Ricky Yates

St. Clement's Church spire from Letna © Ricky Yates

From time-to-time I get emails, or comments here on my blog, each of which make wholly inaccurate assumptions about the Prague Anglican congregation that I serve as Chaplain. So this post is intended to explode a few myths and instead, try to paint a more accurate picture.

We are the Brits abroad – Wrong!

Many people are surprised to discover that only about a third of our regular congregation are citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give my home country its correct full name. The other two-thirds come from a variety of English-speaking nations from around the world. Or, they are second or even third language English-speakers, happy to worship using the medium of English. Every Sunday, you can almost guarantee that there will be double-figure nationalities making up the congregation.

We are funded by the UK government – Wrong!

Yes, we are part of the forty-fourth diocese of the Church of England, the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. And yes, the Church of England is the ‘Established Church’ in England, (but not in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland). But despite being ‘established’, we receive no money whatsoever from the British government to pay the clergy or meet running costs. Contrary to popular opinion, the Church of England is NOT the spiritual arm of the Department of Social Security, nor here in the Czech Republic, the spiritual arm of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office!

We are a bunch of wealthy expats – Wrong!

Many people assume that my congregation consists of wealthy business people and/or diplomats. It doesn’t! Back in the 1990s, and even in the very early years of the new millennium, there were English-speaking expats living in Prague, who were here to set up and run the newly established Czech branch of major international companies. And several of these did worship at St. Clement’s and were generous financial supporters. But now, these jobs are held by well educated Czechs who will be able to speak English, but will not be looking for an English-speaking Church in which to worship.

Instead, the congregation currently consists of teachers of English, teachers in the various International Schools, students (numerous University courses here are taught through the medium of English), the English-speaking half of a Czech-English-speaker marriage, etc. Very few congregational members come anywhere near the category of ‘wealthy’.

We are all Anglicans – Wrong!

A survey undertaken a couple of years ago, revealed that only about half of the congregation are Anglican/Episcopalian by background. All the rest come from a wide variety of other Christian traditions. Fortunately, the Church of England allows those members of other Christian Churches who ‘habitually worship’ with us for at least six months, to join the Church Electoral Roll and fully participate in our congregational life. We use Anglican liturgy in our worship, we follow the laws of the Church of England which govern the way our congregation is administered, but we are far from all being Anglicans.

Amusing assumptions

A couple of assumptions that I’ve read or heard could probably best be described as ‘delusions of grandeur’ and each brought a smile to my face. One was a Czech lady, a member of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, who thought I was the Anglican Bishop of this country!

The other was a female Canadian lawyer who worshipped with us whilst visiting Prague at Easter, two years ago. A couple of weeks later, I received a letter from her, saying how much she had appreciated the service and enclosing 300 Kc in cash. Her request was that I ‘ask my assistant to send her a couple of postcards of the Church as she had forgotten to purchase them when she was there’. I did smile at the assumption that I have a full-time paid assistant!

Consequences and complications

Having a congregation with such a mix of nationalities and Christian traditions is a great joy. But it also raises a number of interesting issues, especially in two important aspects of our worship – liturgy and the hymns we sing.

The liturgy of the Church of England in various places asks us to pray for ‘Elizabeth our Queen’ and on occasions, for ‘the High Court of Parliament’.  For many in the Prague congregation, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is not their Queen! Fortunately, by producing our own Orders of Service, we can omit the inappropriate words. The formula those who lead intercessions often use is to pray for ‘….the President and government of the Czech Republic and for the leaders of all the nations represented here today’.

I had long been aware that in England, Anglicans and Free Church people often sing the same hymn but to different tunes. For example, Charles Wesley’s great hymn ‘Love divine, all loves excelling’, used normally to be sung by Anglicans to John Stainer’s tune called ‘Love divine’, whilst Methodists and others would sing it to the Welsh tune ‘Blaenwern’. In more recent times, many Anglicans have taken to using ’Blaenwern’ thus lessening the issue.

