For a number of reasons, I took my day-off this week today, rather than yesterday. Taking advantage of some wonderful Indian summer weather, Sybille and I drove just over one hundred kilometres south-east of Prague and explored the interesting historic town of Pelhrimov. A much longer and more detailed post about the town will follow shortly. But tonight, I just wanted to post about one fascinating discovery that we made today, whilst exploring this delightful town.
At one corner of Masarykovo námestí, the main square in the centre of Pelhrimov, is the Church of St Bartholomew – kostel sv Bartolomej. The Church dates from the late thirteenth/early fourteenth century and much of its exterior walls are decorated with sgraffiti as can be seen in this photograph. But in the small curved alcoves on the outside of the chancel walls, we found the remains of several frescos. I have no idea either as to their origin or of their age, but my educated guess is that they are probably several centuries old.
This first one is a depiction of the presentation of Christ in the Temple, as described in Luke 2. 22-40. At the top of the fresco is Simeon, holding the infant Jesus. Next to Jesus is his mother Mary, in blue. Next to her, is the prophetess Anna, whilst at the bottom left is Joseph.
This second fresco is of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion. Jesus is shown praying to his Father saying, ‘Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ Mark 14. 36. The artist portrays Jesus receiving angelic support from above.
This third fresco shows a scourged Jesus being presented to the people. The scene is often called Ecce homo, the Latin words for ‘Behold the man’, found in John 19. 5.
I am quite amazed as how this wonderful artwork has actually survived all these years, despite the physical elements of rain and snow, and nearly forty-two years of Communist rule.
I have twice previously written and posted about Pruhonice Park, a magnificent landscaped park that lies just south-east of the city of Prague. Sybille and I first visited Pruhonice Park in the summer of 2012 about which you can read and see numerous photographs here. Then in May this year, we re-visited in order to see the amazing display of flowering rhododendrons for which the park is particularly famous.
Last Monday, on my regular day-off, we made our third visit in order to see Pruhonice Park in Autumn and were not disappointed. Once more, there were remarkably few visitors and we were able to thoroughly enjoy the wonderful Autumn colours on display. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so this post will be more pictures than words.
During our visit, I took about seventy photographs and I’ve had great difficulty choosing a small number of them, with which to illustrate this post. But I hope those that follow, will give some impression of the beauty of Pruhonice Park in the Autumn.
I had not realised until I checked the park website, that it too, had suffered from the floods of early June 2013. However, as we explored the park last Monday, we saw several examples such as the one in this photograph, of trees which had been completely uprooted and fallen sideways, presumably because of floodwaters washing away the soil around their roots.
One of the things I really enjoy about this blog is when people respond to what I’ve written and leave a genuine comment. I say ‘genuine comment’ for, despite using a CAPTCHA Code, I still have to delete between twenty and fifty ‘spam comments’ each day, whilst approving and replying to the small number of genuine ones. I am also well aware that having to decipher and then enter the CAPTCHA Code, is what puts off many genuine people from ever leaving a comment in the first place.
Most of the small number of people who comment here regularly, are friends who are already known to me. But there are several others who I only know online. These are people who, in a variety of ways, have found my blog and are interested in some of the things I write about and have kindly taken the trouble to say so. They sometimes throw greater light on a particular issue or, occasionally choose to disagree with me 🙂 A big ‘Thank you’, to all of you.
Recently, it was a great pleasure to finally get to meet one of them in person – Russell. He is one of those people who has until now, only been an occasional but very articulate commenter here, someone with whom I’ve exchanged a few emails, and more recently has interacted with me on Facebook. With his permission, this is the story of how, more than two and a half years after Russell first left a comment here, we finally met together in Prague.
Russell first left a comment on this post in January 2011. In his comment he explained that whilst he lives in England, his mother is Czech and his maternal grandmother still lives in Prague. As his comment was most observant and thoughtful, with an excellent use of vocabulary – for example, ‘paradoxically’, I assumed this had been written by someone in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties. I was therefore absolutely amazed to discover soon afterwards, that when he posted that first comment, Russell was just a few days short of his sixteenth birthday!
In July 2011 when he was on his annual visit to Prague and staying with his grandmother, Russell tried to meet up with me by coming to St. Clement’s Church one Sunday morning. Unfortunately, he had not checked our Church website, to discover it was a Sunday when I was on annual leave!
In the past twelve months, Russell has posted several more comments here, particularly when I’ve written about political issues such as the Presidential elections in both the USA and the Czech Republic. I very much admire him for not being afraid to respond and challenge the comments of several right-wing Republicans on my post about the re-election of President Obama. More recently, he also contributed to the considerable debate engendered by my post about ‘Getting over the ová‘, as well as like me, expressing his appreciation of the Czech rail network.
