Blog News

26/09/2018 In Announcements, Blog News

Kantorei St Lamberti, Hildesheim, Germany

An ensemble from Germany with a choir of 30 persons and an orchestra of 10

One hour programme entitled “Dona Nobis Pacem” (Peace on earth)

Programme:

Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Messe di Minuit, H.9

J. S. Bach, Double violin concerto, BWV 1043

W.A.Mozart, Laudate Dominum for Choir and Orchestra, K.339

Time: 19.00 hrs

Admission: Free but donation required

27/08/2018 In Announcements, Blog News

Report of the Anglican Church in Athens to the Archdeaconry Synod

Our Archdeacon, Colin Williams, has asked all members of the Archdeaconry Synod, to write a report on the activities of the Chaplaincy over the past year.

Here is our report – and what a busy year it has been! We hope you enjoy reading it and that it will encourage you to come and join us for a service, or one of our bazaars or a concert.

Report from the Anglican Church in Greece

(St. Andrew’s Corfu and St. Thomas’s Crete will present their own reports as they have Synod Members)

Note: The legalization of the Church in Greece was completed towards the time of Synod 2017. The new procedures required of us have been put to the test with the appointment of a new Assistant Chaplain to Crete, further complicated by the fact that he is from outside the EU. The Board of the Anglican Church in Greece is due to meet later in the Autumn for its required annual meeting.

The order in which the following are placed has no bearing on their relative importance!

St. Paul’s Athens

We continue to have a Sunday Liturgy at 10.15am every Sunday. As there is only one priest available, occasionally this service has to be a Liturgy of the Word, conducted either by Deacon Christine Saccali, or Reader Sherry Angelis. Our attendances at the 10.15am Liturgy are gradually increasing, which is very pleasing. The congregation is a mix of British women married to Greeks, individuals or families in Athens for short periods of work or teaching/study time, Africans (currently from South Africa, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Kenya) and their families, occasional refugees (from Iran, Syria, China, and political refugees from Turkey), some Greeks who are generally disaffected with the Greek Orthodox Church, and a constant stream of tourists, pilgrims and visitors. Apart from holiday times the congregation numbers are often in the 90’s.

30/07/2018 In Blog News, Sermons & Services

Sermon preached after the devastating fires of East Attica

Trinity 9 (29th July 2018) 2 Kings 4, 42-44; Ephesians 3, 14-21; John 6, 1-21 (Preached in St. Paul’s Athens)

Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan, Senior Chaplain, Greece.

When a priest asks an elderly man why he comes into church for a time each day, the elderly man says, ‘Sometimes I sit and pray. Sometimes I just sit. ’Sometimes I sit and pray. Sometimes I just sit.’

The three readings set for our liturgy today have a common theme, namely the abundance of God. God is the great and generous provider, offering to humanity more than we could ever ask or deserve.

A hymn so wonderfully says, Finest bread I will provide, till their hearts are satisfied.

In the first reading Elisha is faced with a dilemma. How can he feed a hundred people with insufficient grain to make the bread? God says,’ Let them eat. They shall eat and have some left.’

God is indeed a God of bounty and of endless generosity.

26/07/2018 In Blog News

QUEENS’ COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE CHOIR SING AT ST PAUL’S

Janet and Harry Anathassopoulou

On Friday July 20^th the choir of Queens’ College Cambridge University visited Athens and gave a concert at St. Paul’s Anglican Church. For all us who were lucky enough to be there it was a beautiful and uplifting evening. The choir of male and female voices was conducted by Ralph Allwood MBE. His introduction to each piece was always amusing and informative and heightened our anticipation.

The programme included music from the 16^th to the 20^th Century. The composers ranged from Italian, Spanish, French, German, English and Australian to Irish. The concert began with four 16^th Century Latin Chants. The type of music that can transport one to another plane. Perfect pitch and perfect harmony. As the choirmaster had said at the start, although such music is often sad, it is this very sadness that lifts our soul! One well known piece, that most of us knew, was “Song for Athene” by John Tavener. Even if not known by name, it was the song sung at Diana Princess of Wales’ funeral. Sad and beautiful it drew a “bravo” from the audience.

