On the 5th Sunday of Pascha, of the Samaritan Woman (May 18th, 2025), Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helen Parish in Bristol hosted a special and spiritual celebration, marking its feast day.
On this blessed occasion, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Eminence Atanasie, Archbishop of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, surrounded by a group of priests and deacons within South-West and Wales Deanery. The Liturgy was celebrated in the parish church, in the presence of a large number of faithful from Bristol and the surrounding areas, who gathered with devotion to pray and partake in the light of the feast.
During the Divine Liturgy, a reader was appointed for the parish and subdeacon Mihai Teleagă was ordained a deacon for ‘St. Callinicus of Cernica, Bishop of Ramnic’ Parish in Southampton.
The chanting was performed by the Armonia Choir, who also performed a special anniversary concert on the eve of the feast, celebrating 1700 years since the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325 – 2025) and the Centenary of the Romanian Patriarchate (1925–2025).
When uttering the panegyric at the end of the service, His Eminence Atanasie highlighted the exemplary lives of the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen, emphasizing their courage, faith, and their vocation as servants of Christ in history. He pointed out how their deeds are relevant to today, in a world that thirsts for reason, confession and enlightenment.
Moreover, when uttering the homily (speaking on the Gospel reading of the day), His Eminence underlined that the encounter between the Lord and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well is a true theophany—a full revelation of His messianic identity: ‘I who speak to you am He.’ (John 4:26)
The Lord reveals Himself as Saviour and as the source of living water and grace, with the Gospel passage preparing us for the transition from the Mystery of the Resurrection to the Mystery of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The encounter of Martyr Photini, the Samaritan Woman, with the Lord becomes the most important meeting of her life—and of ours—a transformation from within, preparing us for the Kingdom of Heaven.
At the sixth hour, the moment of man’s fall for Paradise and also the hour of Christ’s crucifixion, the Saviour descends into the wounded heart of man and heals it through grace, transforming it into a spring of confession. Thus, the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman becomes a call to worship ‘in spirit and in truth’ (John 4:23), in the living Church of divine grace, where every soul may find the “living water” of salvation.
This festive day crowned the liturgical and cultural program dedicated to the 13th year of celebrating the patronal feast of the parish and forms part of the wider series of events organized under the theme of the ‘Solemn Year of the Centenary of the Romanian Patriarchate’ and the ‘Commemorative Year of Romanian Orthodox Spiritual Fathers and Confessors of the 20thCentury,’ as proclaimed by the Romanian Patriarchate for the year 2025.