My last month as the Anglican Chaplain of St Clement’s, Prague, started with what can be best described as a ‘purple weekend’. It featured bishops – lots of them!
As I have explained many times previously on this blog, for legal and ecumenical reasons, St Clement’s is officially the English-speaking parish of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic. Back in April 2016, at a synod meeting held at Želiv Monastery, Pavel Benedikt Stránský was elected to succeed the retiring Bishop Dušan Hejbal, as head of the Czech Old Catholics. Therefore on Saturday 1st April 2017, I attended what in English sounds like a contradiction in terms – the consecration of Pavel Benedikt Stránský as the new Old Catholic Bishop of the Czech Republic 🙂
The Consecration Service took place in the Basilica sv Markéty, located within the Brevnov Monastery complex in Prague. The service was presided over by the Archbishop of Utrecht, Joris Vercammen, whose role within the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht is very similar to that of the Archbishop of Canterbury within the Anglican Communion. Also participating were Old Catholic bishops from the Netherlands, Germany Switzerland and Austria.
However, because of the Bonn agreement of 1931, by which Old Catholics and Anglicans, mutually recognise each others orders, Anglican bishops from the Episcopal Church of the USA, the Church of Ireland, the Lusitanian Church – Portuguese Episcopal Church, together with my Church of England Diocesan bishop, Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes, also participated in the Consecration Service.
The service lasted for nearly three hours and was conducted mainly in Czech and German, with a little English. It was, as Bishop Robert has himself written, a test in humility for us English-speakers! But it was good to be there, and see Bishop Pavel take up his role as head of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, before my own retirement, as he and Bishop Robert will have joint responsibility, for appointing my successor.
On the morning of Sunday 2nd April, Bishop Robert was the Celebrant and Preacher at our Sung Eucharist for the Fifth Sunday of Lent – Passion Sunday. Wanting to engage the St Clement’s congregation with the very long Gospel reading – the story of the raising of Lazarus as recorded in John 11. 1-45, he got me to read it in five separate sections with his sermon interspersed between each section. You can listen to the reading and sermon here. Within the service, he also confirmed three members of the congregation, Sebastian, Radka and John.
At an extended Coffee Hour with copious amounts of food, Bishop Robert met with members of the congregation, displaying his language skills by speaking in both French and Flemish/Dutch as well as English. Then, whilst I headed off to Brno for our regular monthly service in the second city of the Czech Republic, the Church Council met with Bishop Robert to discuss the future of the Chaplaincy and the strategy and timetable for appointing my successor.
This year, the season of Advent has been as long as it possibly can be – a full four weeks. In 2017, quite the reverse happens with the Fourth and final Sunday of Advent, also being Christmas Eve!
I have very much appreciated the length of the Advent season this year, for a number of reasons. One slightly selfish reason is the cause of Advent lasting fully four weeks – the result of Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, which is every clergyperson’s delight! No need for services on three successive days, or on three out of four days. Instead, a full week beforehand, to prepare for services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and then an uninterrupted week afterwards, to take as a post-Christmas break 🙂
I also very much appreciated the way the Sundays fell in Advent this year, allowing me to hold a Service of Lessons and Carols in Dresden, Brno and Prague on separate Sundays. Last year, the Brno and Dresden services had to be held on the same Sunday evening.
As happens each year, I arrived at Church in Prague on Advent Sunday morning, to be greeted by a beautiful hanging Advent ring, with the first candle already lit. This is one of the joys of borrowing the Church building from our host Kliment congregation of the Ceskobratská Církev Evangelická / Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren – the main Czech Protestant Church. They provide the Advent ring at no cost to us! All we have to do is ensure we snuff out the candle(s) at the end of our service, as part of our duty of leaving the building safe and secure.
