Service sheet for the 14thSeptember 2025 – THe Exaltation of the Holy Cross

:

Celebrant: Revd. Fr Leonard Doolan

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Processional: 390 (Truro) Jesus, where’er thy people meet

Responsorial Psalm: Ps.78

Gradual: 379 (Stuttgart) In the Cross of Christ I glory

Offertory: Sheet (Crucifer) Lift high the Cross, the Love of Christ proclaim

Communion: 91 (Batty) Sweet the moments, rich in blessing

Recessional: 435 (St Gertrude) Onward Christian Soldiers

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of

England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received.

A reading from the Book of Numbers (21: 4-9)

On the way through the wilderness the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’

At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 78: Never forget the deeds of the Lord

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians (2: 6-11)

His state was divine, yet Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality

with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet,

even to accepting death, death on a cross.

But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that

every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you;

because by your cross you have redeemed the world. Alleluia!

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John (3: 13-17)

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven; and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn

the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, O Christ

The setting of the Nicene Creed is on page 562 in the Hymnal.

Offertory Hymn: Lift high the Cross (Crucifer)

• (& Refrain) Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim Till all the world adore his sacred
• Come, let us follow where our Captain trod,

Our King victorious, Christ the Son of God. Refrain

3. Led on their way by this triumphant sign,

The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine. Refrain

4. Each new-born soldier of the Crucified

Bears on his brow the seal of him who died. Refrain

5. This is the sign which Satan’s legions fear

And angels veil their faces to to revere. Refrain

6. Saved by this Cross whereon their Lord was slain, The sons of Adam their lost home Refrain
7. O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,

As thou has promised, draw us unto thee. Refrain

3. Let every race and every language tell

Of him who saves our souls from death and hell. Refrain

4. From the farthest regions let them homage bring, And on his Cross adore their Saviour Refrain
5. Set up thy throne, that earth’s despair may cease Beneath the shadow of its healing Refrain
6. For thy blest Cross which doth for all atone

Creation’s praises rise before thy throne. Refrain

Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service:

Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises;

through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer Collect: Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Wednesday 17th September: 10 a.m.; Morning Prayer Sunday 21st September: 10 a.m.; Choral Mattins

Wednesday 24th September: 10 a.m.; Morning Prayer

Study group & pilgrimage walking group: details from Fr. Benjamin

Harvest Festival: Saturday, 18th October (Kokotos Estate, Stamata)

There is a sign-up sheet in church for those who wish to attend: please also indicate thereon if you wish to travel with the coach.

Christmas Bazaar: Sunday, 23rd November (Caravel Hotel)

Volunteers sought: please speak to either of the churchwardens

The Friends of St. Paul’s: please speak to Dimitris Ramantanoglou about becoming a Friend of St. Paul’s Church.

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code;

the Church does not receive any

funding from the Church of England

or the British Government and is reliant

on the goodwill of congregants and visitors. We thank you for your support.

Priest Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury frbenjamindrury@gmail.com;

Home tel.: 210 72 14 906

Deacon Christine Saccali : (Day Off: Friday)          697 737 7655

anglican@otenet.gr (Church e-mail address)

Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling  694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens                   www.anglicanchurchathens.gr

saintpaulsathens.bsky.social

Service Sheet for Sunday 7th September 2025 – Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Celebrant Fr Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Processional: 76 (Breslau) Take up thy cross, the Saviour said

Responsorial Psalm: Ps.90

Gradual: 386 (St. Botolph) O Jesu, King most wonderful

Offertory: 333 (Michael) All my hope on God is founded

Communion: 288 (Diva Servatrix) God everlasting, wonderful and holy

Recessional: 420 (Wolvercote) O Jesus, I have promised

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of

England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received.

A reading from the Book of Wisdom (9: 13-18)

What man indeed can know the intentions of God? Who can divine the will of the Lord?

The reasonings of mortals are unsure and our intentions unstable;

for a perishable body presses down the soul,

and this tent of clay weighs down the teeming mind. It is hard enough for us to work out what is on earth, laborious to know what lies within our reach;

who, then, can discover what is in the heavens?

