Another Ordination

Back in December, at the Priestly Ordination of my good friend, Fr David, I was invited along with others, by the Romanian priest who had come, to their own Patronal Feast day of St Macarios the Great, which is always celebrated on the weekend in January closest to his actual Feast day in the Eastern Church, which is January 19th. (In the Latin Church it's the 16th).

So, on Saturday, 17th January, a few of us set off for the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, where the Romanian Community in Yorkshire has the use of the Lower Chapel for it's Liturgies. What we didn't expect was another Ordination, this time to the Diaconate. Present were His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis for Western and Southern Europe and His Grace Macarios, Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Northern Europe and former Parish Priest. Indeed Fr Macarios, as he then was, was the founder of the parish.

There was also an excellent Romanian Choir, the Grupul Psaltic Nectarie Protopsaltul from Bucharest, who sang the Liturgy to traditonal Byzantine Tones, but in Romanian of course, not Greek! After the Liturgy, which lasted for over 3 hours, we were treated to a traditional Romanian meal organised by the Parish Council.

Photographs of the Service can be found here

And a video here

Thanks are due to Fr Constantin, the Parish Priest and the Community for their splendid hospitality, and congratulations to the new Deacon! [Unfortunately I never did find out his name! If anyone reading this does know, please tell me, and I'll update this entry.]