Ladies Bible Group in Bucharest

One of the recent initiatives at the Church of the Resurrection has been the introduction of a weekly Ladies Bible Study Group, led by our Chaplain the Revd Martin Jacques. The idea came from one of new members, Johana Soper (photo above on the left), who with her husband Jonathan has recently moved to Bucharest from Istanbul.

The meetings are held at the home of the Soper's, and even though this blogger is a man he has managed to get some photographs of this weeks meeting! From all accounts the coffee and cakes are excellent, but even more interesting and fulfilling is the sharing of experiences, thoughts and ideas that are stimulated through the careful and caring leadership of the Chaplain.

So,if you're a lady and in Bucharest any Tuesday morning between 1000 and1200 you will be most welcome to join the group. You can find full details on our new Church of the Resurrection website; the address is www.churchoftheresurrection.eu

Flowers for the Patriarch's Funeral

One of the traditions associated with funerals in Romania is to present floral tributes in memory of the deceased.

For the funeral of the Patriarch, wreathes were received from individuals and organisations from all over the world. The Chaplain and Reader presented wreathes on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Diocese in Europe (in the name of Bishop Geoffrey) and on behalf of the British Embassy in Bucharest.

For the church wreathes we requested the two flowers that were the particular favourite of the Patriarch, white lilies and white roses.

On Friday morning the funeral of the Romanian Patriarch was held at the Patriarchy cathedral in Bucharest. The Church of England was invited to send three representatives. The Bishop of Woolwich, the Rt. Revd. Christopher Chessun, represented the Archbishop of Canterbury, and was supported by the Chaplain and Reader from the Church of the Resurrection in Bucharest.

From 9-11am eulogies to the Patriarch were read in the imposing Synod, where the wall behind the visiting Patriarch was dominated by a wonderful fresco. Representatives of churches from all corners of the world presented tributes. At 11am the funeral was held in the cathedral, with many thousands of people who were unable to be inside the cathedral following the service on screens outside.

At the conclusion of the service the Patriarch was buried inside the Cathedral. During the traditional Orthodox forty days of mourning we will burn a candle in the Church of the Resuurection in memory of a true servant of Christ. May his soul rest in peace.

On Monday at 5pm we heard the very sad news that Patriarch Teoctist, Head of the Orthodox Church of Romania had died, aged 92. Only one month ago the Patriach received Bishop Geoffrey during his pastoral visit to Romania for a meeting that lasted one hour.

Today, Thursday 2nd August there were queues of people waiting to pay their last respects to the Patriarch. On behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury, our Chaplain the Revd Martin Jacques delivered a floral tribute to the Patriachy Cathedral and wrote on behalf of Archbishop Rowan in the memorial book. The chaplaincy Reader delivered a similar floral tribute on behalf of Bishop Geoffrey of Gibraltar in Europe.

Tomorrow there will be the funeral service at 1100. Enormous numbers of people are likely to attend to pay their respects to a much loved servant of the Orthodox Church of Romania.

Dumnezeu sa-l ierte!

On Sunday 22nd July we hoped to welcome the world famous Tiffin Boys Choir from England to support us in a sung eucharist. Unfortunately, it was not to be.......... Because of the heavy rains in England, the flights to Bucharest from London were severely disrupted, and at 1000 on Sunday morning we had to start our service with neither choir nor organist!

The service was led by the Reader, who proved that although he is a reasonably proficient reader, his singing skills leave much to be desired! However, by 2pm part of the group reached Bucharest via Frankfurt and at 4pm they performed an impromptu concert in church before a small but very appreciative audience. Before they left they learned a Romanian version of "If you're happy and you know it......" which they intend to sing during their tour of Romanian cities over the coming week.

Yet another confirmation about the best laid plans of mice and men................... Thank you God, for proving once again never to take anything for granted!

Church of the Resurrection Garden Party

On Friday 13th July the church held a British Garden Party at the home of Philip and Karine Hall. We were very lucky with the weather and over 150 people came along and enjoyed a fun packed evening with barbecued food, cold beer and wine, and lots of good company.

One of the highlights of the evening was a live auction where different gifts were auctioned-everything from two tickets for the Rolling Stones concert in Bucharest to 365 bottles of beer-one for every day of the year! Guest auctioneers included both the British Ambassador and Deputy Ambassador.

We are incredibly grateful to the large number of local businesses and individuals who gave so many things to help the evening be such an enormous success. In total we managed to raise over 6500 euros for our church funds. Even more important than that, everybody who attended seemed to enjoy their evening.

The blessing part!

Here we are in church before the children took thre tree out into the garden. Our Chaplain, Revd. Martin Jacques, blessed both the tree and the wall hanging (photographs to follow of that wonderful creation!)

Planting the Jesse tree!

Our Sunday School continues to go from strength to strength! Last Sunday therre were around 11 of them in church, with ages starting at less than 1 year! They had a very busy day. First of all we blessed in church a wall hanging that they had made the previous week (at the same time as enjoying pizza at the home of their leader, Cate Johnson!). Think it's called mixing work and pleasure?

