Sin

In this email

Message from Fr Alexander — Sin
News …
First Parish Meeting — Saturday 13th March, 3 pm, online
Lent online Meetings — 7pm Wednesdays and Fridays
WhatsApp Group
Twitter Feed
Names for prayer
Monastery of St John the Baptist talks
Archimandrite Philip: Ten at Ten

Live stream information

Resources

Saints and Feasts — 11th–18th March

Offer of help

Dear Friends

“Sin is between me and God,” we lie to ourselves: “my sin does not affect anyone but me.”  And so we act as though we are individuals, unattached from our neighbour.  “I will repent when I feel like.”

We think like this because the western mentality is so permeating our society: many here believe “sin is breaking a rule.”  But for the Orthodox Christian this is not true: sin is a disease, it is contagious and its spread is in the proportions of an epidemic.

When we enter a room where there has been sin—even if the sinner has left—we still worry about the surfaces we touch, the air we breathe.  Sin has been there and we ourselves are adding to it: I am a sinner, I am spreading sin, I am perpetuating the epidemic.  For us Christians, our own sin has an effect on our possessions, on our friends and family and on all those with whom we come in contact: it is not neutral to them, it goes against them.

What, my dear brothers and sisters, are we then to do?  How do we end this sin pandemic?  The Church has given us weapons against sin—it has given us vaccines.  A vaccine does not prevent a person from being exposed to a disease but it gives the body the means to fight off its effects.  And being freed from the effects of sin, we can learn to become more like Christ.

Our vaccine is prayer and forgiveness.  We pray; we pray not only to ask for things but to place our mind and our whole selves into the mind of God—to open our heart and let the Lord’s anti-sin antibodies into our own bodies.  And we forgive.  The Church brings our mind to forgiveness this Sunday: as we are about to enter the forty days of Lent (starting on Monday 15th March) we remember to forgive and to ask for forgiveness of each other.

The Lord said, “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
— Matthew 6:14–21

Take up these vaccines against sin so that we can be a positive influence in the world.  May this Great Fast be for you a spiritual benefit as we prepare to meet the Lord’s Pascha.

My sins affect you: for all my sins against you—whether by action or inaction, by thought, word or deed, I ask your forgiveness.  Forgive me, a sinner.


News

First Parish Meeting — Saturday 13th March, 3pm

Our Metropolitan, Sayidna Silouan, has approved our Constitution and we will now formally adopt it.  We will have a meeting on Saturday this week to do this formally and elect Councillors whose names will be sent to Sayidna for his approval.  We hope then to start the process of getting a bank account which will help us find a place to worship.

(1) Please pray for us.
(2) We need you.  If you would like to join the Parish Assembly and attend the meeting then please get in touch.  The meeting will be held online via Google Meet (you would need a Google Account to access it)

Lent online Meetings — 7 pm Wednesdays and Fridays

We try to deepen our Faith during Lent, one way is by attending more services.  While it is not currently possible to attend in person, we will be having Great Compline on Wednesday evenings and the Salutations to the Mother of God (sometimes called the Akathist Hymn) on Fridays.  You would be most welcome to join us—strengthen your faith in the course of the Great Fast!

Get in touch and I will send you the details: [email protected].

WhatsApp Group

A new WhatsApp group has been created for the Twelve Apostles community: would you like to be a part of this?  Let me know!

Twitter Feed

I have also created a new Twitter account for the community: do follow us @12ApostlesHants.

Names for prayer

If you have not yet done so, please do send me a list of those whom you would like me to pray for at the Liturgy.  Please separate them out into four groups:

Living who are Orthodox
Living who are not Orthodox
Departed who are Orthodox
Departed who are not Orthodox

Just their Christian (first) names are needed.  Please include your own names at the top of the list.

Monastery of St John the Baptist talks

Each Sunday evening, 5.30–7pm, the Monastery in Essex, founded by St Sophrony, produces a talk on Zoom.  Up until now these have been given either by Archimandrite* Peter, the abbot, or by Archimandrite Zacharias.  You need to register for these in advance.

If you would be interested in joining the talks, please get in contact and I can send you the registration details.  They are of great benefit.

[* Archimandrite is a title for a senior priest who is celibate.]

Archimandrite Philip: Ten at Ten

Also online, Archimandrite Philip of the monastery of our Archdiocese in Shropshire produces a Bible-study every weekday at 10 am from his YouTube channel—if you cannot watch live they are archived.  Although called Ten at Ten, its length is somewhat a changeable feast.

You can reach his YouTube channel by clicking here or by searching “Archimandrite Philip” on YouTube.


Live stream

The Monastery of Saints Antony and Cuthbert, Shropshire, is live-streaming its services for all who are unable to go to their own churches.  These are over YouTube and can be accessed here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfWMaefJYqFEZkYiK2WmeEw

Usually Vespers on Saturday evenings at 5 pm and Matins and Liturgy on Sunday mornings from 7.30 am.


Resources

Have a look at our website —  orthodoxeastleigh.uk

If you click on the “Blog” link, or directly here, you will see all past emails as well as sermons etc.

Our Facebook Page, facebook.com/orthodoxeastleigh, too, has daily additions during the week as well as on feast days.  Please do like and share our page and content so we may reach a wider group of people.

Our community has a Twitter handle, @12ApostlesHants.

Do you receive the weekly (on Fridays) text message?  If not, then let me know.


Saints and Feasts

Thursday 11th March — St Sophrony, Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Friday 12th — St Theophanes the Confessor.  St Symeon the New Theologian.  St Alphege of Winchester (951).

Saturday 13th — St Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople.  St Gerald, Abbot of Mayo (732).

Sunday 14th — Sunday of the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.  St Benedict of Nursia (543).

Monday 15th — Martyr Agapius, Timolaus, Paisius, Dionysius, Alexander and Alexander in Caesarea in Palestine (305).  Holy Apostle Aristobulus of the Seventy, First Bishop in Britain.

Tuesday 16th — Holy Martyr Sabinus of Egypt.  St Finnan, Bishop of Lona and Argyll (661).

Wednesday 17th — St Alexis, the Man of God.  St Patrick, Bishop of Armagh and Apostle to the Irish (461).  St Withburga, Solitary at Holkham and East Dereham (c 743).

Thursday 18th — St Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem (386).  St Edward the Martyr, King of England (c 978).  St Egbert of Ripon, the Confessor (c 720).


Can I help you?

I am here for you, you need only ask.  Is there a way I can support your life of faith?  Get in touch.

Can you help the mission?

Yes, absolutely.  Offer yourselves to the Lord: pray!  Make available to him all your talents and ask him how he would like you to use them — listen for his reply.

Your prayers!

With love in Christ

Fr Alexander
[email protected]