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CONTRIBUTIONS FROM OUR 2009 GUESTS

The Iona Orthodox Centre 2009 could not have functioned at all without the presence, the prayers, the financial support, the furniture removals also the cooking and cleaning skills provided by our guests, clergy and lay. Our heartfelt thanks is due to all who made possible Iona 2009.

Here are some of their comments and photos:

Fr. Raphael Pavouris:

Last September from the 23-25th I visited the island of Iona on a retreat organised by Ignatios Bacon, our Reader in the Highland Orthodox Community.

This was my second visit to Iona. The first was about 17 years ago when I was a new student at Glasgow University. My impression of Iona then was not that extraordinary; it was cold, wet, windy and the services at the Abbey felt alien.

This last time was very different. Leaving Fionnphort for Iona felt a little like leaving Ouranoupolis for the Holy Mountain. The island itself felt much more spiritual than the first time and had something more to teach me. This time the island felt holy. Was it the beautiful services at the Chapel – especially when taken by Fr David Gill? Was it the fellowship with such good brothers and sisters, fellow-Christians from whom I learnt and was inspired? Was it the selfless love and movingly tireless care and devotion of Reader Ignatios? Surely it was all of the above together with the loving Grace of Our God through the prayers of St Columba that made this retreat on Iona a time to remember and draw strength from.

Fr. Raphael Pavouris

Marina Lisurenko:

"I was told that the sun always shines when the Orthodox community comes to the island and I certainly was not disappointed! I enjoyed the peaceful landscape, beautiful sunrises and most of all the wonderful, kind people that made my stay even more special. The island brings together Christians of different denominations to celebrate their faith in unity and that to me is "the magic of Iona"..."

Reader Ignatios outside St. Oran's Chapel

Joanna outside Iona Abbey Rdr. Ignatios & Marina: Clachanach Prayer Room

Fr. Marcel Oprisan:

Maybe in no other way can we see, and really find out the meaning of Orthodoxy, as in living this life with, and in the greatest love for, the Saints; that is, "COMMUNION WITH THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN".

As a Romanian living in Western Europe it is a great thing to discover its saints, who a long time ago in the earliest centuries were tried; all-glorious has been their suffering. The Saints of that time the Orthodox Church considered most worthy of honour.

We too should do the same; praying and venerating them, like going to the Isle of Iona, where thousands of monks lived and Glorified Our God. Iona is an amazing place, and I want to thank Ignatios and his wife Joanna for the opportunity to go there for the pilgrimage they organised.

May the Lord Our God and all the Saints be with you.

St. Columba's Blessing

Matushka Jenny Musther:

In September 2009, Father John Musther, myself and two of our friends from "The Orthodox Community of St Mungo, St Cuthbert and Herbert," Keswick, Cumbria, paid our first visit to Iona. We stayed in "Clachanach", which for three weeks was appointed as an Orthodox retreat house, thanks to our host, Reader Ignatios Bacon, and under the blessing of Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia.

Every visitor to Iona realises very quickly that this is a very special place. We were blessed with fine weather and drank in both the visual delights of the island and then those unseen but deeply experienced ones. We had the privilege of participating in Orthodox worship in the beautiful 12th century chapel of St Oran. One of my special memories is of walking down the coast road from Clachanach, our retreat house, to the chapel, for Matins just as dawn was breaking. God's presence seemed very close.

Prayer of the heart comes easier in such a setting, walking over the hills and exploring the beautiful history-rich coastline. The time passed too quickly, but we all came away blessed and refreshed, and would highly recommend such a retreat to others. The tremendous effort and energy invested into the retreat project by our host was greatly appreciated.

On the last morning, the fine weather broke but somehow it seemed very fitting to walk down to the ferry in sheeting rain. It reminded us of the extreme devotion and stamina of those who trod this way back through the centuries and also of the gift of living water in abundance to the thirsty soul.

Holy Columba, pray for us!

Jenny in Iona Nunnery Garden The Hermit's Cell Fr. John Musther: St. Columba's Shrine

Jonathan Cowley:

"Thank you again to both you and Joanna for your hospitality and kindness during last week of September. I hope to return to Iona, and I pray monastacism will return to the island."

St. Columba's Bay St. Columba in Clachanach

John Butler:

Orthodox Retreat on Iona, Sept. 2009

With the blessing of Metropolitan Kallistos, Reader Ignatios Bacon of the Highland Orthodox Community hired a house in Iona for 3 weeks in September, and invited fellow Orthodox to stay – a week being suggested, more or less. From our parish, Fr David with John and Tatiana, took up the opportunity.

Lying off the western coast of Mull, Iona is not very big, with one small village of not more than 50 houses, but every day, via two ferries and a bus, pilgrims make the three hour journey there from Oban. Historical Christianity first arrived in 563 with St Columba though, in the mystic fairyland, which opens up to all who love the Hebrides, one feels that sanctity is naturally here. Action takes place around the thrice ruined and restored abbey, most recently inspired by George MacLeod, a Glasgow clergyman who, in the depression of the 30’s, sought to make his Church more relevant to people’s daily life. His legacy - the Iona Community, puts on wide ranging programmes of Christian concern and, with admirable open heartedness, welcomed our little Orthodox presence in their midst.

