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 Confessions can be made before services and by request. Do discuss any questions with Archimandrite Kyril.
WEEKLY SERVICES & INFORMATION (Note: our Parish follows the “New” (Revised Julian) Calendar. For dates on the “Old” Julian Calendar, refer to an online calendar. NOTE: On days of evening communion (as on any Eucharistic day) we should in principle fast from midnight. If the demands or of our lives or our weakness necessitate a light meal, this should be taken by six hours before the evening service starts. [Guidance from the Archdiocese of Thyateira]
Sunday 13th April: PALM SUNDAY: THE ENTRY OF OUR LORD INTO JERUSALEM 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom Readings (link to OCA text): 6.30 p.m. Matins of The Bridegroom (for Holy Monday)
Monday, 14th April: Passion Week 6.30 p.m. Matins of The Bridegroom (for Tuesday)
Tuesday, 15th April: Passion Week 6.30 p.m. Matins of The Bridegroom (for Wednesday)
Wednesday, 16th April: Great and Holy Wednesday 6.30 p.m. Matins of Holy Thursday, and Service of Anointing
Thursday, 17th April: Great and Holy Thursday 12.00 noon. Vespers and Divine Liturgy of St Basil The Great 6.30 p.m. Matins of Great and Holy Friday, with the Twelve Passion Gospels.
Friday, 18th April : Great and Holy Friday 4.00 p.m. Vespers: The Death Christ and his deposition in the Winding Sheet (plaschanitsa) 6.30 p.m. Matins of Holy Saturday (The Burial of Christ in the Tomb)
Saturday, 19th April: Great and Holy Saturday 12.00 noon. Vespers and Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great for Pascha Eve (Tone 1) 3.00 p.m. – 5.00 p.m. Church open for the blessing of Paschal baskets. 11.00 p.m. Midnight Office. Followed by: Sunday, 20th April: PASCHA 12.00 midnight Procession and Matins of PASCHA (and Blessing of Paschal baskets) 10.30 a.m. Paschal Hour and Divine Liturgy of Pascha followed by Parish Paschal Lunch 2.30 p.m. Paschal Vespers (Tone 2)
Wednesday, 23rd April 2.30 p.m. Paschal Vespers (Tone 5) 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 **: The Church is back to our usual configuration. But we are still in need of regular cleaning help! Meanwhile, the further scaffolding at the back of the church (to investigate and remedy woodworm activity and water ingress) has come down. We await a final assessment and quotes, but 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) 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
Sermon for Palm Sunday
Archimandrite Kyril Jenner
Gospel: John 12:1-18
When we look at the narratives in the various Gospel accounts of the events of our Lord’s life, we need to be aware of both the background against which the story is set, and also of the symbolism of the details in the story. Today’s Gospel reading begins by locating the time as “Six days before the Passover.” (John 12:1)
Saint Theophylact explains that this was a traditional day for a preliminary celebration meal before the feast of the Passover. He tells us: “On the tenth day of the month they [that is, the Jews] took the lamb which was to be sacrificed on the Passover, and from that time began the preparation for the feast. Or rather the ninth day of the month, that is six days before the Passover, was the commencement of the feast. They feasted abundantly on that day. Thus we find Jesus partook of a banquet at Bethany.” (Explanation of the Holy Gospel according to Saint John, Chapter 12)
That is background information which the writer of the Gospel may have expected his readers to already have. When we encounter the phrase “six days” in the Gospel and elsewhere, we should always also look for a symbolic meaning. “Six days” frequently refers to the six days of the Creation, according to the text of Genesis. Saint Alcuin of York gives a symbolic interpretation of the event: “Mystically, that he came to Bethany six days before the Passover, means, that he who made all things in six days, who created the human on the sixth, in the sixth age of the world, the sixth day, the sixth hour, came to redeem mankind. The Lord’s Supper is the faith of the Church, working by love. Martha serves whenever a believing soul devotes itself to the worship of the Lord. Lazarus is one of those who sit at table, when those who have been raised from the death of sin rejoice together with the righteous, who have been ever such, in the presence of truth, and are fed with the gifts of heavenly grace. The banquet is given in Bethany, which means, house of obedience, that is, in the Church: for the Church is the house of obedience.” (Quoted by Aquinas in “Catena Aurea”)
The supper at Bethany looks forward to the redemption of mankind by our Lord, which occurred through his death and resurrection. All the events of Palm Sunday look forward to this. This concept was taken up by Saint Romanos the Melodist in his Kontakion for the Feast. The refrain to each of the verses is “Blessed are you, who come to call back Adam.” We sang that earlier in this service at the end of the one verse from the Kontakion that has been retained in our liturgical texts.
Christ’s entry into Jerusalem was the beginning of the final stage of his work on earth. The old Adam, the personification of the entire human race, had fallen from the presence of God through sin and disobedience. Christ, the new Adam, leads the human race back to God through his sinlessness and obedience. That obedience involved the extreme form of love in dying for us, so that he might be raised up, and raise us up with him.
The first verse of the Kontakion by Saint Romanos takes up this theme:
Since you bound Hell, slew Death and raised the world,
With palms the infants praised you, O Christ, as victor,
Crying out to you to-day, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.
For no more’, they say, ‘will infants be slaughtered because of Mary’s babe,
But for all, infants and elders, you alone are crucified.
No more against us will the sword advance,
For your side will be pierced by a lance.
Therefore we rejoice and say, “Blessed are you
Who come to call back Adam.’’
The crowds of people came to Bethany to see Christ because he has raised Lazarus from the dead. They went with him into Jerusalem, looking at him as the new King who would restore the kingdom of David. Sadly, they misunderstood the nature of this new kingdom. They heard our Lord teaching in the Temple. But when he was arrested, put on trial, and condemned, they were persuaded by the religious authorities to demand that he should be put to death. The religious leaders saw him as a threat to their authority, and to their cosy relationship with the secular authorities.
The crowd watched him dying on the Cross. But after the Resurrection some, at least, of the crowd understood more fully what had happened, and recognised Christ as their true King, the head of a spiritual kingdom, and not of an earthly kingdom. Let us pray that we may truly see Christ as our spiritual King, and love and serve him day by day. Saint Romanos takes up this theme in the final verse of his Kontakion:
All-holy Son of God, number us together with those who sing your praise,
And receive the supplication of your servants as once the children’s.
Have mercy on those you fashioned, amongst whom you dwelt in love.
Give peace to your churches, shaken by enemies,
And send down to me, O Saviour, release from my iniquities.
Grant me to speak what you will as you will
Do not let grief make my mind sluggish.
Show me to be a skilled cultivator to cry, “Blessed are you
Who come to call back Adam.”
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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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