Eurobishop

Christmas is not the most ancient of Christian feasts. There is little evidence of 25 December as a day to celebrate Christ’s birth before the mid 4th century. According to the Revd Dr Paul Bradshaw, an eminent liturgical scholar (and the Liturgical Advisor of this diocese in Europe) the earliest reference to 25 December as the Feast of the Nativity appeared around 354 in Rome. (However in other parts of the Church such as in Egypt, 6 January was observed from the late 2nd century as both the commemoration of the birth of Jesus as well as his baptism. The latter continues to be a theme of the 6 January feast of the Epiphany). Why the slow start to dedicate a feast to the birth of Jesus? The hesitancy might stem from the Church’s theological debate with the Arians about the relationship of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. “Were they equal or not?” was the question. The Arians would be in favour of marking the Son’s beginning or birth in time as they were unsure about the equa

As the Christmas feast approaches the "Tufton Street team" (the staff of the diocesan office and my own office) took a moment away from their labours on Wednesday to enjoy the traditional "Secret Santa" exchange, and to munch through a mince pie or two. The (demob?) happy gathering is pictured above. Left to right: Yours truly, Adrian Mumford, Deacon Frances Hiller, Sylvia Brantingham, Nick Wraight, Jeanne French and Bron Panter. What a splendid and jolly group of colleagues (and jolly hard-working too). This year my Secret Santa gave me with an essential piece of kit for an ecumenical bishop: a Benedictaphone! According to the packet, this "pocket pontiff" voice recorder keyring will help me remember things and add a little inspiration to every day. Earlier in the week, the Worth team from Bishop Geoffrey's office joined the London based team for our annual Christmas lunch. With the usual attention to detail, the party hats in the crackers were c

This Sunday  26 December BBC Radio 4 will broadcast a special service from St Clement's, our Diocese in Europe church in Prague. The Revd Ricky Yates will lead the service which will reflect on the lives and deaths of two saints: St Stephen, whose feast it is on Sunday, and St Wenceslas, the tenth century Duke of Bohemia. St Wenceslas later became known as St Vaclav and is the patron saint of the Czech Republic. The idea springs from the old Christmas carol, "Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen". St Clement's is not far from Wenceslas Square itself. Fr Ricky will be joined in leading the service by the Revd Petra Elsmore, another priest of the Church of England, now based in Liverpool. Petra is Czech by birth and was an ordinand from St Clement's several years ago. Ricky and Petra are pictured below. The service will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 26 December at 08.10 GMT (that is 09.10 Central European Time). For more information

Image via CrunchBase Those who know me, know that I am a bit of a gadget lover so I was pleased to discover (as will other iPhone users in the diocese) that the Church of England has developed a new "app" in partnership with the Diocese of Guildford. It enables individual dioceses to put their news into the hands of iPhone and iPad users, and gives access to resources such as an online version of Common Worship: Daily Prayer . The Diocese in Europe is not yet one of the participating dioceses, but I hope that we might in the future. The app can be downloaded here .

St Vincent's Algarve has added a fourth regular congregation to the existing three at Luz, Almancil and Gorjões .  The newest congregation is on the eastern edge of the parish, about 40 km from the Spanish border where the RC Bishop of the Algarve has given permission for the Church of England to use the Chapel of Our Lady of Carmel just outside the town of Tavira.  St Vincent's is served by two full-time priests, the Revd Haynes Hubbard and the Revd Bob Bates. There are two readers in the parish, Mrs Fiona Mayes and Mr Eckart Floether. On the 3rd Sunday in Advent, among the celebrations in St Vincent's was a service of Confirmation at Luz (pictured above), at which two of Fr Haynes own children, Sebastian and Gabriella were among the confirmands. St Vincent's website is here .