* * *

Beneath the anoraks and woolly caps, it’s wonderful to feel that almost every person one meets shares in the faith that need is best met by turning to God. Long lists of requests for prayer aroused my interest in what it is, and how the practice may improve.

Iona is described as a place where the veil between heaven and earth grows very thin. I remember an old man with shaky legs, feeling his frailty on rocks above the sea; and also the ferry, bringing its daily input of humanity - to disappear again, as temporal as tides.

The search for truth in man is helped by seeing and letting go of what he’s not – the changeable and fallible that lacks and dies. What happens then? The pure, unsullied person comes to light – now free of worldly cares. To some extent, everyone who visits Iona will shed some outer dross, feel cleansed and purified – renewed. Iona helps us lay aside our temporary parts – but feeds us with the Spirit that endures. All this seems part of prayer.

Quiet and attentive before the face of Nature, hearts may open to receive yet more. Then wind and water, earth and sky, angels of every sort recall us to graciousness, our poverty to providence, and transience, in part at least, to everlasting life. Our Holy Mother, Mother Earth readily connects with still, reflective depths (or heights) which, in us too, can bring to birth a realisation of the Lord, I am. Compared with ordinary thought, this lifts us up to thereby see the whole and perfect One, I am, in all.

… which brings us back to prayer. What is the aim of it? A hope of further change on earth, or spiritual salvation of the soul? Human helplessness before those lists compels surrender to Almighty God though, not surprisingly, we cling to form until it’s clear that Spirit is I am. Watching the varied pilgrims in the abbey; thinking of that world-wide need for prayer; somehow in my own heart, too … it seems … that all the prayers of all mankind are channelled through one heart, One heart of all. Iona of my heart, my love, as St Columba is reputed to have said.

* * *

When a great stone Celtic cross stands unmoved for 1,000 years, it brings something more to the eyes. In ancient St Oran’s chapel, last resting place of long forgotten kings, Orthodox have had their turn to pray beside the graves. I hesitate to give our names – our moments of appearance on this island stage. These stones have seen it all. Three billion years of Hebridean granite puts man in proportion. Walking home half sheltered by a rocky ridge from the force of a westerly gale … even Christianity seems but a breath in time.

The Iona Community in the abbey nearby fulfils its mission to encourage souls to God. Beyond … Iona calls. On occasions at night when cloud allows, stars shine amazingly clear. Well washed by pure Atlantic rain, sheep’s wool is bright and clean, as are the frogs, and pristine colours on the autumn moors. Pure places wash us, too. Impurity recedes and God appears. Celtic tradition says that God wrote two books – a great one and a small – Nature and the Bible. The abbey worship book confidently states that God is everything, each stone His word, each item of our food His flesh and blood. Iona really helps us understand it.

We come and go by sea. Surrounded by pure elements, churches rise and fall; words fade into silence; our presence shrinks in absence of a world which makes us more important than we are. Iona does not flatter man but helps him to expand. She opens up to Spirit. Nameless and formless may seem daunting to the unprepared, but when it happens naturally e.g. before great space and beauty, it’s found to be fulfilment, and leads us further into the development and destiny of prayer. Allowing ourselves to transcend limit unifies the separate, while man in sin is rediscovered spiritually free.

In unlit darkness before dawn, a buffeting wind throws me off the path which leads to St Columba’s shrine. Outside, a massive cross … inside, in Spirit … wholeness, as the world can never be.

* * *

We’ve long been looking for a holiday with nature, modest living and spiritual purpose. Communal life can bring a mix of blessings, but there’s always space on Iona to escape. There’s hope of the retreat being repeated next year if sufficient interest is found. Both feeling so enriched by the experience, we would be glad to return.

It rained as we hurried from our last morning office to the pier. I’m sure that many people, saying good-bye, would feel they leave some heart behind and find themselves in tears. It happened so to me.

John Butler in St Oran's Chapel Tatiana Butler

FROM THE APRIL 2010 RETREATANTS

"The Iona Orthodox House is a beautiful place to gather spiritual and physical strength with its atmosphere of harmony and hospitality. Services in the chapel, prayers, and discussions about the life of the Saints, Iona and Orthodoxy made me “stop” and relax from my everyday routine. Every day we explored and enjoyed the island's beauty. My thanks to Fr. Rapael, Ignatios and Joanna who organised such a beautiful time and “created” for me a very warm memory about Iona." Natalia Chechina

Doubly removed from the mainland, Iona is a place where one can truly retreat from worldly distraction and enter the place of the heart. The indelible grace of God has soaked into the earth and stones of this beautiful island from the blessing of the great Saint Columba, from the breath of monastic prayer over many centuries, and from the bones of unknown martyrs and saints which no doubt still lie hidden beneath its soil. It was indeed lovely to participate in Orthodox worship in the setting of St Oran's Chapel, and to enjoy the company of the devout Romanian and Russian pilgrims with whom I travelled to Iona, to be so warmly welcomed by Reader Ignatios and his wife Joanna, who labour tirelessly to restore the Orthodox tradition in Iona, and who deserve every support in their great efforts.

Fr. Dn. Mark Mitchell