Knowing that this year, Russell would be eighteen, I got in contact with him by email, to ascertain when he would be visiting Prague, so we could finally meet up and talk, whilst enjoying one or two glasses of Czech beer together. In reply, Russell suggested that, not only should we meet, but also that we should walk part of the Šárka Valley together, something he knew I enjoyed doing, from reading my blog. So it was that on Monday 26th August, we finally met.
Not only did I meet Russell, I also got to meet his mother Martina, and his younger brother Martin. Together, we walked part of the red route from the Divorka Šárka bus and tram stop, to the top of the Baba ridge, above where the Chaplaincy Flat is situated. Before descending down to the Podbaba bus and tram stop so Russell and his family could return to the home of Russell’s grandmother, we all enjoyed a drink together at Bar Restaurace na Staré Fare, where both of the photographs on this post were taken. I was surprised but pleased to discover that the first part of the route that we walked, was totally new to all three of them!
A week later, after Martina and Martin had returned to the UK, Russell and I met up a again, and this time we walked the longer part of the red route, around the other side of the Šárka Valley. We then descended to another of my favourite Bar-Restaurants – U topolu, where we enjoyed a meal and a beer together. For some unknown reason, I didn’t take any photographs on our second walk.
I discovered from my conversations with Russell, how proud he is of his Czech heritage, despite having lived all his life in the UK, with only regular visits to the Czech Republic for a few weeks each year. He is now the proud owner of a Czech ID card, having successfully overcome the intricacies of Czech bureaucracy in order to obtain one. He enjoys that it declares him to have been born in Brno, Czech Republic, when he was actually born in Brighton, England 😉 Part of his reasoning for obtaining a Czech ID card, is that it allows him to travel anywhere in Europe and is vastly cheaper to obtain than a British passport. Czechs are noted for being thrifty, a characteristic that Russell has clearly inherited from his mother 🙂
On our walks, Russell and I had some interesting theological conversations. He describes himself as an agnostic, another very Czech characteristic 🙂 But he is very open to listen to the opinion of others, even if he in the end, disagrees with them. As with his comments on my blog, he is highly articulate in expressing his opinions.
Having done very well in obtaining his International Baccalaureate, Russell has just started undergraduate studies at Exeter University, in politics and philosophy. I look forward to hearing of his progress, and to meeting him again when he is next in Prague. In the meantime Russell – please continue to visit my blog and leave your comments. They are and will be, highly appreciated by me.
As I wrote in my previous post, rather than being hosted by one of the Chaplaincies within the Eastern Archdeaconry, our 2013 Synod meeting, took place at St. Columba’s House, a Conference and Retreat Centre in Woking, Surrey, England, between Thursday 19th – Sunday 22nd September. Here is the post about the Synod meeting itself, as promised at the end of my previous rant about the profusion of unnecessary notices.
From my point of view, having the Synod meeting at Woking did mean it was relatively easy to travel to. I flew Prague – London Gatwick and return, using that well-known low cost airline one of my Church Council members has christened ‘SqueezyJet’, leaving Prague at lunchtime on Thursday and arriving back home in the middle of Sunday evening. The flights both ways, departed right on time, and the onward train journey from Gatwick to Woking, was relatively quick and simple.
As I frequently explain, the Diocese in Europe, of which the Eastern Archdeaconry is part, is the forty-fourth diocese of the Church of England, but no part of it is in England! Strictly speaking, that statement is not quite true as the Diocesan Office is in London and the Bishop’s residence and office, is at Worth, near Crawley, ten minutes drive from London Gatwick Airport. Therefore, the idea of holding our Synod meeting in Woking was so that we might meet with and hear from members of the Diocesan and Bishop’s staff, who are normally only names on the end of emails.
During our Synod meeting, we heard from our soon to retire Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev’d Dr Geoffrey Rowell, who sought to answer the question, ‘What is a Diocese and what is its purpose?’ Other speakers were the Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF), the Diocesan Appointments Secretary, the Diocesan Director of Ordinands (DDO), and the Diocesan Communications Officer. The last of these is also a member of the Diocesan Safeguarding Committee so he also spoke about the very important issue of the safeguarding of children & vulnerable adults.
The Chair of the DBF, obviously spoke about the finances of the diocese – where the money comes from, (mainly the annual contributions of each of the Chaplaincies, together with the income from historic grants and investments), and what it is spent on. The Appointments Secretary spoke about all the procedures involved in appointing a new Chaplain, when there is a vacancy. This was of great help to lay members of the Synod who may face this situation in the near future; for example St Andrew’s, Moscow, where Canon Simon Stephens is due to retire in June next year.
Following the talk by the Diocesan Appointments Secretary, there was quite an interesting discussion around the issue of the legal status of the Anglican Church in each of the over forty countries across which our diocese is spread, and regarding complying with employment law within each of them. This is becoming an ever increasing problem for several Chaplaincies within the Eastern Archdeaconry. Much of this arises out of the historical origin of many of our Chaplaincies.
