On Saturday 10 January and Sunday 11 January we had services for the Thirty-First Sunday after Pentecost, which this year was also the Sunday after the Nativity of Christ.  Matins was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning.  At Divine Liturgy prayers were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land.  Following the services on Sunday a group of our parishioners and friends gathered in the church hall for a festive meal and a visit from Father Christmas. 

"Once again we hear the message of the angelic host, God’s messengers to mankind, as they announce the glad tidings of the Birth of Christ our Saviour, Emmanuel, Who has become incarnate in order to free mankind from the bondage of sin... Let us hearken to their angelic message, and let us make every effort to worship and glorify God every day of our lives. In this way we will bear witness to the presence of Christ in our hearts, Who was incarnate for our salvation."   Archbishop George’s Epistle is available in full in English here and in Russian here.

"For every Christian, the feast of the Nativity of Christ is beloved and joyful. Throughout the world on this day, people remember the Star of Bethlehem and the manger, the shepherds and angels, the Mother of God and Righteous Joseph the Betrothed, while the Orthodox celebrate, confessing the cornerstone of faith—the Incarnation of Christ, the manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). Out of His greatest love, the Lord descended to be born of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, uniting fallen humanity with God through Himself. "The Word became flesh so that we might be renewed and divinized in Him," says St. Athanasius the Great."  Metropolitan Nicholas’s Epistle is available in full in English here and in Russian here.

In 2026 our major focus will be commencing work on improvements to the church and grounds, beginning with our outside toilet facilities.  Although we have the funds to complete the first stage, we will also be working on raising funds to make the entire project possible.  We plan to repaint the interior of our church and reorganise the icons.  In April we will have a midnight Paschal service for the first time since 2024, and later that month, God willing, we will celebrate the marriage of a young couple active in parish life.  During the course of the year, we will begin planning celebrations in 2027 to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the foundation of our parish in 1952.  In the second half of the year we hope to welcome Archbishop George on a pastoral visit and look forward to the tonsure at that time of another new reader for service in our parish.