A Fabulous Free Summer Concert in St. Andrew’s Church! 

On Sunday 30 June, the Tuulivoima Choir, from Finland invites everyone to a summer concert at 12 noon.

The choir will be performing a FREE concert from 12 noon for around 45 minutes.

This is the ONLY concert that they will be giving in the North of Cyprus, during their tour of the island.

The choir consists of 12 female, singing choristers who all come from Finland.

The concert has kindly been arranged by our good friend Tommy Rognmo of the Norwegian Church Abroad.

The choir will be accompanied (not musically!) by the Finnish Ambassador, Harri Maki-Reinikka, from the Embassy in Nicosia.

Please do join us for this very special event!

The choir was founded in 2013 with the name Tuulivoima and is an aspiring and ambitious female choir from Seinäjoki in Finland.

The choir’s repertoire includes a variety of traditional and modern choral music as well as pop music. All the singers of Tuulivoima were members of the Seinäjoki Girls Choir as youngsters, and their shared history gives the choir’s singing a very special resonance.

In 2011, Jorma Panula invited the former girls’ choir members to record “Peltomiehen rukous”, composed by Panula and performed by the choir in the 80s and 90s.

Inspired by this experience the women decided to form a female choir. The choir was named Tuulivoima (Wind Power) – it refers not only to the name of the former director of the Seinäjoki Girls’ Choir (Tuulikki), but also to soft values.

In recent years, the choir has performed major productions for sold-out venues, including a stage version of Jorma Panula’s “Peltomiehen rukous” for the Ilmajoki Music Festival and an updated version for the Heinävesi Music Festival in Seinäjoki and Vaasa. “Peltomiehen rukous” has also been performed as a traditional concert version around Finland. All the performances were conducted by maestro Jorma Panula. Additionally, Tuulivoima has arranged musical theater: both “Lakeuden naiset: sisua ja sydäntä”, Seinäjoki and “Hunningolla” Theatre Hysteria, Seinäjoki won the hearts of the audience.

Tuulivoima has organized concerts in Seinäjoki, participated in the Christmas concert of the Seinäjoki City Orchestra and the Independence Day concert of the City of Seinäjoki, performed in Vilnius, Lithuania at the invitation of the Embassy of Finland, and participated twice in the Vaasa Choir Festival. The choir has also performed in numerous charity concerts.

The choir is conducted by Kirsi Burman.

The concert is free, and everyone is welcome

 We were delighted to be joined by members of St Mark’s Famagusta Student Chaplaincy – and by friends and visitors from many parts of the world – in a service of welcome and celebration for Bishop Sean on Sunday 23 June, following his enthronement the previous day in St Paul’s Cathedral in Nicosia.

The service included gospel songs Imela (You’ve done well) and Wahamba nathi (You walked with us) performed by members of St Mark’s.

Bishop Sean’s sermon incorporated his Charge to the Diocese – outline of the principles and priorities of his episcopal ministry, first delivered at his enthronement in St Paul’s.
Describing a “unique” Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, stretching “like a tent” across the geopolitical crossroads of the world, Bishop Sean spoke of the “crucial values of spiritual discernment, Christlike behaviour and good neighbourliness” for Anglican Christians in the region who, he said, are often “migrants welcoming other migrants into their churches”.

The Litany of Intercession particularly touched Bishop Sean, with the Cantor calling out in IsiZulu ‘Thuma mina, thuma mina, thuma mina, Somandla’ (Send me, Jesus; send me, Jesus; send me, Jesus; send me Lord) – words from his native South Africa ringing out from the Church of St Andrew, Kyrenia.

We were particularly pleased to welcome honoured guests including: Muftu Mustafa Usta – Muftu of Girne, a representative of Murat Sengul Bey – Mayor of Girne, The Venerable Michael Mbona – Archdeacon of The Gulf, as well as representatives from the Maranatha Church Group, the Norwegian Church Abroad, the Royal British Legion, the British Residents’ Society and the British Cemeteries Committee. Our solicitor, Peyman Erginel Hanim, was also kind enough to join us.

The service and reception afterwards, was a joyful occasion, enjoyed by friends old and new. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it happen and to everyone who came on the day.

We very much appreciate Bishop Sean coming to St Andrew’s as his first engagement on the island after his Enthronement and very much look forward to seeing him here again.

Photo credits: Leo Igwe

Orders of Service were handed over at Ledra Palace by the Bishop himself and are now in Kyrenia.
Bishop Sean will be following in a day or two.

We look forward very much to welcoming our new Bishop to our church! 

If you get a chance, do visit the charity exhibition Elina from St. Andrew’s has put on of her students’ work. It is of a very high standard and well worth a visit!
The beautiful, vibrant oil painting of the harbour was painted collaboratively, with all of the students contributing.

Screenshot

Please find attached a link to the livestream of the Enthronement in St Paul’s Cathedral Nicosia of the 6th Bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, the Right Reverend Sean Semple, at 1700 (Cyprus time) on 22 June 2024. Streaming will begin from 15 minutes beforehand.

During the service, Bishop Sean will be outlining in a Charge to the Diocese the principles and priorities of his episcopal ministry. He asks all to please pray for him as he prepares for the occasion.

It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of the Reverend Michael Houston, on Tuesday 11 June at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald.

Michael was Priest of St. Andrew’s from 2007 – 2010. He was very highly regarded and much-loved by our congregation. Michael will be sadly missed.

We hold Michael’s wife, June, in our thoughts and in our prayers, at this very sad time.

Eid Mubarak to all of our Muslim friends and neighbours.

Please invite your friends! 

Many congratulations to our Assistant Treasurer and Sidesperson, Leo Igwe, who has just graduated from the American University of Girne with a Master’s Degree in Business Management.

Leo contributes to the smooth running of our church in so many ways and is a huge asset to us, as he undoubtedly will be to his future employers. We wish him every success in his career.

The Thursday Bible Study series on Genesis concluded this week with a lively and thought-provoking discussion on Noah and the Flood.