Following the opening of St. John the Evangelist Coptic Orthodox Church at Bromley and the establishment of brotherly ties with its priest, Father Antonius Nagib, and members of the congregation, Father Sergius Scott, who has served as a General Priest since he relinquished the pastoral care of the Charlton congregation; met with Abba Seraphim to request a transfer to work in Bishop Antony’s Coptic Diocese of Ireland, Scotland, the North East of England and its affiliated regions. As this would enable him to have more frequent access to worship and the sacraments and to be more actively involved in general church life than is currently available at Charlton, Abba Seraphim gave his blessing to this request, whilst Bishop Antony was happy to welcome him. In commending him to Bishop Antony’s care Abba Seraphim thanked Father Sergius for his long years of service and wished him well in his new ministry at Bromley.

His Holiness Pope Shenouda, accompanied by a number of  Coptic bishops, recently visited Budapest to receive an honorary doctorate from Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest for his outstanding academic work in humanities, especially in literature, philosophy and the history of sciences. On 19 August he was welcomed by the University’s President (György Fodor)  and Cardinal Péter Erdő. The next day, at the invitation of the Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister, Zsolt Semjén, he attended celebrations for the Hungarian National Day. Mr Semjén, who is also responsible for religious affairs, said that the visit by Pope Shenouda was a landmark event in East-West religious dialogue. His Holiness participated in the official ceremony at the parliament building where he met President Pál Schmitt, who decorated him with the Hungarian medal of State. He then joined Zsolt Semjén to attend Mass in St Stephen’s Basilica. On 21 August His Holiness consecrated the first Coptic Orthodox inBudapest’s eighteenth district, during which he anointed and consecrated the altar and the icons.

Photo source: hungarianambiance.com

The congregation of St Alban’s Orthodox Church in Chatham are very pleased to have the beautiful veil for the iconostasis now hanging in place. This veil was a gift from Abba Seraphim and was manufactured in Egypt. It was brought back to the UK by one of our members after a recent visit. The old veil was replaced by Roman, another of our members, who has put in a great deal of effort to make sure that the veil opens smoothly, and is at just the right height. We are very grateful to him. Roman has also repaired and replaced the hanging sign outside the Church, which you will see if you are able to visit St Albans.

The British Orthodox Church is pleased to announce that a Coptic Language Summer School has been organised by Father Peter Farrington with the blessing and support of H.E. Metropolitan Seraphim and the sponsorship of the British Orthodox Church.

The student numbers are limited to approximately 10, and places are already filling up.

The details are as follows:

Coptic Language Summer School
King’s College, London

Monday 5th – Thursday 8th September, 2011

Session 1: 11:00-13:00
Lunch and Discussion Break: 13:00-14:00
Session 2: 14:00-16:00

The tutor will be Dr Carol Downer, an experienced and well qualified lecturer in the Coptic language.

The course material will be based on Introduction to Sahidic Coptic by Thomas O. Lambdin.

The cost of the School is £60, payable in advance.

Those wishing to book a place should urgently contact the School organiser:

Father Peter Farrington – [email protected]

and make an online payment of £60 using the following link..

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=XSUHUEF8VMSLN

Abba Seraphim is one of a great number of people to mourn the passing of Mgr. Michael Evans,  Catholic Bishop of East Anglia, who died on 11 July after a long battle with prostate cancer. Bishop Michael was widely respected and loved in East Anglia and as chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference Committee for Christian Unity had forged deep links with Christians from many traditions. Consecrated to the episcopate in 2003, he preached at St. Felix Orthodox Church at Babingley during the 2005 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. He and Abba Seraphim both served on the Catholic-Oriental Orthodox Regional Forum, where he was active until his health seriously deteriorated towards the end.

“We have been praying for Bishop Michael throughout his illness and found inspiration in the way he calmly faced death, insisting on fulfilling his ministry to the very last.  He was an able theologian with a sharp intellect and a loving, pastoral heart. We will miss him and our prayers and sympathy goes out to his flock, who have lost an outstanding bishop and pastor. Memory Eternal !”