In previous years, the candles have always been red. This year, for no apparent reason of which I am aware, the candles are white. Certainly they seem to be of a better quality as, over the four Sundays of Advent, none of them has burnt down so much as to need being replaced, despite one of them being alight for nine services 🙂
The Order of Service for Sunday 4th December at 6pm
On the evening of Sunday 4th December, the second in Advent, I conducted the December English-language Anglican Service in the Frauenkirche, Dresden – A Service of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas. At the equivalent service last year, I was introduced as the new service coordinator and read one of the lessons. This year, I had to organise the complete service, including finding several different readers.
I fortunately inherited the tradition of a Berlin-based choir, the Embassy Singers, under their musical director Andrew Sims, singing at this service. They sang five choir items as well as supporting the congregational carols. A number of choir members volunteered to read and I took Lay Reader Jack Noonan along with me to also be one of the lesson readers.
On the evening of Sunday 11th December, I conducted a Service of Lessons and Carols in Brno, marking the fifth anniversary of our first ever Brno service held on 18th December 2011. Despite getting the service well publicised we were only a little congregation of sixteen people but we still made a joyful noise with our carol singing. Most importantly, all those who attended expressed their enjoyment of the service.
On Sunday 18th December, I didn’t travel anywhere further than within Prague itself. It was the one Sunday in the year when we hold two services, our regular 11.00 Sung Eucharist in the morning and a Service of Lessons and Carols in the evening. For both services we were blessed by having a visiting choir of Old Blundellians – former students of Blundells School, Tiverton, Devon UK, under their recently retired music master Andrew Barlow.
In the morning, they sang a setting of Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, written by Andrew Barlow, together with an Introit, and two anthems during the administration of Communion. In the evening, they sang five choir carols as well as supporting the congregational ones. I particularly enjoyed their final choir carol – ‘In the bleak mid-winter’, to a setting by Harold Darke.
Along with wonderful congregational singing and choral music, probably the most encouraging aspect of Advent 2016, has been the number of people attending worship in Prague on each Sunday morning. This has ranged from 73 to over 80 when our normal average Sunday attendance is around 50 – basically a 50% increase! Unfortunately, I’ve no photographs to illustrate our Advent worship at St Clement’s, Prague, so instead I finish with a photograph of one of several magnificent sunsets that we had during the early days of December.
With arrival of the New Year has also arrived some serious winter weather. We have had snow – plenty of it, and it is still snowing this evening as I write. The last time we saw snow like this was three years ago in early 2013.
Since the winter 2012-2013, we have had two very mild ones. The winter of 2013-2014 was particularly mild with many Czech ski resorts suffering because a lack of snow and warm temperatures. Last winter was a few degrees colder, but here in Prague, we really only had some snow showers and any snow that did settle, soon melted. But the weather of the past few days has been much more reminiscent of our first five winters in Prague, since moving here in September 2008.
The first snow started falling during the last hour of 2015. It was quite magical to be standing outside with some dog owning neighbours that we have got to know, drinking Bohemia Sekt, celebrating the arrival of the New Year, with fireworks going off and snowflakes falling.
That first snowfall soon melted the next day. But over weekend that followed, temperatures rapidly dropped. Driving into Church for our Eucharist on the morning of Sunday 3rd January, the thermometer in my car gave the temperature as being -4°C. For the first time this winter, I wore my fleece under my cassock-alb, whilst officiating at St. Clement’s 🙂 Then when driving over the Vysocina to Brno in the afternoon, the temperature registered as being -8°C and there was some lying snow on the eastern side of the highlands, and in Brno itself.
The serious snow we now have in Prague, started falling around lunchtime on Monday 4th January. From time-to-time it has stopped snowing for a few hours, but then resumed. And whilst it isn’t now as cold as on Sunday night, the temperature is yet to really get above 0°C.
The weather forecast is that it will finally stop snowing later this evening with the promise of temperatures rising to just above freezing point in the next few days. So for how long we will have lying snow now, is debatable. But it does seem that for the first time in three years, we are going to have a proper Central European winter.
