Abba Seraphim

2 March

Meeting of Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church, Kensington, London.

4 March

Abba Seraphim assisted by Father Seraphim Mina, attended the Asylum & Immigration Court at Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre, Clapham, Bedfordshire, to give support as a witness to a member of the Coptic Orthodox Church seeking asylum, which was awarded.

6 March

Abba Seraphim presided at the Evening Service at St. Mark & St. Hubert’s British Orthodox Church at Cusworth, Doncaster and afterwards joined the local clergy for a Lenten supper.

7 March

Abba Seraphim baptised and chrismated an adult catechumen and afterwards celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Mark & St. Hubert’s British Orthodox Church at Cusworth. Afterwards he joined the local clergy and parishioners for a Lenten lunch. On his return to London Abba Seraphim visited old friends of the church, Mr. & Mrs. Derek Rogers at the home in Grantham, Lincolnshire.

8 March

The Right Rev’d John Fenwick, Bishop of the Northern diocese of the Free Church of England and a distinguished liturgist and church historian, dinned at the Church Secretariat with Abba Seraphim and Fathers Peter Farrington and Simon Smyth.

9       March

Father Andrew Crosbie, Dr. Colin Podmore and Mr. Thomas Ormond dined at the Church Secretariat with Abba Seraphim.

10    March

Abba Seraphim attended a meeting of the Mor Gabriel Focus Group at Southwark, chaired by the Bishop of Woolwich. Also attending was His Grace Mor Polycarpos Evgin Aydin, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchal Vicar for the Netherlands, who formerly studied at Mor Gabriel Monastery in Tur Abdin.

14 March

Abba Seraphim celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Mary & St. Felix British Orthodox Church at Babingley, King’s Lynn, Norfolk.

17 March

Archimandrite Deiniol of the Wales Orthodox Mission of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church within the Ecumenical Patriarchate, dined with Abba Seraphim and stayed overnight at the Church Secretariat.

19 March

Abba Seraphim dined and stayed overnight with Subdeacon Paul (Wulfric) Ashdown at his home in Baltonsborough, Somerset

20 March

Abba Seraphim, assisted by Father Simon Smyth and Subdeacon Paul Ashdown, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in St. Mary’s Chapel in the undercroft of Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset and afterwards joined the congregation for coffee.

21 March

Abba Seraphim, assisted by Fathers Sergius Scott and Seraphim Mina, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Thomas’ Church, Old Charlton, London, SE7.

25 March

Abba Seraphim visited and stayed overnight in Oxford to consult archives for the purpose of research.

27 March

Abba Seraphim received the visit of an old friend, Mr. Magdi Elfons Tawafig, at the Church Secretariat.

28 March

Abba Seraphim, assisted by Deacon Mark Saunders and Subdeacon Christopher Barnes, led the Palm Sunday procession and celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Mary & St. Felix British Orthodox Church at Babingley, King’s Lynn, Norfolk.

30 March

Abba Seraphim received the visit of Mr. John Hodgson, Archivist at the John Rylands University Library, Manchester, at the Church Secretariat.

On 19 June 2008, accompanied by Deacon Theodore de Quincy, Abba Seraphim attended a meeting of the Anglo-Ethiopian Society at London University’s  School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) where Niall Finneran gave an illustrated talk entitled “Lalibela: Towards an Archaeological Context.”

Dr. Finneran, whose Archaeology of Ethiopia was published last year, highlighted the neglected archaeological potential of the study of mediaeval Ethiopia. Previously Lalibela has been the focus of extensive art-historical and architectural study, but the site effectively exists in limbo, archaeologically, geographically and chronologically. Using a landscape archaeology approach (and largely ignoring the churches themselves) Dr. Finneran sought to place both the Zagwe dynasty and the site of Lalibela itself into some sort of archaeological context, highlighting the importance of a strong local social memory and its importance to understanding the mechanisms of the Zagwe in their landscape

