Fellowship Newsletter

No 52 March 2003

Fellowship Conference 2003

As announced in the December newsletter, the Fellowship Conference will take place from Tuesday 26 -Saturday 30 August at Ushaw College, near Durham. The theme of the conference will be ‘The Mother of God' . A number of eminent speakers have already agreed to participate, including Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia, Canon Donald Allchin, Fr John Gribben CR, Fr John Behr and Archimandrite Ephrem (Lash). In addition to lectures and a panel discussion, the programme will include an excursion to Durham Cathedral and a full round of western and Orthodox services, the latter centred around the festal vigil and liturgy for the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God.

The Fellowship Conference provides a wonderful opportunity to meet other members and friends of the Fellowship in an atmosphere of prayer, study and friendship.

Ushaw College, a former Roman Catholic Seminary, is situated about three miles outside Durham. It has been extensively re-furbished as a conference centre and boasts a large number single and twin rooms, many with en-suite facilities. The fee for attending the full conference (including all meals and accommodation) will be £220. A small number of bursaries for students and the financially disadvantaged will be available (if you can afford to do so, please be generous and support the bursary fund). An application form is included with this newsletter. You are advised to book early to avoid disappointment.

The Fellowship in the United States

Many thanks to all of the members and friends of the Fellowship in the USA who have responded positively to the possibility of an American Conference. It now looks likely that the conference could become a reality in the spring of 2004. Theme, speakers and venue have yet to be confirmed, but watch this space for details!

Gauging the Humanitarian Cost of War

U.S. hopes to limit civilian casualties, but others aren't so optimistic. Concerns over civilian casualties in an Iraq war are fueling opposition to any such conflict. Estimates of deaths or the number of refugees caused by a war vary widely, but all agree that large numbers of innocent people would suffer.

A leaked U.N. report calculated up to a half-million people could require medical attention in case of a military conflict , The Guardian reported on Jan. 29 th . The World Health Organization estimated that about 100,000 civilians could be wounded, and another 400,000 would be hit by disease due to the bombing of water and sanitation services and the lack of food.

The U.N. Children's Fund calculated that around 3 million people, 80% of them children under age 5, would be in a dire situation regarding a lack of food . The U.N. report noted that some 16 million Iraqis depend on the monthly food basket of basic goods supplied by the government. In the event of war these supplies would most likely be disrupted.

On Jan. 28 th a group of U.K. aid organizations – Oxfam, CAFOD, Christian Aid, ActionAid and Save the Children – published a joint press release warning that military action could trigger a major humanitarian disaster. “Military action against Iraq could devastate the lives of millions of people,” Oxfam director Barbara Stocking was quoted as saying. “The humanitarian situation in Iraq is now more fragile than it was on the eve of the 1991 Gulf War.”

The declaration also commented that under the Geneva Conventions it is against international humanitarian law for “any objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population” to be targeted during military action. In the case of Iraq, these objects include infrastructure such as ports, railways and roads vital for the distribution of food aid across the country as well, as the water and sanitation system, powered by the main electricity supply.

A report released by the New York-based Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) warned that the fragile Iraqi health care system, already badly damaged by 12 years of economic sanctions, is woefully inadequate to deal with the effects of a new war.

The report said that 92% of hospitals surveyed indicated they were lacking basic medical equipment. Shortages of medications, including antibiotics, already undermine routine care.
[Source: Zenit, via Ecclesia Report,text abridged]

For the Peace from above & for the

Salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord

An appeal to help a Russian parish feed the poor

(from Irina von Schlippe, director of the

St Gregory Foundation's St Petersburg Project)

Since 1990/1991, the St Gregory Foundation we have been supporting the Russian Orthodox parish of the Dormition of the Mother of God in the small town of Kondopoga, Karelia, near the Arctic Circle. It is quite exceptional because its main purpose, after worshipping God, is to serve those who need help. The parish is the main centre for social service in the area, working hand in hand with State social services (who are hemmed in by their own regulations) and complementing them in fundamental ways, showing great inventiveness and inexhaustible energy. We now need some regular support for one specific aspect of the work — that of providing a structure for feeding the local poor.

The background

The town has about 40 000 inhabitants and only one major employer, (the local paper mill). Only 6% of the people are local, the rest are multi-national descendants of those who have been arriving in huge waves since the 1920s as a result of Stalin's great movements of people: slave labour drives, collectivisation, mass deportations, transfer of "volunteers" from starving areas to "great building projects of Communism". Uprooted from their own place and unable to return "home" where no-one has a place for them, forced for decades to rely exclusively on the State, these people have great psychological difficulties settling. The collapse of the local industries since the fall of Communism created a rate of unemployment which for years hovered around 50 per cent. In the absence of State support, many people have simply given up.

