The Fellowship Christmas Meal and social gathering will take place on Saturday January 13th 2018 at 1pm at Andy’s Greek Taverna, 23 Pratt Street, NW1 0AG London.
Just confirm you are coming to organisers by the 8th of January.
Priority will be given to Fellowship members, but friends are welcome.
We will be eating from the standard menu.
The restaurant is in Camden Town near the Greek Cathedral on Pratt Street and accessible from Camden Tube, three bus stops from King’s Cross and four from Euston.
On Thursday 2nd March at 7.30pm the Mosaic Choir will be holding a fundraising concert for the work of Fr Themi Adamopoulos, missionary in Sierra Leone. The venue is the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God (St. Mary’s), Trinity Road, Wood Green, London N22.
Father Themi will also speak briefly about his mission and work with Ebola orphans.
Father Themi will also be visiting Oxford and Birmingham.
Meet the rocker, who became a missionary in Africa
During the time of the Beatles and of the Rolling Stones, he managed to form his own musical group, The Flies. From the seminar halls of the School of Political Science of the University of Melbourne, he found himself singing next to Mick Jagger, and so realized his dream, but now he is a missionary in Africa.
Father Themis Adamopoulos, chose to help those who really need it. As he says after his studies, “I could feel a vast emptiness within me, I was not with the poor. I did not need to struggle at the time with myself. Inside me a desire flared up to live next to the poor and to do whatever possible to make their life more human. ”
In 1999 I began my work in Kenya with the blessing of his Beatitude the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Peter, who first ordained me as a deacon, then Priest and then Archimandrite”. That is where he founded the first Orthodox University College – the Orthodox Teacher’s College of Africa. “I believe education is the greatest weapon for a person on earth. If you wish to help your fellow person, teach him the skill to fish and not give him the fish already prepared. At the college we prepared youngsters to become kindergarten and elementary school teachers. Subsequently, we introduced a branch with Social Studies.”
He tries to provide as much as possible for the children, clothes, shoes, meals and following on from this he cares for women and mothers. “Woman is the greatest victim in Africa. She is the heart of the family. The husband can have two or three wives and have children with all of them. The woman is the one who would even sell her body for a piece of bread, so that her children do not die of hunger. That is why we opened a School for Sewing, where women learn the art and earn their bread honestly”
Then in 2007, the new Patriarch of Alexandria, Theodore, who had followed the work of missionary and humanitarian Themis Adamopoulos in Kenya, ordered him to go to West Africa, to Sierra Leone, where a 12 year civil war had devastated the whole region leaving behind untold horrors, where death is a part of daily life. He lives there, next to the people and among to the people. “Over there we are building a village for 100 disabled people who were begging in the streets and the police would chase them away”.
Father Themi, carried on his mission right through the worst aspects of the Ebola crisis that had started in March 2014. He tried to help in anyway he could. Now the crisis is thankfully over, but Father Themis continues with his work – now building orphanages for those who tragically lost all the adults in their family from the epidemic.
On Friday the 16th of December the Mosaic Choir brought the spirit of Christmas to North London with a beautifully executed and uplifting performance of traditional Christmas songs and Carols from Greece, Russia, Romania, Serbia and other places around the world, spreading the joy of Christmas. Voices were wonderfully balanced and blended, often accompanied by folksy recorder pieces masterfully played by Rebecca Vucetic. Story teller, Anna Conomos, gave helpful introductions telling the story of the song and the meaning behind the words.
The choir performed a full range of music from peaceful hymns to foot tapping Balkan carols, rounded off with a stunning encore of Gaudete, sung with wonderful dynamics from sotto voce to a rousing final chorus. The choir were warmly received with a standing ovation and loud applause – it really added a bit of warmth to a cold winter night.
They were hosted by the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Andrew, and the concert was attended by Bishop Chrysostom of Kyanea and introduced by Priest Kristian Akselburg – who warmly thanked the choir. At the end a charity collection was held – the proceeds to be shared between charities supported by the Fellowship and also the Cathedral’s Christmas almsgiving.
Here is a brief taste of the concert through some amateur videos.
