On Thursday 13 August and Friday 14 August we had services for the feast of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord and in honour of the Holy Maccabean Martyrs (+166 BC).  Matins with the bringing out of the Cross was served on Thursday evening and Divine Liturgy was served on Friday morning.  At the Prayer before the Amvon at Divine Liturgy the Lesser Blessing of Water was served and there was a blessing of honey, a number of jars of which had been donated in memory of the departed servants of God Anna, Olga and Olga.  As the faithful venerated the Precious Cross after Divine Liturgy, the parish rector spoke about the way in which so many threads of the experience of God's people were woven together in the day’s liturgical commemoration: the faithfulness of the Maccabean Martyrs in Old Testament times, the offering of prayers for deliverance from disease during processions with the Cross in the hot summer month of August in Constantinople, the baptism of Rus’ on this day in 988 AD, and the custom of the Russian people seeking God’s blessing on new honey.  Attendance at the services was restricted by public health regulations to a total of thirty people.