Kondopoga town was founded in the 1920s to support the nascent paper mill and the local timber felling industry (worked mostly by slave labour). It never had a church. A nearby village gave its name to the town – it does have a church, a world-famous gem of wooden Russian architecture, built in the late 18 century. Its last vicar was shot in 1930 in a routine campaign aimed at destroying religion. Father Lev, the next vicar, came to Kondopoga exactly 60 years later, in December 1990, at the request of 20 people.

The current situation

Now, in 2003, core parishioners number over 800 people and many more are occasional worshippers, much too many to fit into the tiny church.

The parish house (the former administrative centre of the timber felling industry, donated to the Church by its post-Communist owners) is the main social centre for the parish, and also the main centre for rehabilitation of both adults and children, the place where up to 100 people are fed every day, the place where up to 150 children are given instruction, love, care and attention as well as clothes, footwear and good company, the place where vagrants are offered an address and assistance for their difficult negotiations with officialdom (about 40 currently), where adults looking for practical as well as spiritual salvation may be offered not only advice, but also a job.

Rehabilitation

The rehabilitation of children started on the first day of the life of the parish. Children are the first concern of Father Lev, Mother Julia and the parish. Not only the Sunday school children of families who are regular worshippers, but primarily the other 70% of Sunday school children – those whose parents the parish never sees, the children who come because their parents are not able to look after them (some unemployed and broke, some drunk and broke, some drugged, some simply destitute, some simply desperate). These are offered clothes and footwear (humanitarian aid, mostly provided from the UK) and food, but mostly they are offered love, care, instruction, a chance to be loved and cared for. Thus these children, semi-abandoned by their parents, integrate into the community. The Sunday school, the excursions, camps and hikes organised by the parish create a firm group of secure and spiritually stable individuals, the basis of a future society of healthy and self-reliant adults.

Work for adults:

The rehabilitation of adults is a more difficult process, but even so, over 50 people have been helped out of the abyss to become responsible, stable citizens with jobs, families and homes of their own. This was made possible primarily by offering a religious life to them, but also by offering them a job and an income which was dependent on their own performance.

Job creation:

The parish runs a sawmill and a carpentry workshop, and although these may not be the most cost-efficient enterprises in the world, they produce a very high percentage of rehabilitated personnel: reformed alcoholics and drug addicts, disabled people, vagrants and other types of homeless people are helped to regain a place in society by work.

Farming

Thanks to British help, a small-scale farming activity has been undertaken and this provides many small jobs. Two cows and two heifers are served by two full-time people, a rabbit farm, a poultry farm, four pigs, two potato fields, two hothouses and a large vegetable garden provide endless employment to quite a few people. Over 5 years, care of the animals alone has fully rehabilitated 4 women.

The parish house has about 20 rooms, including 2 libraries, a video library, a music library (sheet music, CDs, LPs), a winter playroom for children, an indoor sports room, offices, the vicar's flat, a "luxury suite" for 1 visitor and very basic accommodation for 6 permanent workers who have nowhere else to go the icon-painting workshop (a sewing workshop is planned). Up to 20 visitors can stay in make-shift places (includes people restoring the ancient church). Last but not least are the communal dining room and the kitchen with attendant storage: this is where about 30 people working in the parish permanently eat every day; where their meals and those for about 70 more are cooked.

About 100 people are fed by the parish every day: the permanent workers (3 priests, the icon painters, all carpenters, all timber processing workers, all office workers, the choirmaster, the kitchen staff) and some non-permanent and non-resident people: the old and infirm who get their food delivered to them; up to 70 of the most destitute inhabitants of Kondopoga who come to collect their only hot meal of the day. (In summer, 20 to 30 children who would starve in the absence of free school meals join them and receive not only food but a whole programme of instruction and games).

Of course, Christmas, Easter, the Patronal feast of the parish and 2 other occasions unite the people of God in a communal festive meal to which everyone contributes, but where the core is still provided by the parish kitchen.

Since this costs much more money than the parish can hope to earn, it relies on its farming/gardening activities to provide the eggs, meat and vegetables needed to feed its own workers (who earn very little) and God's poor. We from Britain have provided aid for the farming programme and are delighted with the results, but now, 5 years after the start of this., we must try and help the parish in a different way: we must find a way to provide some money to create a firm structure of staff so that the work carries on.

Our needs now are first and foremost for personnel to ensure structure:

As I see it, having been involved from the very start, we need at least 5 people permanently employed in specific areas to ensure that the life of Parish house carries on, that the people are fed and the destitute looked after:

A housekeeper;

A cook;

A yardsman;

A gardener;

A mechanic.

These people need to be permanent and for this they need to receive at least SOME guaranteed income, which we assess at the moment at £30 a month each – yes, only thirty pounds, as these are Christian volunteers who just need to survive, who do not aim at participating in the consumer society. We have actually found such people, who want to serve God through serving their neighbour, but even they cannot live on love and air alone.

The housekeeper is responsible for just about everything indoors, including the linen, the use of the washing machine, the accommodation of visitors… we have worked out a terrifyingly long list of her duties. Ludmila Nikolaievna is already doing this job, but she really does need some financing.

