The newsletter : "Rockburn Wider Fellowship"
is produced by Mr Eric Pritchard.  

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Our symbol this month is for Saint Matthias. The last of our series on the Apostles. Matthias was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, chosen by the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter's betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death. Matthias preached the Gospel to barbarians in the interior of Ethiopia. He died at Sebastopolis, and was buried there. Alternatively, another tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem by the local populace, and then beheaded, although, according to Hippolytus of Rome, Matthias died of old age in Jerusalem. Thank you and God Bless

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In January, 2018, we started placing a different cross each month in the top right hand corner of our Wider Fellowship page.
 Just in case you were wondering, the different crosses were:
 Jan - Presbyterian cross
Feb - just a beautiful stained glass cross
Mar - Celtic Cross
Apr - Cross of St. James
May - Occitan Cross
 We have identified them from June onwards.
 Our Cross this month is the Crosslet Cross - It's a combination of four Latin Crosses, with each cross facing a different cardinal direction.
 This is meant to symbolize spreading Christianity to all four corners of the world. For example, this might be used to indicate missionary work.
 Thank you and God Bless
​Eric

Newsletters 39 on.....

Our Cross this month is the Cross and Crown. You might be expecting this symbol to reference the fact that Jesus is the King of Kings, but according to some sources, this is actually referencing a promise from Revelation 2:10. In this message to one of His faithful churches, Jesus says that those who endure the trials to come and still remain faithful to the end will be rewarded with the Crown of Life.

Our Cross this month is the Coptic ankh. The ankh is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol that was most commonly used in writing and in art to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself. Its use continued through the Coptic Egyptians who adapted it as the crux ansata, a variant form of the Christian cross.

We ran out of “crosses”!! So, we thought we would feature the symbols of the Apostles. Our symbol this month is for Simon Peter – often simply known as St. Peter. Simon Peter preached to the Jews, and was crucified head downwards in Rome, A.D. 68.

Our symbol this month is for James the Elder – often simply known as St. James. James was the first apostle to be killed. He was beheaded by Herod, A.D. 44. A pilgrim’s staff and wallet show that he was a traveller. He went to Spain.

Our symbol this month is for Saint John. John preached in Asia Minor, lived in Ephesus, and wrote five books of the Bible. He died about A.D. 100.

Our symbol this month is for Saint Andrew, also known as Andrew the Apostle. He is the brother of Saint Peter, and an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is referred to in the Orthodox tradition as the First-Called. According to Orthodox tradition, the apostolic successor to Saint Andrew is the Patriarch of Constantinople. The patron of Russia, Scotland, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. According to tradition St. Andrew was crucified, in Archaia, on an X shaped cross, known as a saltire or St. Andrew’s Cross. Thank you and God Bless

Our symbol this month is for Saint Philip. Philip was born in Bethsaida, Galilee. He may have been a disciple of John the Baptist and is mentioned as one of the Apostles in the lists of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and in Acts. Aside from the lists, he is mentioned only in John in the New Testament. He was called by Jesus Himself and brought Nathanael to Christ. Philip was present at the miracle of the loaves and fishes, when he engaged in a brief dialogue with the Lord, and was the Apostle approached by the Hellenistic Jews from Bethsaida to introduce them to Jesus. Just before the crucifixion, Jesus answered Philip's query to show them the Father, but no further mention of Philip is made in the New Testament beyond his listing among the Apostles awaiting the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room. According to tradition he preached in Greece and was crucified upside down at Hierapolis under Emperor Domitian. Thank you and God Bless

Our symbol this month is for Saint Matthew. He preached and died in Ethiopia and was a tax-collector. The Gospel of St. Matthew is one of the most quoted books of the Bible. Wishing all our readers and contributors a very Happy Christmas and all the best for 2020. Thank you and God Bless

Our symbol this month is for Saint Bartholomew. He has also been identified as Nathanael who appears in the Gospel of John when introduced to Jesus by Philip (who would also become an apostle). In art Bartholomew is most commonly depicted with a beard and curly hair at the time of his martyrdom. According to legends he was skinned alive and beheaded so is often depicted holding his flayed skin or the curved flensing knife with which he was skinned. Thank you and a Happy New Year to everyone, God Bless

Our symbol this month is for Saint Thomas. Thomas the Apostle, also called Didymus ( in Greek Didymos means “twin”), is commonly known as "Doubting Thomas" because he doubted Jesus' resurrection when first told of it; later, he confessed his faith, "My Lord and my God," on seeing Jesus' crucifixion wounds. This declaration made Thomas the first person to explicitly acknowledge Jesus’ divinity.

Our symbol this month is for Saint James the Less. He is not to be confused with James, son of Zebedee ("James the Great or Elder"). In the West he was for long (and still is) identified with James, the Lord's brother, thought of by St Jerome and those who followed him as really the cousin of Jesus. He was known in Jerusalem as “The Just One” because of his constancy in prayer and for the devotion with which he practiced his faith. He did not eat meat, he refrained from any ostentation in clothing, he did not drink wine, and he did not cut his hair. He spent so much time in prayer that his knees grew thick callouses and looked like a camel’s. The leaders in Jerusalem were worried about the growing number of people who were coming to believe that Jesus was the Christ. They asked James to refute this claim, but he refused and was stoned. He was finally killed when he was struck on the head with a club, and his body was cut to pieces with a saw. He is patron saint of pharmacists because they work with a pestle, which resembles a club. Thank you and God Bless

Please stay safe and healthy during this difficult time. Our symbol this month is for Saint Jude. Jude, also known as Judas Thaddaeus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is sometimes identified with Jude, the brother of Jesus, but is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus prior to his crucifixion. According to tradition, Saint Jude suffered martyrdom about 65 AD in Beirut, in the Roman province of Syria, together with the apostle Simon the Zealot, with whom he is usually connected. Thank you and God Bless

Our symbol this month is for Saint Simon. He was one of the most obscure among the apostles of Jesus with many contradictory accounts of his life. To distinguish him from Simon Peter he is called the "Zealot". This derives from the Hebrew meaning zealous. The most widespread tradition is that after evangelizing in Egypt, Simon joined Jude in Persia and Armenia or Beirut, Lebanon, where both were martyred in 65 AD. Thank you and God Bless

Our symbol this month is for Saint Matthias. The last of our series on the Apostles. Matthias was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, chosen by the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter's betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death. Matthias preached the Gospel to barbarians in the interior of Ethiopia. He died at Sebastopolis, and was buried there. Alternatively, another tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem by the local populace, and then beheaded, although, according to Hippolytus of Rome, Matthias died of old age in Jerusalem. Thank you and God Bless