The Coptic Medical Society of the UK held a Spiritual Conference for Medical Personnel at the Frontier Centre, Wellingborough from 27 February-1 March, under the direction of Father Daoud Lamei of St. Mark’s Church, Heliopolis. The theme of the conference was “Doctors as missionaries of God”. Among others participating by invitation were Fr. Peter Farrington and Abba Seraphim.  Father Peter spoke on 27 February and 1 March about mission in the UK. There is a need to address the British people through their own language and culture; a great issue is the ignorance of Christianity as most people had not rejected Christ, they’d not heard of him. He also described some of the aspects of our society, and suggested people were trying to fill their lives with material things but thought it was positive that more than half the population wanted to call themselves Christian. He asked if we Orthodox are prepared to welcome all British people into our communities, making  the effort to present the Orthodox faith in a way that serves the British people, and believed that our mission requires us to work together to bear fruit.  As 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Abba Seraphim becoming Orthodox, he spoke about his personal pilgrimage over half a century and especially of the support the British Orthodox Church received from the late Pope Shenouda, before talking about the Gospel imperative to evangelise.

On 27 February, Abba Seraphim marked his sixty-seventh birthday by visiting and praying at the grave of his predecessor, the late Metropolitan Georgius of Glastonbury (1905-1979), it also being the eve of the thirty-sixth anniversary of his repose. Abba Seraphim recalled that three days before predecessor’s death he had celebrated the Liturgy in his presence, as after a minor stroke he was too frail to do so himself. It had been a very happy day for him as he had been surrounded by his flock but the next day he suffered a further fatal stroke and Abba Seraphim was with him when he reposed. He had served the church as Metropolitan for almost 35 years which, through the grace of God, Abba Seraphim had now exceeded.

Abba Seraphim called for prayers for the families of the twenty-one new Coptic martyrs in Libya, who were so brutally and publicly slaughtered by the Daesh extremists. “These workers from Egypt were murdered simply because they were Christians. They were innocents captured by cruel men, purporting to act in the name of religion, who showed neither mercy nor justice, and whose acts dishonour the very Creator they profess to serve.” In their deaths they showed impressive dignity, born of their faith, some even calling on the Lord with their last breath. They were the latest in an impressive line of martyrs stretching back to the earliest years of the church and their precious souls were now with a loving Saviour.

On 16 February Abba Seraphim was interviewed on the BBC News Channel about the Egyptian government’s bombing of Daesh positions in Libya. He stated that he found some encouragement in this as it demonstrated the present administrations much more positive line towards Christians. He welcomed the gestures by the President,  who last month had attended the Cathedral in Cairo for the Coptic Christmas celebrations and had now returned to offer his condolences to Pope Tawadros. The administration’s actions showed that they treated Christians and Muslims equally as Egyptians. There was none of the divisiveness of the former government and he took heart at this. Christians were free to worship now, unless they were attacked by extremists.

On 8 February at Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church in Bournemouth, Antony-Paul Holland of  Portsmouth , who has served as a subdeacon for the BOC South Coast communities in Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth since July 2012, was ordained to the Sacred Order of the Diaconate at the hands of Abba Seraphim. Clergy assisting at the ordination liturgy were Father Simon Smyth, Deacon Daniel Malyon and Subdeacon John Morgan.

Abba Seraphim preached on the apostolicity of the diaconal ministry and its importance in the Orthodox tradition. A buffet lunch reception for members of the three congregations followed Deacon Antony’s ordination. Before returning to London, Abba Seraphim called on Ken & Joyce Andrews at Throop, who are long-standing members of the Bournemouth congregation, in order to pray for Ken, who recently suffered a slight stroke, but is now making steady progress.

It was with sorrow that we learned of the death of Dr. Helmy Guirguis on 31 January, after an extended period of ill heath. Dr. Guirguis was a long-standing advocate of oppressed Coptic Christians and the founder of the UK Coptic Association, now known as UK Copts. Both Abba Seraphim and Dr. Guirguis served for a number of years as advisors to SAT7, the first satellite television channel specialising in Christian broadcasts to the Middle East, as well as working together to support Coptic Christians seeking asylum. Although a highly respected medical practitioner, he was committed to a wide range of religious charities, making a significant contribution of time, energy and personal resources, all of which he gave so generously. For many years he was one of the principal archons of the Coptic community in Birmingham and a devout supporter of the church. He was a man of firm conviction and the highest integrity and his passing is a great loss to the many religious and charitable bodies he actively supported.  Abba Seraphim regrets that he will be unable to attend the funeral at Lapworth on 7 February as he is celebrating the Divine Liturgy in Shadwell that morning, before travelling to Bournemouth in the afternoon. He will pray for Dr. Guirguis at the altar and has sent a floral tribute to the funeral inscribed to “A courageous and loyal friend to those in need.”