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About Fr Philip ...Fr Philip was born in Kenya in 1959 and came to live in Britain when he was four years old. When he was eight he was taken with his family to live in a small town in Afghanistan. Here he was able to indulge his growing interests in natural history having lots of "creepy crawlies" in boxes in his bedroom. On one occasion he remembers losing a number of scorpions from a tank which were gradually winkled from their hiding places around the house. Aged eleven he was sent to a boarding school in the British Midlands. Thankfully some excellent teachers enabled him to continue his interests with the result that his study was full to the brim with the pelts, skeletons and preserved parts of various animals, dozens of plants and a number of tanks of insects. The smell was entirely beyond description! About this time the school had a series of talks given by a young evangelical minister. Philip was most interested in the minister’s enthusiasm and that this enthusiasm had led him to be very poor. However what the man had to say did not seem to make sense; much of what was said seemed to be rather bad news. He decided to look into the matter for himself. Eventually he hit upon the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark. He had read this several times before in preparing for exams but this time there was an element of excitement which became ever more intense as chapter succeeded chapter. Jesus is the Son of God. He is the God-man. No wonder the myrrh bearing women ran away from the tomb, beside themselves in terror, saying nothing to anyone, because... Philip first heard of the Orthodox Church over breakfast one Sunday before School Chapel. The night before a group calling themselves the "Culture Vultures" had been to St. Lazar’s Church in Birmingham for Vespers. They spoke about incense, vestments, icons and beautiful music which had moved them all profoundly. Philip remembers thinking "How strange that no one has told me of this before." Later whilst reading for a degree in ecology the local Anglican parish priest (with whose family he was lodged) showed him a picture of a group of Orthodox Bishops meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury. Whilst he looked at all these long beards the priest told him the astonishing news that the Orthodox Church believed in the original creed. Upon graduation Philip spent sixteen months in Mogadiscio, Somalia and Mapanza, Zambia, snorkelling, sailing, reading, learning New Testament Greek, wandering through the high veldt, growing vegetables and coping with the terrible famine which was afflicting Zambia at that time. En route to Lusaka he stayed for a few days with friends in Nairobi. Out walking one afternoon he came across a beautiful building. It was surmounted with domes and crosses and surrounded with trees. He pushed at the door. Locked. He sat on the steps and watched as a tiny ant climbed the last rise and entered under the door. In the dappled sunshine he knew then that one day he too would be Orthodox. Returning to Britain, Philip entered an Anglican Seminary at Cuddesdon near Oxford for three years. Pascha came and he joined some other students at the church in Oxford. This was the first Liturgy he had attended. Later he could remember an intense stillness, feeling relaxed, the words wafting over him, the breathless excitement of the "Christ is risen!" "He is risen indeed!" and "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!" The day for ordination arrived and he became a curate in Kenton, near Harrow. This Anglican parish was entirely Roman Catholic in its expression! The people who came to Church and the other clergy were wonderfully loving, kind, thoughtful and faithful people who looked after their new curate with great care. Fr. Richard Brown encouraged his juniors to develop their skills and was always tolerant of mistakes. Generous, fun loving, wonderful company, thoughtful and staggeringly well read, Fr. Brown would be on his knees for Matins and Vespers well before time every day. Fr. Brown died in office of a brain tumour some years ago whilst still a young man. The senior curate, Fr. Richard Andrew, was also a very special priest. His humour, compassion and love for those in his care, his teaching skills and gentleness, his hours spent in prayer and the deep seriousness with which he celebrated the Mass meant that he was deeply loved. Fr. Andrew is now a Roman Catholic priest at Westminster Cathedral. After three busy and joyful years "Fr. Hall" went to Exeter to be the Bishop of Exeter’s Chaplain and Chaplain for Vocations (helping those who felt that they were being called to the Anglican ordained ministry). Living in a cottage in the grounds of the Episcopal Palace, having some of the most beautiful surroundings in Europe about him, being loved almost as a son by the Bishop and doing two fascinating and highly rewarding jobs meant that he could hardly have been more happy. A year slipped by and August came. In August the Bishop went on holiday and potential ordinands soaked up the sun and forgot to think about their vocations. This meant that there was almost nothing to do after opening the Bishop’s post each day. Thinking time... ... ... the dappled sun playing on the walls of the bathroom told him that the time had come to try to find a way to become Orthodox. In no time an English priest was revealed and some time later a teaching job became available in Birmingham. Within months he was living in one of the most run down areas of Birmingham suffering regular burglaries (before long the house simply got turned over and nothing taken!). Another Pascha arrived and with a candle in his hand he found himself being Chrismated with the name Edmund after the original Patron of England, the King and Martyr. Orthodox! The glory of the Orthodox Church is that it is ordinary every day Christianity with nothing added and nothing taken away. There is so much to learn; it is in truth the store of the man who opens the doors to take out treasures both new and old. Those treasures never seem to diminish; there are lifetimes of things to discover and make ones own. Moreover there are so many ways in which God can be served. The life on an Orthodox lay person is potentially so interesting and exciting, so full of surprise and the miraculous that the newly enlightened can experience several lifetimes of new and wonderful things. Edmund, as he then was known, began a new journey which has currently led to him being ordained priest by His Grace Bishop GABRIEL of Palmyra for the Community of St. Aethelheard in Lincolnshire. At his ordination he was given the name Philip after the Apostle. Currently as well as being the Parish Priest he teaches full time at a State Comprehensive School. This is an 11 - 18 years mixed sex school and he teaches science, history, geography and is head of religious education. In his spare time he eats, sleeps and irons his clothes! |