Particularly in capital cities, many European Anglican Chaplaincies were established with the support of the British government, in conjunction and with the British Embassy in each country. This is reflected in the geographical location of several of them. For example, Christ Church, Vienna is directly opposite the British Embassy in the Austrian capital. St. Nicholas, Ankara, is within the grounds of the British Embassy in the Turkish capital. In the past, Chaplains were often deemed to be Chaplain to the Ambassador and thus had diplomatic status. Despite the Church of England still officially being the Established Church in England, (though not in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland), these days there is an ever-increasing distance between Church and state.
At one level, I’m very pleased that there is this distancing as many people still think that somehow we are the spiritual arm of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and financed by the British government. Just to be clear, we are not! But this change has also created problems. For example, the Athens Chaplaincy, despite being in existence since the middle of the nineteenth century, recently had its bank account frozen because it was deemed not to be a legal entity and was therefore accused of tax fraud! Their problem is in the process of being resolved, but not without a few difficulties on the way.
As well as our speakers, the Synod meeting also provided various opportunities for corporate worship in the Conference Centre Chapel, led by ordained members of the Synod and by licensed Readers. Both Jack Noonan and I, led services of Morning Prayer. We also enjoyed two Bible Studies led by Canon Meurig Williams, Chaplain to our Diocesan Bishop and currently also Acting Archdeacon of NW Europe.
As I have written several times previously, one of the most valuable parts of our annual Archdeaconry Synod meetings, is the opportunity for fellowship and mutual support for those of us who work in very isolated situations. In many respects, it is an annual meeting of old friends as well as meeting one or two new ones too.
Finally, in 2014, I will not need to travel at all to attend the meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod as the Prague Chaplaincy have agreed to be the hosts. Between now and Thursday 25th September 2014, I and my Prague Church Council, have a lot of planning and organising to do. As I often write – watch this space!
I am just back from attending our annual Eastern Archdeaconry Synod meeting. Unusually this year, instead of being hosted by one of the Chaplaincies in our Archdeaconry, it was held in St. Columba’s Retreat and Conference Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. And whilst the Conference Centre was an excellent venue, it did feature one aspect of British life that I find irritating and absurd – an increasing profusion of unnecessary notices.
This first photograph illustrates what is probably the best, or worst 🙁 , example of what I am talking about. Yes – there is a kettle or electric jug for boiling water, to allow guests to make themselves a hot drink, either first thing in the morning or late in the evening. As it is there to provide hot water, do we really need to be told that it just might be hot? Do the management of the centre really believe that every guest they have, is as thick as two short planks?
The second example is hardly any better. Yes – it is a door. But I open and shut many doors, virtually every day of my life, as I suspect all other guests do to. Why do we all need to be told to ‘take care’?
This third example might have a little more justification, were the stairs to begin immediately beyond the door. But they don’t! They begin at least three paces later. And bearing in mind that this door obviously leads to the way from the first to the ground floor, most people with a few grams of common sense, would realise that to do so, there would be stairs.
There is a reason for the proliferation of all these totally unnecessary notices. It is the growth of a culture that actively encourages each and every person to believe that there must be someone to blame for anything adverse that ever happens in your life. No longer is even the slightest misfortune, just ‘one of those things that happens’, let alone actually being your own mistake. No – somebody else, human or corporate, is to blame!
Parallel to the growth of this culture of blame, has arisen a whole group of lawyers who offer to sue on your behalf, anyone or anything that can be remotely held responsible for even the most minor accident or injury, on a ‘no-win, no-fee’ basis. It is a case of ‘chicken and egg’ as to which came first – the culture or the lawyers. But both are now firmly embedded in British society, as they have been for far longer, in the USA.
To cover the risk of being sued for negligence, insurance is available. But because of the rise of spurious claims for damages, such as being burnt by a kettle because the complainant did not realise it was hot, insurance premiums have risen rapidly, with the cost being passed on to the consumer – in my example, the person like me, staying in the conference centre. These totally unnecessary notices, are insurance companies trying to cover themselves against future spurious claims.
I would hope that a Retreat and Conference Centre, run by a Christian charitable organisation, would be immune from the possibility of being sued for negligence by guests, past, present or future. But clearly, the management and their insurers, think otherwise. Hence all these unnecessary, and frankly absurd, notices.
Whilst here in the Czech Republic, there could be greater attention paid to certain aspects of health and safety, overall I am very glad that there is the presumption that citizens will use their God-given common sense. That if there is a hole in the pavement, people will just walk around it – not sue the local authority for failing to put up a two metre high fence to prevent someone falling in! Long may the ‘blame culture’ of the UK and USA, with the associated proliferation of silly notices, stay clear of the Czech Republic.
PS A post about the 2013 Eastern Archdeaconry Synod itself, will appear here in the next couple of days!
