Father Simon conducted the funeral of Bridget McConnachie in Slough on Tuesday 17th June. “The Lord is my shepherd” for the psalm was one of Bridget’s own choices for her funeral service, in the planning of which she had taken an active part. Indeed she had written a poem especially for the occasion, “This is the time to say goodbye” reflecting her love of family and her Orthodox Christian Faith.

This is the time to say goodbye
To everyone I’ve known
Don’t cry or weep or shed a tear
Because I’m going home

My family are so special to me
I’ve loved you throughout the years
You’ve brought me joy and sorrow
And oh so many fears

Looking back over the years I’ve had
To childhood and beyond
The memories come thick and fast
Like ripples in a pond

I have been a daughter, a wife, a mum
A grandmother filled with pride
The love that brings is awesome too
And oh the tears I’ve cried

I loved our church so tucked away
It brings me peace and love
The incense, the icons, the absolute awe
All sent from God above

The lord saw fit in my closing years
To teach me the Orthodox way
To learn much more about fearing God
And telling me how to pray

If it wasn’t for faith I’d be scared to die
But I’m not as it isn’t the end
It’s the beginning of life everlasting
As these days are only on lend

Our time in this life is all too short
Make the most of it while you can
Be happy and show your love to all
Whether woman, child or man

The British Orthodox Church was also represented by Tasony Sheila Smyth (Bournemouth and Portsmouth) and by Bridget’s close friend Mary Goodchild (Southampton Mission). Bridget’s earthly remains are to be interred in Bournemouth and it is also planned to add, in her memory, an icon of Saint Bridget to the growing number of icons of British saints adorning the Church of Christ the Saviour, Bournemouth, “our church so tucked away” that brought Bridget such “peace and love” and “absolute awe”.

BRIDGET McCONNACHIE
4th November 1941 – 9th June 2014
Memory Eternal !

As in previous years, clergy and laity of the British Orthodox Church joined the annual Anglican Pilgrimage to Glastonbury, on 21 June. By tradition an Orthodox liturgy is generally celebrated in St. Mary’s Chapel (the Undercroft) on the morning of the pilgrimage, by Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox in alternate years.

Abba Seraphim was this year’s celebrant, but as an archaeological dig in the Undercroft was over-running schedule, the Liturgy of Saint James was celebrated in the adjacent St. Patrick’s Chapel. Assisting Abba Seraphim were Father Simon Smyth, Deacon Daniel Malyon and Subdeacons Paul Ashdown, Anthony-Paul Holland and Trevor Maskery. Abba Seraphim and his clergy later attended the Anglican Eucharist and afterwards joined the Procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the Abbey. The principal celebrant was The Right Rev’d Bishop Roger Jupp, Chairman of the Glastonbury Pilgrimage Association, who warmly welcomed Abba Seraphim and his people, and the sermon was preached by The Right Rev’d Jonathan Goodall, Bishop of Ebbsfleet, who also attended the Liturgy of Saint James.  The day was further blessed by especially clement weather.

On 16 & 17 June, Abba Seraphim attended the 26th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. This is organised under the auspices of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. On 17 June he was one of a panel of witnesses who spoke at an NGO meeting on “Human Rights in Eritrea: The Impact of Gross Human Rights Violations on Vulnerable Groups within Eritrean Society.” Abba Seraphim specifically addressed the topic of Religious Persecution in Eritrea. This was sponsored jointly by Amnesty International, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Human Rights Watch, the East & All of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Human Rights Concern Eritrea, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) and Civicus (World Alliance for Citizen Participation) and moderated by Matthew Jones of CSW.

In addition to representatives of various governments and others involved in human rights, there was also present Ms. Sheila B. Keetharuth, the first Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Eritrea, who was appointed in October 2012 and is currently presenting her second damning report.

In his address Abba Seraphim recounted his close involvement with the Eritrean Church in the diaspora over two decades and the steady increase in government interference in the affairs of the Orthodox Church, culminating in the uncanonical deposition of Patriarch Antonios in 2007. He traced the efforts of the Asmara government to divide and control the church communities in the diaspora and spoke of the principled support given by the late Pope Shenouda and the courage of Bishop Makarios and the priests who remained loyal to their Patriarch. Referring to the recent pastoral letter, “Where is your Brother” issued by the four Catholic bishops of Eritrea, Abba Seraphim said, “One cannot but admire the integrity of the Catholic bishops, who at great personal risk have spoken honestly about the situation in their country. Any hope that the Orthodox Church would respond in a comparable way was lost when Patriarch Antonios was silenced and the Holy Synod became a subservient mouthpiece of government policy. As the most high-profile victim of state oppression, Patriarch Antonios’s continued imprisonment and enforced silence are in fact eloquent testimony against tyranny and injustice. Yet for all his symbolic importance this mild old-man, in indifferent health, has been held unjustly in detention now for more than seven years – as have so many others – and the responsibility for this wilful oppression and other atrocities can be clearly attributed to the Eritrean government. If civilised people fail to condemn such actions and to work for humanitarian relief of its victims, they too share in the complicity of the oppressors. “

On 14 June at St. George-in-the-East, Shadwell, Abba Seraphim tonsured Christopher Shaw of Sunbury-on-Thames and ordained him as a Reader to serve the BOC Windsor Mission. In his homily Abba Seraphim spoke of the Ascension Gifts of Christ and singled out the diaconate and the lesser orders which derive from it, as representing the diakonia of the Church in which all Christians are, to some measure, called to participate. “The apostle Paul makes it clear that these Ascension gifts of Christ are not given to individuals for their personal use but for the “building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” In other words, they are for the collective benefit of the people of God.  He expressed the hope that Christopher, soon to be a Reader in the House of God, would be faithful to his name, bearing Christ to all whom he meets, so that he may receive God’s mercy along with all those who have pleased God from the beginning.  Assisting Abba Seraphim in the ordination were Father Peter Farrington, who presented Christopher and  Deacon Daniel Malyon, who read the Charge after the ordination.

On Wednesday 11th June, Deacon Daniel spoke at Winchester University as part of the University’s Religious and Theological Studies Postgraduate Seminar. As a former student of the University’s Mth Orthodox Studies programme, he accepted the opportunity to present his research. The subject of his talk was ‘The development of the Papal Election system in the Coptic Orthodox Church,’ looking at the various influences which have influenced this system over the past two thousand years. The talk was well received and led to interesting discussions and observations on the Coptic Canonical tradition. Amongst other speakers were doctoral students and Father Nicholas Spencer of the Benedictine order, who spoke on the influence of Eastern Christian Mystical Theology on Medieval Western Christian thought. After the Seminar, the Orthodox students were invited for the Vespers service by Fr Andreas Andreopoulous of the Romanian Orthodox Church. This was followed by an address on ‘Ethics and Empathy’ by Lord Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury.