On the 8th Sunday after Pentecost the Lebanese community in Wellington had its first liturgy under the auspices of the Antiochian Orthodox Church. The service was held at the Anglican church of S. Barnabas, in Roseneath, Wellington.

  Over forty people attended the service, including a number of children, the youngest of whom was only a few months old.  Father Jack Witbrock was the officiating priest.  Several Orthodox people of other jurisdictions were present including two priests, Father Theodor and Father Ambrose (who had volunteered to come to give Father Jack some moral support).

  About ten members of the community had met several times prior to the liturgy to practice the Choral responses.  A tape had been kindly supplied by Father Nabil in Melbourne and this had helped them in their study of the liturgy. There had been one practice with Father Jack the previous
afternoon.  The service flowed smoothly despite the problems which could have occurred with the responses being in Arabic and the priest's parts being in English.  The singing sounded just as good as a regular choir rather than a small group on its first public appearance.

 The priest in charge at S. Barnabas has offered the church for as long as it is needed by the Lebanese community.  Father Jack has also inquired of an Anglican church within 5-10 minutes walk for many members of the community.  It is expected that he will know whether or not it will be
available for the next service which will be held on the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, the 10th of September at 1pm.

 I have been promised a month or two's notice of the operation so that we do not buy air tickets that cannot be used. Please watch  our site for any changes in schedules that may be necessary.

 My unbelief doesn't mean that I could do without churches. As the slow queue shuffles up to the altar rails, Paul Nicolson says, "You will  be as much loved here whether or not you take Communion." Whether that's true or not, I feel completely at home in this church at Christmas. Even as an unbeliever, I am part of a Christian civilization. Perhaps it's in its declining years, but Christianity has been responsible for me. The poetry I value, the art that is important to me, have existed in a Christian framework and can't be understood without reference to Christian beliefs, even when they are rejected or used as a cvoer for more ancient and pagan celebrations. The politics I have adopted come from the Sermon on the Mount by way of Victorian Christian Socialists and the preachers in Welsh chapels. For this reason, if for no other, Christianity has to be treasured and learnt; without it we wouldn't understand Shakespeare or Milton. Without the Bible, in the form it took before the new translation wrecked it, spoken English is reduced to the meaningless waffle now heard in the law courts and the Houses of Parliament.

 I was reminded to fish out the above  by a bit of dialogue in the P.D.James mystery that finished recently. Inspector Dalgiesh said something like this to one of the characters:

 When I lost my faith, my father, who was a parson, told me, " Don't worry that you can't believe. Go on acting  as if you do. Keep on with the actions, keep on saying the words."

 This is not, of course, intended as a recommendation of unbelief; but rather as a reminder that the Faith is stronger in our midst than we are sometimes tempted to fear.

 Several e-mail messages have brought us the news of the death of Dr Raymond Winch, of Oxford, England. The date of death is not yet clear but apparently the funeral was held on Monday, October 23. Fr Jack said a Requiem Mass that day.

 Fr Jack first contacted Dr Winch in 1987 after being sent copies of the Prospectus and first Journal of the Gregorian Club. Some letters later Fr Jack was invited to join the committee and enjoyed correspondence with Dr Winch, Stephen Coombs, and others of the committee. The last letter from Dr Winch was some 5 years ago, and Fr Jack was trying to make contact again when the news of his death arrived. The work of Dr Winch in establishing the canonical legitimacy of the Roman Rite for the English Orthodox was of great encouragement at a time when many Orthodox were trying to promote the notion that our sacred Western Orthodox tradition was some sort of contagious disease....

We reproduce 2 of the messages:

Subject: [occidentalis] Dr Raymond Winch R.I.P.
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 17:10:25 EDT
From: dombedos@aol.com
Reply-To: occidentalis@egroups.com
To: occidentalis@egroups.com

Dear Clergy and Faithful of the Holy Orthodox Church,
                                                                                    I have sad news to announce: the passing of Dr Ray Winch, a personal friend, and a familiar figure in the libraries and academic circles of Oxford, England. He founded the Gregorian Club in the 1980's with similar aspirations to those of Overbeck. He was a convert to Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism in the late 1950's. I think he can be considered, in his own way, as one of the founding fathers of Western Rite Orthodoxy.

 He became disillusioned with the unwillingness of Orthodoxy to revive what was Orthodox in medieval Latin Catholicism. He attended the Byzantine Liturgy for many years, but with an increasing awareness that he was not in his own liturgical culture. He attended a few Roman Catholic Masses celebrated in the Tridentine rite, but he found little of the medieval tradition he was seeking. Finally, he lost hope, but continued to recite the Monastic Office at home and to give himself to research and writing. Perhaps someone will sort out his papers and publish something.

 Until about a month ago, he was still researching at the Bodlian Library into English church antiquities and ordinary parish life in the 14th and 15th centuries - and their similarity to the spirit of Orthodoxy. He had been in poor health for several years, and he lately went downhill rapidly, dying of a heart attack and stroke. He was in his late 70's. The funeral will be next Monday.

 Please remember him in your prayers and in the Liturgy.

 Kindest regards,
+Anthony Chadwick
(2)
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 21:35:06 -0000
From: hfrcuthbert@hotmail.com
Subject: Dr. Winch.

Dear Group,
                   I too had the honor of "meeting" Raymond Winch via several letters exchanged during the early to mid '80s. His letters were a treasure trove of WR information and were written in the most minuscule cursive script I think I have ever seen. Not one inch of the paper was left without writing. I would take the letters to a friend and we would pore over them, using a large magnifying glass, in order to decipher the fabulous--though hard to read ---script. Those of you that ever received a letter from Dr. Winch know what I mean.

  He and another gentleman named Stephen Combs used to be part of something called the "Gregorian Club", which also published a fine newsletter from time to time. I still consult my back issues occasionally. I regret I never met Raymond Winch in person. He was a member of that rapidly vanishing generation of Western Rite pioneers, many of whom were dismissed in their own times as "eccentrics" for their efforts at recovering Orthodoxy's Western Liturgical heritage. I dare say that the ceremonies of Old Sarum appear as nothing more than a dull reflection in a dusty mirror compared to the Glorious Grandeur of the Liturgy that I trust Dr. Winch is now attending.

May he rest in Peace.
In XC, Fr. Cuthbert.