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] Saturday 22nd March: 5.30 p.m. Vespers
Sunday 23rd March: Third Sunday of the Great Fast (Lent). Sunday of The Cross. 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great Readings (link to OCA text):
Tuesday 25th March. The ANNUNCIATION BY GABRIEL TO MARY, THEOTOKOS (MOTHER OF GOD). LADY DAY. Fast Day: Fish, wine and oil. 6.30 p.m. Vespers and Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom
Wednesday 26th March: 6.30 p.m. Vesperal Liturgy with the Presanctified Gifts.
Sunday 30th March: Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast (Lent). Commemoration of St John of ‘The Ladder’ (Climacus). 10.30 a.m. Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great Readings (link to OCA text): 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 the Third Sunday in Lent
Archimandrite Kyril Jenner
Mark 8:34 – 9:1
In today’s reading from the Gospel we hear what our Lord taught to the crowds who followed him. He was looking ahead to his death on the Cross and to his Resurrection. The fullness of life, when we are raised up by God, will only come after a period of suffering. The degree of suffering will vary, but in life in this world there will always be suffering. What matters is how we deal with it.
Our Lord tells us that we must deny ourselves and take up the Cross in order to follow him. He was to take up the Cross literally, as that was a required action before crucifixion. For us, the expression is a metaphor for how we should live. Saint Bede tells us that “we deny ourselves, when we avoid what we were of old, and strive to reach that point, to which we are newly called.” We were sinners, and often still are, but we should continually try to turn away from sin. We should avoid self-centred actions and look for what God wants us to do. Our lives should be God-centred rather than self-centred. That is the basic meaning of denying ourselves.
But we have to do more than just deny ourselves, more than just turning away from sin. Saint Bede tells us that “the cross is taken up by us, when either our body is pained by abstinence, or our soul is afflicted by fellow-feeling for our neighbour.” Living a disciplined life, following the guidance of teachers from the past who have given us a structure for prayer and fasting, is one way to take up our cross. This is often hard, and requires continual effort to keep trying. Noticing the suffering of other people, and doing something about it, is also a way of taking up our cross. As with prayer and fasting this requires continual effort on our part. Both of these ways of taking up our cross can only be fully realised with the help of God. We cannot do them just trusting in our own ability. We have to continually seek God’s help to support us in this work.
These are the ways that we should follow when we have peace around us. But this is not always the case. Sometimes we may need to do more. Saint Bede notes that “in time of persecution, our life is to be laid aside, but in time of peace, our earthly desires are to be broken.” This is summarizing the words of our Lord: “whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35) We need to be prepared to do whatever God calls us to do for him. Only by surrendering ourselves to God can we be open to God’s love and so be given the fullness of life by him. If instead we focus on looking after ourselves in this world, then we separate ourselves from God’s love, and so become spiritually dead.
Our life in this world has consequences for our life in eternity. If we remain faithful to Christ, then he will be faithful to us in the age to come. If we acknowledge Christ, if we allow our faith to change our way of life, then Christ will acknowledge us. This is how this teaching is expressed in the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke. But here in the Gospel according to Saint Mark we have this is in a negative form: “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38) Either way the essential teaching is the same. We make our choices in this world. We can choose to serve God, and try to follow the way of Christ, or we can reject him, and live without him. This choice is open to us now. It will not be open after our death in this world.
Today’s Gospel reading concludes with a somewhat puzzling saying: “there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.” (Mark 9:1) Saint Bede offers us two interpretations of this. One is that some are given a foretaste of the joy of the eternal kingdom, so that they may be sustained in the trials that will accompany them in their life in this world. As Saint Bede puts it: “that they, having tasted for a brief moment the contemplation of everlasting joy, might with the greater strength bear up under adversity.” The second interpretation is that some of those listening to our Lord would live long enough to see the growth of the church. As Saint Bede puts it: “the present Church is called the kingdom of God; and some of the disciples were to live in the body until they should see the Church built up, and raised against the glory of the world; for it was right to make some promises concerning this life to the disciples who were uninstructed, so that they might be built up with greater strength for the time to come.”
A third interpretation, given by Saint Theophylact, simply looks ahead to the next section of the Gospel, which is the account of the Transfiguration of our Lord. He suggests that what our Lord meant is this: “There are some standing here, namely Peter, James, and John, who will not die until I have shown them at the Transfiguration the glory with which I shall appear at the second coming.” (Explanation of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark, Chapter 9)
Let us pray that daily we may take up our cross and follow Christ, seeking to find his will for us, and allowing his love to transform our lives, so that no matter what happens to us we may live with God, both in this world and in the age to come.
(Quotations from Saint Bede are from his Commentary on Mark, Books 2 and 3)
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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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