01 October 2021

Praying in Ordinary Time 2021:
125, Saint George’s Church, Aghios Gheorghíou Street, Rethymnon

The tiny Church of Saint George is tucked in behind the houses in Aghios Gheorghíou Street and Pateálrou Street in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

The General Synod of the Church of Ireland continues today, and once again I am likely to find myself in front of a the screen of my laptop for the next two or three days taking part in ‘Zoom’ meetings.

But, before the day gets busy, I am taking a little time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading. Each morning in the time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, photographs of a church or place of worship;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

My theme for these few weeks is churches in Rethymnon on the island of Crete, where I spent two weeks in mid-September.

My photographs this morning (1 October 2021) are from the Church of Saint George, in a hidden corner of Rethymnon, off Patriárchou Grigroíou Street.

Inside the Church of Saint George, with its small, wooden iconostasis or icon screen (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Aghios Gheorghíou Street is an almost-hidden cul-de-sac off Patriárchou Grigroíou Street in the narrow streets and alleyways of the old town of Rethymnon.

Only a discreet sign indicates that at the end of the street, tucked into the right behind taller houses, is the tiny single-aisle Church of Saint George, squeezed in against the back of the houses on neighbouring Pateálrou Street.

This church was originally a monastic foundation. It is a single-aisle chapel with a wooden iconostasis or icon screen.

The house next door on Aghios Gheorghíou Street has recently assumed the name of ‘Bishop’s House,’ although it is unlikely that the Bishops of Rethymnon ever lived here.

Every town in Greece seems to have a church dedicated to Saint George. In Rethymnon, there is a modern Church of Saint George in Rethymnon, on Egeou Street in the eastern suburbs, behind the long sandy beach, and to the east there is a modern church dedicated to Saint George in Panormos, above the harbour and the beach.

Looking out into the churchyard and Aghios Gheorghíou Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Luke 10: 13-16 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 13 ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But at the judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven?
No, you will be brought down to Hades.
16 ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’

An icon of Saint George in the church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (1 October 2021) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for the development and renewal of friendships between USPG’s partner churches in the Global South.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

A window onto the world … a window on the north wall of the church overlooks a neighbouring garden (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The house beside the church is known as ‘Bishop’s House’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

October 2021 in the Rathkeale and
Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes

Harvest time in the fields beside the Rectory in Askeaton, Co Limerick … Sunday 3 and 10 October are being celebrated as Harvest Sundays (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

3 October 2021 (Trinity XVIII):

9.30 a.m.: The Harvest Eucharist, Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton

11.30 a.m.: Morning Prayer (Harvest), Saint Brendan’s Church, Tarbert

Readings: Joel 2: 21-27; Psalm 126; I Timothy 2: 1-7; Matthew 6: 25-33 (Harvest, Year B)

Hymns:

37: Come, ye thankful people, come (CD 3)
39: For the fruits of his creation (CD 3)
47: We plough the fields and scatter (CD 3)

10 October 2021 (Trinity XIX):

9.30 a.m.: The Harvest Eucharist, Castletown Church

11.30 a.m.: Morning Prayer (Harvest), Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale

(both services with the Revd Dr Leonard Madden, Dean’s Vicar, Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick; on this Sunday, Canon Patrick Comerford is preaching at the Cathedral Harvest).

Readings: Joel 2: 21-27; Psalm 126; I Timothy 2: 1-7; Matthew 6: 25-33 (Harvest, Year B)

Hymns:

37: Come, ye thankful people, come (CD 3)
43: Holy is the seed-time (CD 3)
47: We plough the fields and scatter (CD 3)

17 October 2021 (Trinity XX):

9.30 a.m.: Morning Prayer, Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton

11.30 a.m.: The Parish Eucharist, Saint Brendan’s Church, Tarbert

Readings: Job 38: 1-7 [34-41]; Psalm 104: 1-10, 26, 37c; Hebrews 5: 1-10; Mark 10: 35-45

Hymns:

34, O worship the King all-glorious above (CD 2)
366, Praise, my soul, the King of heaven (CD 22)
294, Come down, O Love divine (CD 18)

24 October 2021 (Fifth Sunday before Advent):

9.30 a.m.: Morning Prayer, Castletown Church

11.30 a.m.: Parish Eucharist, Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale

Readings: Job 42: 1-6, 10-17; Psalm 34: 1-8 (19-22); Hebrews 7: 23-28; Mark 10: 46-52

Hymns:

52, Christ, whose glory fills the skies (CD 4)
553, Jesu, lover of my soul (CD 32)
294, Come down, O Love divine (CD 18)

31 October (All Saints’ Day):

11 am.: Parish Eucharist (Joint Group Service for the Fifth Sunday of the Month), Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton.

Readings: Wisdom 3: 1-9 or Isaiah 25: 6-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21: 1-6a; John 11: 32-44

Hymns:

459, For all the saints, who from their labours rest (CD 27)
466, Here from all nations, all tongues, and all peoples (CD 27)
468, How shall I sing that majesty (CD supplied)

On Sunday 31 October, there is an afternoon farewell service for Bishop Kenneth Kearon in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (booking required).

Feast Days and Festivals in October:

11 October: Saint Philip the Deacon
18 October: Saint Luke the Evangelist
23 October: Saint James, Brother of the Lord
28 October: Saint Simon and Saint Jude

Christ the Pantocrator surrounded by the saints in the Dome of the Church of Analipsi in Georgioupoli, Crete … 31 October is being celebrated as All Saints’ Day (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)