Double duty Sunday

Going to bed just that bit earlier paid off with a refreshing night's sleep, waking up in good time to have breakfast and be out of the house just after half past eight, walking to St John's to celebrate the Eucharist. With the children we were about three dozen altogether. It was noticeable that several of the adults came forward to receive a blessing, as well as younger children not yet receiving Communion. I then walked to St Catherine's to celebrate the Eucharist and found the same numbers and pattern of attendance there. It's the end of half term week, and there are probably people in both congregations who are still away, but it's clear that regular attendance hasn't recovered post-covid. I think irregular attendance may have become a new norm for those who haven't given up on public worship altogether.

Just before I left St John's, the Orthodox priest and a few of his congregation arrived to prepare the church for their Sunday Liturgy which begins at 10.40. He was busy and I didn't have enough time to stop and greet him. It will have to keep for another time, when I can attend the Eucharist there and stay for the Liturgy. It must be about twenty five years since I last attended an Orthodox Liturgy in Geneva. Fr Jean was parish priest there. In 2015, he was elected Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe, a group of expatriate parishes, exiled from the Moscow Patriarchate at the time of the Russian revolution, recognised by the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople. 

A decision was made in 1999 to bring this arrangement to an end, and re-unite the Exarchate churches with the Patriarchate of Moscow, a process which took ten years to realise, by which time Bishop Jean was Bishop, leading the process of reconciliation. Because the Exarchate congregations are so diverse and spread out internationally, they remain a self governing entity, distinct from the new wave of Russian Orthodox congregations, more focused on Slavic language expats. This is the congregation that meets in Conway Road Methodist church. This is the first time I've successfully got my head around a story in which a priest I knew years ago has played a key role. The in-house ecclesiastical vocabulary of Orthodox churches is different from that of Roman and Anglican churches. Perhaps new websites with links to each other make this clearer than it used to be. 

After lunch, I walked in the park for an hour, enjoying the cloudy but mainly blue sky and sunshine, and spring like mildness of air. As the snowdrops start to diminish, swathes of white yellow blue and purple crocuses take their place. When I returned Clare was chatting with a couple who had come to retrieve their new back gate key. Then she went out and chased a few more who hadn't yet responded. There remain just two more to collect and the job is done.

Clare has now booked her flight to come and join me in Nerja for two weeks, shocked, as I was, by how expensive it is. The cost of baggage has risen alarmingly and can be more than the plain price of a flight. Then I watched more episodes of 'The Drought', which is interesting in its exposure of corruption among the rich elite of Iberian society. It's good practice for hearing Spanish conversation and understanding it.