Fr. Serafim Aldea of Mull Monastery resumes creating videos
After an unplanned 18-month hiatus, Fr. Serafim Aldea of the Monastery of All Celtic Saints on the Isle of Mull has resumed filming and uploading videos.
We at the Hesychia Herald were delighted to see that Fr. Serafim Aldea has recommenced producing videos, after he stopped suddenly around Holy Pascha 2021.
At the time of writing the monastery has released four new videos, including one stream of a Divine Liturgy on the feast day of Naomh Odhran Ìdhe (St. Oran of Iona) on the 27th of October, and promises to be working towards resuming their previous twice-a-week schedule.
Watch the Divine Liturgy from the Feast Day of St. Oran here.
In his first new video, Fr. Serafim explained that he had not intended to take such a long hiatus, and apologised for doing so without an explanation. Each week he told himself that it would be the week he would start again, only to lose his nerve. Very relatable! The first two new videos were filmed back-to-back to make sure that he didn’t lose his nerve once more.
In the second new video, Fr. Serafim updated us on what has occurred at the monastery over the last year and a half - quite a lot! They have had several new monastics join, both male and female, both transferring from other monasteries and newly tonsured in Mull. This means that the property which was purchased next-door to Òran na Mara (the cottage “Song of the Sea”) which was intended for pilgrims has instead been turned into monastery accommodation: monks in one building and nuns in the other.
The other exciting news from the monastery is that they have purchased property in Ì Chaluim Cille (the Isle of Iona, “Columba’s Iona”)! This means that Orthodox pilgrims to the Western Isles will now be able to stay overnight in Iona - and it means that Orthodoxy now has a permanent home in Iona for the first time in nearly a thousand year! Glòir do Dhia - Glory be to God!
Seraphim and I (Anna) hope that one day we will be able to travel to the Western Isles and visit the Mull Monastery and Ì Chaluim Cille ourselves. Until then, we are very glad that Fr. Serafim has begun making videos again and recommend them highly, both the new ones and the older ones.