IONA ORTHODOX RETREATS

under the Patronage of
 His Eminence Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira     and the
 Chairmanship of  His Excellency Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia.
_____________________________________________________________________

GLORY TO GOD!

There  will  be  a  temporary                 IONA ORTHODOX CENTRE         at  CLACHANACH

for   a  fortnight  in  both 

Spring and Autumn 2012

The dates are: 

Saturday 28th April - Saturday 5th May
Saturday 5th May - Saturday 12th May

and

Saturday 15th September - Saturday 22nd September
Saturday 22nd September - Saturday 29th September

You   are  invited  to  make  your   individual  Pilgrimage/Retreat   during  any  of   these  weeks.

It is expected that there will be an Orthodox Priest resident for much of this time.

5  minutes  from  the  Abbey  and  from  St.  Oran's  Chapel.

The 12th Century ST. ORAN'S CHAPEL; oldest building on Iona.

THE   ISLE   OF   IONA   -  a  beautiful and  sacred  place

Colum Cille - St. Columba - came to Iona from his native Ireland about 563 A.D.
From Iona, Columba and his monks spread Celtic Christianity through North Britain.

They were in communion with all Orthodox Christians.

If  you  would  like  to  become  part  of  a temporary  Orthodox  Community  on  Iona
for  a  week;
to  make  a  private  retreat  or  an  individual  pilgrimage,
or  simply  to  enjoy  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  Iona

...   where  the  veil  between  Heaven  and  Earth  grows  very  thin ...

      then please contact   as  soon  as  possible:

	- if interested in April-May Retreats -  Reader Ignatios Bacon, Oratory  of  the Theotokos  and  St.  Cumein, Kilchuimen/Fort Augustus,  Scotland   PH32 4DG Telephone:   01320 366457 Email: ionaorthodox@gmail.com

If your interest is in a September Retreat - Fr. Mark McBeth, 35 Buchanan Drive, Burnside, Glasgow G73 3PF Tel. 0141 647 2728 and 0787 2536 105

The September retreats will be led by Fr. David Gill

_____________________________________________________________________

THREE  RECENT  EXPERIENCES  OF  IONA

Long journey, rough sea crossing, arrival exhausted on a beautiful atmospheric island. The welcoming house with good food and regular morning and evening worship in the local old chapel.
The beauty of the island when the sun shone was breathtaking, and even mystical in the rain. 
A wonderful visit for reflection, renewal, rest and company. I long to go again. 

Margaret Handley
Mar 16 2012



I had waited many years to fulfil my ambition of going to Iona but when Iona Orthodox retreats offered me the opportunity of doing so, it did not disappoint. There is a painting by John Duncan, 'Saint Columba Bidding Farewell to the White Horse', where the horse, sensing the Saint's impending death, comes to see him for the last time. For me, this captures precisely the spirit of Iona: the oneness of spirituality and nature.

At Matins and Vespers in Saint Oran's Chapel, the prayers are accompanied by House Martins darting in and out of the chapel door to their nest in the rafters.

Having walked to Saint Columba's Bay, the tranquillity was broken by a sense that I was being watched. Looking out to sea I found I was being observed by a sealwhich had surfaced just offshore. It dived and surfaced to stare at me , dived and surfaced before it returned to the sea and I turned to retrace my steps. 

I found Iona to be a place with a unique form of peacefulness which invites and encourages contemplation and prayer. I returned to the mainland, with its bustle and distractions, with a host of memories but also physically revitalised and spiritually refreshed.

Martin Stone



I spent a few days on Iona last Autumn.  I found it to be a very peaceful place.  It was really getting one to one with nature with the grass and the sheep and the cows, which were all really laid back.  On the way over, I had never seen so many rainbows in my life.  I met some lovely people in the Orthodox retreat house and St. Orans Chapel was a good setting for the prayer services. 

Charlotte Anna