Newsletter: February 2005

On the Care and Feeding of Our New Bishop

As you will know by now, our Bishop SERAPHIM, after consulting with the Archdiocese and after praying to the Lord and casting lots, has chosen Protodeacon Cyprian Hutcheon as his candidate for Auxiliary Bishop for Canada . Bishop SERAPHIM will, of course, continue as our ruling Bishop, but his Auxiliary Bishop will be consecrated by the Holy Synod to help him in his episcopal duties.

Part of our commending Bishop-elect Cyprian to the Holy Synod is our convincing assertion that we, as an Archdiocese, can take care of him. The Holy Synod, being responsible to God for their fellow-bishops, naturally does not want to consecrate someone a bishop unless that person is going to be cared for. That is why the Archdiocese is raising funds for Bishop-elect Cyprian, and why we, as a Parish, are doing our part.

Our Parish Council has already decided to give $1000 from our budget towards this worthy goal. But Bishop SERAPHIM has asked that each person and family in the Archdiocese also be given the opportunity to give, and so, in obedience to our Bishop, we are making a collection among the faithful as well.

I know Cyprian personally. He is a retired medical doctor, the founder (I believe) of a children’s palliative care unit, and a man of great compassion and warmth. He is also a very humble man (aworthy assistant to our own beloved SERAPHIM), and one who would much rather not have been chosen as bishop. (That is, of course, exactly why he is a good candidate for the job!) This collection, as well as meeting the practical need of supporting him, will also be a tangible way of showing our love and support to someone who very much needs our encouragement. He let his name stand for election only because he thinks the Lord might have been calling him to this task. Let us give, and in so doing confirm his heart in this task to which the Lord has called him. Please therefore pray about what God would have you give, and respond accordingly. You can place your contribution in the offering basket in an envelope marked clearly "Auxiliary Bishop", or give it to Sava Duran.

Be your donation large or small, it is ultimately not about money, but about coming together as an Archdiocesan family to show our love and support for Bishop-elect Cyprian.

All my love in the Lord,

Fr. Lawrence

FOR YOUR PRAYERS :

The marriage of Deanna Waldron and Peter Chattaway will be celebrated at 4 p.m., Sunday February 13^th at Holy Resurrection Church .

Many Years!

REMEMBER IN PRAYER and REJOICE with our St. Herman's "alumni" and their families:

Dn. Christopher Ignatius Rigden-Briscall is to be ordained priest on Feb. 2 at St. Vladimir's Seminary.

Dn. Richard René is to be ordained priest on Sun. Mar. 6 at St. Peter the Aleut Calgary.

Community Announcements

1. Sat. Vespers at 7. PM. – Feb 5, 12, 19, 26

2. Wed. Vespers and Study at 7 PM Feb 16, 23

3. Meeting of our Lord Vesperal Liturgy and Candle Blessing – Wed. Feb 2 at 7 PM. Fast for Communion but bring festal food for the meal afterward (meat allowed)

4. Fast Free week begins Sun. Feb. 20

Join the "Fabric" of St. Herman's!

Sat. Feb 5th 4:30-6:30 PM will mark the beginning of ST. HERMAN's TEXTILE etc. COLLECTIVE Come join others in our community as we share weaving, knitting, sewing, needlepoint, quilting, crocheting, fabric book binding, calligraphy on fabric, wood and stone carving and other quiet creative processes, for the couple of hours preceding Great Vespers. We'll hope to meet the first Saturday of each month. Men, Women & Supervised Children are Warmly Welcomed! Call if you have any questions! Or speak with Susan, Cheryl or Rhiannon. Hope to see many of you there, Kimberley (604) 730 9945

Fasting Rules

All Wednesdays and Fridays this month we abstain as usual from meat, fish and dairy except in the final week, which is the Pre-Lenten Fast-Free week beginning on Sunday February 20^th.

Worship Notes

On February 2^nd we celebrate “The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple ” (or “The Feast of the Meeting”), which commemorates Jesus being brought to the Temple as a 40 day old infant to be blessed. This event is recorded by St. Luke in his Gospel. It is from this event that we received one of Christianity’s earliest hymns, “St. Simeon’s Prayer” which was the prayer St. Simeon prayed after receiving the long-awaited Christ Child in his arms. It is a fitting time for the choir to be learning a different setting to this hymn which is sung or chanted at every Vespers service. This is also the feast at which we bless candles, lamp oil, charcoal and incense, so please bring your own to be blessed for use at your home icon corner.

As you probably noticed, the choir is standing in a new formation which will better enable us to sing as one voice as we lead the assembly. A bonus is that we take up less room in the nave this way.

Any comments or questions about choir and/or Church music? Please talk to me, phone 591-6326, or e-mail me davidcolin{at}telus.net (replace "{at}" with "@").

Andrea Folster,
Choir Director