ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

Exarchate of Parishes of Russian
Tradition in Western Europe

Some conference workshops

A number of different workshops and disucussion groups were on offer at the conference, each group meeting twice. In addition Deacon Peter Scorer led a liturgical training session for new clergy, which is intended to be a regular feature of future conferences.

Since our conference reporter had not been to a workshop we have invited some people who were to give their impressions of a selection of them.

Discussion Group: Mary and Martha - Archbishop Gabriel and Bishop Basil

The workshop with Bishop Basil and Archbishop Gabriel gave us an opportunity not only to extend the discussion about Martha and Mary but also to hear a lot from Archbishop Gabriel about life in the Exarchate. Our workshop was in two halves looking at each of these issues.

The story of Martha and Mary always give much food for thought and we could have talked about this for hours. Bishop Basil and Archbishop Gabriel gave us their views and it was a mark of the ease with which we felt we could be honest with such elevated personages, that some of us disagreed with them. This of course points to the many different ways in which the story can be viewed both theologically, personally and politically. It was a very lively discussion.

In the second part, Archbishop Gabriel told us about the history of the Exarchate and how it came into being. It was fascinating to hear something about the daily life of the Exarchate. Archbishop Gabriel seemed to have the knack of satisfying people of various viewpoints, to some extent anyway, with good humour and diplomacy. It was refreshing to hear his view on languages in services, which it seems could be summed up by ‘Decide what you want as a parish and stick to it. Be resolute and firm.' We were fascinated  to hear Archbishop Gabriel’s’ views on a number of issues  and it was a shame that more people weren’t able to be there to listen.

Janice Clarke

Workshop: Liturgical Singing and the Structure of Services - Anne Marie de Visser

I was only able to attend the first of Anne-Marie de Visser’s workshops. We met in the chapel, and in her inimitable way, Anne-Marie led us through major and minor tones, pitching, melodic harmonizing and the whole purpose of our singing. Lisa’s somewhat temperamental keyboard assisted the process, as did fascinating anecdotes from Anne-Marie’s long experience in leading a choir.

Those of us present differed vastly in our experience, abilities and parish resources. As someone relatively unmusical and new to Orthodoxy, yet now finding myself greatly involved in daily singing, I was keen to learn all I could.

The mysteries of tuning forks were unravelled. We practiced some singing and various combinations of harmonising. Ann-Marie reminded us that not any harmonising would do and that we could sound like “cats” if we got the mix wrong! I was intrigued to learn that most folk, when asked to hum a note, do so in E flat, and that cats tend to purr on this note!

We were reminded that the service should flow smoothly and that the purpose and privilege of the choir was to lead the congregation to worship, thus being sensitive to the words and message at all times. When an error occurs, the singers should just carry on smoothly so as not to distract from the service. A worshipping heart combined with determination, discipline and hard work were key to progress.  Being welcomed to sing in the choir during the conference reinforced the learning and gave further encouragement

Jenny Musther

Workshop: The Orthodox way of prayer Father Alexander Williams and Father David Gill.

Father Alexander began by saying that there were three "founding fathers" of the Orthodox prayer tradition in English: Father Sophrony, Metropolitan Kallistos, and Metropolitan Anthony.  While the first two  are mainly concerned with
the monastic experience and putting it into theological form,
Metropolitan Anthony was more concerned with the laity, and based his talks on people he knew.

Hence, for these workshops, Father Alexander taught about prayer following the works of Metropolitan Anthony on the
subject ("Living Prayer", "Courage to Pray", and "School for Prayer"), and with many anecdotes about Metropolitan Anthony which brought the subject alive in vivid colours.  We were given the briefest of glimpses into the Jesus Prayer, the concepts of "nepsis" (alertness) and "hesychia" (stillness), the Uncreated Light, and the subjective experience of God's absence. A thought-provoking anecdote was the fact that Metropolitan Anthony used to say that we should be very interested in the prayers that we really cannot say, because they are telling us
something!

In the Orthodox tradition, prayer is by no means restricted to monastics, and in the writings of Metropolitan Anthony (and many others) we can be sure we have a sure guide to the way of prayer for Orthodox Christians.

Briony Williams