At the invitation of Canon Howard Cocks, the Rector of Winchelsea, Abba Seraphim preached at the Patronal Festival of  this Ancient Town of the Cinque Port Confederation on 6 July 2008. The beautiful and historic Church, which is dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury, was full for the morning eucharist as the Mayor and Jurats, wearing their traditional robes, processed into the Church from the Court Hall. In his homily Abba Seraphim examined ancient and modern perceptions of martyrdom and noted that this was not  just the experience of the Early Church but an increasing part of Christian witness in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. He highlighted the events at El Kosheh in Upper Egypt on the eve of the 2000 Millennium to demonstrate the depressingly familiar pattern of attacks on a Suffering and Persecuted Church. The text of his address is now available in the publication, “Two Homilies on Martyrdom.”                             

Abba Seraphim was the Orthodox celebrant on the morning of the Annual Glastonbury Pilgrimage on Saturday, 21 June 2008. He was assisted by Father Anthony Clements, who had flown down from Dumfries, Father Simon Smyth (Bournemouth) and Subdeacons Wulfric Ashdown (Baltonsborough) with Antony Westwood (Cheltenham).

In his homily Abba Seraphim preached on Revelation III:2, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”  This message to the Church in Sardis was more than just a warning to be watchful, it was a call to wake up and to be perpetually vigilant. This was a call not simply to the individual Christian but to the Church corporately. The Church in Sardis had a reputation for spiritual vitality although it was spiritually dead. It had the appearance of life, but not the reality. The Lord frequently demonstrates that He is not interested in mere appearances, with His scathing references to the Pharisees as “whited sepulchres”.  He is concerned with inner truth. He warns the Church of Sardis to remember what it has received and heard – the undiluted Gospel message – to keep it and to repent of their backsliding; otherwise He will come to them when they least expect it, as a thief in the night, to visit judgement on them. It is this Gospel, and its reality in their lives, which He calls to be strengthened, because it has come near to being lost completely.

There are still some in Sardis who have kept the faith, expressed through the symbolism of keeping their garments clean – like the white robes of baptism and, indeed, of martyrdom – who will be rewarded by having their names entered in the book of life and confessed before the Father, whereas the faithless – by implication – will not.

Abba Seraphim said that the invitation for Orthodox to share in this Anglican pilgrimage was – in spite of our differences – becaused we shared so much of that common apostolic witness. He was happy to support today’s witness because the challenges to our Christian faith in this secular society – both from outside and from within – are many.  For those faithful to the Apostolic Tradition the focus of our worship is in the person of Christ, Who is actualised in the Holy Eucharistr, which strengthens, nourishes and sustains us in our daily lives. Although our respective histories and our sinfulness prevent us from fully sharing communion together, we are indeed united by our sharing in the one great sacrifice of our Lord which He perpetually offers in the heavenly realm and which we mirror here on earth.

The ancient church of Glastonbury, with its distinguished history of worship, suffered defilement and was profaned when enemies from both within and without united against a Church which was not sufficiently alive spiritually or vigilant enough to see the judgement coming upon it.  In God’s Providence – after centuries – it arose to new life and is now a treasured place of pilgrimage. Nevertheless, the signs – the warnings – threatening the apostolic faith and testimony, are once more there and he was not simply referring to issues currently faced by the Anglican communion, but to deeper concerns which are manifested in our rampantly secular society and the moral and spiritual vacuum which draws the confused and the disillusioned to the “certainties” of false prophets, whether of other faiths or exotic cults. He concluded by calling on all to unite in returning to those things which remain and prayed that our common witness would be for their strengthening.

Following this, he and his clergy, joined the Procession of Witness through the town and attended the Anglican concelebrated Solemn Mass in the nave of the Abbey, where the principal celebrant was the Right Rev’d Matthias Medadues-Badohu, Bishop of Ho in Ghana, and the preacher was The Right Rev’d Michael Hough, Bishop of Ballarat, Australia.