The Journey Home, from Halifax to Antioch, Part 2
- Reverend Fr Gregory Hallam
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
[continued from Part 1]
VIDEO
GALLERY
(The last picture is of Fr Michael McQuinn, the parish priest of St Malachy's Catholic Church by whose kind provision and that of the Bishop of Leeds, Rt. Revd. Marcus Stock it has been possible for the Orthodox Community of St Hilda to share a truly beautiful place of worship.)
Reader Stephen Nendick concludes this story ...
The following day, (7th September), a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy was held in St Malachy’s Roman Catholic Church, where nearly 100 people confirmed with loud cries of “Axios!” (“he is worthy!”) the ordination of Caedmon as Deacon. His Eminence, aided by Fr. Gregory and several other clergy together with servers from St. Aidan’s, St. Constantine’s and two young lads from St Hilda’s made sure that the service went smoothly. In his advice to the new Deacon, Caedmon, his Eminence emphasised both service to God and to the new parish of St Hilda’s; but also he stressed that Orthodoxy was one family together, and this Orthodox family was overjoyed to receive its new family members.
Looking back on a very tiring and full weekend, two things jump out at me. Firstly, on both days I spoke to lots of people from different parishes, all of them, whether Antiochian, Serbian or Romanian, told me how their parishes were growing. Lots of British people, especially young men, were searching for something and finding it in the Orthodox Church. Praise God, He is working in the British Isles. Secondly, the look of happiness and joy was on the faces of the newly illumined, young and not so young, after their baptism, as filled with the Holy Spirit they were home.
Reader Stephen Nendick