GREEK COMMUNION SERVICE

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1933, Page 9

GREEK COMMUNION SERVICE

FIRST FOR VERY MANY YEARS. ARCHBISHOP OFFICIATES. Happy relations existing between the Anglican Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church were shown strikingly on Sunday at St. Paul’s Pro-Cathedral, Wellington, where in the morning the Most Rev. Archbishop Timotheos, who has been sent by the Oecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople to visit the communities of the Orthodox Church in Australia and New Zealand, administered Communion according to the Eastern rite to upward of 150 Greeks resident in Wellington and the district For all of them, indeed, it was a redletter day; and for some it was the first time for 30 years or more that they had assisted at a service conducted according to the rites of their own church. Use of the Pro-Cathedral had been granted to Archbishop Timotheos by the Bishop of Wellington, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Sprott. The service began in the presehce of a large and representative congregation of Greeks at 8.45 a.m. The celebrant was the Archbishop, and he was attended by the Rev. D. C. Bates, representing the Anglican Communion. The first part of the service consisted of the preparation of the sacre<| elements used for the communion, and during this the Archbishop wore a white tunic, or alb. Incense was used also at this stage. When the elements were prepared the Archbishop retired to the vestry and assumed the episcopal habit. His mitre was similar to the Byzantine crown, and his vestments were of red and gold. Members of the Anglican Communion would have been struck throughout by the large part played by the choir. Although it was small, it had brave work to do, and acquitted itself well. The Archbishop consecrated the prepared elements and administered them in both kinds to the congregation, who stood at the foot of the sanctuary. So large was the number of communicants, including many children, that the Archbishop had to replenish the elements which he took first from the altar. The Archbishop’s pastoral staff was of gold and silver, and at the top the heads of serpents faced a cross. When giving the blessing at the end he held in his right hand a three-branched candlestick, representing the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, and in his left hand a two-branched candlestick, representing the two natures—human and divine—of Our Blessed Lord. In blessing the congregations his hands were crossed.

After the service, which lasted two hours almost exactly, the Archbishop resumed his ordinary garments, wearing a black biretta and carrying a silverheaded staff. The congregation moved to the diocesan library, and here the Archbishop preached an eloquent sermon, speaking particularly of the Church of England and the relations between It and the Orthodox Church which had become in recent years so cordial. The Consul for Greece, Mr. J. F. Dyer, and a number of members of the Anglican Church,, were, present at the service.