Dear Friends and Faithful of the Community of the Holy Fathers of Nicaea,
The church is open for public worship under the guidance issued by our archdiocese. We will keep you up to date with restrictions as COVID-19 lockdown measures are lifted over the coming weeks and months.
Schedule of Services
The schedule of services for this week is available on our calendar page of this website.
The New Testament readings and sermon for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son are available on the archdiocese website.
We will continue to broadcast our services live on mixlr.com when possible.
Scripture Study – Great Lent: Journey to Pascha
Up until Lent begins, Father Stephen will be leading Scripture Study on Wednesday evening at 7.00pm for around 60 minutes via Zoom. Once lent begins the Study will move to Tuesday evening. We will be starting a new text reading Great Lent: Journey to Pascha by Alexander Schmemann. Copies of the text will be available in the church bookstore soon.
All are welcome to attend.
The link for joining the Zoom meeting are as follows:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/77563564842?pwd=WFFqM1QxaHdpdFRSQ3NQR1lyNzJKdz09
Please contact us by email for the meeting code and password: info@shrewsburyorthodox.com
Feast of Saint Chad
On 2 March we commemorate our Father among the saints Chad of Lichfield. There will be an akathist to the saint on the eve of his feast at 7pm followed by a Divine Liturgy in the morning at 9am. In the near future our church will be adorned with a new fresco of the saint on the South wall.
Saint Chad was one of three brothers born in Northumbria, and was educated at the monastery on Lindisfarne under Saint Aidan. In 664 he succeeded his brother, Cedd as Abbot of Lastingham.
In 669 that Chad became Bishop of Lichfield and today Saint Chad’s Well is to be found in the churchyard at Stowe on the north side of Lichfield town centre.
When he died on March 2 672 his body was first buried in Saint Mary,s Church where miracles of healing were soon being reported.
Later the shrine of Saint Chad was a popular place of pilgrimage when an elaborate shrine was erected in the present cathedral. Many place names have associations with Saint Chad. One example is Hanmer in North East Wales that in the Domesday Book is simply called “St. Chad’s”. Within the ancient parish is Cadney (Chad’s island?) and nearby is the Gospel Meadow in which is the Gospel Pool. Less than a mile to the north is Llys Beddyd (lake of Baptism), Eglwys Cross (‘Church Cross’) and a few hundred yards from the parish church of Saint Chad is a holy well. Another instance is the oldest church in Shrewsbury built on a hill within a loop of the Severn which, at that time must have almost been an island and was dedicated to Saint Chad, was characteristic of a Celtic monastic settlement.
Two new bishops
Two new assistant bishops have been elected by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to help in meeting the many pastoral needs of the Archdiocese. They are:
His Grace Bishop-elect Raphael Pavouris of Ilion
His Grace Bishop-elect Iakovos Savvas of Klavdioupolis
Axioi!!!
