Sayedna Silouan has blessed a catechumenate process to prepare a whole evangelical church in Halifax, West Yorkshire to be received into Orthodoxy and constitute a new mission dedicated to St Hilda Abbess of Whitby and as part of our Archdiocese.
Over several weeks (a process still not complete) the overwhelming majority of the members of this community have been enrolled as catechumens, including its Pastor, Douglas Clark and the Associate Pastor, Viviers Ferreira. In addition there are three Christians joining this exciting development from communities elsewhere in Halifax and another family of 5 who live in Burnley. This process will conclude at the beginning of September with receptions, and, may it please God, an ordination to the diaconate.
Our Metropolitan has blessed the parish of St Aidan of Lindisfarne, Manchester and its clergy to care for this new mission with the assistance of Reader Stephen Nendick and the clergy of St Constantine the Great, York.
Back in 1995 when the Orthodox Church of Antioch expanded in the UK, several communities such as this were catechised and received into the Church in a process called "Pilgrimage to Orthodoxy." With this new Orthodox mission of St Hilda, Whitby on the horizon and the same process being followed, Pilgrimage to Orthodoxy (PTO) has been reborn.
The Antiochian Orthodox Church here in the British Isles and Ireland remains open to receive not only individuals into the Church but also whole ecclesial communities as the seeds of new missions in this Archdiocese. The photo below shows Fr Gregory from St Aidan's in Manchester enrolling both adults and children into the catechumenate in the school in Halifax where the community currently worships.
Komentar