The Eastern Archdeaconry Synod in Izmir

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 8th October until mid-afternoon on Saturday 10th 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 . . . → Read More: The Eastern Archdeaconry Synod in Izmir

Travelling to Asia and back

The Dardanelles – Europe on the right, Asia on the left © Ricky Yates

It is a month and a day since I’ve published a blog post and I’m sure some of my regular visitors will be beginning to think that I’ve disappeared off the planet. Rest assured – I haven’t! However, I have been absent from Prague for 23 of those 31 days only returning to the Chaplaincy Flat on the afternoon of Tuesday 27th October having left on the afternoon of Monday 5th October. Over the next few weeks I’m going to write about what I’ve been up to, hopefully making up for the lack of news during most of October.

As the title of this post says, Sybille and I have travelled to Asia and back and we’ve done the whole journey by car! I’ve driven 4,500 miles/7,200 kilometres and we’ve visited twelve countries in . . . → Read More: Travelling to Asia and back

Hosts or Guests?

Kardinal Schulte Haus – note the scaffolding! © Ricky Yates

I must apologise once more that, despite returning safely to Prague last Friday evening, other than approving a couple of nice comments (and deleting a host of spammers!!), I’ve taken far longer than originally intended to write a new post about last week’s conference.

As I explained in my previous post, the theme of the conference was ‘Entertaining Angels – Hospitality as Mission’. The title is based on a verse from the New Testament where the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews tells his readers, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for so by doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it” Hebrews 13 v2. But who are the hosts who give the hospitality and who are the guests that receive it?

One speaker, Professor Musa Dube from Botswana, pointed out that . . . → Read More: Hosts or Guests?

Clergy Pastoral Conference in Köln

St. Clement's Anglican Episcopal Church, Prague © Ricky Yates

At 08.00 CEST tomorrow, I’m setting off to drive to Köln/Cologne, Germany to attend a Clergy Pastoral Conference and won’t be back in Prague until late on the evening of Friday 25th September. The conference will bring together all the Anglican clergy who serve in the vast Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. This is only the second time this has ever happened, the first occasion being four years ago.

We are meeting at Kardinal Schulte Haus, a Roman Catholic conference centre just outside Köln/Cologne, and our theme is ‘Entertaining Angels – Hospitality as Mission’. There will be about 150 clergy present with our Diocesan Bishop Geoffrey Rowell & his Suffragen Bishop David Hamid, together with various visitors and speakers. It should be an enjoyable and stimulating few days. But it does mean that I won’t be able to add . . . → Read More: Clergy Pastoral Conference in Köln

Episcopal Taxi Service

The Anglican Episcopal Congregation who meet in St. Clement’s Church in the centre of Prague, is part of the rather unusual 44th Diocese of the Church of England with the unwieldy title of ‘The Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe’. Fortunately, it is usually shortened to ‘Diocese in Europe’. It covers the whole of the European continent, together with Turkey, Morocco, Mongolia and all of the former Soviet Union in Asia. Within that area, (which is roughly one sixth of the world’s landmass), there are over 300 congregations. You can find out more about it at Diocese in Europe website.

As well as being part of the Anglican Diocese in Europe, we also function as the English-speaking parish of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic or Starokatolická církev v Ceské republice if you would like it in Czech. The Old Catholic Churches of the . . . → Read More: Episcopal Taxi Service