Paraclete (Latin. paracletus) means advocate and helper. At Pentecost, seven weeks, or fifty [...]]]> ‘He first formed her in his inner chambers in quiet and in silence; but when she was needed, then was she called and came forth from the father of greatness; she looked after all the aeons of the light.’ ~ Kephalaia of the Paraclete

Paraclete (Latin. paracletus) means advocate and helper. At Pentecost, seven weeks, or fifty days after Easter, orthodox tradition holds that the reception of the holy breath of God, the paraclete, by the Apostles of the New Testament took place, with resultant blinding fire often depicted above the disciples heads, in images and icons.

With heads and hearts thus alight and aflame, the Christian tradition recounts that the disciples found they could do naught but share, each in their own way, the inner gnosis which was birthed within them, at this incredible meeting point, of spirit, soul and flesh.

Pentecost marks a half-way cycle point in the liturgical calendar, a vital descent of the feminine essence of Sophia, celebrated in the Feast of Mary Magdalene, the Assumption and the return of Bath Qol, the holy dove, in the next coming months.

Please come and join us for Contemplative Liturgy, on Sunday 12th June at the Unitarian Chapel in Francis St Darlinghurst, to revel in silence in community, where we might richly engage with the intertwining of the descent of the feminine with the ascending of the masculine just marked, in Ascension Sunday.

Service ~ 6:30pm Contemplative Eucharist

The service will be the Contemplative Liturgy, celebrated and written by Reverend Tim Mansfield. The service alternates engagement and stillness, provoking a meditative attitude and the cultivation of deeper perceptions. The service features prayer and contemplative practice, including a period of silent meditation, as well as sharing of the Body and the Blood, in the form of bread and wine.

We follow the service with some conversation, hot drinks and snacks. Please come along and join the discussions, sharing in fellowship and hospitality.

Trish Nowland

This Easter I thought I’d give you something to consider that might give a different flavour to Holy Week. In the Gospel of John, the journey of Jesus and his beloved friends together displays an increasing flavour of intimacy from [...]]]> Welcome to…

Easter

… is it all about bunnies and chocolate eggs or is it about the redemptive sacrifice of Christ?

This Easter I thought I’d give you something to consider that might give a
different flavour to Holy Week. In the Gospel of John, the journey of
Jesus and his beloved friends together displays an increasing flavour
of intimacy from when he first meets them and they begin travelling and
learning together. You get the sense, I think, that one by one, as the
relationships between them get more intimate, they begin to know, to
recognise who it is that has come amongst them. Jesus himself admits
his own identity, he tells us he is the Son of his Divine Father.

But in the week they enter Jerusalem, this week, he does a series of
remarkable things – he suggests to his disciples that they could enter
into the very same intimate, familial relationship with the Divine that
he has. In fact, at their final meal together on Thursday before his
arrest that evening, he welcomes each of them into his Father’s
household by washing their feet – acting not as the master of the
house, but as a servant. At the foot of the cross, on Good Friday he
gives his most Beloved Disciple (who is the exemplar for the community
of what discipleship truly is) to Mary as her son and Mary to him as
his mother.

Finally, having promised the coming of a spirit of great comfort who
will dwell among them (and within them), just as the Shekhinah – the
Presence of the Divine – dwelt in the Temple, he bows his head and
gives over his spirit. This great work draws his beloved friends into
this divine loving relationship. Some traditions have the Gospel of
John ending right there, with no mystery of the resurrection, no
post-resurrection teaching and no ascension story. I think when you see
the scope of what Jesus accomplishes at the moment of his death, you
could easily see why the rest of the Gospel could be just a kind of
tidying up.

From this perspective (and this is not, I stress, a mainstream
perspective) the great Mystery of Easter, is not about death and
resurrection (as beautiful as those themes are) and not about a
sacrifice of the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. The
Mystery of Easter is the formation of a great, rambling, loving
household of brothers and sisters who dwell in God as God dwells in
them. That household continues to this day, you are a part of it and
Easter is a sacred call to recognise – just as the disciples recognised
– who it is that has come amongst you.

So, this Easter, the big thing our little parish is doing is a great,
big, rambling meal. We’re holding an Agape Feast at my house this
Thursday. I will welcome everyone by washing your feet. We’ll join
together in prayer and in sharing a cup and some bread as a part of a
meal. We’re asking everyone to bring some food to share. There will
good conversations, much merry-making and maybe even some drinking, who
knows?