As for your intention, who could have learnt it, had you not granted Wisdom

and sent your holy spirit from above?

Thus have the paths of those on earth been straightened and men been taught what pleases you,

and saved, by Wisdom.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 90: O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to Philemon (9-10, 12-17)

This is Paul writing, an old man now and, what is more, still a pris- oner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for a child of mine, whose father I became while wearing these chains: I mean Onesimus. I am sending him back to you, and with him – I could say – a part of my own self. I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have

been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the Good News has brought me. However, I did not want to do an-

ything without your consent; it would have been forcing your act of kindness, which should be spontaneous. I know you have been de-

prived of Onesimus for a time, but it was only so that you could have him back for ever, not as a slave any more, but something much bet- ter than a slave, a dear brother; especially dear to me, but how much more to you, as a blood-brother as well as a brother in the Lord. So if all that we have in common means anything to you, welcome him as you would me.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God.

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! I call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you

everything I have learnt from my Father. Alleluia! The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (14: 25-33)

Glory to you, O Lord.

Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and

spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too,

he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had

enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and

then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider

whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, O Christ

The setting of the Nicene Creed is on page 562 in the New English Hymnal.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we

desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but

through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer Collect: Twelfth Sunday after Trinity)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Monday 8th September: 7 p.m.; Low Mass (Nativity of the B.V.M.)

Wednesday 10th September: 10 a.m.; Low Mass

Sun. 14th September: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass: Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Wednesday 17th September: 10 a.m.; Morning Prayer (BCP)

Coffee Morning: Thursday, 11th September (10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)

Study group & pilgrimage walking group: details from Fr. Benjamin

Harvest Festival: Saturday, 18th October (Kokotos Estate, Stamata)

Christmas Bazaar: Sunday, 23rd November (Caravel Hotel)

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code;

the Church does not receive any

funding from the Church of England

or the British Government and is reliant

on the goodwill of congregants and visitors. We thank you for your support.

Priest Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury frbenjamindrury@gmail.com;

Home tel.: 210 72 14 906.

anglican@otenet.gr (Church e-mail address)

Deacon Christine Saccali : (Day Off: Friday)          697 737 7655

Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling  694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens                   www.anglicanchurchathens.gr

Service Sheet for Sunday 31st August 2025 – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Celebrant Fr Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Processional: 373 (Coe Fen) How shall I sing that majesty

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 68

Offertory: 310 (Offertorium) We hail thy presence glorious

Communion: 383 (Aberystwyth) Jesu, Lover of my soul

Recessional: 381 (Ewing) Jerusalem the golden

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of

England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received.

A reading from the Ecclesiasticus (3: 19-21, 30-31)

My son, be gentle in carrying out your business, and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.

The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly, and then you will find favour with the Lord; for great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble.

There is no cure for the proud man’s malady, since an evil growth has taken root in him.

The heart of a sensible man will reflect on parables, an attentive ear is the sage’s dream.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 68: In your goodness, O God, you pre- pared a home for the poor

A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (12: 18-19, 22-24a)

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or a gloom turning to total darkness, or a storm; or trumpeting thunder or the great voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them. But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a ‘first-born son’ and a citizen of heaven. You have come to God himself, the Supreme Judge, and been placed with spirits of the saints who have been made perfect; and to Jesus, the mediator who brings a new covenant.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, says the Lord, for I am gentle and humble in heart. Alleluia!

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (14: 1, 7-14)

Glory to you, O Lord.