But what I have discovered since being in Prague, is what might best be described as the ‘transatlantic divide’. Americans and Brits know many of the same hymns but sing them to totally different tunes! We use a British Hymnal with a very wide range of hymns and more modern worship songs. But they frequently are not set to the tunes that Americans are familiar with.

One further practical problem also arises. What other important days beyond those of the Christian calendar, do you celebrate? For British and Irish people, last Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, was Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day. But for Americans, Australians and many other nationalities, Mother’s Day, (or specifically for Americans, ‘Mom’s Day’), is the second Sunday in May.

Life might be simpler if the Prague Anglican congregation who I have privilege to minister to, would be monochrome. But I’m glad it isn’t, as it is much more fun to work and worship with such a diverse and fascinating group of people, even allowing for all the issues that arise.

Members of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod outside the Church of the Resurrection, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

Once a year, the clergy of the Anglican Chaplaincies scattered across Central & Eastern Europe, together with elected lay representatives of their congregations, meet together as the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod. This year’s synod meeting took place in Bucharest, Romania, between Thursday 22^nd – Sunday 25^th September.

In previous years, along with Sybille, I’ve driven by car to attend these annual synodical meetings – in 2009 to Izmir in Turkey and in 2010, a somewhat shorter journey to Vienna. This year, a combination of Sybille choosing not to stand for re-election as a lay representative, together with Sam the dog still getting used to long car journeys, we decided that I would attend the synod meeting alone and fly to get there.

Malev Hungarian Airlines plane at Budapest Airport © Ricky Yates

When I finally got around to booking my flights, I discovered that the cheapest way to get from Prague to Bucharest was to fly by Malev Hungarian Airlines, initially from Prague to Budapest and then by a second flight, from Budapest to Bucharest. Unfortunately, the outward journey did involve sitting in Budapest Airport for in excess of four and a half hours whilst waiting for the onward flight to Bucharest. Fortunately, the return flight involved a far shorter wait in Budapest which nearly turned out to be too short, after the departure of the Bucharest- Budapest flight was delayed by over forty-five minutes!

One of the Churches within the Cernica Monastery complex undergoing major restoration work © Ricky Yates

The synod met in a conference centre which is part of the Romanian Orthodox Cernica Monastery, located about 20 kilometres east of the centre of Bucharest. The whole complex is situated on an island in the middle of a lake with access via a causeway. The conference centre is a fairly new development and we were certainly the first Anglicans ever to use the facilities and also the largest group for which they had ever catered.

Accommodation block at the Cernica Monastery Conference Centre © Ricky Yates

With daytime temperatures in the high twenties Celsius, though much cooler at night, we ate all our meals on a verandah overlooking the surrounding lake. The only disadvantages of this arrangement were an abundance of mosquitoes from the lake and many wasps who were particularly attracted by the jam served at breakfast time!

Dining on the verandah © Ricky Yates

The view across the lake © Ricky Yates

The two major items of synod business were consideration of the two issues under current debate in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion. The first is the proposed Anglican Covenant which seeks to make explicit what has previously been implicit as to what unites the 44 member Churches of the Anglican Communion. The second is the proposal to allow for female bishops within the Church of England and what provision should be made for those who cannot accept the idea.

Dr Walter Moberly led three excellent Bible Studies on the theme of preaching from the Old Testament. The Diocesan Secretary Adrian Mumford, gave a presentation on how the Diocese in Europe works; Canon Malcolm Bradshaw the Senior Chaplain in Athens introduced us to various resources for worship in small congregations; whilst Rev’d Jady Koch, the curate of Christ Church, Vienna, spoke about all the possibilities that are available in the area of digital communication. In his talk, Jady very kindly singled out Sybille and myself, expressing his admiration for all that we do via our Church website, this blog and our use of Facebook and Twitter. Hint, you can follow us on both

As always, the reports from each of the Chaplaincies reminded me that many of my colleagues face far more difficult situations than I do here in Prague. Most notably, the Russian government is making life very difficult for the Moscow and St. Petersburg congregations. Likewise, the increasing Islamist tendencies of the Turkish government are not helping the cause of our congregations in Ankara, Izmir and Istanbul.