Please join us! Come and step into the parish household for a night and
experience some Johannite hospitality. Meet us, let us meet you and
open your Easter weekend with warmth and good company. Details at the
bottom of this email.

If you can’t make it along, please accept my humble blessings on this
most holy season. Holy week has a very strong, sacred energy wound into
it, so no matter what you’re doing, please make some time each day for
quiet and let your soul unwind into the transformative potential of
Easter.

With love,
Father Tim+

Born in Alexandria, Mary leaves home very young, and finds a life fulfilled in insatiable passion, exchanging sexual favours and spinning [...]]]> Venerated as Passion Sunday in the Old Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, the fifth Sunday in Lent is set aside in those traditions for the presentation of Mary of Egypt (344 – 421), prostitute and saint.

Born in Alexandria, Mary leaves home very young, and finds a life fulfilled in insatiable passion, exchanging sexual favours and spinning flax, to keep herself. One day, entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, she hears a voice that instructs her to cross the river Jordan, and receive peace. Thus she goes to the monastery of St John the Baptist, and is received into the river.

Upon baptism, she renounces her earlier life of great passion, and becomes a wild-woman hermit, entering the vast desert wilderness. Meeting Zosimas of Palestine in the desert, many years later, naked and unkempt, she manifests great clairvoyance as she recounts her life story to him. He returns a year later to the exact spot, at her instruction, to find that she had died, and the power of the story of her baptism, and the transformation that baptism symbolises, is preserved by him through the oral tradition, and is passed down to us, to this very day.

In her memory, and as a call to presence the passion baptism in our own thoughts and practices, in Lent, this Sunday at 15 Francis St Darlinghurst, a blessing of dried fruit will take place after the Divine Liturgy. In honour of the day we celebrate the Eastern Rite Eucharist, compiled by +William Mar Thomas Behun, of the Apostolic Johannite Church.

Please come and join us at this special time of the Christian calendar, in Lent, to sample the influence of the eastern traditions and the eastern forms, present with us in the practices, the myth, and the lifeblood, that forms the Apostolic Johannite Church.

Service – Oriental Rite Eucharist 6:30pm

Modelled on the style of service celebrated in Eastern churches like the Coptic or Syrian Orthodox, Reverend Tim+ Mansfield will lead the congregants in a service that is both ceremonial and contemplative. It features silent prayer and chant and the sharing of the Body and the Blood in the form of bread and wine.

Services – for April 2011
note these services are subject to change. Please check our Facebook page for updates and information:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4518114805
Sun 17 Apr – Palm Sunday, 6:30pm

We follow all services and gatherings with some conversation, hot drinks and snacks. Please come along and bask in the hospitality and fellowship so willingly shared, at the Parish of St Uriel the Archangel.

This is a final reminder to attend our one-day introduction to the Christian meditation technique known as Centering Prayer. Arising from the Trappist monastic tradition as a way to introduce non-monastics to contemplative prayer, Centering Prayer focuses on a gesture of inner surrender. The technique is [...]]]>

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Copyright (C) 2011 Parish of St Uriel the Archangel All rights reserved.

Services

Sunday 6 March Unitarian Chapel 15 Francis St, Darlinghurst Sophianic Eucharist [...]]]> The month of March brings several changes to both our service announcements and our schedule of events for the Parish of St Uriels, Sydney. Below you will find a summary of our March activities, bringing to you opportunity to join our community in different modes, in different places.

Services

Sunday 6 March
Unitarian Chapel 15 Francis St, Darlinghurst
Sophianic Eucharist – 6:00pm
Pelagius Day
With unique doctrines on free will and original sin, the ascetic Pelagius is celebrated as a saint in the Apostolic Johannite Church. Come join us in chant, prayer and song as we turn our awareness to the presence of the Divine, taking the time to richly embrace the presence of Pelagius amongst the body of our church, formed in the grace of the saints.

Sunday 13 March
Unitarian Chapel 15 Francis St, Darlinghurst
Johannite Eucharist – 6:00pm
Service for Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, and includes the sacramental imposition of the ashes of palm leaves combined with the oil of Catechumens on the forehead. You are very welcome to join us for this solemn welcome to the season of Lent, honoring the energy of repentance and solemnity worthy of the 46 days preparation for Holy Week and Easter.

Sunday 20 March
Buddhist Library 90 Church St, Camperdown
Contemplative Eucharist – 6:30pm

The service this Sunday will be the Contemplative Liturgy, written by our very own Reverend Tim Mansfield. The service alternates engagement and stillness, provoking a meditative attitude and the cultivation of deeper perceptions. The service features prayer and contemplative practice, including a period of silent meditation, as well as sharing of the Body and the Blood, in the form of bread and wine.