The OFSJB Youth Festival is an annual event organised by the Orthodox Youth Fellowship for young people (aged 18-35-ish) from various Orthodox jurisdictions in the UK, but open to visitors from around the world. It aims to provide greater insight into aspects of the Church and our life in Christ through talks and discussions, an experience of unity and prayer as well as creating a relaxed and fun environment within a homely hostel and its surrounding hills and rivers. This year’s theme is vocations and spiritual guidance and so we will have talks and other activities aimed at helping us all find our way in Christ.
The Festival program will include discussion groups, prayers and services, a Liturgy on the Sunday, workshops, games, music and other entertainment, walks and sharing of information on various Orthodox events and organisations in the UK and abroad. One evening will feature a ‘Hot Potato Session’, which is a chance to ask more difficult questions anonymously in a confidential and friendly environment to be answered by the clergy and speakers in attendance.
Full details, further information, contact and inquiries can be made on our youth pages www.orthodoxyouth.co.uk
2016 is shaping up to be another fascinating year for the Orthodox Fellowship of St John the Baptist. Why not join us to meet others in fellowship and in a spirit of learning?
Annual Fellowship study weekend in Walsall, 22-24 January, ‘What are Priests for?’ (report forthcoming).
Come to a Carol Concert with a difference! Experience a concert with a true international flavour which will have some familiar favourites but also a real international and folk feel, with carols from Romania, Greece, Ukraine, France and other countries, too.
The Mosaic Choir was formed under the umbrella of the Fellowship of Saint John the Baptist and is made up of Orthodox people from a variety of backgrounds: cradle Orthodox and converts, and from countries all over the world!
We also sing liturgical Christmas music from different traditions, during what will be a very relaxed evening.
If you’re in London and want a unique musical experience for Christmas come along and tell your friends!
Sunday 13 December, 7:30pm, Free entry with retiring collection
Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 1 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden (how to get there)
A full report, including many of the talks, will appear in the next edition of Forerunner. Sign up as a member today to get a copy. Videos to follow.
Friday 3rd July:
Metropolitan Kallistos addresses the OFSJB conference on Sacred Space: the Presence of God in Thin Places
Saturday 4th July:
A really fascinating talk about Russian Pilgrimage to Mount Athos by Dr Nicholas Fennell Watch out for the millennium celebrations of Russians on Athos in 2016!
Metropolitan Kallistos sprinkles the pilgrims at the Fellowship’s summer conference/
This was followed by a potted history of Orthodoxy in Walsingham by Fr Philip Steer.
An earlier written version of the talk can be found here [pdf]
Did you know that St Nikolai Velimirovic served the Liturgy here several times after being released from Dachau concentration camp? St Nikolai, pray to God for us!
In the afternoon, Fr Pancratios Sanders challenged us to go on more pilgrimages in the right spirit: to the Holy Land, to sites of martyrdom, to monasteries, wonder – working icons… and to sites associated with British Saints like Holywell.
The panel at the Fellowship summer conference: Fr Pancratios Sanders, Metropolitan Kallistos, Dr Nicholas Fennell and Fr Philip Steer. Led by our new Fellowship Chairman, Bede Gerrard.
Challenging questions on how much hardship a pilgrim should endure, expecting the unexpected and what their top tips would be for a Pilgrimage Survival Guide.
Sunday 5th July:
So the Fellowship summer conference came to a fitting end with the Divine Liturgy, where Metropolitan Kallistos reminded us that we are icons of the cherubim, participating in the eternal Divine Liturgy where Christ is both He that offers and He that is offered.
There was lots of time to make friends and meet new people too:
See you at our future events; stay tuned to our website! www.ofsjb.org.uk
Welcome to our new website! We hope you like it so far.
We have been working on a few changes and hope to have lots more content and information for you by the end of the summer.
During the time of the Beatles and of the Rolling Stones, he managed to form his own musical group, The Flies. From the seminar halls of the School of Political Science of the University of Melbourne, he found himself singing next to Mick Jagger, and so realized his dream, but now he is a missionary in Africa.
