St Francis
07/09/2021 In Blog News

St Francis Time – Pet Service 3 October 2021 – 12.00 noon

St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Philellinon 27,  Athens

FrancisCome to St. Paul’s to give thanks for all the affection and friendship you receive from your pet. Either bring your pet to church for a blessing (no camels or elephants!) or bring a photograph. There will be a collection taken and 20% will be given to an animal charity in Athens.

(COVID Restrictions apply to human numbers inside the church building – service relayed to the garden on external speakers)

 

Bible STudies
04/09/2021 In Announcements, Blog News

St Paul’s Christmas Bazaar 2021 – a letter from Fr Leonard

Dear Friends

A date has been fixed for a Christmas Bazaar – Sunday 5th December 2021. Please fix that date in your diaries and planners now.

If you have been in Zappeion recently you will see that Aegli Restaurant is in a very sorry state – closed down and stripped of all fittings. There is no way that the Bazaar can take place as it has for several years now at Aigli. Anyway, to rent that basement space for one day cost €4,000, which is a huge bite into any money that is raised on the day.

Lynn Stavrou has booked the spacious entrance lobby outside the lecture theatre at the War Museum in central Athens. The cost for the day is €600.

Although the area at the war Museum is large, clearly we will not have as many square metres as in previous years, so we will all have to think differently for the Bazaar from now on. Not all the usual stalls will be possible, and not as much space can be given to all the stalls. Flexibility will be the order of the day, but the most exciting thing is that we are planning a Bazaar this year. You will recall that COVID restrictions in 2020 prevented us from having any fund-raising events.

Lynn Stavrou will co-ordinate the stall holders this year.

We are now inviting you to consider if you would be willing to organize your stall again – or offer to help support stall holders in some way. We also need manual help in setting up and clearing away tables, and help with transporting some items from Karneadou 6 to the Museum, and back again at the end of the day.

PLEASE contact Lynn Stavrou about your stall, or Trevor Kamuzonde if you can offer help with furniture moving on the day. Act now at this early stage by indicating that you would like to run a stall, and experience will inform you that it is time to start collecting and preparing for your stall.

COVID restrictions: we will of course be subject to any restrictions that apply to the Museum, and it will be the Museum authorities that decide if the Bazaar proceeds or is cancelled. This will not be a decision made by the Wardens or Fr. Leonard.

 

Lynn Stavrou

Trevor Kamuzonde

Leonard Doolan                         September 2021

sermon news
31/08/2021 In Sermons & Services

Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Trinity 29th August 2021: JAMES 1:17-27, MARK 7

Deacon Chris Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

 

May God be on my lips and in all our hearts AMEN

Usually at this point in the year, I ask all of you whether you have had a good summer. First of all, we are not all present and.secondly, you may not have been able to get a break at all. It has been a very, hot, hard summer following on from a difficult winter. God does not promise us an easy way and we need to be wise and listen to His word for our world and ourselves.

One of my summer jobs was to get my car through KTEO, its biennial MOT. Now, if you don’t know my car is the battered blue one, usually parked in the side street next to St Paul’s. My husband flatly refuses to take it for its inspection and indeed why should he? My son has a few choice words to say too as it used to belong to him but he has a spanking new one now. I have no such qualms as it gets me from A to B and I really to get to go to some unusual and outlying places as Deacon. At the moment in charred and burnt surroundings after the fires.

Outward appearances, however, can be deceptive, as we know. My vehicle passed again with flying colours, as I try and keep it well maintained and reliable, legal and ready for service.

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Liturgy 30:08:2020
26/08/2021 In Blog News

Liturgy of the Word – Sunday 29th August 2021

Welcome to St Paul’s Athens,   especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.  Deacon Christine leads our worship today, and is the preacher.  The hymn is announced from the door.

 

1 Angel voices ever singing
round Thy throne of light,
angel harps, forever ringing,
rest not day nor night;
thousands only live to bless Thee
and confess thee Lord of might.

 

2 Thou who art beyond the farthest
mortal eye can scan,
can it be that Thou regardest
songs of sinful man?
Can we feel that Thou art near us
and wilt hear us? Yea, we can.

 

3 Yea, we know Thy love rejoices
o’er each work of Thine;
Thou didst ears and hands and voices
for Thy praise combine;
craftsman’s art and music’s measure
for Thy pleasure didst design.

 

4 Here, great God, today we offer
of Thine own to Thee;
and for Thine acceptance proffer,
all unworthily,
hearts and minds and hands and voices
in our choicest melody.

 

5 Honour, glory, might, and merit
Thine shall ever be,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
blessed Trinity:
of the best that Thou hast given
earth and heaven render Thee.

 

Minister:  Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you

All:            and also with you.

