ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

Exarchate of Parishes of Russian
Tradition in Western Europe

YORK: On Saturday, 26 January 2007, the monk Stephen Robson and six other members of the small community based at St Anne's House in York were received into the Orthodox Church through chrismation by Bishop Basil of Amphipolis, assisted by Father David Gill. At the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday, celebrated by Bishop Basil with Father David Gill, Father Timothy Curtis and Deacon Ian Thompson, those received were able to take communion for the first time within the Vicariate of Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition (Ecumenical Patriarchate). Father Edwin Hunt was also present to help with the choir, which was directed by Frances Thompson.

Father David Gill has been given pastoral responsibility for St Anne's, which will continue to function as a monastic house with a special ministry in prisons and among the less privileged members of our society. He will be assisted by Father Edwin Hunt.

A personal account of the occasion is given below:

Reception and Chrismation of York Community: a personal account by Ruth Nares

It felt a very great honour to be invited to be with the York Community on the occasion of their reception into the Vicariate on 26th/27th January.  The rite of Chrismation, which took place in the afternoon following their own Liturgy of St James, was to be a ‘family’ affair, affording a necessary privacy of the heart for something so truly momentous.  It was followed by a beautiful service of Vespers.

A chapel for the Community of St Anne was built by Fr Stephen Robson in the garage at the bottom of his garden. The walls are covered with icons and it is infused with a sense of prayer and peace. The chapel also holds relics of St Anne, the mother of the Theotokos, or, as Fr Stephen refers to her, ‘the Grandmother of God’.

I can only say it is one of the loveliest little chapels I have been in, and the love and care with which it was built and is maintained is palpable.  Fr Stephen lives with an ‘open house’ – open to anyone who is needy in whatever way, and is obviously well known to all around, regardless of their faith (or lack of faith).  The warmth and hospitality with which he received us was, in a word, overflowing.

Fr Timothy Curtis, who hailed originally from this community and, having been ordained as priest within the Vicariate last year, serves in Aberdeen and elsewhere in Scotland, came to take part in the Liturgy on Sunday, along with Fr Edwin Hunt, Deacon Ian Thompson and people from the Leeds and Scunthorpe communities. This is to say nothing of Fr David Gill, who has been pivotal throughout the Community’s move to the Vicariate.

It was the most joyous Liturgy, with Bishop Basil preaching from his often inspired and apposite angle, drawing our attention, among other things, to the ‘coincidence’ of it being the Feast of St John Chrysostom, whose Liturgy the chapel was witnessing for the first time, and how the Liturgy cuts through all time and space, and how the local Church simultaneously also intersects the eternal, in spite of its strong sense of place as well as time, in the here and now. I am sure all the hosts of angels were with us on this day.

Afterwards a true banquet had been laid on for us, with lashings of delicious home-made stew, a yummy syllabub made by Frances, and seemingly bottomless resources of wine.  It was a truly special event and a most memorable weekend – a great privilege to be there.  There was a sense of spring in the air, and along with this, in more ways than one, it was redolent of new green shoots.

Many years!

Account and photographs by Ruth Nares