Icons and the altar of the "Joy of All Who Sorrow" parish
The new church of the Mother of God: Joy of All Who Sorrow, in Mettingham, is to be blessed as an Orthodox church by His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Great Britain on Thursday, the 16th of July, in the presence of the relics of the Holy New-Martyrs Elisabeth and Barbara. The church was built in sections in Russia and shipped to the UK for assembly, and is now complete save for the doors of the iconostas. A few photographs may be seen on the gallery linked from the diocesan website. While simple, the building has some notable features, not the least of which are the late Anglo-Saxon/early Norman influence appearance of the arches of the iconostas, along with the lamps which are unusually but beautifully suspended above the Holy Table rather than resting upon it.
It is now the third purpose-built Orthodox church in our diocese and a sign of the restoration of the Orthodox Faith in the British Isles, and has largely come about through the hard work of Father Deacon Andrew Bond, supported by Reader Mark Tattum-Smith and the faithful of the Waveney Valley area. Regular services have been offered in the church now since Pascha.
Unfortunately, I shan't be able to be there, as transportation would be difficult to arrange and this falls two days before my own parish's patronal festival, when we shall move into our new building. Still, I pray that all goes well at this exciting time in the life of this new parish.
God grant them many years!
2 comments:
Many years!
And many years to your parish as you move into your new building.
Thank you, Ian.
To be honest, I had a moment of panic when I learnt that Vladyka would be in the country for our move into our new building/patronal festival. In one sense, it would be amazing to have the bishop there but, with everything else, I just don't think we'd have been able to cope with the practicalities of it all.
Perhaps he may visit later in the year. I know he does want to bless the church.
Post a Comment