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.
Before 2015 comes to an end, I want to try and write, at least briefly, about all those things that happened in the second half of this year, but which never got the blog post they deserved – a combination of my own ill health and the excessive heat we experienced during the summer months. It will take two posts, so here is the first. And the second has now been written and published.
Monday 6th July marked the 600th anniversary of Jan Hus, the early Czech Church reformer, being burnt at the stake in Konstanz on 6th July 1415. As I have previously explained, during the past two hundred years, Czech people have tended to celebrate Hus as a political and cultural hero. His opposition to church control by the Vatican gave strength to those who opposed control of Czech lands by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He preached and wrote in the Czech – language is the main factor in Czech national identity. Even the Communist regime tried to claim Hus as a proto-communist!
Therefore it was pleasing to see the main non-Roman Catholic Churches take the lead in organising events in Prague over a long weekend 4th – 6th July, to mark the 600th anniversary of Hus’s martyrdom. They took place on two stages erected either side of the newly renovated statue of Hus in Old Town Square, culminating in an open air Ecumenical service celebrating the life and teaching of Hus and broadcast live on Czech radio. It was good to see and hear Hus being commemorated for who he really was, with his spiritual legacy being reclaimed and proclaimed.
The other pleasing aspect were the efforts made by the Roman Catholic Church, to finally acknowledge their own history and responsibility for the death of Hus. Cardinal Vlk, the now retired, but still active, former RC Archbishop of Prague, spoke at the service, bringing a personal message from Papa František/ Pope Francis. At the end of his address there was applause, showing appreciation for the conciliatory nature of the message.
On the morning of Friday 10th July, I attended, along with Lea Williams, the last part of the Fifth Conference of representatives of the Cross of Nails Community in Central and Eastern Europe which was being held in Prague that week. The conference ended with a Festive Service at which the Dean of Coventry Cathedral, Very Rev’d John Witcombe, gave a address on the theme, ’75 Years of Peace Efforts by Coventry Cathedral – Turning enemies into friends’. Following the service, we were all invited to lunch at the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Prague’s dining hall where this photograph was taken.
On the morning of Sunday 26th July, we had the pleasure of the Choir of Little St. Mary’s, Cambridge, UK, enhancing our worship at our Sung Eucharist. Like previous visiting choirs, they very much enjoyed the excellent acoustics of the Church building, as well as the splendid organ. During their visit to Prague, they had a group photograph taken in each of the places where they sang. Therefore following worship, the choir posed on the chancel step, along with their travelling supporters, and insisted that I be in the middle of the photograph 🙂
August
The first half of August was dominated by my hospitalisation with a pulmonary embolism, about which I did manage a blog post of explanation. However, I was very pleased to eventually be given clearance by my GP, to spend Tuesday 18th – Monday 24th August, walking with Sybille in Germany, from Görlitz to Kamenz, along the first part of Der Ökumenische Pilgerweg. That week has to have its own blog post or posts, even if it isn’t written and published until early 2016.
As I explained in the post about my hospitalisation, one consequence is that I have had to retire from playing cricket. I have therefore donated all of my cricket kit – batting pads and gloves, wicket-keeping pads, gloves & inners, along with my box 🙂 , to the Prague Barbarians Cricket Club, for whom it has been my privilege to play for the past six summers. In turn, Terry the club captain, kindly organised a dinner in my honour to mark my retirement, attended by a number of my playing colleagues.
September
On each of the first two Saturdays of September, I conducted a wedding. In both cases it was British male marrying Czech female.
On Saturday 5th September, I conducted the wedding of Paul and Michaela, the couple who own and run Sansho, the dégustation restaurant where Sybille and I celebrated our joint birthdays earlier this year. Their wedding took place in the grounds of Trojanuv mlyn, Tiche udoli, a peaceful rural location just within the Prague city boundary. Unlike in England and Wales, outdoor weddings are permissible under Czech marriage law.
Using the liturgical texts that I gave her, Michaela had an attractive Order of Service produced, the cover matching their wedding invitations. Michaela’s brother Aleš, kindly helped me with the liturgy, enabling Michaela to make her vows in Czech whilst I helped Paul make his in English. Meanwhile, the very supportive congregation, sat on straw bales, surrounded by trees to witness the ceremony. It does have be said that I heard numerous, ‘It’s about time too’ comments, from friends and family, very pleased that Paul and Michaela had finally tied the knot 🙂
On Saturday 12th September, I conducted the wedding of Charles and Radka, a couple who I first met at the beginning of 2015, when they started worshipping at St. Clements, having just got engaged. Whilst Charles is a baptised and confirmed Anglican, it was a wonderful to hear Radka profess Christian faith and to baptise her as an adult, during our Easter Day Eucharist earlier this year.
