« Pilgrimage to the Well of the Holy Martyr Oswald, King of Northumbria »

On August 17, 2024, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, an Orthodox pilgrimage to the spring of the Holy Martyr Oswald, King of Northumbria (c. 603 - 642) took place. The memory of the Saint of the undivided Church is celebrated on August 5, according to the Julian calendar, and on August 18, according to the Gregorian calendar.

Having arrived in Guiseley, a small town in the northwestern suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, the pilgrims celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the ancient Anglican church of St.  Oswald, the original construction of which dates back to 1150.

The divine service was celebrated by the Rector of the parishes of St. Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg in Leeds, of the Meeting of the Lord in Bradford, of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena in York, and of the Nativity of Christ in Kingston upon Hull, Priest Anatoly Vikhrov, assisted by Deacon Paul Wood, a cleric of the Church of St. Aidan and Chad in Nottingham.

The liturgical hymns were performed by the choir of the Intercession Church in Manchester.

During the Liturgy, the faithful from the parishes of the North English Deanery of the Diocese of Sourozh prayed and received the Holy Mysteries of Christ .

At the end of the divine service, priest Anatoly Vikhrov addressed the warden of St. Oswald's Church, Kevin Greenwood, expressing gratitude to the Rector, Father David Pickett, and the Anglican parish community for the opportunity to celebrate the Orthodox Liturgy and, on behalf of the pilgrims, presented an icon of All Saints of the Land of Britain and Ireland as a gift. 

Then the pilgrims made a procession to the nearby St. Oswald's Spring, where a water-blessing moleben was served, after which Father Anatoly sprinkled the worshipers with holy water and addressed those present with words of spiritual edification and gratitude for their participation in the pilgrimage. 

The communication between the clergy and parishioners continued over a common meal.

Saint Oswald, whose name means "God who rules" in Old German, was born around 603. He was the second of seven children of Æthelfrith, the Anglo-Saxon king of Bernicia and Deira, the two lands that later became Northumbria. Oswald's mother was Acha, of the royal line of Deira. Oswald himself was the brother of Saint Ebba and the nephew of Saint Æthelreda.

Oswald was eleven years old when his father was killed in battle, and the boy fled to the monastery of Iona, founded by Saint Columba, where he was baptized.

In 634, at the Battle of Havenfield, Oswald, having gathered a small army, defeated the Briton Cadwallon ap Cadfan, King of Gwynedd, and returned to the throne.  Before the battle he erected a wooden cross, before which he prayed for a long time. The life of Saint Columba by Adomnán also tells us the story of King Oswald himself, who had a vision of Saint Columba the night before the battle, in which the Saint told the king:

Be strong and courageous. Behold, I will be with you. This night set out from your camp to battle, for the Lord has granted me that your enemies will flee and Cadwallon, your enemy, will be delivered into your hands and the victory in battle will be yours and you will rule happily.

Oswald revealed his vision at a war council and his companions agreed to accept holy baptism after the battle. Thus the Britons finally submitted to the Anglo-Saxons, Oswald became King of Northumbria and also ruled the Britons, Picts and Scots, and the Orthodox faith spread among all the peoples of the British Isles.

Oswald invited Scottish monks and Saint Aidan to his lands to instruct them in the Christian faith. The Lindisfarne monastery, founded by King Oswald and Saint Aidan around 635, became the spiritual center. In Aidan's evangelistic exploits, King Oswald served the Celtic Saint as his translator into English.

After his marriage with Kyneburga, daughter of King Cynegils of Wessex, the Holy King persuaded the latter to receive Saint Birinus and give him an opportunity to preach.

According to Venerable Bede, the king himself, having received instructions from Birinus, was cleansed of sins in the waters of baptism together with all his people. It happened that Oswald, the most holy and victorious king of the Northumbrians, was present and stood godfather to the king. Indeed, their friendship was pleasing to God; this man, whose daughter Oswald later took to wife, was that day, after a new birth and conversion to Christ, called by him his son. Both kings gave the bishop the city of Dorchester for his residence.

By his victories, Oswald won for himself the recognition of the king of all the Saxons in England.  Adomnan speaks of him as "God's chosen emperor of all Britain" and the eight years of his reign went down in the history of England at that time as a rare time of almost complete unification.

According to legend, Oswald was distinguished by great mercy. Thus, one Easter, when during a dinner party he was told that the poor were begging for alms at the gate, he ordered all the food to be brought out to them and broke a silver plate in order to distribute its parts to the poor. Then Saint Aidan took the king by the right hand and exclaimed: "May your right hand be incorruptible forever!" Aidan's prediction came true: King Oswald's right hand has not been touched by decay at all to this day.

Saint Oswald fell in battle with the Mercians under King Penda near Matherfelt on August 5, 642, at the age of 38.  According to Bede, Penda ordered Oswald's head and hands to be cut off and displayed on a pole (possibly in reference to some pagan ritual). The rest of the body was buried at Motherfelt. The following year, Oswald's brother and successor, King Oswiu, came to the site of the battle with an army and took the head (which was buried in Lindisfarne Monastery) and the hands of Oswald (which in Bede's time were kept in Bebbanburg). Oswald's head was subsequently moved to Durham Cathedral, where St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne was later buried. The remaining relics were moved to Bardney Monastery in Lindsey. Later, Offa, King of Mercia (757-796), ordered Oswald's tomb at Bardney to be decorated with gold, silver and precious stones.  After the Viking raid and the destruction of the monastery, the relics were reburied in Gloucester.

The veneration of King Oswald began immediately after his death, and numerous cases of miraculous healings are known, which continue to this day. The Venerable Bede wrote in his book: "No one should be surprised that the Holy King Oswald can perform miracles of healing, for he now abides in the heavenly abode. And he was honoured with this because during his earthly life he always helped the poor and weak and fed the needy. Now, for his mercy, he is honoured with eternal glory together with the Lord Almighty in heaven."

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