The Russian Orthodox Church in Edinburgh, Greenside Parish Church 1b Royal Terrace, Edinburgh (2026)

02/05/2017

Good morning brother and sisters here is the list of services in May.

MAY

10 Wed. Mid-Pentecost.

7:00 – Liturgy in Edinburgh.

14 Sun. Fifth Sunday of Pascha. Sunday of the Samaritan Woman.

10:30 – Liturgy in Edinburgh.

20 Sat. Commemoration of Appearance of the Sign of the Cross in the sky over Jerusalem.

10:30 – Liturgy in Douglas.

24 Wed. Leavetaking of feast of Pascha. Forefeast of Ascension of the Lord.

18:30 – Vigil in Edinburgh.

25 Thu. Ascension of the Lord.

10:30 – Liturgy in Edinburgh.

The icon is of the Samaritain Women which we remember on the 14th

28/04/2017

Unfortunately I have to report that one of our Parish Irina Hardie has died. There will be the panikhida memorial service following Sunday liturgy.

28/04/2017

How to find humility on a train.

I recently changed job and now have an hour each way to fill. The iPhone offers any number of distractions but inbetween blowing up aliens I do find time to read or listen to a podcast or two.

Just a few weeks ago it was still dark when I started my daily travel and one section from the prayer at day break made me think deeply.

The part of the prayer asks god to help us to keep quiet and give no answer when appropriate.

I my culture this is seen as weakness. The strong person always has the last word. Politician always have an answer

If I swallow my pride I may be able to resist opening my mouth simply to hear my own voice.

This is a difficult concept for myself that it is not just my action, my thought but I also need to consider how my actions and words will effect my fellow man.

27/04/2017

Good morning brothers and sisters. Time flies and we are nearly at the third week of Pascha or Easter as it is more commonly known in the west.

This Sunday we will be holding the hird Sunday of Pascha: The Myrrh-bearing Women in Edinburgh.

All over the world Orthodox church's were packed for Pascha with worshippers hold candle to represent Christ the bringer of light to the world.

Before we get to far into the future I thought I would post some pictures of the blessing of the food so we may remember our joy of Christs message and with hope carry these feelings throughout the year ahead

Hope to see as many of you that can make it on Sunday.

11/04/2017

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

This is at. first sight glance something strange for Jesus to say on the cross especially from our world view.

Jewish history enlightens us to an understand. Amoungst learnerned jews of the time they did not work there role in life was to study the scriptures and prey in a similar way to some Monks in our time.

They had studied the scriptures day and night from a young ages for years or even decades. They used a short hand often just quote the first line of a pslamn.

For you who have had a western style education my recognise the quote from Hamlet To be or not to be. We cultural understanding of the meaning without carrying on with the quote wither it is better to suffer the slings and bows of outrageous fortune .....

If we look at the Palamn in quotes by Jesus on the cross we get the follower understand of the message from the cross.

Psalm 22King James Version (KJV)

22 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

2 O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.

24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.

27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

28 For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.

29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.

30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.

31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

11/04/2017

Hello all We have had a number of enquiries about services and the Pachal blessing.

I have listed the services for the Easter period in Scotland.

For those able to attend Edinburgh the blessing of the food will be on Saturday 10:30

11 Tue. Great Tuesday.

18:30 – Bridegroom Matins in Edinburgh.

12 Wed. Great Wednesday. St John of the Ladder.

7:00 – Liturgy of the Presanctfied Gifts in Edinburgh.

13 Thu. Great Thursday. Last Supper.

10:30 – Liturgy in Glasgow.

18:30 – Matins of the Passion Gospels in Dundee.

14 Fri. Great Friday.

14:00 – Vespers with the burial of the Sheet in Glasgow.

18:30 – Matins of Great Saturday in Glasgow.

15 Sat. Great Sarurday.

10:30 – Liturgy in Edinburgh. Blessing of the Paschal meals.

23:00 – Compline in Aberdeen.

16 Sun. THE HOLY PASCHA.

0:00 – Paschal Matins and Liturgy in Aberdeen. Blessing of the Paschal meals.

19/03/2017

Today we had the service of the veneration of the cross. I have added picture of an Icon of the cross housed at Mt Athos which I particularity like.

19/03/2017

We like certainty, hard facts right and wrong. Much has been written in the press about fake news and post truth politics.

In the Church much is certain and handed down in scripture or by apostolic tradition and we can take comfort from that. In the Russian side of the church we refer to the sacraments (something holy or sacred) baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, anointing of the sick, ordination, and matrimony.. In the original Greek the word mystery is used.

We talk of mystery novels and movies but that meaning while conveying some of the meaning is not the full meaning of mystery. It would be better described thus.

Something which you do not fully understand
With time you will understand more
However you will never full appreciate the whole meaning or have a full understanding

When considering God, Jesus the logos or the presence of the Holy Spirit it is something that we can truly call a mystery. We will never fully understand the nature of God in this existence on earth.

There are many holy men and women who have come much closer than I have but there is still something that will remain for the present a mystery.

It is ok not to live in perfect knowledge, many scientist would wax lyrically about all the things they don't know or may never know but they do not fall into despair. They do not say because I don't what is smaller than a quark I will give up and hide from the world.

We must embrace the love of God and his forgiveness without seeking answers to every tweak of nature. In the fullness of time and God being merciful we learn just a little more about the mysteries.

