« Pilgrimage to Barking »

On June 12, 2021, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, a pilgrimage to the Barking Saints took place.

The trip was organized by archpriest Joseph Skinnerthe, Rector of the parish of the Holy Apostle  Andrew the First-Called in Romford.  Pilgrims of the Romoford parish were joined by believers from Swindon and Brighton.

After the Divine Liturgy, which was celebrated by father Joseph in the church of St. Mary and St.  Ethelburga, sitated not far from the ancient Barking abbey, a moleben was served to the Saints of Barking - St. Erkenwald, St. Ethelburg and other holy ascetics of the convent of the undivided Church who were glorified among Saints.

The Convent in Barking was founded around 660 AD by Saint Erkenwald, Bishop of London, from whose relics and through whose prayers many healings occurred.  Erkenwald's sister - Venerable  Ethelburga (+675) - was the first abbess of Barking, a wise and caring woman.  A highly educated abbess St. Hildelita (+712) was a successor to St.  Ethelburga.  Both abbess were buried in the convent, but, unfortunately, their graves were not preserved.  Venerable Beda in his “Church History of the English People” tells about the Barking convent, the Saints who labored in it, and the wonders that were witnessed there, for example, a miracle of healing a visually impaired woman by the relics of the Saints.  Believers have repeatedly witnessed heavenly radiance, a wonderful fragrance and other divine signs.  Some miracles are associated with the holy nun Tortgita (+700), who patiently endured a long-term illness of paralysis.  At the end of the 7th century, a holy nun Cuthburga, who was also a member of the Royal family, asceticised in Barking, and later founded a monastery and a mission center in Wimborne, Dorset.  In the 10th century, during the period of the revival of English monasticism, another Saint, Abbess Wolfhild (+1000), shone in the monastery.