500th anniversary celebration

Thomas Baldwin reports on a significant milestone for an Aberdeen landmark.

A UNIQUE piece of Scotland’s religious history belatedly marked its 500th birthday with a weekend of celebration and thanksgiving in Aberdeen.

The programme of events at St Machar’s Cathedral across October 1 and 2 included a thanksgiving service led by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Dr Iain Greenshields. The service showcased the 16th century heraldic ceiling at St Machar’s and the recent work carried out to restore it.

Comprising 48 coats of arms including those of Pope Leo X, King James V of Scotland, Henry VIII of England and many of the royal houses of Europe, the ceiling had survived the Reformation and half a millennium of history, but as it approached its 500th anniversary in 2020 it was demonstrating worrying signs of deterioration.

“Without investment now, it would have led to a situation where it would have been very hard to maintain,” said St Machar’s minister, the Rev Sarah Brown. Since the ceiling was commissioned by Bishop Gavin Dunbar in 1520, St Machar’s, the oldest building in Aberdeen still in use, has seen many changes. For its current minister, the heraldic ceiling represents an important legacy.

“It represents how central the church was in both Scottish and European history and I suppose that legacy still lives on with the number of visitors who come from all over the world to see the church and particularly the ceiling,” she said.

“For me, that’s what it signifies, that sense of people 500 years ago investing in a faithfulness that is still being lived out.” Among the guests at the service were representatives from the Roman Catholic and Scottish Episcopal churches and the consulates of some of the countries represented on the heraldic ceiling.

The occasion was marked with three newly commissioned musical pieces, performed by the cathedral choir under conductor Dr Roger B Williams, and organist Matthew McVey: Praise Ye the Lord from one of Scotland’s best known contemporary composers, Sir James MacMillan; the Firmament of His Power, by Welsh composer Professor Paul Mealor; and a new setting of Psalm 100 by young American composer Sarah Rimkus, a past member of the choir.

The restoration work included installing insulation, a waterproof membrane and a new floor above the 16th century ceiling, as well as repairing the roof, which could lose up to 50 slates at a time in stormy weather.

Professor David Hewitt, who as client representative on the project worked closely with the contractors, explained: “If the roof does leak again, it shouldn’t penetrate to the ceiling.

“Water will land on the floor and if there is a lot of it, it will go on to the plastic membrane underneath and be drained off to the outside of the church. Secondly, the temperature inside the church and above the ceiling should be roughly the same so the ceiling is not being subjected to extremes of temperature which was believed to be the cause of deterioration.”

To bring the building up to modern standards other remedial tasks were carried out and the stained glass windows were cleaned inside and out, woodwork and paint was repaired and new lighting was installed.

“This means that, probably for the first time, the ceiling can be properly viewed in all temperatures,” said Professor Hewitt.

“We have never seen it like this because it was badly lit and covered with this dust, which turned out to be stearic acid, produced by the breakdown of linseed oil used to treat the ceiling. You could see it was an important monument, but it didn’t look glorious. It does now.”

The work was completed in 12 months and within its budget of £1.852 million. As well as money from St Machar’s fabric fund, the project was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland, the National Churches Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation, Aberdeen City Common Good Fund, the Allchurches Trust, the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland, the Baird Trust, the Aberdeen City Heritage Trust, the Friends of St Machar’s Cathedral, Scotland’s Churches Trust, the Barrack Charitable Trust, and individual donations.

UKRAINE CHURCHES RAIDED

PRO-Russian forces have been closing churches and arresting pastors in occupied Ukraine, according to campaigners for persecuted Christians.

UK-based Release International said that partners in contact with Ukrainian Christians have reported occupying forces closing down the three largest evangelical Protestant churches in Melitopol, and more churches in Mariupol. In another raid, pro-Russian soldiers reportedly claimed that only one faith would be tolerated – Orthodoxy.

Among the incidents reported, in September Russian troops raided Grace Baptist Church in Melitopol while a worship service was underway, shut it down and ordered the pastor to leave the city within 48 hours.

The previous month occupation forces shut down Melitopol’s largest Protestant church, Melitopol Christian Church. Release International associates say occupation forces tore down its cross and have turned the building into a ‘cultural sports entertainment complex’. That same month, they also closed Melitopol’s Word of Life Church.

In the nearby village of Chkalovo, Russian Federation soldiers entered a church, broke up the evening service and shut the church down. According to reports, they told the congregation: ‘Your feet will not be here after the referendum. We have only one faith: Orthodoxy.’ Release International associates say the confiscation of church buildings and the detention of pastors is also underway in other Russian-occupied cities including Mariupol.

At Kurchatov Church in Mariupol, armed soldiers with their faces hidden by masks detained Baptist Pastor Leonid Ponomaryov and his wife Tatyana. They raided their home on the evening of September 21. Neighbours reported hearing groans and cries as the pastor and his wife were taken away. No word was given to the family and church members of why or where they were being held.

In the Luhansk region, Russian troops and separatists captured the city of Lysychansk in July. Local residents told them where the Christians were living, and leaders of the six Protestant churches were forced to flee. Remaining congregation members were driven underground.

Forces seized the Lysychansk Christian Centre and gutted the entire church library, tossing all the bibles and children’s books into a pile in the neighbouring yard.

At risk to themselves, Christian women who remained in the city have recovered the books and taken them to a place of safety, in the hope that they can be restored to the church in the future.

Release International CEO Paul Robinson said: “It’s no surprise that the Russian occupying forces are closing Protestant churches and detaining pastors. They’ve been doing the same since they seized and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. This has set the pattern for what has followed.

“In Crimea and other occupied territories, they have raided places of worship, closed churches, banned missionary activity, fined people for leading worship meetings, seized religious literature and forced religious communities to re-register with the state, refusing re-registration to the vast majority. And now we are seeing churches raided, sealed and shut down, and the disappearance and detention of pastors in the occupied areas.

“Ukrainian Christians have been here before. They are being driven back to the underground churches of the Soviet era. Yet the message of history should be clear to Russia: the Christian faith has survived 70 years of Soviet totalitarian rule, and it thrives today in China under similar conditions. Persecution can only strengthen the church.” (Release International)

TRIBUTES TO ‘GOD’S SMUGGLER’

Tributes have been paid to the Dutch missionary Andrew van der Bijl, ‘Brother Andrew’, who died on September 27 aged 94.

Brother Andrew, sometimes known as ‘God’s Smuggler’, was involved in smuggling Bibles to Christians in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries in the 1950s and 60s; and founded the Open Doors organisation to raise awareness of and campaign for persecuted Christians around the world.

On the Open Doors International website, founding president Johan Companjen said: “When I think of Brother Andrew, two other things come to mind. One, he was a pioneer, always looking for new and unique things. Second, he was a prophet. Many times he shared thoughts and ideas that we could not ‘place’, but years later we discovered that he was way ahead of us. Brother Andrew always liked to do unique, often impossible things. If a project was possible he was not interested. ‘Everybody can do that’, he would often say. However, when he heard the word ‘impossible’ he was very excited.”

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, tweeted: “Brother Andrew was a Christian hero who loved God and loved people. From Bible smuggling in the 1950s to reaching out to extremists in the last 30 years, he has lived out the love of Christ. Unknown to most, he has shown God’s love to all.”

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