Photo of the week - 65

Another week has passed and the work in our new Church continues. The works are not done so much on the outside, although we can still see some development on the facade and the Bell Tower since the last picture of the week.

Floor cement screeding & brick fence

Saturday today, but our dedicated building team is on site working hard.

A group of workers are making the floor cement screeding.

This screed will need about two weeks to dry before the marble floor is placed on the top of it.

Romanian and Irish brick layers are working outside the Church, on its Harrow side, making a good brick fence.

They are lovely as always, as this short video shows.

Today’s works

Very busy as always at our building site today.

Different kinds of specialists are working all around.

As you enter the building site you may see the fixing of the front arches.

It is also interesting to see how the tubes are laid out for the under-floor heating system.

At a specific part of the wall, to the right of the interior, one may see the source (like a board for the electricals) of the heating.

Near the Sanctuary you can see how those tubes are covered by cement screed.

On the top of the building the specialists on copper works are placing the copper leaves on the Bell Tower.

New materials

As we’ve stated before any kind of building, even the most important and sacred ones, apart from the beautiful and symbolic materials they use, they also need various other kinds of materials, in order to stand as completed and fully operable buildings.

In the case of our new Church we have now some new materials delivered to our building site.

The first two pictures show what is to go on the roof and be used as drainpipes.

The third picture shows the tubes to be used for the under-floor heating system.

Inside the Church Office

In our new Church there is provision for a small Church Office, which is found on the right hand-side area of the building.

At the moment the Office is still under construction.

The electricians spend quite a long time in there in order to sort out the cables and the boards that will be fixed on its walls and the floor.

The Office will have two doors, one leading into the main Church and the other leading to the Car Park.

It will also have two windows, which have already been fixed.

Floor preparations

The interior of our new place of worship is now very open.

The scaffolding has been completely removed.

The specialist workers are preparing the floor for the next stages.

These next stages are the under-floor heating as well as the fixing of marble.

Photo of the week - 64

Quite a few changes since the last picture of the week we notice in this week’s photo. Some more works are at the moment being done on the Bell Tower, while the Harrow side of the building has less scaffolding and the facade has progressed.

Column capitals are fixed

The time has now come for new kinds of works to start in the interior of our new Church.

The column capitals have started from today being fixed in their place.

As we’ve mentioned before these are the product and offering of Mr. Christos Orthodoxou, a Church Committee member.

Mimis and Vasilis are the two workers who are placing them on the top of the columns.

A meeting

The leaders of our Community meet quite regularly with the architects, the representatives of the building company, as well as with various professionals.

Today there was a meeting at our temporary Church, where many of the above had met and talked about the progress of our sacred project.

Scaffolding is out

The interior is from today clear; the scaffolding has been removed, after the completion of the plastering.

The floor in the Sanctuary area as well as in the Soleas has been concreted and completed.

Now the scaffolding is not there anymore, the next stage will be the fixing of the under-floor heating as well as of the marble floor.

Theft in our Church

During the course of last night thieves had visited our building site. They disturbed many things in the Church, they’ve stolen certain materials (related to copper) and they maliciously damaged the electrical works in the interior.

The chief electrician Gregory (left) talks with the senior electrician Ben (right) about the damage.

Today our electricians reported the crime to the police and they came to inspect the area. It was decided that from tonight until the end of the works there will be a security night guard based in our new Church to make sure that no-one comes in there when the workers are not in their place.

Photo of the week - 63

Apart from the fact that there is no snow anymore on and around our new Church, there is no much difference from the last photo of the week; the reason being that at the moment the main works are being done in the interior of the building.

Holy Sanctuary floor

The Holy Sanctuary has now been concreted and elevated from the rest of the Nave.

The Soleas is changing slightly its original shape and it is getting ready for concreting as well.

The next few days this front part of the interior will be completed.

Feast of the Holy Theophany

About the beginning of our Lord's thirtieth year, John the Forerunner, who was some six months older than Our Saviour according to the flesh, and had lived in the wilderness since his childhood, received a command from God and came into the parts of the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins.

Then our Saviour also came from Galilee to the Jordan, and sought and received baptism though He was the Master and John was but a servant. Whereupon, there came to pass those marvellous deeds, great and beyond nature: the Heavens were opened, the Spirit descended in the form of a dove upon Him that was being baptized and the voice was heard from the Heavens bearing witness that this was the beloved Son of God, now baptized as a man (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:1-22).

From these events the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the great mystery of the Trinity were demonstrated. It is also from this that the present feast is called "Theophany," that is, the divine manifestation, God's appearance among men. On this venerable day the sacred mystery of Christian baptism was inaugurated; henceforth also began the saving preaching of the Kingdom of the Heavens.

In our Holy Orthodox Church on this day we have a special ceremony, the so-called “Great Sanctification of the Waters”. The ordinary water is being blessed and it is used for the sanctification of people, of the environment as well as of those material things that are used by the people.

Fr. Anastasios officiated at that Service this morning at our Church, which was fully packed; many parishioners, both old and young, attended the Service and received at the end the blessing with the Holy Water.

January 2011

THE JANUARY PROGRAMME

OF DIVINE SERVICES AND OTHER EVENTS

Wednesday, 5th January: 9.30 am Great Hours of Theophany, Vespers, Divine Liturgy

..........and the Great Sanctification of the Waters

Thursday, 6th January: 9.30 am Matins Divine Liturgy

..........and the Great Sanctification of the Waters
..........Feast of the Holy Theophany of our Lord

..........6.00 pm Vespers

Friday, 7th January: 9.30 am Matins and Divine Liturgy
..........Feast of St. John the Baptist

..........We start again the Memorial Services

Sunday, 9th January: 12.30 pm Tea party, by “St. Agatha Ladies Sisterhood” -
..........Renewal of Ladies’ subscriptions

Tuesday, 11th January: 6.00 pm Supplicatory Canon to St. Panteleimon
.....6.30 pm Bible Study: “I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church”

Sunday, 16th January: 6.00 pm Vespers

Monday, 17th January: 9.30 am Matins and Divine Liturgy
..........Feast of St. Anthony

Tuesday, 18th January: 6.00 pm Supplicatory Canon to Virgin Mary
.....6.30 pm Bible Study: “The person and works of St. Athanasius the Great”

Tuesday, 25th January: 6.00 pm Vespers
.....6.30 pm Bible Study: “Psalm 50th - The Psalm of Repentance”

Wednesday, 26th January: 9.30 am Matins and Divine Liturgy
..........Feast of St. Xenophon

Sunday, 30th January: Feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs