CONTACTS:
To message Archimandrite Kyril or to arrange a baptism or wedding please email the Parish Priest@bristol-orthodox-church.co.uk (Tel. 01179706302 or 07944 860 955).
For more see: CONTACTS
SERVICES, PARISH NEWS AND RECENT SERMON ARE ON THIS PAGE
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Regular services: Every Saturday: 5.30 p.m. Vespers Every Sunday: 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy
WEEKLY SERVICES & INFORMATION (Note: our Parish follows the “New” (Revised Julian) Calendar. For dates on the “Old” Julian Calendar, refer to an online calendar. The exceptions are: 1. The Feast of The Nativity (Christmas), for which we have services on both calendars; 2. The lectionary for the Sundays before The Nativity and up to The Great Fast. Between October and The Great Fast the lectionaries of the different Orthodox local churches do not coincide. This affects the Sunday Epistle (Apostle) and Gospel readings. Our parish follows the more traditional sequence as published online by the Orthodox Church of America. This will not always match the current (and more recent) sequence used by, for instance, the Moscow Patriarchate or of the Great Church of Constantinople. CURRENT SERVICES Saturday 25th January 2025 5.30 p.m. Vespers
Sunday 26th January 2025. 31st Sunday after Pentecost. 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy. Readings: 1 Timothy 1:15-17 Matthew 15:21-28
Saturday 1st February 2025. St Bridget (Bride), Abbess of Kildare (Cill Dara). 5.30 p.m. Vespers
Sunday 2nd February 2025. FEAST OF THE MEETING OF THE LORD IN THE TEMPLE. Sunday of Zacchaeus (Last Sunday before The Triodion* – see note below). 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy. Readings: For the Feast: Hebrews 7:7-17 Luke 2:22-40 For the Sunday (Zacchaeus): 1 Timothy 4:9-15 Luke 19:1-10
Saturday 8th February 2025. 5.30 p.m. Vespers THIS WEEKEND, FRIDAY EVENING TO SUNDAY, WE ARE HOSTING A GATHERING OF THE ORTHODOX FELLOWSHIP OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST. SO THE CHURCH WILL BE OPEN AND IN USE. WE ARE PROVIDING CATERING AND ASSISTANCE. Sunday 9th February 2025. Sunday of the Tax Collector (“Publican”) and the Pharisee. (Beginning of the Triodion). Leavetaking of the Feast of the Meeting in the Temple. 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy. Readings: For the Sunday: 2 Timothy 3:10-15 Luke 18:9-14 For the Feast: Hebrews 7:7-17 Luke 2:22-40 #NB THERE ARE NO FAST DAYS THIS WEEK (9th – 16th).
ADVANCE NOTICE OF PILGRIMAGE LITURGY: St David’s Day Pilgrimage Divine Liturgy, Saturday 1st March, 11.00 a.m. in St David’s Church, Llanthony (Llanddewi Nant Honddu!) in the Black Mountains in Monmouthshire, South Wales. Car parking. Excellent pub next door for lunch. Splendid mountain walks. Plan now to come along!
*THE TRIODION: From the Sunday of the Tax-collector (“Publican”) and the Pharisee the Church begins to use the order of services particular to the season leading up to Pascha (i.e. The Great Fast, or “Lent”). On weekdays the number of Odes in the Canon at Matins is reduced from eight to three (or two) – hence Tri-odion, the name of the book of these services of this fasting season. The Sunday gospel of Zacchaeus (2nd February this year) is our alert or wake-up call that the Fast is approaching, and on the next Sunday, Tax-collector (“Publican”) and the Pharisee, we begin the run-in to the Fast. We begin using the Triodion from the first Vespers of the Fast on the afternoon of the Sunday of the Tax-collector and the Pharisee.
Below you will find: PARISH NEWS, SAINTS DAYS, and THE MOST RECENT SERMON
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PARISH NEWS FOOD BANK: DON’T FORGET THE NEEDS OF OTHERS who do not have enough! Bring contributions please for the box in church.
**BUILDING NEWS UPDATE (JANUARY 20th 2025)**: The painting of the altar walls has been completed. The scaffolding in the altar area is (still) due to come down shortly (we trust!)! Once that is done a huge clean-up will ensue; and then we can move back to our normal arrangement. Meanwhile, the further scaffolding at the back of the church (to investigate and remedy woodworm activity and water ingress) has come down. Initial estimates suggest this work too is going to be expensive! PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY! Once reports have been digested and contracts let the scaffolding will need to go up again! THANK YOU for your generous donations. Without this, we would not have a space to worship in. We are extremely blessed to have our own space that does not need to be shared with other users. If we look after it, the building will be sure to last a few more hundred years and serve our community for many generations to come.