19/03/2017

Dear Brothers and sister the services in Edinburgh up to Easter are as follows

29 Wed. St Aristobulus, bishop of Britannia.

7:00 – Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in Edinburgh.

18:30 – Matins with Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete in Edinburgh.

April

11 Tue. Great Tuesday.

18:30 – Bridegroom Matins in Edinburgh.

12 Wed. Great Wednesday. St John of the Ladder.

7:00 – Liturgy of the Presanctfied Gifts in Edinburgh.

17/02/2017

We are not all automatically condemned to hell. Despite what a number of churches preach.

The narrative goes that we are all sinfull beings at our hearts and only the working of the said church to save man or in other interpretations only God can act on us. Basically you are done for unless some external force comes into play namely that church.

This view questions human free will and a number is issues with the understanding of the nature of Christ not withstanding

The original teaching is still practiced by Orthordox today is that we were made. by God and inhertently good. It is accepted that we have a tendency to stray towards sin but I even at this we can repent and come back into the fold.

So I wondered where this notion of man is. born sinful and condemned to hell from our first breath came from.

Our old friend St Augustine in the 4th centuay North Africa. While he was a good man and holy he was not a good translator. I don't claim that I am any better at Greek to Latin. In essence he translated a passage that because of Adam and Eves sin man was born. If you translate of to in you get an idea of man.being born in sin rather than because of sin.

The view unfortunately has come into common understanding this mistake is repeated in numerous churches each week.

Could I suggest that a translation error is not the basis to form a new church or teaching. It is not that the beliefs are inhertenty bad but when an error is shown and the cause shoul they not reflect on it.

21/01/2017

No man can serve two masters is something which St Philip of Moscow, that we commemorate on Sunday lived and eventually died for. Giving up a relatively comfortable life for the times. He became a monk and later was called on to be Metropolitan of Moscow during the Reign of Ivan the Terrible as we know him in the west, but would be more correctly translated as Ivan the Awesome.

He constantly challenged earthly powers and the final straw as far as Ivan was concerned came in 1556 when St Philip refused to bless Ivan and rebuked him for his ungodly way's..

As one can expect Ivan deposed Philip,yoked and had him arrested and imprisoned, Finally in 1568 Ivan had him murdered reported by strangulation by one of his hench men.

We also see many ungodly things in the world and must also make choices about what to stand up for in our lives each day. Doing the right thing is not always rewarded in this world but it is what we need to strive towards each day as Christians.

The order of Services for Edinburgh are listed below

January 2017

22 Sun. St Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, Wonderworker.

10:30 – Liturgy in Edinburgh.

February

8 Wed. St Theodore of Stoudios.

7:00 – Liturgy in Edinburgh.

19 Sun. Meatfare Sunday. Last Judgement.

10:30 – Liturgy in Edinburgh.

26 Sun. Cheesefare Sunday. Forgiveness Sunday.

Beginning of the Great Lent

28 Tue. Apostle Onesimus of the Seventy.

18:30 – Great Compline, Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete in Edinburgh.

March

1 Wed. Hieromartyr Pamphilus.

7:00 – Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in Edinburgh.

2 Thu. Hieromartyr Hermogenes the Patriarch of Moscow and Wonderworker.

18:30 – Great Compline, Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete in Edinburgh.

05/01/2017

Mary was a Virgin, Jesus was born in a cave and the 3 wise men were not there. Explain to a 6 year old.

There are some things which are not written in the Bible but we still know about them. I am not a scholar but as far as I know there is no direct reference to Julius Caesar and his romance with Cleopatra. However we know of these people from historical accounts both written and oral.

I indicated in a previous post that the tradition of the church for the first few hundred years was an oral one. Some of which was included in the Gospels and other books in the New Testament. Others were recorded by some of the early church leaders like Polycarp mentioned in the letters to the Ephesians.

The Bible, these writings of the early church fathers and the oral history are collectively known as the Church tradition.

From here we learn that Joseph was an elderly man who had been chosen to protect Mary and the infant Jesus. He had been married before and had sons, Hence reference in the Bible to Jesus's brothers.

For the Church there is a clear designation of roles here. Yes Joseph was married to Mary in the Jewish church but he has not the father of Christ and Mary was and remained throughout her life a virgin.

The later Hebrew scholars starting in the 7th century used translation of born of a virgin to born of a young girl. Many modern English Bibles fall into the same trap. The original Greek will say Mary and Joseph fled into Egypt Joseph is never referred to has the father of Jesus, we are also told that because of his age he died when Jesus was a young man.

It is a different and wrong message if we look at Biblical translations which looks to translate Joseph to father of Jesus.

Bye the way the there was a lack of wood in Israel at the time so the custom was to stable your animals in a Cave or man made grotto. So Christ was born in Cave which is what the people of the time and region used as a stable. Also the 3 wise men did not appear for at least 3 years.

All of which appeared to be missed by my 6 year old sons recent Nativity play. I also suspect that the singing sheep were also not present in the original but I will allow them some poetic license.

The Russian Orthodox Church in Edinburgh

02/05/2017

28/04/2017

28/04/2017

27/04/2017

11/04/2017

11/04/2017

19/03/2017

19/03/2017

19/03/2017

17/02/2017

21/01/2017

05/01/2017

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