Important Announcement

peterfarrington

Dear all,

I am just popping in to make this announcement..

The Annual Oriental Orthodox Festival and Liturgy will be taking place on Saturday, 14th May, at 10 am at

St Michaels Eritrean Orthodox Church
78 Edmund Street, Camberwell, SE5 7NR, United Kingdom

Do please ensure that all the members of your church are aware and are sending large numbers of representatives to participate. This regular event is sponsored by the Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches in the UK.

As is customary, please bring some food to share with others.

I hope to see many of you there.

Father Peter

Hezekiel

Christ is Risen!!


Oriental Orthodox Festival 2011



On Saturday, 14th May, clergy and laity from all of the Oriental Orthodox churches gathered together for the 4th annual Oriental Orthodox Festival. The festival provides an opportunity for the members of the various Orthodox communities to meet together and share in the celebration of the Liturgy, and then have an opportunity for fellowship over a varied buffet lunch provided by the different Orthodox traditions and ethnicities represented.

The latest festival took place at St Michael’s Eritrean Orthodox Church in Camberwell, London. Participating bishops included His Grace Bishop Angaelos and His Eminence Archbishop Athanasius in the presence of His Grace Bishop Markos. The attending priests represented the British Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Indian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox Churches. There were many deacons from the various Churches and the sanctuary was filled with a wonderful fraternal spirit. As Father Youhannes began the prayers of the Liturgy a spiritual atmosphere descended upon the crowded Church.

Many British Orthodox clergy and faithful had travelled to Camberwell to participate in the Festival. They included Father Sergius, Father Simon and Father Peter, together with Deacon Theodore from the French Coptic Orthodox Church, and servants and laity from the South Coast congregations. Many other friends of the British Orthodox Church were present in the congregation, including Father Deacon Richard Downer and Dr Carol Downer.

The Liturgy was conducted with the participation of the various clergy, and the congregation was marked by enthusiastic singing of the hymns and chants of the Eritrean tradition. It always makes a great impression to see so many of the faithful dressed in their traditional white clothes. It is important that this concelebrated liturgy takes place each year so that we provide a visible manifestation of our unity as Orthodox Christians.

After the Liturgy the choir of the Eritrean Orthodox church sang many of their traditional songs with the accompaniment of drums. It was a great blessing to see such devotion and seriousness in the young Eritrean Christians who sang and performed their liturgical dance, but also to see the joy and spiritual delight in the faces of the many members of the congregation who joined in. His Grace Bishop Angaelos addressed the congregation, as did His Grace Bishop Markos, whose message of welcome was translated by Father Youhannes.

But the Festival is more than the concelebrated Liturgy, and we were invited to the basement of the Church where the various churches represented had laid out diverse foods from their own cultural traditions. After a great deal of warm conversation it seemed that most people had a plate of food in front of them. I certainly enjoyed the Eritrean food I was offered, and the opportunity to talk with some of the other clergy. Father Youhannes was tireless in his hospitality and hardly had time to sit down himself.

To conclude our Festival the choir of the Indian Orthodox church had arranged to share some of their musical repetoire with us. As they started their first song the church filled up with clergy and laity. The choir sang enthusiastically, and the choir director even managed to urge the Eritrean Orthodox choir to join in with their drums. The congregation were given an opportunity to try and sing one of the Indian Orthodox songs, but I am not sure that we all managed to pronounce the Malayalam words properly.

After a final prayer Father Youhannes dismissed the congregation. It had been a most successful event, and already I have received messages from those who had been able to attend and who had enjoyed the Festival.

PS: @Godlovesme,this is my Canterbury English. I hope my writing style has greatly improved:-)

Hezekiel

Christ is Risen!

Father Bless,

If I am not mistaken, the Bishop in the centre is Bishop Marcos, also a member of the Coptic Holy Synod. I remember seeing him in Egypt.To my knowledge, he is a supporter of the current unlawful Eritrean Patriarch.I am not sure, but if this years Oriental festival has taken place in a church that falls under his dioceses, does it mean there are new developments on the status of the rightful Patriach HH Abune Antonios? I shall be grateful for any information.

peterfarrington

The Eritrean Orthodox Church is sadly facing difficulties. I think that it is the view of our fathers, the Oriental Orthodox bishops in the UK, that the Eritrean Orthodox faithful and clergy, with whom such warm and fraternal relations have always existed, should not be separated from because of circumstances which are beyond their control.

As far as I recall Patriarch Antonios was commemorated in the liturgy together with other patriarchs. This was a liturgy of the Oriental Orthodox communion in the UK, held in the Eritrean Orthodox church. This seems to me to make a great difference.

Unfortunately church life is not straightforward. Black and white absolute judgements rarely seem to be the best response to the tensions which arise within the life of the Church. The British Orthodox Church continues to strenuously call for the release of Patriarch Antonios on every occasion, despite our small size and limited resources. We will continue to do so.

Father Peter

Hezekiel

Fr Peter,thanks for the information.

May God protect His own church.

yousiegtennis

[quote author=Ηεζεκιελ link=topic=11377.msg138175#msg138175 date=1305751743]
PS: @Godlovesme,this is my Canterbury English. I hope my writing style has greatly improved:-)


Hey Hezekiel,
Beautifully written...great job! :)

John_S2000

Indeed, thank you all.

May Our Lord intervene with His powerful hand to help both the Eritrean and Coptic O. churches and save them from all the traps set by our common enemy the devil. Amen.

GBU

mabsoota

i am opening another thread relevant to eritrea - please see that if you want to know more.

pauli

may be too late to respon to this thread, but I had a question for Fr. Peter

Isn't contradicting to have associations with  Eritrean bishops (e.g abune Markos)  who participated in removing  Patriarch Antonuis. Does the coptic church still recognize Abune Antonuis.

peterfarrington

Of course it is contradictory, but life is like that. The Church has never been neat and tidy.

In actual fact, at this event, Bishop Markos turned up at the end and did not participate in the Liturgy.