Abba Seraphim was able to join the Indian Orthodox Parish of St. Gregorios at Brockley, in south-east London, for the celebration of their patronal festival over the weekend of 4 & 5 November. The parish was also privileged to have visiting His Grace Yuhanon Mar Dioscorus, Bishop of Chennai (Madras), who presided at all the services. Abba Seraphim joined them for Saturday Evening Prayer after which there was a procession around the outside of the church. This was followed by “Divyarchana”, traditional Christian Folk Arts, in which both the choir and many of the younger members of the congreagation participated enthusiastically.

On Sunday morning, 6 November, Abba Seraphim concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Mar Dioscorus and the Indian Orthodox clergy. Also assisting was Father Haile Maskel Samuels of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. At the conclusion of the Liturgy Abba Seraphim gave a short address about the contemporary significance  of Saint Gregorios, and spoke of his own delight in having been a pilgrim to the saint’s shrine when he visited Paramula in 2010. This was followed by the “Raza”, the procession with crosses and umbrellas around the streets surrounding  the church.

In response to the deaths of two dozen and the wounding of very, very many of our beloved Coptic Orthodox brethren in Cairo on Sunday and the Holy Synod call for three days of fasting and prayer “so that the Lord dwells with His peace in our beloved country Egypt” the British Orthodox Church stood in firm solidarity with the Mother Church.

Members of the Portsmouth congregation kept the three days of fasting and prayer concluding with a special prayer service on Thursday evening during which these latest martyrs were remembered.

Similarly the Bournemouth and Southampton congregations observed the three days fasting and prayer.

The prayers in the Bournemouth Church each day centred around Sixth Hour (Noon) Prayers with the Gospel lesson from Matthew chapter 5 so appropriate: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… great is your reward in heaven…” (Matthew 5:10-12) Particular verses from the Psalms also resonated powerfully: “O God, in Thy Name save me… hearken unto my prayer… strangers are risen up against me, and mighty men have sought after my soul…” (Psalm 53) The words of Psalm 92 also remind us that though “the rivers have lifted up their voices” that though they “lift up their waves as the voices of many waters”, that whatever “the surgings of the sea”, above them all “wonderful on high is the Lord”. “The Lord is King, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength…”

The Southampton Mission under the patronage of Saint Polycarp similarly centred their prayers around the Sixth Hour Prayers.

The three days culminated in the Bournemouth Church (also joined and supported by members of the Southampton Mission) with Twelfth Hour (Evening) Prayer and special prayers for the Mother Church in Egypt as well as remembering the new martyrs. Father Simon led the congregation as they stood before icons of Saint Antony and Saint Paul, Saint Bishoy, Saint Moses the Black, asking their intercessions for the monasteries that bear their names and for all the monasteries and holy places. Standing in prayer before their icons the intercessions of Saint Mary the Mother of God and of Saint Mark were invoked for the whole Church in Egypt. These prayers concluded before the icon of Saint Simon the Tanner whose intercessions were also sought, this great saint whose prayers God had answered a thousand years ago after the three days of fasting and prayers in similar times of danger and trouble for the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Your Holiness, dear Father in God,

For the second time this year it is my melancholy duty to send to you the profound condolences of your British Orthodox clergy and faithful at the deaths of so many faithful Christians who were peacefully protesting against recent attacks on Coptic churches. We join wholeheartedly in the three days of prayer and fasting and share the grief and shock which the loss of so many innocent lives deserves.

We also extend our deep sympathy to the families and friends of all the departed as well as well as those who were injured in the vicious and unwarranted attacks which took place.

We earnestly pray for peace and justice in Egypt so that all sections of society may be united in rebuilding a free and fair society so that the people of Egypt may be united together in common cause for the benefit of all.

We thank God for preserving Your Holiness in health and safety to lead the church and ask Him to uphold you in your sacred ministry.

Commending myself to Your Holiness’s prayers.