Their wedding took place in Kaple Nalezeni sv Križe, Malé Cicovice, adjacent to the Penzion where they held the reception following their marriage service. Malé Cicovice lies north-west of Prague, not far from Kladno. On this occasion, Renata and Eva, two friends of Radka, helped her make her vows in Czech, whilst I did likewise for Charles in English.
Whilst we didn’t sing any hymns, I drove Larry Leifeste and his wife Celieta, from Prague to the wedding venue, so Larry could play the ancient chapel organ to provide music before the service, for the entrance of the bride, and for the happy couple leaving at the end of the service. It did make for a most enjoyable occasion, helped by some warm and sunny weather.
Between Thursday 24th – Sunday 27th September, I attended the 2015 meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod, which this year took place in a Roman Catholic conference centre, just outside Zagreb in Croatia. In past years, each Archdeaconry Synod meeting has had its own blog post, but in 2015……
Three highlights from this year’s meeting were:
1) Our long-standing and long-suffering Archdeacon Patrick Curran, formally stepped down as Archdeacon of the East and thus ceased to be ‘venerable’ 🙂 I’ve never seen Patrick so relaxed – he was very much demob happy 🙂 Patrick was presented with an icon of St Cyril & St Methodius by the Chaplaincies of the Archdeaconry, and with a framed map of Europe, together with an ‘interesting’ bottle, by Bishop Robert.
In his place, we formally welcomed our new ‘free-standing’ Archdeacon, Colin Williams. Colin is now half time Archdeacon of the East, and half time Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe. But unlike Patrick, who remains Chaplain of Christ Church, Vienna and oversees the daughter congregations in Klagenfurt, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Yerevan, Colin has no responsibility for a particular chaplaincy, hence he is deemed ‘free-standing’.
2) During our Sunday morning Eucharist, Janet Berkovic, who brilliantly organised the Zagreb Synod meeting, was licensed as a Reader by Bishop Robert. Janet has led the small Zagreb Anglican congregation for many years, under the long distance guidance of Patrick from Vienna.
Three years ago at our Synod meeting in Athens, Jack Noonan was licensed as a Reader to serve the Prague Chaplaincy. It was during that licensing service that the Holy Spirit spoke to Janet saying she should also offer herself to train as a Reader, something Patrick had been suggesting to her for several years. So she is now licensed as ‘Reader-in-charge of Zagreb’, but still under Patrick’s jurisdiction. An additional highlight under the Berkovic heading, is that Janet’s Croatian husband Danijel, a Hebrew scholar, gave us three brilliant expositions of the Psalms, particularly bringing out things that are so easily ‘lost in translation’.
3) On the afternoon of Sunday 27th September, after a tour of central Zagreb, we were invited to coffee and refreshments at the new headquarters building of the Croatian Roman Catholic Bishops Conference. Here we met the chairman of their ‘Ecumenical Committee’, together with one of their bishops. Whilst our Zagreb Anglican congregation use Roman Catholic premises for their services, the Anglican congregation is not recognised as a ‘Church’ in Croatia – they function as a ‘voluntary organisation’.
Therefore having Bishop Robert with us made quite an impact, most notably when he spoke, with Danijel Berkovic translating. I still remember the look of total surprise on the face of the RC bishop, when Bishop Robert said he was responsible for just over three hundred Anglican congregations scattered across Europe. With only seeing one little congregation of English-speaking Anglicans in Zagreb, they had no idea of the size of the Church of England in continental Europe, let alone the wider Anglican Communion.
The Frauenkirche in Dresden is an 18th century Protestant Church featuring a 96m high dome resting on eight slender pillars. It was severely damaged during allied bombing raids on the city on 13th February 1945 and collapsed two days later. Because, following the end of World War Two, Dresden was situated in the Soviet zone of occupation which became the satellite communist state of East Germany, no efforts were made by the authorities to rebuild the Church. Instead, in 1966, the ruins were declared a ‘memorial against war’.
Following the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany, quite appropriately 25 years ago today 🙂 , a society was formed to promote the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche and to raise funds to finance the project. Reconstruction commenced at the beginning of 1993 and was completed in 2005. The tenth anniversary of the consecration of the rebuilt Church will be celebrated at the end of this month on 30th October.
From the outset of the rebuilding project, very strong links have been established between the Frauenkirche and Coventry Cathedral, through the Community of the Cross of Nails. Their shared experience of the devastation caused by bombing during the Second World War, means that they both are involved in the work of reconciliation and the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation is used regularly at the Frauenkirche.