The charismatic auctioneer, Canon Simon Stephens © Ricky Yates

Going once, going twice..... © Ricky Yates

Whilst the synod does mean spending time in worship, learning together and discussing Church business, it does also provide for times of fellowship and fun together. One regular feature of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod is an auction. Synod participants are asked to bring an item from their respective countries with a value of no more than 50 Euros. These are then auctioned to the highest bidder with the funds raised going to the Archdeacon’s discretionary fund. Over a few glasses of wine, this event is always most enjoyable, especially with Canon Simon Stephens, the Chaplain of St. Andrew’s, Moscow, as the auctioneer. Mainly due to his persuasive efforts, this year the sum of 1413 Euros was raised.

Archdeacon Patrick in conversation with Bishop Geoffrey. But what are they saying to each other? © Ricky Yates

As so often with gatherings such as these, conversations over coffee or at meal times with other synod members are most valuable and helpful. The photo here is of our Archdeacon Patrick Curran, deep in conversation with our Anglican Diocesan Bishop Geoffrey Rowell. However, I am very tempted to print out this picture and take it to next year’s synod meeting, pin it on a noticeboard and ask for suggestions as to what the Bishop is saying to the Archdeacon &/or vice versa. If anyone wants to participate in this caption competition now, contributions are most welcome by leaving a comment here.

The Anglican Church of the Resurrection, Bucharest © Ricky Yates

The synod concluded with all the participants joining the congregation of the Anglican Church of the Resurrection, Bucharest, for their regular Sunday Eucharist at which Bishop Geoffrey was the celebrant and preacher. During the service, David, a member of the small Anglican congregation in Skopje, Macedonia, was confirmed.

After post-eucharistic coffee and tea, we adjourned for lunch in Chez Marie, the restaurant across the road from the Church which seems to gain good business from the Bucharest Anglican congregation. After lunch, some participants headed for the airport and their return flights. However, many including myself, stayed on for a bus tour and exploration of the city of Bucharest about which I shall write in my next blog post.

Christ Church, Vienna © Ricky Yates

On Thursday 16^th September, only a week after our previous trip, we once more drove the length of the Prague – Brno motorway. This time we then headed further south over the border into Austria and travelled onwards to Vienna in order to attend the annual meeting of our Eastern Archdeaconry Synod.

As I’ve blogged previously, St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church, Prague is part of the Church of England’s forty fourth diocese, the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. As with the other 43 dioceses that make up the Church of England, the Diocese in Europe is divided into Archdeaconries – in our case, into seven Archdeaconries. Even the smallest of these, the Archdeaconry of Switzerland, covers the whole of one country. And Prague belongs to the largest of the seven, the Eastern Archdeaconry, which consists of everything eastwards from Poland, Czech Republic and Austria, including all of the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and all the former Soviet Union except for the Baltic States.

Once a year, each Archdeaconry has an Archdeaconry Synod where the clergy, together with elected lay representatives, meet to discuss and report on issues facing our scattered congregations, to pray and to study, as well as to make decisions regarding the common life of our chaplaincies. Because of the distances involved, the synod meetings have to be residentiary. However, unlike in 2009 when the synod meeting took place in Izmir, Turkey, this time it was hosted by Christ Church, Vienna, meaning the car journey to get there took half a day rather than three & a half days!

The synod meeting took place in Pallottihaus, a Roman Catholic retreat house situated in the Vienna suburbs. It was an ideal venue with its own Chapel for worship, an excellent meeting room for listening to speakers and the discussion of synod business, as well as comfortable double and single rooms for overnight accommodation.