On a sabbath day Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour. He said this, ‘When someone invites you to a

wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you both may come and say, “Give up your place to this man.” And then, to your embarrassment, you would have to go and take the lowest place. No; when you are a guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there, so that, when your host comes, he may say, “My friend, move up higher.” In that way, everyone with you at the table will see you honoured. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

Then he said to his host, ‘When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not ask your friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate, because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, O Christ

The setting of the Nicene Creed is on page 562 in the New English Hymnal

O God, who declarest thy almighty power most chiefly in shewing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer Collect: Eleventh Sunday after Trinity)

…………………………

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Wednesday 3rd September: 10 a.m.; Low Mass

Sunday 7th September: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass

Wednesday 10th September: 10 a.m.; Low Mass

Sun. 14th September: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass: Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Coffee Morning: Thursday, 11th September (10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)

Study group & pilgrimage walking group: details from Fr. Benjamin

Harvest Festival: Saturday, 18th October (Kokotos Estate, Stamata)

Christmas Bazaar: Sunday, 23rd November (Caravel Hotel)

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code

the Church does not receive any 

funding from the Church of England

or the British Government and is reliant

on the goodwill of congregants and visitors. We thank you for your support.

Priest Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury frbenjamindrury@gmail.com;   Home tel.: 210 72 14 906

Church e-mail address anglican@otenet.gr

Deacon Christine Saccali : (Day Off: Friday)          697 737 7655

Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling  694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens                    www.anglicanchurchathens.gr

Service Sheet for Sunday 24th August – Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Celebrant Fr. Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Processional: 343 (Redhead No. 46) Bright the vision that delighted

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 117

Gradual: 179 (Sussex) Saints of God! lo, Jesu’s people

Offertory: 205 (Regent Square) Christ is made the sure foundation

Communion: 302 (Song I) O Thou, who at thy Eucharist didst pray

Recessional: 476 (Paderborn) Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of

England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received.

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (66: 18-21)

The Lord says this: I am coming to gather the nations of every lan- guage. They shall come to witness my glory. I will give them a sign and send some of their survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Put, Lud,

Moshech, Rosh, Tubal, and Javan, to the distant islands that have never heard of me or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory to the nations. As an offering to the Lord they will bring all your brothers, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, on dromedaries, from all the nations to my holy mountain in Jerusalem, says the Lord, like Israelites bringing oblations in clean vessels to the Temple of the Lord. And of some of them I will make priests and Levites, says the Lord.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 117: Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News

O praise the Lord, all you nations,

acclaim him all you peoples! (Response)

Strong is his love for us;

he is faithful for ever. (Response)

A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (12: 5-17, 11-13)

Have you forgotten that encouraging text in which you are ad- dressed as sons? My son, when the Lord corrects you, do not treat it lightly; but do not get discouraged when he reprimands you. For the Lord trains the ones that he loves and he punishes all those that he acknowledges as his sons. Suffering is part of your training; God is treating you as his sons. Has there ever been any son whose father did not train him? Of course, any punishment is most painful at the time, and far from pleasant; but later, in those on whom it has been used,

it bears fruit in peace and goodness. So hold up your limp arms and steady your trembling knees and smooth out the path you tread; then the injured limb will not be wrenched, it will grow strong again.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia!

Jesus said: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.’ Alleluia! The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (13: 22-30)

Glory to you, O Lord.

Through towns and villages Jesus went teaching, making his way to Jerusalem. Someone said to him, ‘Sir, will there be only a few

saved?’ He said to them, ‘Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.

‘Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself knocking on the door, saying, “Lord, open to us” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will find yourself saying, “We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets” but he will reply, “I do not know where you come from. Away from me, all you wicked men!”

‘Then there will be weeping and grinding of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves turned outside. And men from east and west, from north and south, will come to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

‘Yes, there are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, O Christ

The setting of the Nicene Creed is on page 562 in the New English Hymnal.

et thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy hum- ble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions make

them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer Collect: Tenth Sunday after Trinity)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Wednesday 27th August: 10 a.m.; Low Mass

Friday 29th August: 7 p.m.; Low Mass: Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Sunday 31st August: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass

Study group & pilgrimage walking group: to resume in September,

details from Fr. Benjamin

Harvest Festival: Kokotos Estate, Stamata (Saturday, 18th October); Christmas bazaar: Caravel Hotel (Sunday, 23rd November)

Coffee Morning: Thursday, 11th September (10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.); in the churchyard.

Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions make

them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer Collect: Tenth Sunday after Trinity)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Wednesday 27th August: 10 a.m.; Low Mass

Friday 29th August: 7 p.m.; Low Mass: Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Sunday 31st August: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass

Study group & pilgrimage walking group: to resume in September,

details from Fr. Benjamin

Harvest Festival: Kokotos Estate, Stamata (Saturday, 18th October); Christmas bazaar: Caravel Hotel (Sunday, 23rd November)

Coffee Morning: Thursday, 11th September (10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.); in the churchyard.

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code;

the Church does not receive any

funding from the Church of England

or the British Government and is reliant

on the goodwill of congregants and visitors. We thank you for your support.

Priest Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury frbenjamindrury@gmail.com;

Home tel.: 210 72 14 906

anglican@otenet.gr (Church e-mail address)

Deacon Christine Saccali : (Day Off: Friday)          697 737 7655

Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling  694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens                    www.anglicanchurchathens.gr

Sermon for The Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary – 17th August 2025

Canon Revd Leonard Doolan – St Pau.’s Athens

Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary

On August 15^th the church universal commemorates a feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This celebration is kept by the Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican traditions. It is permitted to move this feast to the nearest Sunday, as we are doing.

On this date the Orthodox speak of the Eternal Sleep of the Mother of God, and generally 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. For this feast, 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.

The other important word for this feast is Theotokos – it means literally God-bearer. It is a title used of Blessed Mary. It is utterly illogical to call her the Mother of God. God is eternal with no beginning and no end. He is before time and outside time. He is as we say in the Creed of Nicea (325AD) – ‘one God, Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.’ How can it be logical for Blessed Mary to be the Mother of God?

Usually we think of a logical statement as something emanating, emerging out of sense, making sense of sense, if you like. But here, we need to have a warning sign. Our faith is just that, what it says on the tin – not logic but faith. However, the integrity of our faith depends on being logical; to have what Matthew Arnold called ‘sweet reasonableness’.

I would propose that the logic of referring to the Blessed Virgin as ‘God-Bearer’ or Mother of God, is a logic that has to be worked backwards not forwards – and is in fact the natural conclusion of the dogmatic work of the Councils of the Church – Nicea in 325AD, the 2^nd Council of Ephesus in 431AD and ultimately in the Council of Chalcedon in 451AD.  Chalcedon fully assumes, accepts and endorses the formulas of earlier Nicea, in which crucially Jesus is defined and proclaimed as both human and divine – equally two natures in the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

So Blessed Mary is human mother of the incarnate Jesus, the fully human Jesus. The gospels attest to this truth. This same Jesus is also fully divine, so Mary is both mother of Jesus, but at the same time Mother of God, as her human son, Jesus, is fully divine. This is where the logic is to be discovered. It is on account of this that Blessed Mary is worthy of the titles ascribed to her by the Church.

READ MORE

Audio Sermon for the Feast of The Assumption – 17th August 2025

Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

Service Sheet for Sunday 17th August 2025 – Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Celebrant: Canon Fr Leonard Doolan

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Processional: 161 (St. Botolph) For Mary, Mother of the Lord

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 45

Gradual: 185 (Abbot’s Leigh) Sing we of the blessed Mother

Offertory: 188 (Daily, Daily) Ye who own the faith of Jesus

Communion: 275 (Liebster Jesu) Blessed Jesu, Mary’s Son

Recessional: 186 (Woodlands) Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

“For behold, from henceforth:

all generations shall call me blessed”

A reading from the Revelation of St. John the Theologian (11: 19, 12: 1-6, 10)

The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it.

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child, so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had made a place of safety ready.

Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, ‘Victory and power and empire for ever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ.’

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 45: On your right stands the queen, in garments of gold

A reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (15: 20-26)

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who

have fallen asleep. Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ; but all of them in their proper order: Christ as the first-fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him. After

that will come the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God

the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power. For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! Mary has been taken up to heaven;

all the choirs of angels are rejoicing. Alleluia!