Since soon after the consecration of the rebuilt Frauenkirche, once a month, on a Sunday evening, an English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer has been held. This has been under the auspices of the Berlin Anglican Chaplaincy, in particular the Assistant Chaplain, Rev’d Dr Irene Ahrens. She doesn’t always officiate as sometimes there are guest Anglican clergy from England, invited to take the service and preach. But she has overall responsibility to ensure things run smoothly!
Earlier this year, Irene contacted me, asking if I would be willing to take on her role from the beginning of 2016. She only works in a voluntary capacity; she is now 75 years old and her husband has had serious health issues in recent months. So during the week that Lea Williams was with me on placement back in early July, we spent the day in Dresden, meeting both Protestant Pastors, Holger Treutmann and Sebastian Feydt, together with their administrator Monika Schneider.
During our visit, we were given our own private tour of the amazing Church building, including parts that the average tourist or worshipper, never gets to see. We also spent time in their administrative offices just round the corner from the Church, discussing what normally happens each month at the Anglican service and enabling me to ask certain pertinent questions as to what to expect. All three were most pleased to discover my Coventry connections, being born and educated in the city.
Following further email exchanges and phone conversations, including one phone call when I was sitting in my hospital bed, it was agreed I would officiate at the service on the evening of Sunday 20th September. The original plan was for Irene to be there with me, to guide me as what to expect and show how things are normally done. Unfortunately, her husband’s continued ill health meant she was unable to attend.
On Sunday 20th, after both attending the Czech Protestant service, (to make a presentation to Pastor Eva who was retiring), and celebrating the Eucharist with the Prague Anglican congregation, I set out for Dresden by train, as my car was out of action having a new clutch installed & two new sections of exhaust fitted. Unfortunately, the train arrived late from Budapest and left Prague fifteen minutes later than it was meant to do so. It was then held up for a further twenty minutes just over the German border, by a broken-down train ahead of us. Thus I had a bit of a rush to get from Dresden Hauptbahnhof to the Frauenkirche.
Upon arrival at 17.30, feeling somewhat flustered by my delayed train journey, I was made welcome by a verger, who took me to the vestry where Pfarrer Sebastian Feydt and Monika Schneider were waiting for me, together with the organist, Daniel Clark. Having talked me through what was expected, they all went off to sit in the congregation, except for the organist who disappeared to the organ loft.
There was a congregation of around one hundred. As I discovered as I shook hands with people at the door following the service, they were a mixture of regular attending English-speakers, Germans with varying amounts of English – several wished me ‘Schönes abend’ as they left, together with English-speaking tourists from around the world. With Pfarrer Sebastian Feydt in the congregation, I did feel a little as though I was ‘preaching with a view’, as happens in some Protestant denominations. But he was very positive following the service and seems very pleased about me taking on the role of overseeing the English-language Anglican service.
Having successfully officiated in September, I’m next due in Dresden in December when the service will be one of Lessons and Carols. It will be Irene’s farewell service and our Diocesan Bishop Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes will also be present. Then from January, it will be over to me!
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get to lead worship and preach in the Dresden Frauenkirche, yet alone on a regular basis. Maybe I need to change the title of this blog to ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague and Dresden 🙂
Last Sunday morning (2nd August), I was getting dressed, ready to travel by tram into central Prague for our Sung Eucharist at St. Clement’s, when I became extremely breathless. Sybille describes me as ‘hyperventilating’ and I honestly thought I was about to faint. After sitting still for about five minutes, the breathlessness eased. However, by that time, I’d missed the tram I was going to catch, so we agreed instead, that I would drive us to Church as I seemed to be OK when sitting. Knowing what we know now, it was a daft decision!
I somehow managed to both celebrate the Eucharist and preach. But I had great difficulty singing the hymns and other sung parts of our liturgy. I have never missed a Sunday service through ill health in the nearly seven years I’ve been in Prague and I was determined that that record was not going to be broken. But it remains a miracle that I ever completed the service.
Following post-service refreshments, I managed to drive us both home and walk to a nearby bar-restaurant garden for lunch. But I spent most of the rest of the day resting, planning to visit my GP, first-thing on Monday morning.
My GP practice is based three tram stops away from the Chaplaincy flat at Vítezné námestí. It is called Young & Co, as the practice was founded and is headed by Dr. Adriana Youngová, a female Czech GP who is married to an Englishman, Timothy Young, hence her unusual surname. No Czech surname begins with the letter ‘Y’ which has caused me problems on numerous occasions. So I find it quite amusing that the head of my Czech GP practice, courtesy of her marriage, now has the same problem as I do 🙂 One bonus is that all the surgery staff, know how to pronounce my surname correctly, because of their boss!