The major item for discussion was a plan, approved in principle by the Diocesan Synod earlier in the year, for the creation of four so-called ‘freestanding Archdeacons’ to provide better pastoral care and support for the clergy and Chaplaincies of our far flung diocese. The seven current Archdeacons have the almost impossible task of both being Archdeacon and being the Chaplain of a large Chaplaincy. My Archdeacon Patrick Curran is both Chaplain of Christ Church, Vienna as well as Archdeacon of the East.

The major issue regarding the scheme is, not surprisingly, one of cost. There is hope of some central funding coming from England and also the possibility of a private donor helping with accommodation. But inevitably, part of the funding will have to come from increased contributions from individual Chaplaincies. The Archdeaconry Synod gave its backing to the plan recognising the need for it and accepting the inevitable additional costs that will ensue.

On the morning of Sunday 19^th September, the synod concluded with a Eucharist at Christ Church, in the centre of Vienna. The synod members joined the regular Vienna congregation and Archdeacon Patrick was the celebrant and preacher.

The Christ Church building itself is a typical product of nineteenth century British diplomacy and politics. It is situated directly opposite the British Embassy and even has a memorial on an inside wall commemorating the reign of Queen Victoria! However, like nearly all the Chaplaincies in our diocese, the Christ Church congregation has long since ceased to be solely ‘the Brits abroad’. As with St. Clement’s, Prague, there were a large variety of nationalities represented within the packed congregation including many black Africans.

After the service, refreshments and a sandwich lunch were served in the nearby parish centre, just around the corner from the Church. Unfortunately, I had to decline the alcoholic liquid refreshment on offer because of needing to drive back to Prague straightaway afterwards.

Next year, the Archdeaconry Synod will meet in Bucharest and as in 2009, Sybille and I will probably try and combine our attendance with two weeks of annual leave making the journey to Romania all the more worthwhile.

Bishop Geoffrey Rowell outside St. Clement's Anglican Episcopal Church, Prague © Sybille Yates

Sincere apologies to everyone who follows my blog that I haven’t posted anything for more than three weeks. It has been a very busy time with preparations for our Annual Church Meeting held on Sunday 25^th April and the following weekend having an Episcopal visit from The Rt. Rev’d Dr. Geoffrey Rowell. Although his visit gave me an extremely busy two days, the timing of it allowed him to help the newly elected Church Council begin addressing issues arising out of the Annual Meeting and helping us plot a way forward through the financial problems we are currently facing.

Such is the size of the Anglican Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe that this was the first visit Bishop Geoffrey had made to the Prague Chaplaincy since March 2005. He was meant to stay on for an Episcopal visit after attending the annual meeting between Anglican and Old Catholic Bishops which took place at Karlik, just outside Prague, at the end of January 2009 which I wrote about in an article entitled ‘Episcopal Taxi Service’, my first ever blog post. But plans changed when it was announced that the newly elected Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church was to be enthroned in Moscow on Sunday 1^st February 2009 and Bishop Geoffrey had instead to be in attendance there, representing the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Volcanic ash having finally cleared, Bishop Geoffrey flew into Prague from London Gatwick, late on the evening of Friday 30^th April. I met him at the airport and drove him to the Chaplaincy Flat where he stayed in our guest bedroom for two nights. Oscar immediately made friends with him but was a little put out at being banished from a room that he regards as his bedroom!

On Saturday morning, we had a long talk updating Bishop Geoffrey about the various issues facing the Chaplaincy which would be the main subjects for discussion at the first meeting of the newly elected Church Council later that afternoon. Then the Churchwardens took him out for lunch for their own private conversations with him, before bringing him on to the Council meeting. In the evening, we took him for a short walking tour of the Old Town before he treated us to supper at Krcma, one of our favourite eating places that specialises in Czech cuisine.

With Bishop Geoffrey outside St. Clement's Anglican Episcopal Church, Prague © Sybille Yates

On Sunday morning, Bishop Geoffrey was the celebrant and preacher at our Sunday Eucharist. During the service, the newly elected Churchwardens took their oaths of office. Normally each year, they do this before me and I admit them to office on behalf of the Bishop. With the Bishop being present, he was able to do it for himself! Following the service, Bishop Geoffrey met with many of the congregation at Coffee Hour in nearby Klimentská 18.