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (1: 39-56)

Glory to you, O Lord.

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.

Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ And Mary said:

‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour;

because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.

Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me.

Holy is his name, and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.

He has shown the power of his arm, he has routed the proud of heart.

He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.

The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.

He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy – according to the promise he made to our ancestors –

of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, O Christ

The text and setting of the Nicene Creed is at page 562 in the New English Hymnal.

Grant to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful; that we, who cannot do any

thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live

according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP Collect: Ninth Sunday after Trinity)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Weds. 20th August: No Service

Sun. 24th August: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass (21st Sunday in Ordinary Time) Weds. 27th August: 10 a.m.; Low Mass

Fri. 29th August: 7 p.m.; Low Mass (Beheading of St. John the Baptist)

Study group & pilgrimage walking group: details from Fr. Benjamin

Note: no liturgy this Wednesday (20th August); Low Mass on Friday 29th August (St. John the Baptist) at 7 p.m.

Harvest Festival: Saturday, 18th October (Kokotos Estate, Stamata); Christmas Bazaar, Sunday 23rd November (Caravel Hotel)

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code;

the Church does not receive any

funding from the Church of England

or the British Government and is reliant

on the goodwill of congregants and visitors. We thank you for your support

Priest Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury frbenjamindrury@gmail.com;

Home tel.: 210 72 14 906

anglican@otenet.gr (Church e-mail address)

Deacon Christine Saccali : (Day Off: Friday)          697 737 7655 Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling  694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens                    www.anglicanchurchathens.gr

Service sheet for Sunday 10th August 2025, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Celebrant Fr Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Processional: 338 (Evelyns) At the name of Jesus

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 33

Gradual: 358 (Rievaulx) Father of heaven, whose love profound

Offertory: 208 (St. Catherine’s Court) In our day of thanksgiving

Communion: 350 (David’s Harp) Come, O thou Traveller unknown

Recessional: 359 (Duke Street) Fight the good fight with all thy might

Today we commemorate the life of Dorice Turnnidge (1928-2025) All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of

England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received.

A reading from the Book of Wisdom (18: 6-9)

That night had been foretold to our ancestors, so that, once they saw what kind of oaths they had put their trust in, they would joyfully take courage.  This was the expectation of your people, the saving of the virtuous and the ruin of their enemies;

for by the same act with which you took vengeance on our foes you made us glorious by calling us to you.

The devout children of worthy men offered sacrifice in secret and this divine pact they struck with one accord:

that the saints would share the same blessings and dangers alike; and forthwith they had begun to chant the hymns of the fathers.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 33: Happy are the people the Lord has chosen as his own

Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just; for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.

They are happy, whose God is the Lord,

the people he has chosen as his own. (Response)

The Lord looks on those who revere him, on those who hope in his love,

to rescue their souls from death,

to keep them alive in famine. (Response)

Our soul is waiting for the Lord.

The Lord is our help and our shield.

May your love be upon us, O Lord,

as we place all our hope in you. (Response)

A reading from the letter to the Hebrews (11: 1-2, 8-19)

Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen. It was for

faith that our ancestors were commended.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a coun- try that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going. By faith he

arrived, as a foreigner, in the Promised Land, and lived there as if

in a strange country, with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. They lived there in tents while he looked for- ward to a city founded, designed and built by God.

It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it. Because of this, there

came from one man, and one who was already as good as dead him- self, more descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.

All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but they saw them in the far distance and

welcomed them, recognising that they were only strangers and no- mads on earth. People who use such terms about themselves make it quite plain that they are in search of their real homeland. They can hardly have meant the country they came from, since they had the opportunity to go back to it; but in fact they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for

them.

It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered to sacrifice his only son even though the promis-

es had been made to him and he had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia!

Stay awake and stand ready, because you do not know the hour when the Son of Man is coming. Alleluia!

