On Saturday, 29 January, an ecumenical service was held at St. Mary’s, Bryanston Square, Wyndham Place, London, W1H 1PQ, as an “Egypt  Day of Prayer”. The service had been organised by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) in co-operation with other concerned groups  before the current turmoil, to highlight the current problems of Christians in Egypt following the Alexandrian bombing. Over five hundred worshippers from all Christian traditions came together to express their commitment and solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Christ and to witness to the transforming power of prayer in the face of the abuse of power and disregard for justice in Egypt.

The proceedings opened with traditional Coptic Orthodox prayers led by His Grace Bishop Angaelos and Metropolitan Seraphim, during which Deacon Meliton Oakes of the Archdiocese of Thyateira chanted the Gospel and Archbishop Kevin McDonald, formerly of Southwark, recited prayers. There were also Evangelical prayers with rousing choruses and reflective meditations on events, notably from Dr. Raafat Girguis, an international Coptic Christian broadcaster. The Orthodox Church was well represented: from the Coptic Orthodox Church were HG Bishop Angaelos and Father Moussa Roshdy of Rotherham; from the British Orthodox were Metropolitan Seraphim with Fathers Sergius Scott, Simon Smyth and Peter Farrington; from the Syric Orthodox Church was Archbishop Athanasios and one of his priests and from the Greek Orthodox Church (representing HE Archbishop Gregorios) was Deacon Meliton Oakes.

On 26 January Abba Seraphim, accompanied by Father Simon Smyth, attended the funeral of the late Dr. Kenneth Stevenson, who died on 12 January, in Portsmouth Cathedral.

Dr. Stevenson was born in 1949 near Edinburgh, of Scottish and Danish descent. He was ordained deacon in 1973 and priest in 1974, he served curacies at Grantham with Manthorpe in Lincolnshire 1973-76 and Boston 1976-1980 before becoming Chaplain of the University of Manchester, where he also lectured: 1980-1986. He was visiting Professor at Notre Dame University, Indiana, USA in 1983. From there he became Rector of Holy Trinity, Guildford before his consecration as eighth bishop of Portsmouth in 1995. He resigned his see in 2009 following a long period of illness, battling with leukaemia.

He collaborated with the Bishop in Europe, Geoffrey Rowell, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in editing Love’s Redeeming Work, an anthology of Anglican spirituality and theology which has become a best-seller.  His latest books are Rooted in Detachment: Living the Transfiguration (2007), and an Advent book entitled Watching and Waiting (2007).

He welcomed the use by the British Orthodox Church of St. Peter & Paul at Wymering and more recently St. Faith’s Portsmouth. As literary executor to Geoffrey J. Cuming (1917-1988) he was responsible for the publication in 1990 of Cuming’s Liturgy of St. Mark and had great respect for the Alexandrian tradition. He also shared with Abba Seraphim a family history in the Catholic Apostolic Church and his doctoral thesis at the University of Southampton (1973) was on the Catholic Apostolic Eucharist. He gladly joined the council of the Albury Society, of which  Abba Seraphim is the chairman. He and Abba Seraphim also corresponded on liturgical matters, notably the Coptic devotion to the Four Living Creatures. Shortly before his retirement he passed to Abba Seraphim the stewardship of three cherished items: the nineteenth century tabernacle from the Catholic Apostolic Church in Southwark; an original oil painting (1875) of the Catholic Apostolic Liturgy being celebrated at the church in Edinburgh and a nineteenth century brass Ethiopian censer which had been brought from Egypt by General Sir Reginald Wingate, Sirdar of the Egyptian Army.

The Anglican-Oriental Orthodox Regional Forum met for its half-yearly meeting on 24 January at the Syrian Orthodox Church in Acton. It was c0-chaired by Bishop Geoffrey Rowell of Gibraltar in Europe and Bishop Angaelos. Hosting the meeting was Archbishop Athanasios Thoma Dawood and the Anglican representatives were joined for the first time by Bishop Christopher Chessum, the newly appointed Bishop of Southwark. Abba Seraphim was unable to attend as he had another pastoral commitment. The meeting made good progress in refining the Forum’s aims and objectives  which include  encouraging opportunities for common prayer and worship within the discipline of the respective churches; the discussion of current pastoral, social and political issues; and discovering and educating one another, the clergy and laity about the traditions  of each church tradition. The Forum is the result of international dialogue between the churches but does not seek to duplicate the theological work of those diagues but rather to receive and consider the documents issued by those dialogues and to take note of, diuscuss and explore relevent developments between both communions and to explore their local relevance and implications. The Forum plans to produxce a booklet containing all the relevant common statements between the Churches.

“Prophet, Priest and King: The High Calling of the Baptised” – Sermon by Father Peter Farrington in two parts.

Each year in January the British Orthodox Church at Babingley hosts one of the events for Churches’ Together in King’s Lynn  to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which has proved very popular and has always been well attended. As  British Orthodox clergy and members from the Bournemouth, London, Cusworth and Chatham parishes were planning to attend, Abba Seraphim hosted a  lunch before the Unity service for members and friends at which he briefed them on the current situation in Egypt and answered questions.

By 3.00 p.m. on Saturday, 22 January, when Abba Seraphim welcomed the ecumenical guests to the Raising of Evening Incense, the church was packed. In his comments he spoke about the deep bond of prayer we all share at the present with the Catholic Diocese of East Anglia, for the health of Bishop Michael Evans, who was himself the speaker at this service in 2005. The speaker this year was Father Peter Farrington, parish priest at Chatham and also the Secretary of the Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches. His address was entitled, “Prophet, Priest and King: The high calling of the baptised.”