Orthodox-Iona.co.uk
Title
Friends of Orthodoxy on Iona
Description
This year’s stay on Iona was a time of extraordinary and unexpected gifts. When plans were first laid for our 2003 pilgrimage, the emphasis was on simplicity. We hoped to reconnect with Iona’s numinous landscape by praying there and above all, by celebrating the Divine Liturgy. We also wanted to meditate on the nature of Christian worship, with the Eucharist at its heart, both in our own times and in the age of Saint Columba. There was a tinge of sadness over the passing away, during the previous year, of two faithful FOI supporters, Niki Tait and Michael Hill; there was also a sense of gratitude that a number of Friends had overcome adversity (such as their own illness, or the illness of loved ones) in ways that defied human expectations.
With all those things in mind, we planned a relatively modest programme of talks and worship, with plenty of time for reflection and fellowship. But from the very start of the pilgrimage, there were powerful, and humbling, intimations of the Holy Spirit at work. Lectures, discussions, presentations and prayers which had seemed separate and discrete when we scheduled them somehow fused into a well-integrated whole; and a palpable bond developed between a group of 30 or so people (rising to 34 at times) with a remarkable range of spiritual and cultural experience.
For many pilgrims, the high point of their Scottish sojourn was the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, which fell (in the old calendar) on Saturday, September 27 – in other words, the penultimate full day of our week-long stay.
Languages
English