Nativity plays are not uncommon in our churches this time of year. Christ Church in Lille, however, staged a unique presentation of the Nativity story on Saturday 4 December. David Bolton, one of the young adults in the parish, was the author and director of a production which included donkeys as narrators, a cast drawn from every age group in the parish, and some "non-traditional" characters, such as a pizza delivery man, who was one of the visitors to the Virgin Mary, in addition to the Archangel Gabriel! It was great fun, faithful to the ancient story, while filled with contemporary references.  Christ Church Lille, whose priest is the Revd Canon Debbie Flach, is a lively international congregation, which offers worship and programmes reaching a wide range of people, including children, young professionals and the large international student population of the city. There is probably not a single continent unrepresented in the membership of Christ Church. In my recent

The town of Pau in the Pyrenees once had three Anglican Churches: Christ Church (sold to the French Reformed), Holy Trinity (now a cinema) and the beautiful St Andrew's (above), which continues to be a thriving parish, under the leadership of its priest the Revd Ian Naylor. The building is a fine example of the architecture promoted by the Cambridge Camden Society, a consciously medieval design, which was thought by the leaders of the Oxford movement to be the most dignified style for the Church's worship. The Church is adorned with some beautiful ironwork, wood carvings, sanctuary paintings and a splendid reredos. But the parish is more than its beautiful building. The community, once largely British, is now very international. Some are retired and live in Pau or the surrounding region. Some are living and working in Pau, including a large number of families from Nigeria, who are employed by the oil company, Total. The Sunday eucharist is the centre of the Church's lif

Abbot of Penteli, Archimandrite Ignatios from the Greek Church Office at the EU, and Archbishop Rowan From 25 to 28 November the Archbishop of Canterbury paid a pastoral and fraternal visit to the (Greek Orthodox) Archdiocese of Athens, at the invitation of His Beatitude Ieronymos, the Archbishop of Greece and All Greece. The visit was to strengthen the already profound friendship between the Church of England and the Church of Greece and to learn more about the witness and outreach programmes of the archdiocese. There is already a recognition of many common pastoral issues that the two Churches are facing. During his visit Archbishop Rowan spoke of the dedication of the Church to those in need, especially the poor, "In times of economic crisis and poverty our common witness is becoming increasingly important". The Revd Canon Malcolm Bradshaw, Senior Chaplain of the Greater Athens Chaplaincy, is also the Archbishop of Canterbury's Apokrisiarios, or representative to

Ticino is the Italian speaking Canton in the Swiss Federation and in the city of Lugano can be found a thriving Church of the diocese, St Edward the Confessor. The parish priest is the Revd Andy Horlock. The Reader, Mr Bob Gebhardt, is also one of the Churchwardens. Six young people were confirmed on Sunday 31 October, from left to right: Alessandro, Fiona, Camilla, Gabriela, Philip and Edo. A festive lunch followed which included the largest cake I have encountered in a while! Anglican worship has been held in Lugano for over a century. The Church itself was consecrated in 1902. Among the features in the interior is a 12th century Venetian holy water stoup which is now the baptismal font. Worshippers on Sunday 31 October were delighted to find new seating when they arrived, a generous gift from a member of the parish. Click here for the website of the Church of St Edward the Confessor, Lugano

Clergy and people of this Diocese in Europe will already be aware that this year's Advent Appeal is to raise funds for two projects, one within the diocese, and one outside. In the Diocese Young members of the White Nile Community at Deanery Synod The White Nile congregations in Oulu, Vaasa and Kokkola are made up of refugees from the Sudan who have been given asylum in Finland under UN auspices. They are now looking for the day when peace and stability returns to their homeland in Southern Sudan. The future of their country will be strengthened by educated Sudanese, now in exile, who hope to return to help rebuild their homeland. For this, a younger generation with English language skills will be vital. The young members of the White Nile congregations speak various Sudanese languages at home, use Arabic in worship, and, of course, are learning Finnish (and sometimes Swedish as well) in school! Funds from the Advent Appeal will support a project to enable them to improve thei