RUSSIAN ORTHODOX SERVICE IN EDINBURGH

On 13 March 2010, the Saturday of the fourth week of Lent, the first service of the newly established Russian Orthodox community of the Moscow Patriarchate was held in the Scottish capital.

The Liturgy of St John Chrysostom and the Litiya were conducted by Archpriest Gennady Andreev, the rector of the Parish of St Kentigern in Glasgow, who serves the Edinburgh community as well as a number of others in Britain.

The service was attended by the Consul-General of the Russian Federation S.K. Krutikov with his wife and members of staff of the Russian consulate in Edinburgh.

The service was held in the church of St Andrew the First Called, which belongs to the Constantinople Patriarchate.  The rector of the church, Archimandrite John Maitland Moir, kindly made it available for the use of the Russian community. 

The appropriate Russian Orthodox music was sung by a multinational ensemble directed by Svetlana Zvereva.  (See Photo Gallery)

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION IN GLASGOW RUSSIAN ORTHODOX SCHOOL

On the 9^th of January 2010 Glasgow Russian Orthodox Parish School celebrated Christmas and New Year. Archpriest Gennady Andreev, the newly appointed rector of the Parish of St Kentigern in Glasgow inaugurated the event. This was Fr Gennady’s first day in Glasgow and all the children and parents had a possibility to meet and talk to Batushka.

The participants of 2010 festive concert were not only the children of the school but also our guests – the choir “Russkaya Cappella”. Christmas songs and music by D. Bortnyansky, P. Tchaikovsky, A.Kastalsky was performed by the choir along with the school pupils. Aleksey Rudnevsky, professor of the Moscow Conservatoire, choirmaster at the Moscow church of the Trinity-St Sergius Monastery .

The children of all ages presented the Nativity Play on a brightly decorated stage. This year’s story was about two sisters, one of whom set a good example of politeness, caring, loving and sympathetic attitude to others while the other sister learned a lesson of kindness and generosity. All the forest animals were happy to help the three kings and Mashen’ka and Marfushen’ka to decorate an evergreen Christmas tree!

The long-awaited guests of the celebration – Father Frost and Snow maiden lit up the festive Christmas tree. The darkness cleared away and the children found a Father Frost’s sack full of presents under the tree. The sack “had been stolen” by another festive character – the Fox, saucy-baggage. But she was never punished by good-hearted children. Instead she was allowed to participate in the celebration. And the celebration was enjoyed by everyone – boys and girls danced around the Christmastree, took part in the competitions, guessed the riddles and sang Christmas songs, exactly the way they were taught by their music teacher – Alina Marshaniya.  And finally, there was no way to leave without a present from Father Frost and good spirits. (See Photo Gallery)

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD.

The parish of St. Kentigern has celebrated the Holy Theophany on 18th of January. The Great Compline began at midnight and Archpriest Gennadi Andreev celebrated the Liturgy in two languages. It is the third year, during which our parish in Glasgow has midnight services

Great Blessing of the Waters took place after the Liturgy following by the communion meal.

Nativity service celebration

The Nativity service was celebrated in the parish of St. Kentigern in Glasgow on 9th of January. The Liturgy was celebrated by archpriest Gennady Andreev.

Archpriest Michael elected as a member of the Coordinating Council of the Russian nationals in Great Britain

On the 14th of November the 3rd Forum of Russian-speaking nationals in Great Britain took place in the Overseas House. Fr. Michael Dudko, the custodian of the diocesan Cathedral of Dormition in London, addressed the Forum with a greeting mesage on behalf of Elisey the Bishop of Sourozh. He also passed the warmest regards from Mitropolitan Hilarion, the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, who was visiting England at the time. Father Michael spoke about the work of the Russian Orthodox mission in the country and shared the news about life of the diocese of Sourozh and its social development. He also spoke at the group dedicated to the problems of the modern Russian journalism.

At the end of the Forum a new Coordinating Council of the Russian-speaking nationals was elected. Fr. Michael was re-elected as a member of the Council with the highest number of votes among all candidates.