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 and events: Every Saturday: 5.30 p.m. Vespers Every Sunday: 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy NOTE re CONFESSIONS: Fr Gerald hears confessions before the Sunday Divine Liturgy, but please come early (i.e. before 10.15!), otherwise the Liturgy begins late. PROSPHORA AND NAME LISTS FOR COMMEMORATION: Please try to get to church early enough to have these ready before the start of the Divine Liturgy. NOTE: The Sunday Divine Liturgy is always followed by refreshments and fellowship. On the first Sunday of the month this will be a Parish bring-and-share lunch. Guests are welcome! CLASSES: On many Sundays we hold an instruction class after The Divine Liturgy. The classes run from September to June/July and are planned as an Introduction to Orthodox Christianity and then a deepening of that understanding. Some will come to choose to enter the Church formally, usually at Pascha/Easter, though there is no expectation of this placed upon anyone. Others will continue coming to continue finding out more, while a number of our congregation attend also to deepen their own understanding. If you wish to find out more talk to Reader Antony or Cuthbert McGrath in church, or email info@bristol-orthodox-church.co.uk SINGERS: We are blessed with a good group of singers at our services. But we can always do with more! To sing with us requires (ideally) a knowledge of part singing, but also a commitment to learn about liturgical singing and to attending the services and practices. For more information, talk to Reader Antony or Cuthbert McGrath in church, or email info@bristol-orthodox-church.co.uk WEEKLY SERVICES & INFORMATION (Note: our Parish follows the “New” (Revised Julian) Calendar for the fixed feasts. For dates according to the “Old” Julian Calendar, refer to an online calendar. IMPORTANT NEWS FR KYRIL: Fr Kyril has a medical problem and has been in hospital. His physicians are planning an operation. For the time being he will not be celebrating many of the services: please pray for him. In the meanwhile Sunday services will be served by Fr Gerald Theodore, whom we warmly thank for stepping in to help us out. Please pray for him also. Saturday Vespers and any weekday services will also be continuing as timetabled and will be either Priest or Reader led. Fr Kyril may well also be in church from time to time, however. NEXT SERVICES: Saturday, 12th July 5.30 p.m. Vespers of Sunday
Sunday, 13th July. Fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Tone 4. Saturday, 19th July 5.30 p.m. Vespers of Sunday
Sunday, 20th July. Sixth Sunday after Pentecost. Tone 5. 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy (Fr Stephen Maxfield) Readings:
Below you will find: NEWS, SAINTS’ DAYS, and THE CURRENT SERMON |
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NEWS On Thursday, 19th June, our singers together with those of the parish of St John of Kronstadt in Bath will sing Vespers in Clifton (RC) Cathedral, Pembroke Road, Clifton at 7.00 p.m. We have been invited by the Bishop of Clifton on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Oecumenical Council of Nicaea at which was defined the Nicaean Creed, which is the common inheritance of both Churches..
PARISH NEWS CHURCH CLEANING:
FOOD BANK: DON’T FORGET THE NEEDS OF OTHERS who do not have enough! Bring contributions please for the box in church.
**BUILDING NEWS ** AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT: Maintaining a large and aging building like our church is costly. But we have been given it as stewards and we need to hand it on to future generations. Currently, we await a final assessment and quotes for the roof work, but Initial estimates suggest this is going to be expensive! PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY! 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 Saints of the British Isles and nearby places are in red
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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
Homily for the Third Sunday after Pentecost
Archimandrite Kyril Jenner
Romans 5:1-10
In today’s reading from Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, he tells us that “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Roman 5:8) He adds other phrases to remind us of what Christ has done for us in overcoming the consequences of our sin and in reconciling us to God.
The background facts of our Lord’s life are enumerated in the Creed, which we should recite as part of our daily prayers, and which we chant at every Divine Liturgy. The Creed as finally established comes from two sources – the minimum statement of our faith, required to be known before baptism, with some additional clarification on certain controversial points to make sure that we state our faith correctly. The purpose of Christ’s death was not included. This was given in various places in the New Testament, and was not seen as controversial.
One problem that we have with this is that much of the description of the purpose of Christ’s death is expressed in metaphors and symbolic language. The reality is beyond the power of human language to express. One consequence of this is that there have been attempts from time to time to pin down precisely how God reconciles us to himself. Pushing the metaphors and symbols too far, however, leads to pointless arguments. It is better to stick just to what has been revealed to us.
The narrative framework starts with the Fall of Adam. He disobeyed God and failed to trust him. As a consequence he was sentenced to death – both a spiritual death is being expelled from Paradise and from the presence of God, and the physical death of mortality. Christ, the “New Adam”, the perfect human, has reversed this. Christ’s death on the Cross has annihilated the punishment given to Adam, and through him to the whole human race.
Saint Athanasios the Great explains this: “There was a debt owing which must needs be paid, … all men were due to die. Having proved his Godhead by his works, [Christ] offered the sacrifice on behalf of all, surrendering his own temple to death in place of all, to settle man’s account with death and free him from the primal transgression. In the same act also he showed himself mightier than death displaying his own body incorruptible as the first-fruits of the Resurrection.” (On the Incarnation)
Saint Symeon the New Theologian gives a longer explanation. “One Person of the Holy Trinity, namely the Son and Word of God, having become incarnate, offered himself in the flesh as a sacrifice to the Divinity of the Father, and of the Son Himself, and of the Holy Spirit, in order that the first transgression of Adam might be benevolently forgiven for the sake of this great and fearful work, that is, for the sake of this sacrifice of Christ, and in order that by its power there might be performed another new birth and re-creation of man in Holy Baptism, in which we also are cleansed by water mingled with the Holy Spirit. From that time people are baptized in water, are immersed in it and taken out from it three times, in the image of the three-day burial of the Lord, and after they die in it to this whole evil world, in the third bringing out from it they are already alive, as if resurrected from the dead, that is, their souls are brought to life and again receive the grace of the Holy Spirit as Adam had it before the transgression. Then they are anointed with Holy Myron, and by means of it are anointed with Jesus Christ, and are fragrant in a way above nature. Having become in this way worthy of being associates of God, they taste his Flesh and drink his Blood, and by means of the sanctified bread and wine become of one Body and Blood with God who was incarnate and offered himself as a sacrifice.” (Homily 1 – On the Transgression of Adam)
Through our faith in Christ we are justified, that is we are made right with God. Our sins are forgiven and we receive eternal salvation. Through our Baptism we have entered into a new life in Christ, a life filled with his love for us. Keeping this in our minds should guide us in our dealings with the troubles of life in this world.
Saint John Chrysostom puts it like this: “Let us then love with this love (for there is not anything equal to it) both for the sake of things present and for the sake of things to come. Or rather, more than for these, for the nature of the love itself. For we shall be set free both from the punishments of this life and of that which is to come, and shall enjoy the kingdom. Yet neither is the escape from hell, nor the fruition of the kingdom, anything great in comparison of what is yet to be said. For greater than all these things is it to have Christ at the same time as the one we love and the one who loves us. For if when this happens with humans it is above all pleasure; when both happen from God, what language or what thought is able to set before us the blessedness of this soul? There is none that can, except only the experience of it. So that then we may by experience come to know what is this spiritual joy, and life of blessedness, and untold treasure of good things, let us leave everything to cling to that love, with a view as well to our own joy as to the glory of God.” Homily 9 on Romans)
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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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