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31/10/2017 In Blog News

St Paul’s Harvest Festival – Sunday 22nd October 2017

Last Sunday, the congregation of St Paul’s made a ‘marathon’ effort to reach the coach taking them up to the Kokotos Winery in Stamata, Northern Athens, to celebrate their Harvest Festival.

There, in the Sunshine, surrounded by Vines, we gave thanks and sang praise to our Creator for his Creation. During the Service Fr Leonard gave a sermon in which he said that Harvest reminds us of our relationship both to Creation and to the Creator. Read the full text of the sermon here.READ MORE

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25/10/2017 In Blog News

To all our friends at St Paul’s and beyond

The time has come for Olga and myself not to say a final ‘goodbye’ but rather a heartfelt ‘au revoir’. It has been a long and at times demanding sojourn in Athens. There have been moments of frustration and anxiety but these have been over ridden by so much that was sheer delight and joy. If asked as to whether or not we would do it all over again then we would firmly say, ‘Yes’.READ MORE

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16/10/2017 In Blog News, Sermons & Services

Trinity 18 2017 | Harvest Sermon

I have not been in the Peloponnese since 1978. I sailed by ferry from  Italy to Patras, and then on to Athens for three weeks study at the British School (of Archaology and Topography). From the School we visited Mycenae, Epidavros, Olympia and Korinth. So after such a long time it is good to be back.

There is a legend, of course, about a monk called St. Regulus, who visited Patras and took possession of some of the bones of St. Andrew and transported them to the east coast of Scotland, giving the name to the town and later the University of St. Andrews. This year the university celebrates its 600th anniversary, and it was my first university. So some little connections!

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16/10/2017 In Blog News, Sermons & Services

Trinity 18 2017 | St. Paul’s Athens

Isiaiah 25, 1-9; Philippians 4, 1-9; Matt 22, 1-14

 

Many years ago I was a Team Rector in North East Suffolk. Lynne and I lived in a small market town called Halesworth  near to Southwold famous for its Adnams beer, and Adnams is a very good wine supplier as well. I recommend the Adnams ‘Fizz’ which friends from Suffolk used to bring us as a present when we were in Crawley and Cirencester.

Halesworth Team Ministry had its own very well produced church magazine called Team Times. The quality of its production was really only possible because we had a truly wonderful woman called Margaret Deering who sold advertising space to local businesses. READ MORE

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09/10/2017 In Blog News

St. Paul’s Harvest Festival

The Harvest Festival celebration takes places on Sunday 18th October at the Kokotos Estate, Semeli Str., Stamata, Attica 145 75. We warmly invite you to join us in celebrating this year’s harvest in the winery’s beautiful surroundings.READ MORE

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05/10/2017 In Blog News

Wedding

Natalia and Christian Reihe celebrate with a blessing of their marriage in St. Paul’s church, Athens. In the short homily, picking up phrase from a poem called ‘Someone’ Fr. Leonard developed the idea that love is about the heart in communion with the heart, and that this is how we connect to the heart of God’s love for us.READ MORE

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20/09/2017 In Blog News, Sermons & Services

Trinity 14 2017 | St. Paul’s Athens

Matthew 18, 21-36

Today the Church of England remembers the Battle of Britain. Between  1940 and 1941 the Royal Air Force fought the Luftwaffe against very heavy odds in a period commonly called ‘the blitz’. London, Portsmouth, Bath, Coventry, the Clyde in Glasgow – all these and more suffered from the bombing campaign of Germany. In September  of that same year RAF Bomber command began a series of night raids over Germany that marked a turning point in the war with Germany as the RAF disrupted German plans to invade Britain in what was known as Operation Sea Lion.

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11/09/2017 In Blog News

Baptisms

On Sunday 20th August, Baby Zoe Athena Constantidis was welcomed into our congregation as she was baptised at St Paul’s. We send her and her family our congratulations and ask everyone to keep them in your prayers.

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05/09/2017 In Blog News, Sermons & Services

Trinity 12 2017 | St. Paul’s Athens

Jeremiah 15, 15-21; Rom 12, 9-end; Matt 16, 21-end

There are times when other people drag you down. Lynne and I are generally quite cheerful and positive people. In our various parishes over the years we have encountered some very gloomy people indeed. These are people for whom it is always December, but never Christmas; always Lent but never Easter. When we encounter such people it is such a temptation to enter into their gloominess and share the negative views that they are spouting out. In my last parish we decided that whenever anyone said anything negative we would counter it with the exact opposite – even if we are feeling the same as them, or sharing their views. It made quite a difference, in fact, and some people either gave up expressing anything to us, or genuinely started to be a bit more positive.

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22/08/2017 In Blog News, Sermons & Services

Trinity 10 2017 | St. Paul’s Athens

Isaiah 56,1, 6-8; Romans 11, 1-2, 29-32; Matthew 15, 21-28

It is funny how zoological my preaching seems to be at the moment. Some of you might remember a sermon I preached here a couple of years ago about how to eat an elephant – ‘in small pieces’. Then over the last few weeks we connected the little guinea pig type animal called a hyrax  to its nearest relative, which is an elephant;  then last week we had the irritated pig. Today we are keeping up the theme.

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