast this coming weekend.

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.    

Abba Seraphim led a pilgrim group to Glastonbury. Under the expert guidance of Subdeacon Paul Ashdown, on 10 June the group were conducted on a very thorough tour of the archaeological and historical sites of the Abbey, after which they visited the Catholic Shrine of Our Lady of Glastonbury.  In the afternoon they climbed St. Michael’s Tor, where the refreshing winds compensated for the heat of the day. The following morning, 11 July, Abba Seraphim celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Undercroft of St. Mary’s Chapel in Glastonbury Abbey, assisted by  Father Simon Smyth, Deacon Anthony Holland and Subdeacons Paul Ashdown and Trevor-James Maskery. During the Liturgy, Dominic George was ordained as a Reader to serve the Bristol Mission. As the schedule for the Anglican celebration of the Pilgrimage had been changed from previous years and because he needed to return to London, Abba Seraphim was not able to attend the Anglican Eucharist in the afternoon, but sent Deacon Anthony and Subdeacon Paul to represent him, bearing one of the prosphoras from the morning Liturgy as a sign of fellowship. 

Following the one adult, two children and two babies, all five female, baptised in the previous Portsmouth Liturgy twin boys Behaylizgi Kibron and Temesgen Kibron were baptised and chrismated in the Church of Saint Mary the Mother of God and Saint Moses the Black on Saturday 4^th July.  A packed congregation of around eighty witnessed and supported the baby boys and their family and enthusiastically welcomed them into membership of the Church, the Body of Christ.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy Father Simon gave two Ethiopian icons to the family, one for each boy.  One was of the Archangel Michael with his drawn sword standing over and protecting the suppliant who had sought his intervention.  Behind the archangel stood other angels.  This icon was for Temesgen whose name has meanings of fullness and reflected a desire that he might enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings with the archangel and all the heavenly host praying for him and watching over him.  Behaylizgi refers to the arm of God or strength of God.  The icon given for him was the crucifixion with our Lord hanging on the cross which when we learn to look at with Christian eyes we see not so much weakness in the death of Christ but the power and strength of God in overcoming and defeating death and the devil.  However apparently contradictory to one who does not believe in Christ, to a Christian an icon of the crucifixion is as much a declaration of the strength and power of God as is an icon of the resurrection.  This is reflected in one of the many Old Testament readings from Good Friday (from Isaiah) speaking of our Saviour’s clothing being red like one who had trodden the wine grapes and being stained with blood and how of the people none was with Him, none to help therefore His own arm brought salvation.  Father Simon’s explanation for the choice of the icons was clearly valued.

Following the Divine Liturgy Father Simon and Tasony Sheila Smyth together with Deacon Antony Holland were all invited to a celebration of this joyous occasion at which they were all three made extremely welcome and where they enjoyed generous helpings of traditional Ethiopian food.

For some time Father Peter has been conducting an energetic missionary ministry to support those seeking to learn more about Orthodoxy, especially centred on missions in Stoke-on-Trent, Swindon and Windsor. He has also served in Egypt and the Diocese of Milan. Having expressed the conviction that his future ministry should now be within the wider Coptic Church, he has requested to be released into the direct jurisdiction and care of His Holiness Pope Tawadros and to be obedient to His Holiness in regard to his future service. Accordingly Abba Seraphim signed a canonical release dated 3 July and commended Father Peter to the oversight of H.H. The Pope.