A great weekend is imminent! On Saturday (May 20), a copy of the IKON OF OUR LADY OF VLADIMIR will be installed in the Ordinariate Church in London, Our Lady of the Assumption in Warwick Street. At 10.30, there will be a talk about Bishop Ceslau Sipovic, of the Belorussian Greek Catholic Church. Then, at 11.00, an Akathist will be celebrated.
The ikon has been commissioned by the Society of S John Chrysostom, a Catholic Society devoted to Eastern Catholicism and to Orthodoxy; and to fostering good relations between the Two Lungs of the Catholic Church. After the Akathist, which will have been celebrated standing up because that is what "Akathist" means, there will be refreshments and wine.
I plan, Deo volente, to write more about our Lady of Vladimir tomorrow; meanwhile, I invite readers to chase her up on Wikipedia. Don't fail to admire the ingenuity with which the (original) ikon in Moskow is kept both in a Museum and simultaneously in a church!!
Our Ordinariate prehistory, in the 'Papalist' Anglican tradition, is marked by a strong affection for Byzantine Christianity. Fr Fynes Clinton loved Eastern Orthodoxy: he advocated the return of Hagia Sophia to the Patriarchate of Constantinople! He and others gave sanctuary and help to Russian refugees from the 'Revolution'; the College in which I taught welcomed exiled members of a Russian princely family, who were generous in their gifts to the Chapel.
And Sunday is one of the three festivals of our Lady of Vladimir!
Blessed Mother, mercifully pray for us all!
Will this be a ghostly appearance? I was under the impression that Bishop Ceslaus Sipovich died in 1981.
ReplyDeleteI'm very impressed to hear that the Ordinariate is able to have such an eminent visitor and speaker - his diary must have become lighter in the 42 years since his death.
ReplyDeleteDear Father,
ReplyDeleteSomebody has misinformed you.
Bishop Sipovic died on 4th October 1981.
Are you sure this event is taking place, or has someone tricked you?
The good Bishop died in 1981. Will this be a ghostly appearance?
ReplyDelete