25/06/2018 In Blog News

“Ad Clerum” – Bishop Robert writes to the Congregations of the Diocese in Europe

Trinity Season 2018

AD CLERUM

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As a choirboy in the 1960s, I used to amuse myself during what felt like interminable sermons by flicking through the pages of the Book of Common Prayer. I quickly formed the view that, after the exciting events of Christmas, Epiphany, Easter and Whitsun the author’s imagination had run out when it came to the Trinity season. So we had a succession of Sundays ‘after Trinity’ from the first, the second, the third…right up to the twenty-fifth until things restart in Advent. All very dull and boring.

These days, I see it differently. The celebration of Trinity Sunday draws together the divine activity in creation and redemption made known through the threefold action of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Human beings are incorporated into this life through faith and baptism in the name of the Trinity. Our lives are to be patterned individually and corporately upon a God who makes himself known as a diverse unity. And so all human life is lived as a series of events ‘after Trinity’ until the last great day when God in his Advent makes all things new.

19/06/2018 In Announcements, Blog News

The Choir of Queens’ College Cambridge University 20th July 2018

The Choir of the Chapel of Queens’ College Cambridge will be performing at St Paul’s on Friday 20th July 2018 at 20.30 hrs. Admission free.

Queens’ College Choir

Queens’ College Choir is one of the leading mixed-voice choirs in Cambridge. While twentieth-century music forms the core of the choir’s repertoire, the choir increasingly performs Baroque and contemporary music, reflecting the specialisms of the Director of Music. The choir is regularly joined by a group of student instrumentalists, the Queens’ Chapel Players, enabling the liturgical performance of concerted music. The Choir’s CD recordings have attracted widespread critical acclaim. Their most recent disc, ‘For the Wings of a Dove: Music of Supplication and Hope’, is based on settings of the psalms and includes Mendelssohn’s famous setting of Psalm 51, ‘Hear my prayer’. In recent years the Choir has performed in Hong Kong, Switzerland, France, Germany, Southern Italy, Belgium, Hungary and the USA.

12/06/2018 In Announcements, Blog News

The 16th Renaissance Choral Evensong at St Paul’s

The 16th Choral Evensong will take place on Sunday 17th April 2018 at 18.30 hrs.

Sung by the Collegium & Cappella Sancti Pauli under the direction of Iason Marmaras,

leading the Worship Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan

02/06/2018 In Blog News

St Paul’s Spring Bazaar

Saturday 26th May dawned bright and fair. Despite it being a holiday weekend we were hoping for a good attendance at the Bazaar.

The stallholders arrived early to set out their goods, and the bunting and Union Jacks were hung up around the perimeter of the Church to add a colourful flavour to the proceedings and to advertise this particularly “British” occasion.

By 11.00 people were queuing up at the gate to get in. Fr Leonard rang the bell and the gate was opened! There was an immediate rush to the Jewellery Stall where the three Ladies had their hands full keeping up with the sales. The Book Stall also did brisk business and soon all the other stalls were busy selling.

24/05/2018 In Announcements, Blog News

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25th May 2018. Please read below our Privacy Policy.

The Chaplaincy Council (CC) of St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens

Your personal data – what is it?

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”).

Who are we?

The CC ST Paul’s is the data controller (contact details below). This means it decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes.

How do we process your personal data?

The CC of St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens, complies with its obligations under the “GDPR” by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

22/05/2018 In Blog News

Historic visit of HRH Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall to Athens

HRH Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall flew into Athens on Wednesday 9^th May at the invitation of the President of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, for an historic three-day visit to Athens and Crete – the first State visit by a member of the Royal Family since the Second World War.

After arriving on Wednesday afternoon, Charles and Camilla headed to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Syntagma Square where the Prince laid a wreath to remember the unknown and missing casualties of war.

Later on they met with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos at the Presidential Mansion and then with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. They also met with Mr Kostis Dimtisas, the General Manager of Apostoli, the Charitable arm of the Orthodox Church, and friend of the Anglican Church in Athens. On Wednesday evening the President hosted a glamorous banquet in their honour.

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