At the Divine Liturgy, on January 29th, Sunday of the Canaanite woman, His Eminence Silouan, Metropolitan of British Isles and Ireland, ordained our Father Deacon Boniface to the priesthood.
He is worthy – Axios – Mustahek!
It was a beautiful service, filled with prayer and love. Many faithful from our cathedral and other churches attended, some coming from other parts of the UK and even from abroad! A particular joy was to have Father Alexander Tefft and many people from the parish of St. Botolph (the church of our Archdiocese in London) joining us on this day.
In his homily, on the occasion of the ordination, Metropolitan Silouan spoke of the main duty of a priest: “go to Heaven and bring with you the faithful who God entrusted to you”. His Eminence explained the importance of the priesthood and instructed Father Boniface on how he should approach his ministry. There are three levels to it. Firstly, with respect to himself, he should not rely on whatever certificates, education, and other earthy achievements he has, but on Christ. The priest must pure himself from any passion and be a good server to God. Secondly, he should love his family. If one cannot love his family, how can he love other people? The priest should be a good father and husband. Finally, he should treat his parishioners – the people God entrusted to him – with love and humility. Father Boniface should always remember that faithful, the Church, is the Body of Christ. Therefore, in serving God, he must serve His people – the parishioners. He must take care of them and administer diligently all the Mysteries of the Holy Orthodox Church that, through the Grace of the Holy Spirit, he was ordained to do. In the end, His Eminence emphasized that this relationship of love should not go in one direction but be mutual. We – the parishioners – must love, obey and take care of our newly ordained priest!
Following the Divine Liturgy, people were invited to a festive lunch at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel. The guests were treated to various nibbles, main courses and sweets. At the end of the lunch, after the singing of Apolytikion to Saint Boniface (patron saint of Fr. Boniface), Father Boniface cut the special cake which was made to celebrate the joyous occasion of his ordination. The food and fellowship were lovely. Many people from our parish helped to prepare food and organize this lunch. We thank them for their hard effort and love – May God bless you! We also thank the lovely staff of the Millennium Gloucester Hotel for allowing us to host the lunch at their place and help during the event.
We pray and wish our Father Boniface many healthy years in service to God and His people!
