40 mins until new year here in London.
Am on Skype chatting to J and planning where to go for dinner next week (New Years resolutions and parties aren’t my kind of thing) and watching Jools Holland’s traditional end of year show.
Have a blessed New year everyone.
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
What a relief, the Lemonade has no nuts in it…
I’m as surprised as you are.
“On this occasion, each of us should ask ourselves, what will I offer? A Christian must live the life of offering to please God, first offering his own heart, honesty, sincerity and love for others.”
– His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria.
On 26 December 2012, the Holy Synod continued its sessions at the Patriarchal and Synodal residence in St Daniel’s Monastery in Moscow under the chairmanship of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Approved for reading at the services and for prayers at home were the texts of the Akathistos hymn to the “Queen of All” icon of the Mother God and of the Akathistos hymns to St Thomas the Apostle, St Mercurius of Caesarea the Great Martyr, St Gregory Palamas, St John of Shanghai and San Francisco, St Geracimus of Jordan, St Simeon the New Theologian, and St Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain.
Also approved was the document “On the Russian Orthodox Church’s Participation in Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts”, recommended to be used at the parishes and monasteries, as well as at other church institutions, which take part in the rehabilitation of drug addicts. The document was drafted by the Inter-Council Presence; church-wide discussion in dioceses and in the Internet followed. Then the plenary of the Inter-Council Presence held in Moscow on 22-23 November 2012 submitted the document to the Holy Synod for consideration.
The members of the Holy Synod heard the report presented by the members of the working group for drafting the provision regulating the award system of the Russian Orthodox Church and submitted the results of their work to the Bishops’ Council for consideration at the meeting due to be held on 2-5 February 2013, and thanked the members of the working group.
The Synod approved the list of the dioceses where retired bishops may reside (live). The list includes the Kemerovo, Kursk, Moscow region, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk and Saint-Petersburg dioceses.
The Synod established one more day for the commemoration of the Holy and Right-Believing Prince Peter (David after taking monastic vows) and Princess Fevronia (Euphrosyne after taking the veil). It will be Sunday before September 19 (September 6 according to old style) in remembrance of the transfer of their holy relics in 1992.
The new Makhachkala diocese detached from the Vladikavkaz diocese was established in the territory of the Republic of Dagestan, Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Hegumen Varlaam (Ponomarev), father superior of the Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration in Murom, was elected Bishop of Makhachkala and Grozny. A diocesan bishop of the Vladikavkaz diocese was given the title of Bishop of Vladikavkaz and Alania.
In the Tambov region, the Tambov metropolia was established which includes the Michurinsk, Tambov and Uvarovo dioceses. Bishop Feodosy of Tambov and Rasskazovo was nominated head of the Tambov metropolia.
The Holy Synod took a number of decisions regarding the Russian Orthodox Church’s institutions abroad. The new parish of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Life-Bearing Spring” was established in the town of Hévíz, Budapest and Hungary diocese. The newly established parish of St Michael the Archangel in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia was placed under jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Enthronement of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon as Primate of the Orthodox Church in America will be celebrated at Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Washington, DC, on the weekend of January 26-27, 2013.
Metropolitan Tikhon to be enthroned January 27, 2013; service and banquet schedule announced
Pope Tawadros II visiting the heads of the Churches in Egypt that celebrate Christmas on 25 December, to offer his good wishes and respects.
The first visit was to the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate where Pope Tawadros met Bishop Kyrillos William, administrator of the Coptic Catholic Church, to wish the Coptic Catholic Church a blessed Christmas. The patriarch, Cardinal Antonius Naguib, was sick and unable to meet the Coptic Orthodox patriarch, so Pope Tawadros paid him a special visit two days later.
Pope Tawadros also visited the Greek Melkite Catholic Church where he offered his good wishes to Pope Gregory III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, who keeps a tradition of celebrating Christmas with his congregation in Cairo. The third visit was to the Greek Orthodox Pope Theodore II of Alexandria and all Africa, who thanked Pope Tawadros for his visit, and prayed that his papacy would be blessed, since he had become patriarch “while Egypt is undergoing difficult times”.
Two Egyptian Copts lost their lives in Misrata, Lybia, when the community service centre adjacent to the Coptic Orthodox church Holy Virgin and Mar-Girgis (St George) was bombed at dawn on Sunday. Misrata lies 187km east of Tripoli.
Anba Pachomeus, Archbishop of Beheira, Matrouh and Pentapolis, told Watani that the building was bombed while the worshippers were inside participating in the traditional Kiyahk praises which take place all night long and end with Holy Mass at dawn. Wagdy Malak, 40, and Ashraf Sami, 26, died; and Sameh Fayek and Emad Azmy—also Egyptians—were injured. All four were living and working in Libya, with their families.
The explosion damaged the services building, but investigations have not yet revealed how and where exactly the bomb was placed, or who the culprits were. According to the priests of the Misrata church, however, there are indications that the Jihadi Salafis in the area are behind the bombing.
The Libyan government has taken on itself the treatment of the injured, and has pledged to reveal the identity of the culprits within 48 hours, Anba Pachomeus said. The Egyptian Ambassador to Libya, Hisham Abdel-Wahab, who was on holiday in Cairo interrupted his vacation and went back to Tripoli to follow up on the investigations.
Funeral services have been held for the victims in the Misrata church, and their bodies will be moved to Egypt for burial in their hometowns.
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The martyrs are those about whom the Lord said: “If one professes me in front of people, I profess him in front of my Father in heaven.” If you share with them their sorrows, you will be professed in heaven because you cared for them.” –
Ibn Al-Assal
How God works all things in us and yet everything can be ascribed to free will, cannot be fully grasped by the mind and reason of man.
Saint John Cassian
Musings of an Orthodox Brit 