Recently, I’ve had various questions and enquiries about my involvement with the regular monthly English-language Anglican Evening Service held in the Frauenkirche, Dresden. So I thought it was time for an update, particularly now I’ve finally finished writing here about our October Polish adventure.
My previous post in early October, explains the background to the regular monthly English-language Anglican Service and how I was asked to take future responsibility for it. One important update to what I wrote then, is that Gustav, the husband of Rev’d Dr Irene Ahrens, who I mentioned as being seriously ill, sadly died on 30th September 2015, something I didn’t discover until four weeks after the event.
As I mentioned in that post, having led the service and preached on Sunday 20th September, I wasn’t expecting to be in Dresden again until early December. However, on Thursday 29th October, I suddenly got an email inviting me to an evening meeting only five days later, to plan all the evening services, including the Anglican ones, for the first four months of 2016. Deciding that it would be best to be there to avoid things being decided on my behalf, I cancelled what I was meant to be doing in Prague, and booked a train ticket.
Therefore on the evening of Tuesday 3rd November, I sat through a meeting lasting nearly two hours, conducted predominantly in German. I should add that all the other attendees were German Protestant ministers & theologians. Need I say more 🙂 To be fair, I did understand a good deal of what was being said, but struggled to respond in grammatically correct German. Sybille had firmly said that I should go to the meeting alone, as it would improve my German 😀
When an answer was directly required of me, Pastor Sebastian Feydt did always ask me in English. Probably the funniest moment was when he asked in German, ‘Was ist Palmsonntag auf Englisch?’ ‘Palm Sunday’, I responded, and everyone laughed.
The tradition at the Frauenkirche is that the evening services follow a set theme over a series of weeks. The English-language Anglican Services are not regarded as an exception, but rather as part of the agreed theme. Therefore, whilst on the first three Sundays of January 2016, including the Anglican Service on Sunday 17th January, there is no set theme, from Sunday 24th January – Sunday 20th March inclusive, the theme is to be ‘Das Kreuz verbindet’ – ‘The cross connects’ or, ‘We are connected by the cross’.
The idea is that each service will focus on one of the numerous crosses that are within the Frauenkirche. On Sunday 21st February, I have been specifically asked to preach about the ‘Cross of Nails’ that connects the Frauenkirche with Coventry Cathedral. My theme will be reconciliation and my text 2 Corinthians 5. 18 – ‘All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation’. What a wonderful opportunity but also a great challenge. I will also have the joy of preaching on Palmsonntag Abend – Palm Sunday evening.
I always enjoy my Dresden visits, not least because the Frauenkirche authorities kindly organise and pay for me to stay overnight at the nearby Hotel Martha. On my early November visit, I was particularly struck by this banner displayed outside the Church. For those who cannot read German it says, ‘Building bridges, living reconciliation, strengthening faith’. A pretty good mission statement for any Church!
As explained in my earlier post, when I was next expecting to be in Dresden, was on the evening of Sunday 6th December. For reasons that I’m still trying to fathom, in December, the English-language Anglican Service gets moved from the third Sunday, to the first Sunday of the month. This causes me problems, as the monthly Brno service is also normally held on the first Sunday evening of each month. This year, I sent my Reader Jack Noonan off to Brno, to conduct their Service of Lessons and Carols, where he promptly had the biggest congregation we’ve had in Brno since beginning services there, four years ago. I obviously need to get him to officiate in Brno more often 🙂
The evening service in Dresden was also one of Lessons & Carols at which my Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes, was the preacher. It was his first visit to Dresden and the Frauenkirche. At the end of the service, just before we gave a great rendition of ‘O come all ye faithful’ and Bishop Robert gave the Blessing, there were two presentations made by Pastor Holger Treutmann.
The first of these was to Rev’d Dr Irene Ahrens, to thank her for her ten years of overseeing the English-language Anglican Service. After she had spoken in reply, it was my turn to be introduced as the new coordinator. As well as welcoming me and thanking me for taking on this task, I was given two gifts which you can see in the title photo of this post.