On the morning of Monday 3rd August, I was seen by another of the practice GPs, Dr. Hana Škodová. She asked me lots of questions and along with Sybille, seemed somewhat mystified that I had no other symptoms other than being breathless. The practice nurse took blood from me so that various tests could be made. This was the first of what seems like umpteen needles that have been stuck into me this past week, either to extract blood or inject me with various substances. ‘Pin cushion’ probably best describes how my body currently feels 🙁 I was also sent off to have my chest x-rayed and told that I would receive a phone call later in the day, once the first results of my blood tests were available.
Early on Monday afternoon, the phone rang. It was my GP surgery. One result from the first blood tests indicated that I almost certainly had a pulmonary embolism – a blood clot in my lung. I was to call an ambulance and get myself to the nearest hospital emergency department ASAP! The surgery kindly emailed me the test results, with the offending result highlighted in red, so I could print them off and have something to give to both the ambulance and hospital staff.
Sybille helped me pack a bag, presuming that I would be spending a few nights in hospital and also called the ambulance. Despite being able to walk into the ambulance, the driver decided I was an emergency case and proceeded to drive me to hospital at high speed with siren blaring and blue lights flashing! So I arrived in the Emergency Department of Vojenská Nemocnice, the Military Hospital.
Once again, needles were stuck into me and blood was taken for more tests. When the results of these tests came back, confirming everything the GP surgery had discovered, I was then sent for a CT scan. Iodine was injected into me 🙁 , to enable clearer scan definitions, and the machine itself, kindly spoke to me in English, telling me when to hold my breath and when to breathe out.
I was wheeled back to the Emergency Department where the Doctor told me, even though she had yet to look at the scan results, the technicians had confirmed that I had a huge pulmonary embolism. I was to be immediately admitted to a cardiology ward of the hospital.
Therefore I spent from late afternoon on Monday 3rd, to just before lunchtime on Wednesday 5th August, as a cardiac patient of Vojenská Nemocnice, the Military Hospital. During that time, I started receiving twice daily injections into my lower abdomen, as well as taking a once daily tablet of warfarin, both with the intention of thinning my blood and helping the embolism to break up and disperse.
On the morning of Tuesday 4th August, I had an ultra sound scan of my heart which showed it to be in good order, other than a slightly enlarged right ventricle, caused by the embolism. One of the encouraging things that has come out of this whole experience is that nearly every test has shown that my body is in good order. My blood pressure is fine, my kidneys are working normally, and my heart has no problems.
However, on Tuesday afternoon, I had a further ultra sound scan of the lower part of both of my legs. Whilst my right leg is completely OK, unfortunately the scan found several thrombosis in the calf of my left leg. It was one of these that decided to leave the lower part of my left leg, and become an embolism in my lung 🙁
Ten years ago, in 2005, I had a thrombosis behind my left knee. But after treatment with warfarin, it completely dispersed and a year later, I was once more allowed to be a blood donor. Therefore the medics are still unclear as to why this problem should have reoccurred, when my left leg has been perfectly fine for the past ten years.
Late on the morning of Wednesday 5th August, I was discharged from hospital. I was given:
A prescription for further twice daily injections into my lower abdomen, the last of which is due to be administered tomorrow morning. I’m grateful to be married to a former nurse who has been administering these, rather than having to do so myself.
A prescription for warfarin tablets, currently to be taken once daily, first thing in the morning.
A prescription for full length compression stockings for both of my legs.
A three page report, outlining what had been discovered about me during my hospitalisation, and outlining various courses of action for my GP.
On Thursday 6th August, I once more met with Dr. Hana Škodová. She explained the contents of the report and the whole variety of further tests that I need to have in the coming weeks. Once more I had blood taken, to check my INR level – to decide the exact amount of warfarin I need to take to thin my blood sufficiently, without becoming so thin that I bleed too easily. I’m due back to see her tomorrow morning.
So after a very eventful week, I am grateful:
Just to be alive! Untreated, what happened could easily have killed me.
For wonderful, high quality medical care, totally free of charge, because I and the Church as my employer, pay into a compulsory health care scheme.
For the prayers and best wishes of so many people.
What does in mean for my future?:
That I will have to take warfarin, ‘rat poison’ as Sybille calls it, for the rest of my life.
That I will now have to be very careful not to cut or injure myself as it will be far more difficult to get any wound to heal.
