Friday 2 November 2012

Services in November 2012 at Audley and Dresden


(Audley and Dresden)

Sat 3rd 12noon to 3pm – Parish Lunch in Dresden Scout Hall
6pm Great Vespers
Sun 4th 10am Matins; 11am Divine Liturgy
Tue 6th 7:30pm Meeting of the Trustees at Sparch Hollow
Wed 7th No Morning Service at Audley
7pm Great Vespers and Artoklasia for the Feast of the Synaxis of the
Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel and all the Bodiless Powers (at
Dresden)
Thu 8th 11am Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Synaxis of the Holy Archangels
Michael and Gabriel and all the Bodiless Powers (at Audley)
Sat 10th 3.30pm Marriage of Jan and Edwin
6pm Panakhida and Great Vespers
Sun 11th 10am Matins; 11am Divine Liturgy
Wed 14th 11am Divine Liturgy
***** Thursday 15th – Beginning of the Nativity Fast *****
Sat 17th 6pm Great Vespers
Sun 18th 10am Matins; 11am Divine Liturgy
Tue 20th 7pm Great Vespers of the Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy
Theotokos into the Temple
Wed 21st 11am Divine Liturgy of the Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy
Theotokos into the Temple
Sat 24th 6pm Great Vespers
Sun 25th 10am Matins; 11am Divine Liturgy
Wed 28th 11am Divine Liturgy

Name days
3rd Winifred Carson
8th Deacon Cyprian Mihai; Gabriel and Gabriela Aldea; Gabriela Bostan
11th Reader Martin
13th Ioannes Harvey
14th Philip Boothby
16th Matthew Carson; Matthew Cooke
20th Reader Edmund
30th Andre Ayoub; Andrew Davidchack; Andrew Onofrei

Memory Eternal




The body of the Greek Orthodox Priest Fr. Fadi Jamil Haddad, pastor of the church of St.
Elias in Qatana, was found today in the Jaramana neighborhood (north of Damascus)
not far from the place where he was kidnapped, on October 19, by unidentified armed
group. This was confirmed to the Fides News Agency by Fr. Haddad’s Greek Orthodox
confrere, who asked for anonymity. "His body was horribly tortured and his eyes
gouged out," he told Fides. "It is a purely terrorist act. Fr. Haddad is a martyr of our
church. "
With regards to the responsibilities of the terrible act there is an ongoing rebound of
responsibilities between the opposition forces and government authorities, that accuse
the armed gangs of armed rebellion in the army. According to Fides sources, the
kidnappers had asked the priest’s family and his church a ransom of 50 million Syrian
pounds (over 550 thousand euro). It was, however, impossible to find the money and
meet this exorbitant demand. A source of Fides condemns "the terrible practice,
present for months in this dirty war, of kidnapping and then killing innocent civilians."
Among the various Christian communities in Syria, the Greek Orthodox is the largest
(with about 500 thousand faithful) and is concentrated mainly in the western part of
the country and in Damascus. (Agenzia Fides 25/10/2012)
Lord Have Mercy
Please remember Fr Fadi Jamil Haddad in your prayers together with all our
brothers and sisters in Syria and Lebanon
Our Deanery continues to collect money to help the people of Syria ~
there is a collection box at the back of church
Please give all you can

Marriage in the Orthodox Church



Married life, no less than monastic life, is a special vocation, requiring a particular
gift from the Holy Spirit, a gift bestowed in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The
same Trinitarian mystery of ‘unity in diversity’ applies to the doctrine of marriage as it
does to the Church. The family created by this sacrament is a small church.
The Orthodox Church teaches that man is made in the image of the Trinity, and he is
not intended by God to live alone, but in a family, except in special cases. And just as
God blessed the first family, commanding Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply,
so the Church now gives its blessing to the union of man and woman. The mystery of
marriage, in the Church, gives a man and a woman the possibility to become one
spirit and one flesh in a way which no human love can provide by itself. The Holy
Spirit is given so that what has begun on earth is fulfilled and continues most
perfectly in the Kingdom of God.


The Marriage Service
For the Orthodox Christian, the marriage service (wedding) is the Church's formal
recognition of the couple's unity, a created image of God's love which is eternal,
unique, indivisible and unending. The early Church simply witnessed the couple's
expression of mutual love in the Church, and their union was blessed by their mutual
partaking of the Holy Eucharist.
When a marriage service developed in the Church, it was patterned after the service
for baptism and chrismation. The couple is addressed in a way similar to that of the
individual in baptism. They confess their faith and their love of God. They are led into
the Church in procession. They are prayed over and blessed. They listen to God's
Word.
The service contains no vows or oaths. It is, in essence, the "baptising and
confirming" of human love in God by Christ in the Holy Spirit. It is the deification of
human love in the divine perfection and unity of the eternal Kingdom of God as
revealed and given to man in the Church. There is no "legalism" in the Orthodox
sacrament of marriage. It is not a juridical contract, it is a spiritual bond.


The marriage service is divided into two parts, in earlier times held separately, but
now celebrated together.


Office of Betrothal
At the Betrothal service, the chief ceremony is the blessing and exchange of rings.


The rings are blessed by the priest in the name of the Father, of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The couple then exchange the
rings, taking the bride's ring and placing it on the groom's finger
and vice-versa. Then they exchange them again, symbolizing that
each spouse will constantly be complementing and enriching the
other by the union. This is also an outward symbol that the two
are joined in marriage of their own free will and consent.


Office of crowning
The second part of the service is the ceremony of coronation, in which the heads of
the bridegroom and bride are crowned by the priest. In the Russian tradition, the
crowns are gold or silver, while the Greek tradition uses
crowns of leaves and flowers.
The crowns are crowns of joy, but also crowns of
martyrdom, since marriage involves a self-sacrifice on
both sides.
At the end of the service the newly married couple drink
from the same cup of wine. This common cup is a symbol of the fact that after this
they will share a common life with one another. This also recalls the miracle at the
marriage feast of Cana in Galilee.