On Wednesday, 18th March, Father Peter Farrington and Subdeacon Michael Kennedy drove from Kent to the ancient pilgrim destination of Little Walsingham where they had been invited by the organisers of the Ecumenical Marian Pilgrimage to celebrate the Raising of Evening Incense for the participants in the pilgrimage. Walsingham is a wonderful destination at any time, peaceful and spiritual, a village given over almost entirely to pilgrims. It is the site of an appearance of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary, in 1061 and became an important place of pilgrimage until the destruction of the monasteries under Henry VIII.

Father Peter and Michael Kennedy arrived in the early evening, and began their visit with prayer in the Anglican Shrine, before joining the other pilgrims in the Refectory for the evening meal. By happy coincidence while checking in at the Reception of the Shrine complex they met Father Ivan Moody, an Orthodox priest and internationally renowned composer. Father Peter has been a friend of Father Ivan online for some time, but this was the first opportunity to meet in person.

Later that evening Father Ivan gave an interesting and informative lecture on the Virgin Mary in the music of the Orthodox Church in the Anglican Shrine. His presentation was enriched by the use of many excerpts of Orthodox liturgical music. Father Peter was pleased to see some familiar faces and greeted Bishop John Goodall, Father Stephen Platt and our old friend Stephen Penna. Later in the pilgrimage he was pleased to meet Metropolitan Kallistos and Mrs. Helen Brock, the wife of the celebrated Syrian scholar, Sebastian Brock.

On Thursday, 19th March, Father Peter and Michael Kennedy were very fortunate to be able to attend a lecture by His Eminence Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, one of the Trustees of the Ecumenical Marian Pilgrimage Trust. He spoke on the Virgin Mary in the writings of Sergius Bulgakov. It was a pleasure to listen to such a master of his subject.

The pilgrimage then moved from the Anglican Shrine to the Catholic National Shrine a little way outside the village, at the medieval Slipper Chapel, where pilgrims would once have removed their shoes and walked the last mile barefoot to the now destroyed Abbey. In the new facilities there a solemn Catholic Mass was celebrated by Bishop Alan Hope. Father Peter greeted the bishop after the mass and presented the best wishes of Metropolitan Seraphim and the British Orthodox Church.

While the pilgrims dispersed to enjoy a lunch of soup and sandwiches, Father Peter and Michael Kennedy greeted Father George Joy of the Indian Orthodox Church, who had been invited to speak about the Virgin Mary in the Indian tradition. Father George gave an interesting presentation on the Virgin Mary in the experience of the Indian Orthodox Church, and then it was late afternoon and time for the Raising of Incense. Our host, Father Mark Woodruff, had kindly produced 50 copies of the text of the Raising of Incense which were distributed among the mixed congregation. Father George kindly celebrated the service with Father Peter, while Subdeacon Michael Kennedy expertly diaconised even though we were in a place of worship we were not familiar with.

The pilgrims participated in the service and it was with some regret that Father Peter and Michael Kennedy set out for home, as the pilgrimage was continuing until Friday afternoon. It had been a most interesting and spiritually fruitful visit and the opportunity to participate had been well worth the journey.

On Tuesday, 3rd March, Father Peter Farrington travelled to Milan at the invitation of Anba Kyrillos, the Coptic Orthodox Bishop of Milan, and with the blessing of Metropolitan Seraphim, to serve in the Diocese for 10 days. He arrived at Milan Linate airport and was driven to the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of St Shenouda in the village of Mettone, outside Milan. After praying in one of the churches in the monastic compound, he greeted Anba Kyrillos and conveyed the warm wishes and respects of Metropolitan Seraphim.

During his visit Father Peter led a study of one of the New Testament Letters each day, with the monks, priests and some of the priest’s wives of the Diocese of Milan. These studies were conducted in English with a translation of the teaching and discussion into Arabic or Italian, to facilitate the participation of all the clergy. Father Peter also celebrated the Liturgy of St Basil every morning, in the smallest of the monastery churches, with Father Abraam, one of the monks of the monastery.

On Sunday, 8th March, Father Peter accompanied Father Giovanni, one of the monks, to the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral and Episcopal Residence in Milan. He spent much of the afternoon with Anba Kyrillos, and was then invited to speak to a youth meeting in the Cathedral. On the journey back to the Monastery of St Shenouda, Father Peter visited the new Church of St Simeon which has recently begun to serve the Coptic Orthodox community in a new area of Milan.

Father Peter continued to teach in the monastery each morning, and enjoyed lengthy conversations with members of the monastic community, who were unfailing in their kindness, as was each priest of the Diocese of Milan. Anba Kyrillos was generous in giving of his time, despite being very busy.

Father Peter returned to England on Thursday, 12th March, after a very fruitful and encouraging period of service in the Coptic Orthodox Diocese.

Upon the invitation from father Thomas John of the Indian Orthodox Church in London, Deacon Daniel and his wife attended the Orthodox Christian Youth Mission conference held on 28th February 2015 at St Gregorios Indian Orthodox Church in Brockley. The conference theme was based on the verse ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’, in reference to the Holy lent period.

Deacon Daniel and his wife took on roles assisting the youth conference which had more than 140 delegates of aged between 11 to 25 years from across 23 parishes across the UK including Wales, Coventry and Belfast. Fr. Thomas John, who has always been a close friend of the British Orthodox Church, warmly welcomed the couple and introduced them to the youth leaders who coordinated this conference. Events included sing along sessions, Bible study, games, talks, discussions and a quiz based on Lenten practices in the Malankara Orthodox tradition.

During the afternoon session, Deacon Daniel and his wife spoke alongside Fr George Joy in a discussion of Lenten Challenges facing 11-18 year olds with regards to their faith and life as Orthodox Christians. In this, they were given the opportunity to guide the discussion as well as answer many of the questions that are often raised by young Orthodox Christians in relation to how to overcome challenges and temptations they face. Following this, the conference ended with a photo session of the delegates and organisers (See above) as well as a vote of thanks for all those involved.

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.