Your loving and faithful son-in-Christ,

+Seraphim

Many people were killed and hundreds were injured in Cairo on Sunday, 9 October when police and armed forces fired tear gas and live ammunition at a peaceful march, beginning in the suburb of Shoubra, to protest at the recent destruction of St. George’s Coptic church in El Marinab, Aswan. This had taken place after Friday prayers on Friday, when the dome, walls and columns of the church were demolished and set on fire. In addition to drawing attention to the attack on the church in Aswan, the demonstrators were also requesting an effective conclusion to investigations into several sectarian attacks, and the passing of a new law governing the building of churches,

Members of the security forces surrounded and attacked the Cairo marchers as soon as they arrived at the state television station in Cairo’s Maspero suburb.  The marchers claimed that they were pelted by people within the TV station itself.  Most of the casualties suffered gunshot wounds.  Others victims were severely beaten.  However, several died or were seriously injured when members of the security forces deliberately drove at the 150,000-strong crowd in armoured vehicles.

In a worrying development, while the attack was underway, the security forces are reported to have forcibly closed at least two independent media sources, while state television broadcast statements inciting against “Coptic protesters”. These included claims that the security forces were protecting the TV station from “angry” Copts,  that the allegedly armed marchers had killed one officer and injured 20 others, that “foreign agendas” were at work, and a call for people to take to the streets in order to “protect” the army.   In a possible response to the latter, men in civilian clothing were later spotted amongst security personnel as they attacked protesters, and Cairo’s Coptic Hospital, which received most of the dead and injured, came under a two-hour attack by a group of men who approached the premises chanting “Islamiya, Islamiya”.

The next day, at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, chaired by Pope Shenouda III and attended by 70 metropolitans and bishops, the following statement was issued:

The Holy Synod was troubled by the incidents that happened yesterday, Sunday; the martyrdom of more than 24 Christians and the wounding of 200 during their peaceful march. 

While stressing our Christian faith rejecting violence in all its forms, we cannot neglect that strangers might infiltrate among our sons and commit mistakes that are attributed to the latter.

Still Copts see that their problems are consistently repeated without punishment or legal action against their aggressors or implementation of radical solutions to these problems. The Holy Synod invites the Coptic people to pray and fast for three days starting tomorrow Tuesday so that the Lord dwells with His peace in our beloved country Egypt.

In solidarity with the Mother Church in Egypt, His Eminence Abba Seraphim, has commended this spiritual discipline to members of the British Orthodox Church and asked that services of commemoration for those who lost their lives in Cairo should be held in all churches and missions. “Our hearts go out to all the friends and families of the departed as well as for the many injured. As Christians we deplore all violence and under the wise guidance of H.H. Pope Shenouda we have been taught that our protests must always be peaceful. The Church respects the authorities but also asks that justice and the rule of law should be upheld. Without that it becomes increasingly difficult to rebuild a society in which all people of faith can co-exist harmoniously to ensure the stability and unity for which all decent people long.”

Photo source: http://theorthodoxchurch.info/main/

Edmund John Sihua Humphreys received the Holy Mysteries of Baptism, Chrismation and Holy Communion on Sunday, 2 October to become the latest communicant member of the British Orthodox Parish of Saint Mary the Mother of God and Saint Moses the Black, Portsmouth.  Edmund’s journey to Orthodoxy had begun several years previously during a visit to Moscow with an encounter with an icon in one the Russian Orthodox Kremlin Churches.  Although finding it difficult to articulate the experience to others (as is often the case with such personal spiritual moments) Edmund was prompted to seek further into Orthodox Christianity and thanks to the online British Orthodox Forum discovered the British Orthodox Church in the city of Portsmouth where he lives.  He has attended faithfully both in Portsmouth and Bournemouth, worshipping through one Holy Pascha as an enquirer and another as a catechumen, joining in the Bournemouth Weekend of Worship in 2010 and sharing the parish pilgrimage to Stevenage for the Oriental Orthodox Festival.  Not surprisingly, there was a good turn-out of Church members representing both the Portsmouth and Bournemouth congregations to support and welcome Edmund home to the Orthodox Church.