Saint Birinus Orthodox Community: January 2017

+St. John Maximovitch

"Never, never, never let anyone tell you that, in order to be Orthodox, you must be Eastern. The West was fully Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies." +Saint John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco

You are the inheritors of a precious treasure: the authentic and Orthodox rites that nourished thousands now in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Orthodox Church thanks you for preserving this tradition all these years, so that it could be restored to her through Western Rite Orthodox parishes. +Bishop Basil, Bishop of Wichita and the Midwest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

2 January 2017

January 2017

SCHEDULE OF SERVICES

JANUARY 2017

1st January 2017: ADVENT IV: 10:00 a.m. Western Rite Terce sung at the Saint Aldhelm Chapel in Saint Dunstan's Parish Church, Saint Osmond's Road, Poole, BH14 9JG followed at 10:30 by the Liturgy of the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

Saturday 7th January 2017 Feast of the Nativity. Please note the starting time: 10:30 a.m. Western Rite Terce followed by the Saint Gregory the Great Liturgy in Saint Joseph's Chapel Saint Mary the Virgin Church, Worton Road, Isleworth TW7 6ER in West London. Please note the starting time of 10:30 a.m.

8th January 2017: SUNDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY: 10:00 a.m. Western Rite Terce sung at the Saint Aldhelm Chapel in Saint Dunstan's Parish Church, Saint Osmond's Road, Poole, BH14 9JG followed at 10:30 by the Liturgy of the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

14th Jamuary: Feast of the Circumcision: No Western Rite today.

15th January: SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE NATIVITY, THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS: 10:00 a.m. Western Rite Terce sung at the Saint Aldhelm Chapel in Saint Dunstan's Parish Church, Saint Osmond's Road, Poole, BH14 9JG followed at 10:30 by the Liturgy of the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

19th January: FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY: No Western Rite Terce today.

22nd January: SUNDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EPIPHANY: The Mass at Isleworth is cancelled: Metropolitan Hilarion is visiting the UK and will be celebrating a Pontifical Liturgy at Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr, Wallasey immediately after the Third Hour service (Eastern Rite) at 9:45 a.m.; Father Thomas and Sub-Deacon Silouan will be attending. Just prior to the Liturgy, Gildas will be ordained a Reader by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion. Western Rite Terce

Gildas holds the Metropolitan's Mitre

Gildas ordained by the Metropolitan (Cheirothesia: placing the hand)

Gildas wearing the phelonion is shown where to read from the Epistle Book

The final ordination prayer over Gildas vested in the Sticharion


From L to R: Sub-Deacon Silouan, Reader Paul Ziolo, Fr Thomas Cook, Fr Paul Elliott, Sub-Deacon Chad, Met Hilarion, Fr Mark Underwood, Fr Michael Mansbridge-Wood. Photo taken after the Liturgy celebrated at Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr at Wallasey on Sunday 22nd January 2017.

Follow the Metropolitan's visit here

29th January: EPIPHANY II: 10:00 a.m. Western Rite Terce sung at the Saint Aldhelm Chapel in Saint Dunstan's Parish Church, Saint Osmond's Road, Poole, BH14 9JG followed at 10:30 by the Liturgy of the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

A Prayer to Saint Aldhelm

Thou didst set the lamp of Orthodoxy alight amid the gloom of the dark night of thy times, O blessed Aldhelm, favourite of Christ; wherefore thou dwellest now in everlasting light, where thou prayest that our souls be saved.

Thy radiant and God-pleasing countenance sheddeth light on all the English lands, O blessed Aldhelm our father; for spurning thy royal rank and all worldly pursuits, thou didst eagerly seek the true knowledge of God, and having devoted thy life to prayer and the ascetic struggle, thou has been vouchsafed to behold the Unapproachable One. Him do thou ever beseech, O hierarch of Christ, that in His mercy He save our souls. Amen.