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The Liturgy at St.Andrew's, Holborn
Sunday 17 September 2006: a personal account
PICTURES
On Sunday September 17th the Liturgy was celebrated here by Bishop Basil of Amphipolis with Father John Lee for a congregation of more than a hundred people. Volunteers had worked very hard beforehand to make this Anglican church an appropriate setting for the Liturgy, bringing vestments, altar vessels, altar linen, icons, candles and prosphora, together with furniture moving and arrangement, in fact everything needed to make the church our temporary home.
Our first service was a baptism, and as Father Michael Fortounatto had come over from France for this, we were fortunate to have him as choir master for this first celebration. Bishop Basil gave a homily on the Gospel of the day, emphasising the significance of the wedding garment as our inner peace.
It was a great joy for people to be reunited for this Liturgy and to experience the spirit of worship, of stillness and reverence, especially for those who have found it difficult to continue worshipping in the Cathedral. The bond of unity made one forget that the setting was not that of a typical Orthodox church, although two beautiful and permanent icons of Christ and the Mother of God and a large, centrally placed decorated cross dedicated to the children of Beslan made us feel more at home.
At the end of the Liturgy we all shared a very generous amount of food brought by everyone and enjoyed meeting up with old friends from London and elsewhere. Archdeacon Lyle gave us a very warm welcome, inviting us to feel at home in this beautiful city Wren church with its spacious dimensions and with the September sunlight streaming in through the windows.
But although there was much happiness expressed, we cannot forget that St.Andrew's is only a Sunday 'oasis.' I think what it revealed was the great amount of fraternal solidarity in these difficult days and the firm conviction that it is the Liturgy, celebrated with such dignity, that binds us all together
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