Gospel reading for Good Friday 2020

JOIN A ZOOM MEETING FOR EASTER SUNDAY

STOP PRESS!
Leonard Doolan is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Please join us in Athens (God and technology willing) for our Easter Sunday worship. You can join the ‘meeting’ from 10.00am but the service will begin at 10.15 which is our normal service time here. Afterwards we can make a coffee and have a chat.

Meditation for Holy Thursday 2020

Collect of the day:   God our Father, you have invited us to share in the supper which your Son gave to his Church to proclaim his death until he comes; may he nourish us by his presence, and unite us in his love; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

‘Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.  When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13, 1-17, 31-35

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Maundy Thursday Worship 2020 St Paul’s Athens

Holy (Maundy) Thursday Liturgy

 Entrance Hymn   272   All for Jesus

Priest: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Lord be with you.

     All:      and also with you

 The priest then welcomes the people of God and introduces the Liturgy of the day.

Deacon: Have mercy on us, O God in your great goodness.

Kyrie Eleison.

All:          Kyrie Eleison

Deacon: Against you only have we sinned

Christ Eleison.

All:         Chrise Eleison

Deacon:Purge us from our sins and we shall be clean

Kyrie Eleison

All:         Kyrie Eleison

All:         Holy God,

               Holy and strong,

               Holy and immortal,

               Have mercy upon us.

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

Gloria

1.Glory in the highest                2.Jesus Christ is risen

to the God of heaven                   God the Father’s  Son

Peace to all your people              With the Holy Spirit

through the earth be given.        You are Lord alone.

Mighty God and Father,               Lamb once killed for sinners,

Thanks and praise we bring        all our guilt to bear;

Singing alleluia                              Show us now your mercy

To our heavenly king.                  now receive our prayer.

3.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.

Collect:  Let us pray  (remain standing)

God our Father, you have invited us to share in the supper which your Son gave to his Church to proclaim his death until he comes: may he nourish us by his presence, and unite us in his love; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Palm Sunday Worship – 5th April 2020

The Anglican Church in Greece

Palm Sunday  (April 5th)  

Great (Holy) Week begins today in the ‘Latin Calendar’. We would usually begin outside with the blessing of palm crosses and process into church. On account of the Corona virus the church of St. Paul’s is closed for worship. This printed text can be used by you at home to help guide you through this week. On the website other Holy Week liturgies and voice recordings of sermons are available. 

 Liturgy of Palms (in the Garden)

 All:  Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel. Blessed is he who comes in the name of      the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Priest:  Behold your king comes to you, O Zion, meek and lowly, sitting upon an ass. Ride on in the cause of truth and for the sake of justice. Your throne is the throne of God, it endures for ever; and the sceptre of your kingdom is a righteous sceptre. You have loved righteousness and hated evil. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

All:   Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Priest: Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, during Lent we have been preparing by works of love and self-sacrifice for the celebration of our Lord’s death and resurrection. Today we come together to begin this solemn celebration in union with the Church throughout the world. Christ enters his own city to complete his work as our Saviour, to suffer, to die, and to rise again. Let us go with him in faith and love, so that, united with him in his sufferings, we may share his risen life.

The people hold up palms or branches while this prayer is said by the priest 

God our Saviour, whose Son Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem as Messiah to suffer and to die; let these palms +  be for us signs of his victory and grant that we who bear them in his name may ever hail him as our King, and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

We now process around the church, and as we do so we sing:

We have a King who rides a donkey, we have a King who rides a donkey

We have a King who rides a donkey, and his name is Jesus.

Jesus the King is with us, Jesus us the King is with us, Jesus the King is with us

Riding on a donkey.

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A Letter from Fr Leonard to the St Paul’s Community

The Anglican Church in Greece (Church of England) St. Paul’s Church

1^st April 2020

Dear Friends,

I hope that you are well, and keeping safe under these extraordinary circumstances. We feel bereft of St. Paul’s church for our worship, and the proximity of friends and fellow worshippers. If you have the need for a conversation with someone please don’t hesitate to phone me or Deacon Chris. These are challenging times, and although ‘social isolation’ is for the greater good, we are not created to be alone, and the church is a ‘body’ or a fellowship, not a building. We will get through this however, and we know already that the cost will be great. We pray daily for the sufferers of COVID-19, and those who have died. We pray also for those in our health care system at this demanding time for them, and Lynne and I have appeared a couple of times on the balcony on Sunday evenings to clap with others in the street, for the gratitude we have for all health care workers. We should be thankful too for those who keep our food supplies going, right through the food chain. The staff at Kritikos in Irodotou have been great with us while we have had a complete 14 day quarantine imposed on us because we flew back into Greece on March 22^nd after my dad’s funeral.

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A short order of service for Praying daily at home in the morning and evening

+Both morning and evening begin with:

Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy  Spirit. Amen.

 +Morning only:

Come, let us sing to the Lord:

Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving:

And raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

For  the Lord God is a great God:

And a great King above all  gods.

In his hands are the depths of the earth;

And the heights of the hills are his also.

The sea is his for he made it;

And his hands have moulded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee;

And kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture

And  the sheep of his hand.

+Evening only:

Behold now, bless the Lord,

All you servants of the Lord;

You that stand by night in the house of the Lord.

Lift up your hands in the holy place

And bless the Lord:

The Lord who made heaven and earth

Bless you out of Zion.

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ST PAUL’S ANGLICAN CHURCH ATHENS DIOCESE IN EUROPE Everything We Touch – A Mothers’ Union Service for Mothering Sunday

Welcome

Welcome to this service for Mothering Sunday, a celebration, not only to thank God for all Mothers but to thank and recognise all those who nurture us through our lives, including God.

The work of the Mothers’ Union around the world is about nurturing individuals, groups and communities by enabling them to improve their quality of life and providing opportunities for communication and reconciliation within families. The MU facilitates a network of parenting groups, provides a range of support for families and produces resources on issues important to adults and children.

Leader: ‘As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother, and he revealed that in everything, and especially in these sweet words where he says: I am he; that is to say: I am he, the power and goodness of fatherhood; I am he, the wisdom and the lovingness of motherhood; I am he, the light and grace which is all blessed love; I am he, the Trinity …’ (The Showings, Long Text, Mother Julian of Norwich, 14^th century)

Worship Focus

You are asked to light a candle and put it in a window or place where it can be seen at 9pm greek time tonight. Please extinguish it when you got to bed. This is an initiative asked of us by Abps of  Canterbury and York. ( see Church of England website)

Nurturing God,

we light this candle

in recognition of the great care and love

you have for each one of us.

All Nurturing God,

we praise and thank you.

Nurturing God,

we light this candle

in thanksgiving for all mothers,

for all they do, or once did,

for all they give, or once gave

and for all they mean and will always mean.

All: Nurturing God,

we praise and thank you.

Nurturing God,

we light this candle

for all families

throughout the world.

All Nurturing God,

we praise and thank you.

Nurturing God,

we light this candle

for the family of the Church,

here and everywhere. And for all peoples.

All Nurturing God,

we praise and thank you.

Nurturing God,

we light this candle

for all who nurture

and encourage others may we do the same as we journey together as one..

All Nurturing God,

we praise and thank you

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