Readers service at Klipfontein View
Val and I left at 7:45 for the Obednitsa at Margaret Mphela's house in Klipfontein View. We had printed a couple more copies of the service, and bound them in filers. As we were leaving we phoned Angellos (Joel) Mokau to see if he was waiting at Eddie's Spares in town to meet us. But he wasn't, he wouldn't be coming. So we were too early, but that was just as well, because when we stopped to fill up with petrol at the Shell UltraCity on the freeway, there were nails in two of the tyres. They repaied one on the spot, but it took about fifteen minutes.
But we arrived at St Thomas's Serbian Orthodox Church at 8:45 as promised. Father Panteleijmon hasn't yet got his hair into his monkish ponytail, and looks like Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies. We cillected some ikons and a small hand censer at the church, and Brother Matthew now drove Fr Pantelejmon, and the followed us to Klipfontein View. We drove up the hill to the Mhelas' house, and squeezed into the tine living room. There were the four of us, Margaret Mphela and her three children, Her neighbour Joyce and her daughter Sophie (who has often come to church with Margaret's children). Joyce's sister's child (who is also Sophie. And another neighbour, a Zionist lady. Joyce was crippled by a stroke a couple of yearts ago. She's in her thirties, and her daughter Sophie is about 6.
Having ascertained that they all spoke North Sotho, we belted out the Hours and Obednitsa, with Margaret doing most of the readers bits. Fr Pantelejmon followed the English, then looked over my shoulder, and began singing along. But the Third Antiphon (the Beatitudes) he'd got the hang of it. I was gobsmacked. I couldn't do it in Serbian, or Slavonic, not even if they used the music I know. At the end, he expressed a concern that it was a bit long, for people who are not used to Orthodox worship. I said it usually takes about an hour.
We sang "Many years" for Margaret, since it was her birthday. She is 35 today. Val and I gave her a present, "The feast of faith" by the Archbishop of Finland. She can read it to prepare for baptism. I said to Father Pantelejmon that now he knew what we had been doing in his church while he had been away. Fr Paqntelejmon was keen to come with us again in a fortnight's time. He said he found it very interesting wortking with South Africans like Val and me and Margaret and Brother Matthew.
Margaret came back to Pretoria with us. Her niece Theodora (Johannah) had given birth to a baby boy during the week, and she was going to see the baby. She had also heard that Bertha Motshwane, the principal of the school where we used to worship at Tembisa, had been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, apparently for foreign currency dealing. It seemed a very severe sentence. Was she engaged in money lanundering or something like that. Well, we'll see if there's a possibility of starting again at Klipfontein View.
But we arrived at St Thomas's Serbian Orthodox Church at 8:45 as promised. Father Panteleijmon hasn't yet got his hair into his monkish ponytail, and looks like Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies. We cillected some ikons and a small hand censer at the church, and Brother Matthew now drove Fr Pantelejmon, and the followed us to Klipfontein View. We drove up the hill to the Mhelas' house, and squeezed into the tine living room. There were the four of us, Margaret Mphela and her three children, Her neighbour Joyce and her daughter Sophie (who has often come to church with Margaret's children). Joyce's sister's child (who is also Sophie. And another neighbour, a Zionist lady. Joyce was crippled by a stroke a couple of yearts ago. She's in her thirties, and her daughter Sophie is about 6.
Having ascertained that they all spoke North Sotho, we belted out the Hours and Obednitsa, with Margaret doing most of the readers bits. Fr Pantelejmon followed the English, then looked over my shoulder, and began singing along. But the Third Antiphon (the Beatitudes) he'd got the hang of it. I was gobsmacked. I couldn't do it in Serbian, or Slavonic, not even if they used the music I know. At the end, he expressed a concern that it was a bit long, for people who are not used to Orthodox worship. I said it usually takes about an hour.
We sang "Many years" for Margaret, since it was her birthday. She is 35 today. Val and I gave her a present, "The feast of faith" by the Archbishop of Finland. She can read it to prepare for baptism. I said to Father Pantelejmon that now he knew what we had been doing in his church while he had been away. Fr Paqntelejmon was keen to come with us again in a fortnight's time. He said he found it very interesting wortking with South Africans like Val and me and Margaret and Brother Matthew.
Margaret came back to Pretoria with us. Her niece Theodora (Johannah) had given birth to a baby boy during the week, and she was going to see the baby. She had also heard that Bertha Motshwane, the principal of the school where we used to worship at Tembisa, had been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, apparently for foreign currency dealing. It seemed a very severe sentence. Was she engaged in money lanundering or something like that. Well, we'll see if there's a possibility of starting again at Klipfontein View.