Roof & plastering

Works on the first floor of our Community Centre are being continuing...

The roof is being fixed and plastering is in progress...

Hopefully the works will be completed in the near future.

Lights in the Dome

The scaffolding was erected and then was dismantled yesterday.

The electricians worked for a few hours fixing lights inside the Dome.

The idea is that those lights will enlighten the icon of the “Pantocrator” (Almighty God) when it will be painted on the Dome.

New signs

Today we had the signs fixed in place on our new Church’s facade.

They were actually fixed on the front wall of the Bell Tower.

The signs are two, one in Greek and one in English, with exactly the same text.

They were produced by the Greek-Cypriot company N&N, based in North London.

On the top they have the double headed eagle. This particular design is the symbol of our Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain.

Electrics on the first floor

Works continue for the completion of the extension on the first floor of our Community Centre.

At the moment electrics are being installed there.

"Russian Orthodox Spirituality"

St. Agatha Ladies' Sisterhood operating within our Community organised yesterday an interesting event.

The Very Rev’d Fr. Vassilios Papathanasiou, Dean of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Golders Green, NW London, was the invited speaker.

Fr. Vassilios was born in Athens - Greece, was educated in Russia, served at the Orthodox Church in Switzerland for a number of years and now he serves in London.

The theme of his talk was: "Russian Orthodox Spirituality".

We had quite a good number of people who came to listen to the talk and socialize.

The Ladies provided nice and delicious sweets and sandwiches.

Chaplain to Her Majesty

Today we’ve been honoured to have received in our Church Fr. Edward Lewis, Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen of England.

He visited our Church and was welcomed by Fr. Anastasios and his family. Fr. Anastasios and Fr. Edward have known each other since a few years ago, when they firstly met at a Conference on the beautiful island of Rhodes.

Fr. Edward was recently appointed as Parish Priest at our local Anglican Parish of St. Mary Kenton.

He was offered Greek hospitality and frappe coffee (which he very much liked) in our Vicarage!

Pentecost - Day of Cyprus

Today we commemorate in our Church calendar the Great Feast of Pentecost. One of the special Services that is usually celebrated in our Churches is the so called “Kneeling Vespers”.

Fr. Patrick, an Orthodox Priest-monk from New Zealand had assisted us today in the celebrations.

In our Community we commemorated also today the Day of Cyprus. Special prayers were said for Cyprus and its people. The President of our Community Mr. Pantelis Demosthenous gave a talk on Cyprus, its history and civilisation.

At the end of the Sacred Service Mr. Demosthenous, with Mr. Petros Christofi (Vice-President) and Mr. Soteris Constantinou (Treasurer) offered a present to Fr. Anastasios, as he has been a priest in the Community for 18 years (since June 1993). Then a social gathering and BBQ was organised in the Community premises.

Saturday of Souls

Today according to our Church calendar it is the Day of the Souls. We remember and pray for our beloved departed, both in the Church and at the Cemetery - over the graves.

The Holy Fathers specified that we perform Services for the reposed today, because tomorrow we shall welcome the All-Holy Spirit and shall fervently be entreating the Lord for ourselves, that He send us His All-Holy Spirit to illumine us and strengthen us in the fear of God and in keeping the commandments and to guide us in obtaining eternal life. We shall also be praying for the deceased, that He give them rest in His lovely and long-for dwellings.

In praying for the dead, on the one hand, we show our love for our deceased fathers and brothers and, on the other hand, we become more keenly aware of the vanity of this world, and thus we receive great benefit to our souls. For nothing rouses the slothful to repentance better than the recollection of death. And nothing else brings us to the recollection of death as well as the memory of our loved ones who have slept the eternal sleep.

New lights

Lights are absolutely necessary to any kind of building, especially to a Church.
In our new Church we had chandeliers brought from Cyprus for the interior.
For the external walls and balconies we use normal lighting that we get locally.
Mitko, the Bulgarian electrician, appears here working with his assistant, fixing new lights on the floor of one of the balconies.

Fundraising Cycle Tour

Steve Keyes is trying for the impossible! He is going to ride on his bike in financial support of our new Church. In his own words:

"On the 10th July 2011, I begin an ambition of mine to cycle from Lands End to John O’Groats. I will cycle through many cities, villages and counties of the UK ending my tour on July 23rd in John O’Groats in Northern Scotland. This will be an average of 71 miles a day.