Sunday afternoon and early evening were taken up with Episcopal meetings. Whenever Bishop Geoffrey makes a Chaplaincy visit, he likes to meet the leader of the majority Church of the country where the Chaplaincy is situated which in our case is the Roman Catholic Church. Bishop Geoffrey knew Cardinal Vlk, the previous Roman Catholic Archbishop of Prague, very well. However, Cardinal Vlk was finally allowed by the Pope to retire earlier this year and has been succeeded by Archbishop Dominik Duka. Archbishop Duka is very newly in post having only been enthroned in St. Vitus Cathedral on 10^th April.

Our meeting took place in the Archbishop’s Palace which overlooks Hradcanské namestí at the western end of Prague Castle. We (Bishop Geoffrey, Churchwarden Gerry Turner & I) were greeted warmly by Father Tomáš Roule, who was secretary to Cardinal Vlk and has retained that role with Archbishop Duka. Fortunately, he trained for the priesthood in Ireland and therefore has good English. It was through my contacts with Father Tomáš that I had been able to organise this meeting.

Archbishop Duka also greeted us very warmly telling Bishop Geoffrey how pleased he was to welcome his first ecumenical guest! There discussions ranged over a wide range of issues including the forthcoming visit by Pope Benedict to the UK. Although Gerry was there to translate, we soon discovered that Archbishop Duka could speak quite good English which he insisted on using and only occasionally turned to Gerry for help with some more difficult phrases. My only regret is that I accidentally left my camera in the car and therefore did not get a photographic record of the meeting.

Episcopal meeting in Restaurace Století. From l to r; Bishop Geoffrey, Gerry Turner, Bishop Dušan, Petr Jan Vinš © Ricky Yates

In the early evening, our second Episcopal meeting took place, this time with Bishop Dušan of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic under whose joint jurisdiction, along with that of Bishop Geoffrey, I come. This was a very convivial affair over a meal in Restaurace Století which is opposite the Rotunda of the Holy Cross where Bishop Dušan had just conducted a Sunday Evening Eucharist. As well as Gerry, we were also joined by Rev’d Petr Jan Vinš and between them, they translated from English to Czech and Czech to English as neither Bishop speaks the other’s native tongue! This time I did remember my camera.

Finally, it was back to the airport so that Bishop Geoffrey could catch his return flight to London Gatwick. The end of a very busy, exhausting but worthwhile weekend.

The seafront Izmir, Turkey © Ricky Yates

The 2009 meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod of the Diocese in Europe took place in the Kaya Prestige Hotel, Izmir, between 17.00 on Thursday 8^th October until mid-afternoon on Saturday 10^th October. We met in a large conference room on the second floor of the hotel and were able to set up the furniture so that one part was suitable for worship whilst the other could be used for listening to our speakers and for round-table discussion. However, like so many hotel conference rooms, there were no windows through which daylight might appear so it was good to be able to get out and walk around the city on the Friday afternoon during a two-hour break in proceedings.

In our Eucharist on Friday morning, we remembered Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna who was martyred for his faith c155 AD, not so far from where we were meeting – Smyrna being the ancient name for what is now known as Izmir. We were reminded that Polycarp, when asked to forswear his faith and curse Christ famously declared, “I have served him for eighty-six years and he has done me no wrong; how can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour.” He was burned alive!

Our main speaker was Dr Colin Podmore, a Church Historian who has worked for the General Synod of the Church of England in various capacities since 1998. He gave three talks entitled ‘Aspects of Anglican Identity’. Not surprisingly, he has also written a book of the same title! Whilst one might not agree with everything he had to say on the topic, he certainly was a lucid a thought provoking speaker to listen to.

