CHRISTOPSOMO

by | Dec 28, 2017 | Feasts & Fasting Recipies

Ingredients

15g/1/2 oz fresh yeast OR 2 teaspoons dried yeast
180ml/ 6 fl oz/ 3/4 cup lukewarm milk
450g/ 1-lb / 4 cups white bread flour
2 eggs
75g / 3 oz / 6 tbspn caster sugar
2.5 ml / 1/2 tspn salt
75g / 3oz / 6 tbspn butter, softened

grated rind of 1/2 an orange
5ml / 1 tspn ground cinnamon
1.5ml / 1/4 tsp ground cloves

pinch of ground aniseed
8 walnut halves

1 egg white, beaten, for glazing

You can replace the ground aniseed with 1 teaspoon of ouzo.

Method

In a large Mixing Bowl add the yeast and the milk and stir until the yeast has dissolved.

Stir in just 115g/ 4oz / 1 cup of the flour.

Using a wooden spoon, stir to make a thin batter.

Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add this to the yeast mixture and beat in.

Gradually add the rest of the flour and salt and beat in.

Beat in the softened butter, then knead until it becomes a soft, but not sticky dough.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Put the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and place in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size (about an hour).

Place on a floured surface and knead a few times to knock back.

Cut off a small piece of dough – enough to create 2 ropes for decoration.

Cover and set aside.

Stretch the dough out into an oblong shape and sprinkle the orange rind, ground cinnamon and cloves over the dough.

Bring the sides up and over to cover the flavourings, then gently knead the dough until the orange and spices are evenly blended through the dough.

Shape the dough into a round bread shape.

Lightly grease a Baking Sheet and place the bread on it.

Take the spare dough you cut off earlier and knead the aniseed into it.

Cut this dough in half and shape into 2 long ropes.

Make a cut in the ends of the rope lengthways about 2-3 inches/ 7 cm.

Make a cross on top of the bread with the ropes.

Curl each split end into a circle, in opposite directions.

Place a walnut half into the middle of these circles.

Cover the dough with lightly oiled cling film and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 190 oC, 375 oF, Gas 5.

Using a Pastry Brush, glaze the dough with the beaten egg white.

Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until golden.

Place the baked Christmas bread on a wire Cooling Rack to cool completely.

 

The feast of St Nicholas, Cardiff.

by | Dec 6, 2017 | Events

 

Veneration of the relics of St Nicholas.

Father Tim and a small contingent of the Lampeter community were honoured to celebrate vespers and the commencement of the feast of St Nicholas with our friends in Cardiff last night.  Father Luke and others from Llanelli will join them for further celebrations and the Divine Liturgy this evening, see here for further details.

A vespers service will take place in Lampeter this evening at 6.15.  See you there.  Happy feast day Nick!

St Nicholas the Wonderworker, pray for us!

 

Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos 21.11.17

by | Nov 17, 2017 | Events

09.00hrs

Lampeter Orthodox Church

Image result for icon of the presentation

 

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (10:38-42; 11:27-28)

At that time, Jesus entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to Him and said, “Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” As He said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breasts that Thou didst suck!” But He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

 

MEGALYNARION

The Angels beholding the entrance of the all-pure one were overtaken by surprise; how hath the Virgin entered into the Holy of Holies?

Since thou art a living temple of God, O Theotokos, no impure hand shall touch thee. But the lips of believers, let them ceaselessly laud thee, crying unto thee joyfully with the voice of the angels: Verily, O undefiled Virgin, thou art more exalted than all creatures.

From the lives of Saint Abramius and of his niece St Mary

by | Nov 1, 2017 | Poetry

Icon of SS Abramius and Mary, with St Anastasia the Roman, third century martyr also celebrated on 29th October.

My poem is a rather free improvisation on the story. In the Life by St Dmitri of Rostov (it can be consulted here), Mary flees out of an awareness of sinfulness after she has been seduced by a false monk-disciple of her uncle.

The soul, being enormous, cannot fit
this narrow way, even knowing
or at least believing,
or at least thinking
that only beyond or through it
will it find
a space
that is more or less adequate.

I threw myself against the wall,
against a door that is
wide open but
I thought it was too small.

And so I left the little cell
where God walked with my uncle in the cool
of the evening and ran away
to preserve my soul to the ‘big city’
where I walked the streets and was taken
in the arms of this one. And that one.

This enormous soul, still
thrown against the wall.

And my uncle, he
was always with me, weeping,
even a hundred miles away,

because he was in God, knowingly,
and I was in God just because
everything is in God, and that is why
those whose eyes are opened, who see
in God, see everything, and weep
unceasingly.

So my uncle came, looking for me,
presenting himself at the brothel door,
making himself small
and insignificant,
just another
client.

We conversed
that night and our conversation turned
on the enormous pit
that is the longing of the soul and on what
properly corresponds to it.

And so I returned to my uncle’s cell
and I felt like a child that is growing smaller,
a child who is
returning to childhood, to a world
growing ever bigger, an
expanding Universe, Heaven,
seen through a narrow door
a door that the soul can only enter
when it has become
sufficiently
small.

Bewnans Ke: A Cornish Play on the LIfe of St Ke and Arthur

by | Oct 10, 2017 | Events

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/196852

Wed 6 Dec 2017, 1:15PM

To coincide with the 2017 Year of Legends and our current Arthur and Welsh Mythology  exhibition, a presentation about a Medieval Cornish manuscript.

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / The National Library of Wales
Aberystwyth

***Event held in English***

***Free admission by ticket***

I fynd law yn llaw â Blwyddyn Chwedlau 2017 a’n harddangosfa gyfredol ar Arthur a Chwedloniaeth Cymru, cyflwyniad am lawysgrif Ganoloesol Gernyweg.

***Cyflwyniad trwy gyfrwng y Saesneg***

***Mynediad am ddim trwy docyn***

Troparion of St Kea
Tone 1
Thou wast unsparing in thy missionary labours
in Brittany and Cornwall, O Hierarch Kea.
As thou didst make the flame of the orthodox Faith burn brightly in the face of defiant paganism,
pray to God for us,
that we devote our lives to confronting the paganism of our times
for the glory of Christ’s Kingdom and the salvation of men’s souls