The end of my cricket playing career as I cannot put myself at risk of being hit by a cricket ball. Therefore keeping wicket for Prague Barbarians CC on Saturday 18th July will go down as my last appearance as a player on the cricket field. Whilst we lost that match against Vinohrady CC, I didn’t let a single bye, so it is an appropriate note on which to end my career.
One final note:
Last Friday, if my arithmetic is correct, I passed the age my mother was when she died in April 1980. But my experience this past week, has been an important reminder of my own mortality. I, and every other human being on this planet, will not live forever. All of us need to live our lives in recognition of that important fact.
From the morning of Sunday 5th July, through to the morning of Monday 13th July, Sybille and I had the pleasure of having Lea Williams staying with us at the Chaplaincy Flat, as part of his ‘Long Summer Placement’. Lea is training for ordained ministry in the Church of England at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, just outside Oxford. As part of his training, he is required to spend at least four weeks, gaining experience in a parish setting, in advance of his final year of theological study.
Because prior to commencing studying at Cuddesdon, Lea had worked for three years in a parish setting as a full-time Children’s Worker, it was thought that he ought to experience a contrasting setting for his ‘Long Summer Placement’. Therefore, the recently appointed new principal of Cuddesdon, Bishop Humphrey Southern, suggested Lea should go and spend his time with my colleague Rev’d Clive Fairclough, the Anglican Chaplain in Moscow. Clive had been Bishop Humphrey’s curate when Humphrey was an Incumbent in the Diocese of Salisbury. But because Clive and his wife Joanna, could only host Lea for three weeks, it was agreed that he should spend the balance of his placement time with me.
Observant readers of my blog may have noticed that I mentioned enjoying lunch and having meetings at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, during my recent visit to the UK at the beginning of June. This was in order to meet with the Placements Tutor, Rev’d Dr Jane Baum, as well as to discuss practicalities and expectations with Lea. But at this point, I should say that I already knew Lea and his Czech wife Petra, because I conducted their wedding at Bouzov Castle near Olomouc, in July 2009. It was, as the blogpost is entitled, ‘My first Czech Wedding‘ 🙂
As explained in a most helpful booklet produced by Ripon College, Cuddesdon, the placement is, ‘a significant milestone in the transition from lay to ordained ministry. It is a chance for the student to observe and experience for themselves the role of an ordained minister, and to reflect on what it will be like for them to exercise this role.’ Whilst the eight days Lea was with me were far from being typical, there were fortunately, plenty of interesting things going on. And I hope that he gained some insight into what is like being an ordained priest in charge of a continental European Chaplaincy.
Whilst Lea is on placement, (I use the present tense because he is currently in Moscow until early August), Petra, together with their two children, is staying with her father and other family members in Olomouc. On the morning of Sunday 5th July, Lea travelled by train from Olomouc to Prague, to be at our 11.00 Sung Eucharist. He then travelled with me all the way to Brno, for the regular monthly evening service there, at which he led intercessions, before we made the return journey together back to Prague. As a result, Lea did see rather a lot of the Czech Republic in one day!
On Monday 6th July, we attended a whole series of events marking the sixth hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of Jan Hus about which there will be a separate blog post shortly. Tuesday 7th was mainly taken up with admin, whilst we took Wednesday 8th as our ‘day off’.
We spent Thursday 9th in Dresden, visiting the Frauenkirche and meeting the two Protestant Ministers who work there. This was the first step in preparation for me taking responsibility, from January 2016, for the monthly English Anglican service that is held there on the third Sunday evening of each month. This is also to be the subject of another blog post 🙂
Then we spent Friday morning, attending the last part of the Fifth Conference of representatives of the Cross of Nails Community in Central and Eastern Europe which was being held in Prague that week. The conference ended with a Festive Service at which the Dean of Coventry Cathedral, Very Rev’d John Witcombe, gave a address on the theme, ’75 Years of Peace Efforts by Coventry Cathedral – Turning enemies into friends’. This in turn, will be the subject of a third forthcoming blog post!
Lea’s Prague placement culminated with him being the preacher at our 11.00 Sung Eucharist on Sunday 12th July. He experienced what I often call the ‘Discipline of the Lectionary’ in that the Gospel reading set was Mark 6. 14-29, which tells the rather unedifying story of the beheading of John the Baptist. But he bravely tackled the story head-on and received much positive feedback from several members of the congregation who I asked to complete ‘Sermon Evaluation Sheets’ for him. We posed for the photograph at the beginning of this post, in the chancel of St Clement’s Church, following the service.
However, it wasn’t all work. Being married to a Czech lady, Lea was already aware of the delights of Czech beer. Here he is, enjoying another 0.5l of his favourite Cerný Kozel.
