Boulialog: The view from the choir continues

More installments from Elizabeth Ledkovsky. All of the following detail the events of May 17th:

Part 7: Warming up

Part 8: Peace be unto thee

Part 9: History

Part 10: On Being Overwhelmed

Fr. Elia Wen, Memory Eternal

From Orthodox.cn, slightly modified.

Protopresbyter Elias ( Wén Zǐzhèng in Chinese) was a priest under the Archbishop of Shanghai, St John the Wonderworker. He became rector of the Cathedral there in 1946 but have fled to Hong Kong when the Communists took power in 1949.

Fr Elias was the oldest living Orthodox priest, who turned 110 on November 19th, 2006. He had been living in San Francisco with his son Michael, an active member of the parish council at the Holy Virgin Cathedral on Geary Blvd.

Memory eternal for the servant of God Protopresbyter Elias Wen who has fallen asleep in the Lord shortly before 3PM PDT on Saturday, June 9, 2007 at age of 110 years old. The first panikhida will be held Sunday night.

A Few New Photos

Here are some additional photos that have been e-mailed to me:

Here is a photo of me greeting a priest at the St. Sergius Trinity-Lavra, when we first got off the bus.

Here is a photo of when we were holding the top of the holy Table at Butovo.

Here, we were raising it to be blessed by the Patriarch on both sides.

A photo, as we put the table top into place.

And one more.

Moscow Trip: A View From the Choir

Elizabeth Ledkovsky has started a blog to post her reflections on the trip. So far, you can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, and part 6 here.

Interfax: Some English saints may be included in Russian church calendar

St. Alfred the Great of England



Some English saints may be included in Russian church calendar

London, June 6, Interfax - The need to include the names of some early Christian English saints in the Russian Orthodox church calendar was voiced during a conference at Diocese of Sourozh, Archpriest Mikhail Dudko of the Russian Cathedral of the Dormition in London, has told Interfax.

Rev. Andrew Phillips, an expert in hagiography well known in the Orthodox England and rector of the church of St. John of Shanghai, noted in his remarks that Great Britain was not normally seen as 'a country of sainthood', while it was the native land for over 300 glorified enlighteners, martyrs and ascetics who dedicated their lives to God and the Church.

Father Andrew reminded the conference of the forgotten pages of history which link Russia and England and of the fact that Yury Dolgoruky, the founder of Moscow, was half English and his mother was a daughter of an English king.

The priest also recalled the English roots of the Holy Protomartyr Elizabeth Fyodorovna, a granddaughter Queen Victoria. Sts. Martha and Mary's Convent founded by Princess Elizabeth could in due course become an English church representation in Moscow.

Bishop Yelisey of Bogorodsk, in his turn, reported that the Diocese of Sourozh had already initiated the inclusion of nine English saints in the Russian Orthodox church calendar and that they can be included in the lists of saints for church-wide veneration in the nearest future.