Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord
1st–2nd April
We are honoured and delighted to welcome our Father in Christ, Metropolitan Silouan, to our community for his second archpastoral visit to us: this is an opportunity to gather around our bishop and joyfully celebrate together.
St Ignatius of Antioch writes, “For we ought to receive everyone whom the Master of the house sends to be over his household, (Matthew 24:45) as we would do him that sent him. It is manifest, therefore, that we should look upon the bishop even as we would upon the Lord himself.” (Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians, 6) Therefore, in showing hospitality and welcome to our bishop, we honour Christ who is made present through him.
All are welcome—Come and see!
Dear Friends
World history is displayed on grand stages: speeches made to thousands, coronations with pomp and majesty, generals taking vast areas of land through their tactical astuteness. And we remember their names, either through fame or infamy: Leonidas, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Genghis Khan, Henry VIII and Napoleon for example. Yet the greatest act of all those who are merely human ever to take place, the most significant for world history, was said by a peasant girl in a backwater of the Roman Empire.
In those days, Elizabeth the wife of Zacharias conceived and for five months she hid herself, saying, “Thus the Lord had done to me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.”
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And he came to her and said, “Hail, O favoured one, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:24–38
And these words, spoken by a girl in poverty to the Archangel, reverberate throughout history and to our day, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” The Archangel himself knew not how he could enter and speak with her who was to become the Mother of God: the liturgical tradition of the Church poetically describes the scene.
Awed by the beauty of thy virginity
and the exceeding splendour of thy purity,
Gabriel stood amazed and cried out unto thee,
O Theotokos:
What hymn of praise is meet, that I may sing unto thee?
What shall I call thee?
I hesitate and I stand in wonder.
Wherefore as I was commanded, I cry out unto thee:
Hail! Thou that art full of grace.
And this event in Nazareth—an insignificant village far from royal court—spelt the beginning of the end of the Satan’s reign over the Earth, as we sing in one of the hymns of the Annunciation while we participate in this event (25th March).
Today is the beginning of our salvation, and the manifestation of the mystery from the ages; for the Son of God becometh the Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel proclaimeth grace. Wherefore, do we shout with him to the Theotokos: Hail, O full of grace! The Lord is with thee.
Apolytikion of the Annunciation
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ: death, sin and idolatry are on the run by the coming of Christ into the world, victories which will be confirmed once and for all through the Cross, death and Resurrection of our Lord. This is the significant event in history, the turning point from which the Satan has no return.
Come and live the only true victory, live life, through his Church. Come and see.
We serve a meal following the Liturgy on Sundays. All are welcome.
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Why do we live? Our society does not know the answer to this so tries to fill us with tasks and distractions until we are inevitably taken by death. So we go out and find work, we fill the remaining time with hobbies, we manage our households, occupy our children and complain that we just do not have enough time. But what’s the point? We are just doing this, and teaching our children to do this, so they can teach their children to do this, so that society keeps functioning for the sake of society keeping its function. Why do we live?
The Lord says to Martha after the death of her brother Lazarus, and he says to me, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” This is radical in our world where death has no solution, no response, no reply. Yet the Lord continues immediately to Martha, “Do you believe this?” And I—if I am to make this Gospel my own, if I am to receive this life which not even death can overcome—must reply as she, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” (John 11:25–27)
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Read last Sunday’s Sermon, Why do we live?
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 24th March
Discussion on the Book of Numbers, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 25th March
Vespers, 6.30 pm
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
Sunday 26th March
Matins & Divine Liturgy, 9 am
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
Online session is via Google Meet: please get in contact for the details.
Please join us: all are welcome, come and see.
Attending Church
We meet at St Francis’ Hall, Nightingale Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9JA. Come and See.
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 community?
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]