« Patronal Festival celebrated in Blaenau Ffestiniog »
27-06-2022 
On June 26th, the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, the Patronal Festival was celebrated at the Church of All Saints of Wales in Blaenau Ffestiniog. The Divine Liturgy was celebrated by the Rector, Igumen Deiniol (Davies).
With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, Archpriest Joseph Skinner, Dean of South West England, concelebrated. As is the custom in this church, the Liturgy was celebrated in multiple languages, Welsh, Slavonic, English, Romanian and Greek. This reflects the genuinely pan-Orthodox character of the church, which is the single and common place of worship for Orthodox people of all nationalities in North Wales. This character is also witnessed by the numerous icons of saints of the most diverse times and lands that adorn the church, from ancient Welsh saints such as Dewi Sant (St David) to many new saints.
In his homily after the Liturgy, Fr Deiniol spoke of this unity in diversity of the saints, each of whom shared the character of his or her native land and people, but all of whom are united in their witness to Christ. Fr Joseph conveyed the greetings and blessing of Bishop Matthew to Fr Deiniol and the community and recalled the prophecy of St Arsenios of Paros to the effect that the Orthodox Church would grow in these lands as and when the Orthodox people here would begin to honour the ancient saints of these Isles. The celebration concluded with a time of fellowship for the worshippers, who ranged in age from 1 to 89.