All Saints
THE SUNDAY OF ALL SAINTS 1994 DIOCESAN LITURGY & FEAST OF THE CATHEDRAL
The Sunday of All Saints is always a very special day for members of the Diocese of Sourozh; as many people as possible gather from the all the Parishes to celebrate our annual Diocesan Liturgy. This year was a more particularly special and joyous occasion as we celebrated the 80th birthday of our Metropolitan Anthony.
At the door of the Cathedral he was met by Anna Garrett, our Starosta, Church Warden, who greeted him carrying bread and salt, in the traditional Russian sign of welcome.
Father John then came forward and presented the Metropolitan with the Cross, which he kissed and then blessed the congregation, and received the kiss of greeting from his clergy.
Father Sergii and Protodeacon Peter, carrying the Liturgical Gospel, which the Diocese presented to our Metropolitan on his 80th birthday, approached and stood before him. Father Sergii presented the Gospel to Metropolitan Anthony, and addressed him thus:
«Vlaldyko, early in your ministry to our community – you had been our parish priest for hardly three years, and we were all younger in those days – you represented us at the coronation of the Queen. And you will perhaps remember the moment when she was presented with a Bible and these words were uttered:
«We present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; this is the royal Law; these are the lively Oracles of God.
«To-day is not a coronation, of course. Yet our diocese would like to crown at least the first eighty years of your life – more than half of it spent at our disposal and our service – by echoing those words. For this time it is we who present you with this Book, 'the most valuable thing that this world affords’.
'"We, means each and all of us, the laos of God, male and female, ordained and less specifically ordained. It is a Book, moreover, that speaks of our life together insofar that is rooted in its evangelion, the good news of our salvation in Christ.
«That life is reflected not only in its contents, but in its form as well. You can see that its binding is traditional and Russian in design, with its painted icons richly set in metal. Yet you have only to open it to find that it is utterly English underneath. So it relates to the reality of life around us – as you have taught us since your early days should be the case with every aspect of our churchly life.
«Here indeed is Wisdom, as we shall recognise it later in the service with the exclamation 'Premudrost' (Sophia/Wisdom). Then, as now, you will venerate this Wisdom with a kiss.
«Then, as now, we in our turn will recognise you as the principal spokesman of this Wisdom in our midst. Hence your authority and your designation, vladyka or despota. Hence also our greeting: EIS POLLA ETI DESPOTA!»
Archpriest Sergii Hackel.
As the Metropolitan was vested, Protodeacon Peter chanted the appropriate psalm verse for each item, as the choir sang «Eis polla eti Despota». The Metropolitan sat enthroned in the centre of the Cathedral, with Archbishop Anatoly seated on his one side and Bishop Basil on the other; the Divine Liturgy commenced.
During the Liturgy, John Palmer was ordained to the diaconate to serve in the Exeter Parish; before preaching his sermon on the occasion of this ordination, Metropolitan Anthony first responded to Father Sergii's words of greeting when presenting him with, the Liturgical Gospel:
«When I came into the church to-day I was greeted by Father Sergii with an affection which embodied all the good feelings, all the warmth, all the help I have received in the course of forty-five years of my ministry in this Parish and this Diocese.
«But the day will come when I will stand before God and say: «Here am I and the children which Thou hast given me.» And at that moment my eternal destiny will be in your hands, because you may be able then, seeing me as I truly am before the eyes of God, you will be able to say: «He was an unworthy Father. He spoke and never did what he proclaimed»; and my only hope will be then in your prayers and in your mercy.
«But before the dread day I want to appeal to you to pray the Lord to give me to repent of all the evil there is in my life, all the sins I have committed and to make me start at least at the last moment of my life.
«I want to add something different now. We have to-day ordained John Palmer to be a deacon. To be a deacon is something almost miraculous, because a deacon remains a layman and yet he is chosen by the people of God, by the believers, by his brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers and children, he is chosen to stand in their name in the Sanctuary. He represents all the laity. In him is vested all your faith, all your faithfulness, all your reverence to God.
«This is a dread calling. Again, he also will need your prayers; and not only prayers, because praying at times is easy, but your support, your simple, human support, for him to be able to carry out the mission which you have put upon his shoulders.