After that we blessed a Jesse tree that the children had dressed during advent last year. They then planted it in our tiny church garden. Bucharest cats and city pollution permitting, we hope that it will survive and can come back into church next advent season!

From the shouts that came in through the church windows during the sermon it seems that they were also mixing work with pleasure while they were planting the tree!

Thank you children!

new baby in Sofia!

Our congregation in Sofia has received a wonderful addition with the birth of baby Gabriel, son of Jonathan and Tsveta Dunne. Jonathan and Tsveta are leading members of our congregation in Sofia, with Jonathan acting as "treasurer" for our activities there, as well both assisting and leading services.

We give thanks to God for the gift of Gabriel, and we remember in our prayers Jonathan, Tsveta, and Gabriel. In the coming week the Bishop of Gibaltrar in Europe, Bishop Geoffrey, will visit both Sofia and Bucharest. He will be able to see that our congregation in Sofia is very much alive and growing!!!

Our beautiful country

Bucharest is a typical capital city, big and beautiful but also very congested, busy, and incredibly noisy at times! Some people say that it is

even too noisy and too busy!

However, get away from the capital and there is beauty almost impossible to describe. These are just two pictures that prove that God's handiwork is by no means confined to humanity!

Church of the Resurrection-a truly international fellowship!

Our Anglican church is located in Bucharest, but within our congregation there is a multitude of nationalities and Christian denominations represesented. This is the first of a series of introductions to members of our church from around the world.

Arnold (Noldy) and Lavie Lengkey are long standing members of our church. Noldy is studying for a doctorate at the Agricultural University in Bucharest and Lavie is here with him and attending the German school in Bucharest. They enrich our worship every Sunday, with Lavie an enthusiastic member of our Sunday School. On Easter Sunday they easily won the prize for the "most smartly dressed couple attending church" as these photographs confirm.

Noldy's wife has stayed in Indonesia with Lavie's sister, and they are waiting eagerly for Nlody's studies to finish in the autumn of 2008! From Bucharest we send Christian greetings to them in Indonesia!

On Palm Sunday our service was enriched, both by the children giving us a wonderful start to the service by entering waving willow branches and leading our singing of the opening hymn "Make way, make way, for the King of Kings!", but also by a baptism. We welcomed through baptism as a member of the church family, Valeria Turp, tha daughter of Craig and Amelia.

It was wonderful to have a full church, a combination of family and friends of Valeria and our regular worshippers. Although our Chaplain, Martin Jacques, was taking many baptisms in his former parish in England, this was his first baptism in Romania. Suffice to say that he handled it magnificently with not even a sign of a potentially dropped baby! It was overall a great day-welcome to the church family, Valeria!

The Bedingfield's return to England

Last Sunday we said a sad farewell to two of our regular church members, John and Helen Bedingfield. John and Helen have been living in Bucharest for more than one and a half years, while John has been working as an EU resident advisor in the Ministry of Public Finance. Now that his contract is coming to an end they are returning to England.

We wish them well, although we will miss them greatly. Visit us whenever you are able to please, John and Helen!

Mothering Sunday at the Church of the Resurrection

Last Sunday was Mothering Sunday, and during the service all of the ladies in the congregation received daffodils from the children, at the same time as we shared the Peace.

We held our usual service of Holy Communion and at the end of the service the children shared with us their stories of the day-during Lent they are thinking particularly about prayer and its place in their lives.

Fund Raising Concert

On Saturday 17th March we were privileged to be invited to the Residence of H.M. Ambassador Robin Barnett for a fund raising concert. Visitng musicians Nicolas Koeckert and Kristina Miller entertained us by playing two sonatos for violin and piano.

After the music we were invited to stay for a buffet meal of traditional Romanian food that was truly delicious. It was a wonderful evening, enjoyed by everyone who attended. It also raised a significant sum of money to offset the costs of maintaining our church-almost 2000 euros.

Enormous thanks to H.M.Ambassador as well as to Nicolas and Kristina for sharing their talents and to our dear friend Dieter Stanzeleit, whose inspiration the evening was.

Our Sunday School

Each week, as part of their worship, younger members of our church have their own private time. At present, they are thinking about the significance of Lent, and what it means to their lives.

Under the care and love of their leader, Cate Johnson, every week they share their work with other members of the church at the end of the service. We always look forward to hearing their stories!

They also have a very active social diary-sometimes visiting families in villages around Bucharest, sometimes a pizza party, sometimes catching a film in one of the malls.

Iulia's Art Exhibition

In mid March one of our most active young church members held her own art exhibition in Bucharest. Members of the church had been given an exclusive preview, as Iulia's paintings (some of them anyway) had been on display earlier this year during our services.

The exghibition was a huge success and many members of the church attended and supported our talented young star! Well done Iulia!