Minister:  O Lord, open our lips

All:            and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Minister: Give us the joy of your saving help

All:            and sustain us with your life-giving Spirit.

 

The minister then welcomes people informally.

 

Prayers of Penitence

Minister:   Jesus says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. So let us turn away from our sin and turn to Christ, confessing our sins in penitence and faith.

 

All: Lord God, we have sinned against you;

       we have done evil in your sight.

       We are sorry and repent.

Have mercy on us according to your love.

       Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin.

       Renew a right spirit within us and restore us to the joy of your salvation;

       through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

Minister:  May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us

in his image to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All:            Amen

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sermon news
21/08/2021 In Sermons & Services

Sermon for the 12th Sunday after Trinity – 22nd August 2021:Joshua 24, 1-2, 14-18; Eph 6, 10-20; John 6, 56-69.

Fr Leonard Wallace, St Paul’s Athens

 

[For the following two Sundays I am present but not the preacher. Next sermon from me is Sept. 12th]

 

If you ever have the privilege of visiting Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee, home village of the fishermen disciples of Jesus, there is a superb synagogue to be seen there. Though much of the little town of Capernaum from the time of Jesus can be seen in excavation, this synagogue is of a Roman date, later than the time of Jesus, perhaps built in the 4th century AD. Nonetheless the presence of this ancient building, probably on the very site of the synagogue mentioned in today’s gospel, exudes atmosphere and mystique, the fragrance of antiquity.

Capernaum originally means the ‘village of comfort’, but when Jesus teaches there his message is not such easy listening. His listeners had become complacent in their dependence on the facts of history. Way back in the time of the exile, Jesus reminds them, God had provided them with all they needed for their strenuous 40 year sojourn in the wilderness – specifically referencing the Manna. However those who had been sustained by the Manna all, at some time afterwards, died of all the usual causes. When Jesus speaks of the bread from heaven he is not talking about the same thing. Those who eat the true Bread from heaven will live for ever. This is a shock, and they tell him so.

If the Greek translation is anything like reflective of the Aramaic of Jesus, then even the language Jesus is using can be challenging, for he is really say those who ‘munch’ or those who ‘chomp’ on me will live. He is not even using polite table language.

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sermon news
13/08/2021 In Sermons & Services

Falling Asleep of the BVM – 15th August 2021: St. Luke 1, 46-55

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

 

Today the church universal commemorates a feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This celebration is kept by the Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican traditions.

On this date the Orthodox speak of the Eternal Sleep of the Mother of God, and Blessed Mary is referred to in Orthodoxy as Panaghia – (All holy). The Roman Church celebrates what they now call the Assumption, a dogma that is barely 200 years old as currently understood. In Greece this date is always a public holiday (and for those outside Greece, who may not know it – there are many for whom today is their ‘name day’ such as those named Panaiotis (Panos for short) or Maria.

On this date, theologically, the Anglican tradition is more akin to the East than to Rome, and for centuries since the Reformation we have commemorated the Dormition, the ‘falling asleep’ of the BVM.

Blessed Mary is human mother of the incarnate Jesus, the fully human Jesus. We must remember however that in Christian theology this same Jesus is also fully divine, so Mary is mother of Jesus, but at the same time Mother of God, as Jesus of Nazareth is both fully human and fully divine. It is on account of this that Blessed Mary is worthy of the titles ascribed to her by the Church. So she is Panaghia (All Holy) in all three traditions, even if only the Orthodox use this distinctive Greek title.

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BVM BLOG
13/08/2021 In Blog News, Uncategorized

Service for the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary – 15th August 2021

Anglican Church in Greece – St Paul’s Athens

 

Fr. Leonard will lead the worship and preach. The deacon is Deacon Christine.   Before our worship begins the organ will play.

 

Opening Hymn: 185   (tune Abbot’s Leigh)

 

Priest:                Blessed be the kingdom of God.

All:                     Now and for ever. 

Priest:                The Lord be with you

All:                      and also with you

Priest:                Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women

and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

All:                      Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of

                            our death.

 

The deacon invites us into a short time of silence and stillness

 

All:        Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be: that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.

Priest:   Almighty God, who forgives all those who truly repent, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness,  and keep you in life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord .   Amen.

 

Gloria:  Glory in the highest to the God of heavens:

              Peace to all your people through the earth be given.

              Mighty God and Father, thanks and praise we bring,

              Singing Alleluia! To the heavenly King.

              Jesus Christ is risen, God the Father’s Son;

              With the Holy Spirit, you are Lord alone.

              Lamb once killed for sinners, all our guilt to bear,

              Show us now your mercy, now receive our prayer

             

             Christ the world’s true Saviour, high and holy one,

              Seated now and reigning from your Father’s throne:

              Lord and God, we praise you! Highest heaven adores:

              In the Father’s glory, all the praise be yours!

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