Thursday the 21st of May 2009, Hobart, Fr. Michael of Saint Petroc Monastery was admitted to the Royal Hobart Hospital to have a pituitary tumour removed. He is expected to remain in hospital until the 27th.
FR. DAVID IN HOSPITAL
Jacksonville, Florida. Monday 18th May, 2009. Fr. David, the Hieromonk at Holyrood
Hermitage has been taken to St.Vincent's hospital having had a large brain tumour discovered. He will be operated on Tuesday. The surgeons are hopeful of a complete recovery. Fr. David has the care of the aged Abbot Augustine at the instruction of Metropolitan Hilarion.
CITY MISSION
Saint Petroc Monastery together with Fr. George Robinson and his family is planning a mission to the City of Hobart in September 2009. Fr. George will bring his collection of very large modern Russian religious art which will be set up in a central city hall. The ROCOR mission to the people of Hobart will be built around the exhibition.
WORKING WITH ABORIGINESFr. Barry Jefferies a Western Rite Priest working under Saint Petroc Monastery has been working for the past eighteen months in the desert centre of Australia in the tiny, scattered desert Aborigine communities. These Aborigines have a life expectancy well short of the white population and tend to regard Fr. Barry (in his late sixties) as an Elder if only because he is older that almost any of them. Fr. Barry's office is typically the open sided tent that he sets up whenever he arrives at a new community. There are no communications with the outside world other than satellite uplift phone. Metropolitan Hilarion has set up a new mission called the Australian Orthodox Indigenous Community with Fr. Seraphim Slade (himself an Aborigine) in charge.
HOLY WEEK SERVICES FOR SAINT BRENDAN OSS AT LYNN HAVEN
Easter 2009. Fr. David from Saint Petroc Monastery Holyrood Hermitage celebrated the Holy Week and Easter services for Saint Brendan Orthodox Study Society (ROCOR) in a borrowed Anglican Catholic church at Lynn Haven.
Fr. David blessing the New Fire
The Easter Divine Liturgy
GOOD FRIDAY WESTERN RITE LITURGY PICTURES
St. Benedict's Russian Orthodox Church, Oklahoma City, USA, is a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia. Much information can be seen at its website, Archpriest Anthony Nelson this year celebrated Western rite services on Good Friday which consisted of pre-sanctified Liturgy and veneration of the Holy Cross. http://www.russianorthodoxoklahoma.org.
NEW NOVICE FOR SAINT PETROC
April 5th 2009, Hobart. Novice Edward Waters
was admitted to the Novitiate of Saint Petroc Monastery. Novice Edward is presently finishing his honours year at Melbourne University doing statistical mathematics. He hopes to be admitted as a doctoral candidate at Reading University next year.
SAINT COLMAN PRAYER BOOK
30th of March, 2009. Fr. Michael of Saint Petroc Monastery announced today that a new, cheap edition of the Shorter Saint Colman Prayer Book is available. This is a stapled, 105 page edition which retails for $US18.00. It includes an introduction by His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion of ROCOR and omits the entire cycle of Holy Week services.
NEW ORTHODOX PARISH CONVERTS
26th of March, 2009. Saint John the Baptist Mission in Lewistown. Maryland, formerly Methodist, and then Charismatic Episcopal has become an Orthodox Western Rite parish.
NEW CONVERT PARISH
February 8th 2009, Muleshoe, Texas. Saint Clement's, a small parish of forty-one people and their priest, formerly Charismatic Episcopal were received by Chrismation by Fr. Michael Keiser on behalf of Bishop Basil.
CHRISTMAS EVE MASS AT OUR LADY OF GLASTONBURY
This ROCOR church is attached to Christ the Saviour Orthodox (ROCOR) Benedictine Monastery in Ontario, Canada. Excerpts of its Christmas Eve liturgy are beautifully filmed in this linked video, and other services can be seen filmed by the same user.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAuGDdAbQes
NEW WESTERN RITE PARISH
30th of December, 2008. Oklahoma City has its second Western Rite parish - Saint Andrew's, with the Priest, Fr. Mark Wallace.
NEW WESTERN RITE ORDINATIONS
November 22nd, 2008. Fr. Kenneth DeVoie and Fr. Christopher Nerreau were Ordained to the Orthodox Priesthood in Worcester, Ms by Bishop Antoun. Frs Kenneth and Christopher are former Charismatic Episcopal Church. Their former parishes were received into Orthodoxy in October.
ARCHBISHOP PAUL ORDAINS NEW WRITE CLERGY
28th September, 2008. His Eminence Archbishop Paul Ordained nine converts to the Priesthood, blessed to the Western Rite in the Philippines. The men will serve fourteen parishes and missions which have recently converted to Orthodoxy. They have come from both Roman Catholic and Protestant pasts.
WESTERN RITE DISCUSSIONS
July 15th, 2008. Fr. Michael of Saint Eanswythe, ROCOR Bournemouth, flew to Sydney for discussions with Metropolitan Hilarion about the future of Western Rite. He also assisted the Metropolitan in the dedication of a new cemetary chapel.
ICONS BLESSED AT WESTERN RITE SERVICE
On Sunday the 9th of March 2008, after Divine Liturgy, Father Michael blessed icons for members of the ROCOR Saint Eanswythe congregation. Afterwards the congregation had lunch together.
Fr. Michael with some members of the congregation who had their new icons blessed.
LECTURES IN LONDON
25th of February, 2008 London. Fr. Michael and members of ROCORs Saint Eanswythe Society attended a weekend series of lectures given by Fr. Andrew Louth at Saint Botulph's Orthodox church in London. The Lectures were on the Orthodox attitude to Saint Augustine of Hippo. Fr. Andrew, an Orthodox Priest, is Professor of Byzantine and Orthodox studies at Durham University. He was joined in the lectures by Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Oxford. The lectures ran through the Saturday and Sunday.