«He will be in the Sanctuary in order to support the priests, to make their prayer easy by freeing them from the concerns that otherwise would distract them.
«But he will also play an important role in the prayer of the Church. He will proclaim the litanies, and there are two ways of doing this. One, which may be brilliant, but which is poor in spirit; one may proclaim the litanies with all the art one can put into declamation, into making beautiful phrases. This is not what he is called to do. He will have to work hard to make his proclaiming of the litanies what they are called to be: his own, personal, intimate praying to God, without any concern of the effect it may have on those who hear. And we all will have the privilege to listen to his praying, to 'eavesdrop' on the words he speaks from his heart into the heart of God.
«And when he learns so to pray, that every word of the litany he proclaims is his own word that he speaks to God personally and intimately, then every word will reach someone's heart. There is an old saying, that an arrow can never pierce the centre of a target unless it pierces at the same time, the heart of him or her who shoots it. This is what he is called to be: to speak words of prayer that will pierce his heart and therefore reach yours. But he will need all your concern, all your prayers, understood in the same sense, all your solidarity with him and all the awareness that it is you who have sent him to stand before God in awe, with the call to grown into the full measure of the stature of God.
Surround him with prayer, surround him with support, help him to grow into that measure which makes a deacon one who conveys to God, collects all the prayers of the Church, and out of his own heart brings them to the Lord. Amen.»
Archbishop Anatoly then addressed Metropolitan Anthony, first in Russian on presenting him with the award of Saint Daniel of Moscow on behalf of the Patriarch, and then spoke in English on behalf of the Diocese:
(Translation) «I have to say that to-day also, His Holiness the Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and All Russia, in connection with the 80th birthday and in commemoration of this event, His Holiness the Patriarch has awarded our Bishop Anthony, Metropolitan of Sourozh, with the award of Saint Prince Daniel of Moscow of the 1st Order.
«We all congratulate you, dear Vladyka, with this high honour bestowed on you by the Russian Orthodox Church. We bring you our thanks and our own congratulations and wishes for many years, that God may give you strength to work in your Diocese and with your flock.
«I also hand you a holy prosphora, a symbol of our prayers.» Archbishop Anatoly then continued in English:
«Dear Vladyka Anthony. A week ago it was your 80th birthday, and to-day all of us who have garnered here at our Patronal Feast, greet you most warmly on this important date of your life.
«To-day you are surrounded by your spiritual children. Many of them you have brought to Orthodoxy.
«To-day our thoughts involuntarily go back to the past, to that part of life which you have already trodden with God's help.
«You came to England more than forty years ago, and to-day we see the fruits of your spiritual work. The Lord gives everyone different gifts. He has given you special talents which you have used to bring up your flock. You attract people's hearts and souls, they recognize you as a spiritual shepherd and a person of complete integrity. You are not only proven as such in England. Very many in Russia know you as a Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church and as a leader of spiritual life. They have already spiritual contact with you for several decades. Your living word in sermons as well as in lectures always seem to speak directly to each person who listens to you or reads your thoughts on the Church and on spiritual life. Hundreds of people from Russia turn to you by letters with their spiritual problems, as well as simply for advice. This is because your thoughts are rooted in evangelical faith and love, and this always harmonizes with people's souls.
«I vividly remember your lectures in the Moscow Theological Academy more than a quarter of a century ago. Not only for us students, but also for the teachers, they were words of spiritual truth.
«It is not to be wondered at that a Bishop is dominant as a uniting spiritual force in the life of a Diocese. Your modest way of monastic life is a living example to each of us.
«To-day we congratulate you on your 80th birthday and from the depth of our souls we pray to God, the giver of life, that you may be granted health and strength for your continuing service in the Church and for your leadership of the Diocese of Sourozh to which you have dedicated your life.
«Dear Vladyka, may the Lord give you His abundant help which is manifested in human weakness for the good of the Church and your spiritual children!»
Eis polla eti Despota!
We were fortunate with the weather; it was a lovely sunny day so we were able to make use of the garden too. A splendid buffet lunch was served in the parish hall; everyone seemed happy, milling around, chatting with old friends one rarely sees except on such occasions, and meeting new parishioners from all the parishes.