St Kyrel Trust - Helping the poor help themselves

January Theophania service

The 25th January will hold a special service, uniting, for the first time, a number of churches with different backgrounds, to celebrate the Theophany of the Lord Jesus Christ. This vesper-like service, organised by St Kyrel Trust, will be held between 19:00 and 20:30 in the Greek Cathedral Agia Sophia, Moscow Road. It is an open door event.

The idea for this cross denominational, cross-cultural service was borne whilst an Egyptian Coptic deacon and singer worked with a Lebanese Maronite and sound engineer to edit the recording of a recent concert, the Anointed Servant – 2013. The Maronite so loved the Coptic hymns, which they were editing, and so the idea formed – why not put together an event in which one could enjoy the rich tradition of hymns of other churches?

The service will be made up of six parts focussing on different aspects of Theophania, which means shining of God, and generally refers to the manifestation of the Trinity in the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each part will be led by a choir from a different church – Armenian, Coptic, Greek, Maronite, Roman Catholic and Syrian in their traditional music and language, followed by a reading from the bible (in English). This service will be an opportunity for all to meditate on and enjoy the treasures of music and hymnology from these old civilizations.

The hope of this service is to be an annual event with different themes, and to be a small step in bringing unity to the Church. It was Christ’s prayer that all of us be one, as He is one in the Father (John 17:20-23); let us also have this as our prayer throughout the service.

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