Sunday 27 March
Unitarian Chapel 15 Francis St, Darlinghurst
Vespers – evening prayer – 6:00pm

Vespers is the evening prayer in the Divine Office, the Office being the hours that are kept by clergy, monastics and layfolk, setting space for praying at regular intervals throughout the day. The word comes from the Latin vesper, meaning “evening.” Vespers is an incredibly beautiful way to richly embrace the close of the day, please come and join us as we together engage in psalm, chant, meditation and prayer in full bodied recognition of the coming of the night.

Special Events

Sunday 20 March
Buddhist Library 90 Church St, Camperdown
Introduction to Centering Prayer – 9:30 – 6:00pm

Alicia, Tomek and Tim offer you the opportunity to join them for a one day introduction to Centering Prayer.  It’s entry by donation, bring your own lunch. The workshop will be followed by a contemplative eucharist. Please see this website for all details: http://cp-mar2011.eventbrite.com/

Sunday 27 March
Unitarian Chapel 15 Francis St, Darlinghurst
Afternoon with Tom Dünser – 1:00 – 5:00pm

Tom is a member of the community of the Friends of Bernadette Roberts – a one-time Carmelite nun who now writes of her experiences of no-self. Tom will speak with us about his own experiences in her community, and we together will discuss the ways this might reflect in our own experiences. Please see this website for more details: http://sydneyintegral.org/integral-spirituality/ We follow all services and gatherings with some conversation, hot drinks and snacks. Please come along and bask in the hospitality and fellowship so willingly shared, at the Parish of St Uriels.

The intent of the readings across these weeks that lead into Lent circle around the characteristics of the Holy Spirit, as encountered in both orthodox and heterodox [...]]]> As we prepare ourselves to enter the season of Lent, please consider yourself thoroughly invited to join with us this Sunday evening at 6:30pm, to take part in the liturgy of the Contemplative Eucharist at 15 Francis St, Darlinghurst.

The intent of the readings across these weeks that lead into Lent circle around the characteristics of the Holy Spirit, as encountered in both orthodox and heterodox scriptures, and indeed, in our own still moments, where we might attune closely to our senses, and realise more deeply the treasures of quiet contemplation.

Wisdom, sanctification and the purifying fire of love are the qualities which we are graced to witness in every encounter, in every breathing moment where we presence the divine energy of the Trinity, described in orthodoxy as the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, recognised perhaps as the hypostasis (unified essence) of the Invisible One, Christ and Barbelo in apocryphal sources, particularly in the Apocryphon of John.

As the readings call us to partake in the intermingling of Sophia, wisdom, with Barbelo, the first thought, so too are you deeply welcomed to come and share with us in the Contemplative Liturgy, led by Reverend Tim Mansfield, to renew and invigorate the subtle, still presences of each of these qualities that are indeed with us in every moment, every hour, every encounter, with each other.

Readings:

The Holy Spirit As Sanctifier
http://www.gnosis.org/ecclesia/lect023.htm

The Apocryphon of John
http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/apocjn.html

Contemplative Eucharist – 6:30pm
The service this Sunday will be the Contemplative Liturgy, written by our very own Reverend Tim Mansfield. The service alternates engagement and stillness, provoking a meditative attitude and the cultivation of deeper perceptions. The service features prayer and contemplative practice, including a period of silent meditation, as well as sharing of the Body and the Blood, in the form of bread and wine.

We follow the service with some conversation, hot drinks and snacks. Please come along and join the discussions, sharing in fellowship and hospitality.

Trish Nowland

The congregation at St Uriel’s meets on the fourth Sunday of the month at 6:30pm at:

The Unitarian Centre

15 Francis St

Darlinghurst, NSW

Map

Rector: Father Tim Mansfield

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Apostolic Johannite Church

This is a one-day introduction to the Christian meditation technique known as Centering Prayer. Arising from the Trappist monastic tradition as a way to introduce non-monastics to contemplative prayer, Centering Prayer focuses on a gesture of inner surrender. The technique is simple [...]]]>

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Copyright (C) 2011 Parish of St Uriel the Archangel All rights reserved.

If Someone does not receive these, it is because they remain attached to what they know; when they cease to be attached, they will be able to receive them. Whoever receives this light in nakedness will no longer be recognizable; none will be able [...]]]> ‘If someone experiences Trust and Consciousness in the heart of the embrace,
they become a child of light.