We also heard from David Healey, Communications Manager and General Manager of the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS), an Anglican mission society who support Christian work among English-speakers in countries where English is not the first language. ICS financially enabled the appointment in 2000, of John Philpott my predecessor as Prague Chaplain, and currently continue to meet about 10% of the Chaplaincy’s running costs as well of supporting us 100% prayerfully. Within the Eastern Archdeaconry, they also support the work of the Chaplaincies in Corfu and Kiev.

As well as speaking about the work of ICS, David also gave an illustrated talk about the impact of consumer culture upon belief and unbelief from a mission perspective. This was a revised version of a talk I’d heard him give last April at the ICS Chaplains and Families Conference. Part of his theme is one I have referred to more than once in this blog – that as Jesus said, “Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” Luke 12 v15b.

A very important part of synod proceedings are the reports from each of the Chaplaincies. Many have financial struggles; those in St. Petersburg and Moscow have ever increasing difficulties regarding visas for chaplains and congregational members alike. Others have problems regarding their legal and tax status.

But there were also many positive things in several reports, particularly in the area of ecumenical cooperation. There are also possibilities of new Chaplaincies being established, notably in areas where increasing numbers of English-speakers are settling. One of these is on the west coast of Turkey. Members an expat group of Christians based at Didim attended the synod in an observer capacity and there is another similar group based around Bodrum. I understand that both these groups would like come under the ‘Anglican umbrella’. Our Archdeacon Patrick Curran, together with our Suffragan Bishop David Hamid, were staying on in Turkey after the synod, for a meeting with these groups to explore possibilities.

Although the synod had its serious moments, it was also a time for fellowship and fun. For the clergy, who in England would normally meet up with their near neighbours about once a month for a chapter meeting, it is rare opportunity to get together and mutually support one another. All of us in the Eastern Archdeaconry work in quite isolated situations. Geographically, my nearest colleague is my Archdeacon Patrick Curran who as well as being Archdeacon, is also Chaplain in Vienna. Vienna is about four hours from Prague either by car or train!

One of the slightly unnerving aspects of our meeting was security presence that surrounded us most of the time. There were always police in and around the hotel and often a private security man was hovering outside our meeting room. When on Saturday afternoon at the end of synod business, we set off to walk as a group to St. John’s Church, led by the Izmir Chaplain, Rev’d Ron Evans, we were followed by several police officers.

So far as one could ascertain, all this was organised by the hotel. There have in recent years been terrorist attacks in a number of tourist areas in Turkey which have usually been attributed to either the Kurdish PKK or Islamic extremists. The Turkish government is very keen to maintain and increase the number of tourists visiting the country as tourism makes a major contribution to the economy. Therefore they clearly want to deter and prevent anything that might damage the image of the country abroad. Later in our Turkish travels, we visited various tourist sites and an armed police presence was always very visible.

Ordination at Izmir © Ricky Yates; From left to right, Canon Malcolm Bradshaw, Bishop David Hamid, Rev'd Tony Lane, Mrs Suzanne Lane, Christine Saccali. Reader in the Greater Athens Chaplaincy.

The final part of the synod meeting was our Sunday morning Eucharist, held in the Church of St. John the Evangelist, at which Bishop David presided. During the service, he ordained Tony Lane deacon, to serve the congregation of the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, Kefalas, Crete. This congregation, which is now about 50 strong, was started by Tony a few years ago as half a dozen people meeting around his kitchen table. Since then he has personally built the chapel where the congregation now meet which was dedicated by Bishop Geoffrey in 2008.

Due to previous theological study, Tony was already a licensed Reader and this past year, he has undergone further training and been mentored by Canon Mike Peters, a recently retired priest from Somerset, who has spent the last six months in Crete, leading the congregation. Canon Mike was the preacher at the ordination service. The Crete congregation come under the umbrella of the Greater Athens Chaplaincy led by Canon Malcolm Bradshaw.

The Eucharist and Ordination Service were a wonderful way to conclude our synod meeting. It was followed by refreshments laid on by the Izmir congregation which we were able to enjoy in warm sunshine in the grounds of St. John’s Church.