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COVID-19 update 

After prayerful and careful consideration and in consultation with Clergy, medical professionals and lay leadership of the Archdiocese, His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain has decided that all the Churches of the Archdiocese will close for public worship, beginning Saturday, 9 January, 2021, following the same policy enacted during the 1^st National Lockdown in March 2020.  This measure is enacted to preserve human life and to help in stopping the spread of Coronavirus…..At the proper time, an announcement will be made, as to when the Churches will open for public worship.

The faithful are asked to pray and ask God to send His healing grace upon the world and to be obedient to the Church, the government regulations and medical professionals.

By direction of His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas

In the meantime, Sunday Typika will be streamed on our parish’s Facebook page at 10:30 on Sundays, and Saturday Vespers will be celebrated on Zoom.  If you would like to be kept in touch via email, please send us a message using the Contacts tab.  Here is a link to the texts of the Typika and Vespers for use at home, together with prayers specifically for use during the coronavirus pandemic.

7 January 2021

We are a multi-ethnic Orthodox Christian parish, founded in 1948 by Polish ex-servicemen and their families. The Parish is a member of the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, under the Patriarchate of Constantinople within the world-wide Orthodox Church (sometimes known as the Eastern Orthodox Church).

 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 in church are suspended for the time being.

Saturdays: Vespers 5.30 pm via Zoom

Sundays: Typika from home 10.30 am.  This service will be streamed on our Facebook page

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CURRENT WEEK’S SERMON:

Homily for the Sunday after Theophany

Archimandrite Kyril Jenner

Ephesians 4:7-13

“Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Ephesians 4:7)

After Baptism we have been anointed with the Holy Myron as “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit”. We have all received gifts from God. We have all been given skills that can be used in his service.

Saint Paul lists some of the roles of leadership in the church: “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.” (Ephesians 4:11). We need to look at those roles as well as others to find where each one of us can best serve God.

The apostles were those sent out by Christ. As well as the Twelve (to whom we normally add Saint Paul), the ones we mostly think of when we use the term “apostles”, there were also Seventy sent out on one occasion (Luke 10:1). This was a role that was limited to the time of the early church. It involved only those who had personally known Christ and been commissioned by him. Their task was to proclaim the Gospel, the “good news” of Christ and his saving work.

The role of prophet is mostly known to us from the Old Testament. These were people who were devoted to God, who saw what was going on in the world around them, and criticised when necessary from the perspective of God. Many of them “spoke truth to power” and criticised the rulers when they fell away from following the way of God. In the early church we also see examples of people who were given specific messages to pass on. Today we mostly find the prophetic role chiefly exemplified in the monastic life, where those who have detached themselves from the ways of the world are able to show and talk about a right relationship with God.

Evangelists proclaim the message primarily to those who have not heard it. In some ways this is the calling of all Christians. Our whole way of life should proclaim God’s love. How we behave and how we think and speak are often more important in this respect than what we actually say.

Pastors are those who care for and support others. In the church these are the Bishops and Priests. We also need to remember the “little church” of the family, where the pastors are the parents and grandparents.

Again, teachers are not just those who have that formal role assigned. Parents have this role in relation to their children. One cannot learn the fullness of the faith without instruction, so we need to look for those who can help us and guide us along the way of our Christian life.

There are also many others roles within the church, such as those who clean and maintain our church buildings, those who sing at our services, those who work to raise the funds necessary, but above all those who pray. There are roles for all of us, and we need both to seek out our own role and also to help others to find their role, so that we may all work together “to come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)

 

Registered Charity number: 290747

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