If Someone does not receive these,
it is because they remain attached to what they know;
when they cease to be attached, they will be able to receive them.
Whoever receives this light in nakedness will no longer be recognizable;
none will be able to grasp them, none will be able to make them sad or miserable,
whether they are in this world, or have left it.

They already know the truth in images.
For them, this world has become another world,
and this Temple space [Aeon] is fullness [pleroma],
They are who they are. They are one.

Neither shadow nor night can hide them.’

~The Gospel of Philip

The above quote comes from the website for the Church of Gnosis, the spiritual home for the beloved episcopi vagantes (wandering bishop) of the post-modern global Gnostic communion, +Bishop Rosamonde Ikshvaku Miller. On January 19th, our greater ecclesia celebrates the consecration of +Tau Rosamonde, the first woman to be publicly ordained in the apostolic succession of the Ecclesia Gnostica, on this day in 1974.

Already consecrated as the seventh and last Marashin in the Holy Order of Miriam of Magdala in 1962, +Tau Rosamonde thus carries multiple lineages into the Church of Gnosis, which she sees as ‘not an end, but a field of action’.

Certainly, the Ritual of the Bridal Chamber, a ritual composed by +Tau Rosamonde, reads as a deeply inspired, incredibly liberating liturgy, incorporating Lurianic Kabbalah, Hermetic invocation, and Christian tradition to become a beautiful blessing by which the Eucharist is celebrated as the mystery of the sacred marriage, of Word and Wisdom.

This Sunday 16th January at 6:30pm, in rememberance of the anniversary of the consecration of +Tau Rosamonde, Fr Tim Mansfield+ will lead us for the first time in the celebration of The Ritual of The Bridal Chamber at the Parish of St Uriels in Darlinghurst. Please come along and celebrate with us, as we unite together in prayer, liturgy and chant to realise the divine nature of the One, uniquely revealed through and within each and every sacred moment, each and every person.

References:
http://www.gnosticsanctuary.org/
http://www.hometemple.org/WanBishWeb%20Complete.pdf

The Ritual of The Bridal Chamber is a service that will call your physical, subtle and spiritual self to presence the sacred marriage of word and wisdom in the form of eucharistic communion, enlivened with the rich beauty of prayer, chant and song written and composed by +Tau Rosamonde Ikshvaku Miller.

Please come and join us and stay for a cup of tea and snacks afterwards, and relax into Sunday evening discussion and company.

Trish Nowland

The congregation at St Uriel’s meets on the fourth Sunday of the month at 6:30pm at:

The Unitarian Centre

15 Francis St

Darlinghurst, NSW

Map

Rector: Father Tim Mansfield

email blog

Apostolic Johannite Church

With such grand vision and lofty words [...]]]> 'The Virgin today brings forth the Superessential, and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable. . . . . I behold a Mystery strange and wonderous: the cave is Heaven and the Virgin is the throne of the Cherubim; in the confines of the manger is laid the Infinite.'

With such grand vision and lofty words we enter the Collect prayer of the Menaion, taken from the proper for the Greek Orthodox liturgy, celebrated on the 25th December.

The Menaion gives a hint of what we might find is available to us, when we engage in the witnessing the presence of the Divine at this time of year, in the Coming of the Divine Light.

The word 'Superessential' in the prayer above is grounded upon the use of the original word 'hyperousion', St Dionysius' peculiar term which describes a space above every conception the mind can form. The Christian tradition holds that at the moment of the Lord's birth, it was as if all Nature had missed a beat and paused in it's course, a moment of universal revelation, spread to all creatures and all places.

In coming together for our Christmas service on Sunday evening, 19th December, 2010, we prepare ourselves in a 'prayer of quiet', that we might reach to the depth of the revelation of not-I, contained in this mystical moment, at the Coming of the Divine Light.

Service – 6:30pm

The Apostolic Johannite Church liturgy this Sunday at Darlinghurst includes prayer, and celebration in voice, with Christmastide carols. We commune together in recognition of the immanence of the Divine, here with us as we share the Body and the Blood, in the form of bread and wine.

You're invited to bring a plate to share, and to join in for a light supper after the service, as we take the time to partake of each other's company and of our makings, in the spirit of giving at this time. You're also welcome to bring along a donation of a small toy, as a gift to the children who attend the festivities at the Exodus Foundation, on Christmas Day. I'll collect the gifts and deliver them to the people of the Exodus Foundation, in time for the event. 

I look very much forward to seeing you, and sharing your company, and the pleasure and joy of this special time of the year.

Trish