The book is a beautifully illustrated history of the Frauenkirche from 1726, when building commenced, right through to the consecration of the re-built Church in 2005. Reading it has both improved my knowledge of German Church history, as well as giving me a wonderful insight into the design of the interior and how it illustrates Lutheran theology and ecclesiastical understanding. The circular box contained some most delicious sächsische Schokolade. I love the way the creator of the chocolates is a Schokoladenmanufaktur – all one word 😀
Following the service, I stood at the Church door with Irene, as we bid farewell to the congregation. I wanted a photo of myself with Irene but in the end, the only reasonably decent photo I got was this one with an Argentinian couple who regularly attend the service and have recently had a baby. The prominent scab on my left cheek is from where I was treated with liquid nitrogen by my dermatologist, four days previously. It has now healed.
After bidding farewell to everybody, Bishop Robert and his wife Helen, together with Irene & I, were all invited to a splendid evening meal, hosted by Pastor Holger Treutmann in the adjacent Coselpalais restaurant. After a much needed good night’s sleep at Hotel Martha, I enjoyed briefly exploring some Christmas market stalls as I made my way to the Hauptbahnhof and my return journey to Prague on Monday morning.
The next English-language Anglican Evening Services in the Frauenkirche will be on 17th January, 21st February and 20th March, all starting at 18.00. The details can also be found in both English and German, on the Frauenkirche website.
On 18th December 2011, aided by several members of the Prague Anglican congregation, we held the first ever English-language Anglican service in Brno – a Service of Lessons and Carols for Christmas. Since the beginning of 2012, I have conducted a regular monthly service in Brno, usually on the second Sunday evening of each month, along with an additional service each year, on the evening of Easter Day.
As I explained in my post entitled ‘Holy Week and Easter Day 2014 in Prague and Brno‘, in March 2014, we suddenly lost the use of our previous Brno worship venue. Fortunately, the Roman Catholic Jesuits came to our rescue, offering us the use of the most appropriately named ‘Upper Room’. This is my long-promised post about our new Brno worship venue.
‘The Upper Room’, is part of Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie. Access to it is through the door seen here at the bottom right of this photograph, on the corner of Jezuitská and Mozartova, Brno. There then follows the only slight drawback to our new worship venue – having to climb up two floors via a stone spiral staircase. This does mean that it is wheelchair unfriendly and somewhat difficult for toddlers in buggies.
However, once up the stairs, everything else is ideal. ‘The Upper Room’ has a fairly low ceiling, together with excellent heating, meaning that it is warm in winter! It is not overly large, so that the current relatively small congregation doesn’t rattle in it but gives us the right amount of room into which to grow. Then there is an excellent electronic keyboard, seen on the left of the photograph below, which Ailsa our keyboard player, says is better than the one in our previous venue! At the back of the room, there are simple kitchen facilities, allowing us to share refreshments together following worship. And at the top of the stairs, just outside the room, is a most useful toilet.
As you can see, it being a Roman Catholic Chapel belonging to the Jesuits, we are overlooked by statues of St Francis Xavier & St Ignatius Loyola, whilst behind the altar is a painting depicting the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, a doctrine without Biblical foundation. But beggars can’t be choosers and the Brno Jesuits have been wonderfully hospitable towards us.
Anglicans often describe themselves as the Via media, the middle way and as a bridge between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. By borrowing Kostel sv Kliment from the main Czech Protestant Church in Prague and ‘The Upper Room’ from the Roman Catholic Jesuits in Brno, I believe we are a very practical expression of being that Via media. And because we do not own our own places of worship, we can concentrate on being what ‘the Church’ should be – the worshipping people of God.
Since May 2014, monthly Brno services have moved to being held at 17.00 on the first Sunday of each month. Full details, including a map, can be found on the Brno page of our Church website.