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (12: 32-48)

Glory to you, O Lord.

after the Gospel: The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, O Christ

…

O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; We humbly beseech thee to put away

from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer Collect: Eighth Sunday after Trinity)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Wednesday 13th August: No Service

Sunday 17th August: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Wednesday 20th August: No Service

Sunday 24th August: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass Wednesday 28th August: 10 a.m.; Low Mass

Friday 29th August: 7 p.m.; Low Mass; Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Sunday 31st August: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass

Please note that there will be no services on Wednesday, 13th August or Wednesday, 20th August, but that there will be a Mass on Friday, 29th August in the evening (7 p.m.)

Study group & pilgrimage walking group: details from Fr. Benjamin

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code;

the Church does not receive any

funding from the Church of England

or the British Government and is reliant

on the goodwill of congregants and visitors. We thank you for your support.

Priest Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury frbenjamindrury@gmail.com;

Home tel.: 210 72 14 906

Deacon Christine Saccali : (Day Off: Friday)          697 737 7655

anglican@otenet.gr (Church e-mail address)

Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling  694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens                    www.anglicanchurchathens.gr

Audio sermon for Sunday 3rd August 2025

Fr ~Leonard Dolan – St Paul’s Athens

Sermon for Sunday 3rd August 2025 – Readings: Eccles 1, 2, 21-23; Colossians 3, 1-5, 9-11; Luke 12, 13-21. (not CW but RCL readings) for 3rd August 2025 –

Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

Like the golden thread of Ariadne, that led her and Theseus through the twists and turns of the labyrinth from the danger of the Minotaur to freedom and safety, so there is a thread that runs through our three readings from scripture, that leads us from the seemingly pointless exercise of everyday human life, as expressed by the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes (vanity of vanities, all is vanity) to our safety, our liberation into new life in Christ.

The book called Ecclesiastes belongs to a genre of literature in the Old Testament called ‘Wisdom’. Much of it is to be found in the Hebrew scriptures, but the origins of the genre lie in Middle Eastern, non-Hebrew speaking culture. In Hebrew the speaker in the book is called the Qoheleth, often translated as ‘preacher’ or ‘teacher’. Our preacher claims to be the son of David, king in Jerusalem. This could be an attempt to make the writings more acceptable to the Hebrew speaking people of Israel, and to rescue the material from its gentile origins. We do something similar when we recite or sing the Psalms of David – we ‘Christianize’ them by always adding the words, ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit’ a non- Jewish religious formula. I hope you see what I’m driving at.

In the Greek version of the book the Hebrew word Qoheleth is translated as ‘Ekklesiastis’ from which we derive the name of the book.

The content is what we might call somewhat depressing – emphasizing the futility of the human condition, characterized so frequently by us entering into life with our ‘eyes wide shut’ contrasting with the open eyed person who sees the light of God. ‘Vanity of vanities – all is vanity’. This quote from the book rather sums it up, and it has become something of a phrase in everyday English use.

It reminds me of my time on one of my parishes. We were beautifully associated with a small theatre next to the 13^th century church – a 16^th century Sussex barn conversion. One year the theatre production team chose to perform a couple of episodes from the hugely loved vintage TV series called Dad’s Army. One of the characters was called Private Frazer, and as his surname suggests he was a Scot – what we call a ‘dour Scot’. Dour is not so easy to translate directly into standard English, let alone trying to find a Greek equivalent (maybe someone far brighter can try).

Frazer’s glass was always half empty – indeed I think you could say a quarter empty – so he always looked on the gloomy side of any situation (I suppose that’s really what ‘dour’ means). In the two productions the Director cast me as Private Frazer, partly because I can exaggerate my naturally beautiful accent into a rather more accented one. So it fell to me to say occasionally the phrase that Frazer was famous for ‘We’re a’ doomed!’. My apologies to those who have never seen the series, and the entire Greek nation.

So ‘We’re a’ doomed’ could be a very good summing up of the message of the Preacher, the Qoheleth in our book Ecclesiastes.

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