A cook. Seven days every week, up to 100 people need to be fed and this needs one person to be the head of the operation. However many volunteers the cook might get, the time has arrived when a permanent paid person is essential. Another Ludmila is serving here and finding the going very tough.

The parish house has a territory of about 3 acres. Much of it is occupied by buildings (parish house itself, the carpentry workshop and attendant storage, a chapel, the cowsheds, hay store, tool shed), some by parish centre features (children's playground, sports ground, pleasure garden with benches, summer dining area), some by the vegetable farming (2 hothouses, cottage garden, herb garden, soft fruit garden).

The duties of the yardsman should be the maintenance of the fencing (much theft takes place); the safety and maintenance of all buildings, of the sports, gardening and animal husbandry equipment, of all recreational activities' equipment, the provision and safekeeping of the soil essential for the farming activities (all soil has to be bought and imported as the parish house stands on an outcrop of rock); provision and maintenance of lighting and security of the territory; the safekeeping of everything stored on site (hay, timber, vegetables); and keeping the yard clean and tidy.

A gardener would run the kitchen garden, soft fruit garden (NB: apples and other fruit trees do not grow in this very harsh climate) from A to Z; organises the gathering of berries, wild herbs and fungi; organises all processing and storage of the produce. A gardener must also make sure that the soil is available, fertile and properly retained (the parish house territory is on a steep incline), and well-watered.

The parish owns a tractor with all appendages, a minibus, a car (all donated) and a lorry. The duties of the mechanic are to make sure that these (and any other) vehicles are maintained and roadworthy at all times; that the garage(s) and tools are in good order.

The mechanic is also in charge of maintaining all workshop equipment, of ensuring the steady supply of oil and other consumables for the workshops, also of bottled gas for the kitchen. The mechanic is responsible for ensuring that all papers for the vehicles are in order, including MOT certificates and insurance. The mechanic arranges for replacement transport if need be and for all parish travel (e.g. pilgrimages, groups of guests, children's camps).

The very idea of people receiving salaries of £30 per month looks appalling to our Western eyes, but in fact in the conditions prevailing in Kondopoga this are enough to give some support and thus enable people to survive. In that particular community, survival is the obvious aim; they are not part of the consumer society. Once physical survival is ensured, the people can devote their time and energies to serving God through serving His community – and thus survival becomes true life.

If there are any readers who would like to contribute to this worthy cause, they can get into contact with the Foundation's Treasurer, George Guest at 32 Wood Rise, Pinner, Middlesex HA5 2JE. Tel: 01895 635595

Irina von Schlippe,

St Gregory's Foundation, Director, St Petersburg programme

Pilgrimage to Greece

The Anglican and Eastern Churches Association is organising a pilgrimage to mainland Greece and Patmos to take place from 6-17 October 2003. The pilgrimage will be led by Bishop Michael Manktelow and Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia, who is himself a monk of the Monastery of St John on Patmos. On the mainland the pilgrimage group will visit Athens, Delphi, Thebes, Oroupos and Hosios Loukas. The cost of the pilgrimage is £830, to include flights, other travel, hotel accommodation and most meals. For further details, contact the Pilgrimage Secretary, The Revd. D.W. Bond, 6 Denton Close, MAIDSTONE, Kent ME15 8ER, Tel. 01622 202239, Fax. 01622 205149, or e-mail dwbond@blueyonder.co.uk

From The Treasurer

In common with every other charity dependent on investments for income and for maintaining their work, The Fellowship is having to cut its coat according to the present state of the cloth due to the volatility of the stock markets world wide. We will have to restrict expenditure in the coming year. This will mean fewer and smaller grants and a strict control of our cash-flow. Please HELP BY REMITTING MEMBERSHIP FEES PROMPTLY AND IF POSSIBLE BY WAY OF BANKERS' ORDER OR ON-LINE AT www.sobornost.org .

Ivo Morshead. ( treasurer@sobornost.org )

Pilgrimage to St Albans

The annual Fellowship pilgrimage to the shrine of St Alban within St Albans Abbey will take place on SATURDAY 28 th JUNE . The programme for the day will be as follows:

As usual, there will be a stall selling Fellowship publications and other books. Please come along and pray with us at this important event in the spiritual life of the Fellowship, which is also a good time to meet old friends and make new ones.

Pay your Membership Subs On-Line at Sobornost.org

Members are reminded that it is possible to renew your subscription and order fellowship publications on line. Payment may be made by credit card, using the on-line card payment facility at the Fellowship, website, to be found at www.sobornost.org

To pay your subscription this way, simply click on the link for existing members wishing to renew their subscription when you reach our home page. Proceed to follow the instructions and fill out the on-line payment forms and your payment will be processed instantly.

The Fellowship site is worth looking at as it has recently been updated to provide news, information, an information request form and a selection of useful links.

Fellowship Newsletter no. 50: July 2002

Fellowship Newsletter no. 49: January 2002