On July 18th 2009 I married my wife Stavroulla at St. Panteleimon Greek Orthodox church and three days later work had begun to build a new church. This was after 12 years of planning and most importantly fund raising from the Greek Cypriot community which continues to this day.

The church had its official opening on the 9th April amongst much celebration as this was the first Greek Orthodox church to be built in Great Britain for over a century.

However, funds still need to be raised to completely finish the most special and sacred church. Therefore to spur me on during my cycle tour as my tired legs climb the hills of Cornwall, Dartmoor, Lake District and Scotland I ask you to please give generously to the Church of St. Panteleimon. Any amount will be gratefully received".

And as they say: “Impossible is nothing”.

Roof painting

The roof of the new Church entrance is being painted for the last couple of days.

It really needs three coats for the white paint to show nicely on that roof.

The person painting is Adrian, a Romanian young man who works devoutly at our Church for quite some time.

At some point in the future we may decide to paint that area with a different kind of painting; probably byzantine icon-painting or at least some kind of byzantine decorations.

Railings in the Bell Tower

The Bell Tower has many steps that lead up on the Gallery as well as to the actual Bells and to the roof of the Church.

These steps have been recently marbled, as we had reported previously.

Today railings were fixed on those steps. As soon as this work will be completed we shall start using the Gallery.

Roof insulation

The two new rooms on the first floor of the Community building / Church Hall have been properly constructed.

At the moment specialist workers are putting the insulation material on their common roof.

Grass in the garden

The garden next to our Vicarage, as was recently reported, has been redesigned. Dr. Serafeim Kiriakidis and his wife Andri have donated the money for this project.

New grass has been placed there and it is almost ready to be used by the kids of St. Panteleimon Nursery School and by the members of our Community.

Our caretaker Mr. Charalambos Michael is watering regularly the grass and is taking a good care of it.

June 2011

THE JUNE PROGRAMME
OF DIVINE SERVICES AND OTHER EVENTS

Wednesday, 1st June: 6.00 pm Vespers

Thursday, 2nd June: 9.30 am Matins & Divine Liturgy
.....Feast of the Ascension of our Lord

Tuesday, 7th June: 6.00 pm Supplicatory Canon to St. Panteleimon
.....6.30 pm Bible Study: “Acts of the Apostles - An Introduction”

Friday, 10th June: Vespers and Memorial Services

Saturday, 11th June: 9.30 am Matins, Divine Liturgy and Memorial Services
.....1.00 pm Memorial Services at Pinner New Greek Orthodox Cemetery
.....Saturday of Souls - Feast of St. Barnabas and St. Bartholomew

Sunday, 12th June: 12.00 noon, Kneeling Vespers
.....12.30 pm Prayer for Cyprus - followed by a Speech
.....Feast of Pentecost - Day of Cyprus
.....No Memorial Services are allowed today
.....1.00 pm Community BBQ

Monday, 13th June: 9.30 am Matins & Divine Liturgy
.....Feast of the Holy Spirit

Tuesday, 14th June: 6.00 pm Supplicatory Canon to St. Paraskevi
.....6.30 pm Bible Study: “Acts of the Apostles - The Church in Jerusalem”

Sunday, 19th June: 4.30 pm Afternoon Tea, organised by Sr. Agatha Ladies Sisterhood
.....A talk will be delivered by Fr. Vassilios Papathanasiou
.....Theme: “Russian Orthodox Spirituality”

Tuesday, 21st June: 6.00 pm Supplicatory Canon to Virgin Mary
.....6.30 pm Bible Study: “Acts of the Apostles - The speading of the Gospel in the Near East”

Thursday, 23rd June: 6.00 pm Vespers

Friday, 24th June: 9.30 am Matins & Divine Liturgy
.....Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist

Tuesday, 28th June: 6.00 pm Vespers
.....6.30 pm Bible Study: “Acts of the Apostles - The speading of the Gospel to the Nations”

Wednesday, 29th June: 9.30 am Matins & Divine Liturgy
.....Feast of Sts Peter & Paul

Thursday, 30th June: 6.00 pm Vespers