GIFT AID |
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Some saints (AND FEASTS) of the coming days).. –
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For those who wish to donate to our Parish online, our Facebook fundraiser can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/453504039824339/?fundraiser_source=external_url
Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday of Luke
Archimandrite Kyril Jenner
Luke 18:35-43
“A blind man was sitting by the roadside begging; and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ And he cried, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ” (Luke 18:35-38)
In today’s Gospel reading, as in several other passages, we have a contrast between the one who was physically blind, but had the gift of spiritual sight, and those around, who had physical sight, but were lacking in spiritual sight.
The people in the crowd talked about “Jesus of Nazareth.” They saw only the outward physical aspect of our Lord. They knew his name and where he had grown up, but seemed to know nothing more. The blind man, by contrast, addresses our Lord as “Son of David,” showing that he recognised him not merely as one among many descendants of David, but as the Anointed One who had come to restore the Kingdom.
Those in front of the blind man were disturbed by his shouting and told him to be silent. They had no care for him. They were simply interested in the spectacle of our Lord passing by. The blind man, however, continued to shout, so that our Lord could hear him above the noise of the crowd.
Saint Theophan the Recluse tells us: “The blind man of Jericho raised up his voice when he learned that the Lord was walking past. His cry reached the Lord; nothing surrounding the Lord could interfere with his hearing it, and the Lord called the blind man over and restored his sight. At every time and in every place the Lord does not just walk by, but is there; he governs the whole world. As human thinking would have it, this means that he has many cares; furthermore, multitudes of angels surround him with praise. But if you are able to raise up your voice like the blind man of Jericho, nothing will stop your cry from reaching the Lord; he will hear and fulfil your petition. It does not depend on the Lord; he himself is near, and all that is necessary for you is already prepared by him; now all that is wanting is you.” (Reflection for the Fourteenth Sunday of Luke)
When our Lord spoke to the blind man he asked him what he wanted. Patriarch Germanos II of Constantinople explains this. “The Master did not ask him because he was ignorant, but so that no one would think that the blind man wanted something different from what our Lord gave him. But he wanted those with him and those who found him there to know the faith of the one who approached him. That is why the Lord asked this question. This becomes obvious from the actual answer of the Lord: “you want to see?” he says, “receive your sight.” And at the same moment that the blind man heard this, he looked up and reaped the fruit of faith, that is, salvation: “your faith has made you well.” Indeed, at the moment when he said to him: “Receive your sight,” immediately the voice of the Lord became a light for the blind man, and “immediately his sight was restored,” because the voice was of light, the speech came from the Giver of light.” (Sermon on the Healing of the Blind Man in Jericho)
The man now had both spiritual sight and physical sight. But he also had intellectual sight. He could see the source of his healing and gave praise to God. In our world today many people cannot link up these different forms of sight. Most of us have physical sight and take it for granted, without acknowledging it as a gift from God. We use reason and scientific knowledge to find our more about how the world works, but fail to acknowledge that all that is how God has made things, and give praise to him for the marvels of creation. Without the spiritual sight to see that all things come from God, we are spiritually blind and cannot see the fullness of reality. In particular many cannot see the love of God for us. If we see that love then we will also see the need for love for one another. Such love is, sadly, too often lacking in the world today.
Saint John of Kronstadt comments on this: “What is the meaning of all our scientific knowledge in comparison with what we do not yet know, what eye has not yet seen, ear has not heard, and has not entered into the human heart? Nothing.” He goes on: “There is still some blindness, besides the blindness of proud learning: it is dislike and hatred of one’s neighbour. The Holy Apostle John the Theologian says: “Whoever hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because darkness has blinded his eyes.” (I John 2:11)
“This blindness occurs in every rank and class of people. It is also a terrible blindness. A human hates his own kind, his brother or sister, … his fellow citizen, … who is subject, like him, to weakness and sins. … One must hate sin alone, but one must love one’s brother or sister … as oneself, and share with them the blessings of the earth, which the good God has given to all, and not to us alone.
“O Christ, the true Light, enlighten us all with the light of the mind of your Holy Gospel, and dispel the darkness of our minds and hearts, we beseech you by faith. Amen.” (Homily I on the Fourteenth Sunday of Luke)
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Like all small communities we rely on the generosity of friends and well-wishers. If you would like to contribute to the continuation of our parish and the upkeep of our historic church building, you can make a donation here:
https://www.facebook.com/donate/679204386685133/?fundraiser_source=external_url
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