ORTHODOX MISSION IN CANTERBURY:

THE SERVICES AT ASHLEY

Services in the Community Church
of S.Simon & S.Jude

(as they should be:)

Sundays  and Feasts:  9:45a.m. HOLY MASS

Daily Mass:  12:45 pm on ferias, 3.45 pm on fasts

Daily Hours:  6:30 am, 9:30 am, 12:30 pm,
3:30 pm, 6:30 pm, 9:30 pm

CALENDAR OBSERVED AT ASHLEY:
 Calendar for entire year
     For some years we have displayed the current month with the Sundays and Feasts and the time of Mass according to the  table above, taken from the General Rubrics. The fact is that failing health has caused these predictions to be falsified as often as not for some time now. I am leaving the table as a testimony to what ought to happen; but a more likely scenario for the foreseeable future on weekdays is as follows:
9.00 am: get up, say Matins, Prime, (Requiem if said) Terce. 9.45 am (Mass of a Feast of 9 Lessons) Sext, (Mass of a Feria  or Simple).
3.30 pm  None (Mass of a fast) Vespers.
9.30 pm Compline in the Rectory (now Deanery?)

With the need to take the car to church quite often, it makes sense to group the offices etc. into 2 groups, one around 9-10  and the other around 4. Various engagements also cause the times to be altered a bit.

But you can rely on the time of Sunday service, unless I am away, which rarely happens now. The Sunday Mass is currently as follows (see The Text of the Mass, below):


(9.00 am Fr Jack reads Matins, Prime, and the Prayers of Preparation. Then a small group of people sings the Third Hour, a hymn is sung, Holy Water is sprinkled, Mass is sung to Merbecke, with the English Gradual Propers, and the other traditional chants. The Roman canon is a beautiful thing, but too much silence makes some people nervous, so a suitable hymn is sung or classsical recordings of the Benedictus played while it is read. The Byzantine hymn "Receive me today" is sing at Communion, and lately we have had the Cherubimic hymn sung at the Offertory, or else English Hymns. Breakfast follows in the Rectory (now Deanery?)
 Fr Jack
The Western Rite:
 The Text of the Mass