St Philip’s Church honours Patron Saint

A NUMBER of popular customs are practised among Orthodox Christian denominations on “Name Days.”

Among some of them, a service will be celebrated in the parish community, one of intercession in the saint’s honor or the Divine Liturgy itself, especially if it were a major Saint’s Day.

In chapels and parishes where this is possible, worshippers can do so on the Sunday or on the day where the Saint’s Day falls.

For example, worshippers at St Philip’s Church, Padawan, one of the Anglican parishes of the Upper-Southern Archdeaconary (USA), celebrated their Patron Saint’s Day on Friday (May 1).

They honoured their Patron Saint’s Day with the inaugural procession and special mass.

Participating in the event were Anglican priests and choir members from other parishes of the USA such as St James’ Quop, St Paul’s Bunuk St John Taie, St Matthew Mundai, St Francis’ Lundu.

St Philip’s Parish Church is located at the well-known Bidayuh longhouse village — Kampung Annah Rais — about 62km from Kuching.

On the day, parishioners from the Church, priests, lay leaders and choir members from other parishes began arriving at the Parish Hall at 4pm.

Despite a drizzle, the congregation walked the half kilometre length of the procession, which included climbing the concrete step leading to the Church at the hilltop.

Led by one parishioner carrying a banner and a miniature cross, representing the parish societies, the congregation left the hall at 5pm.

Behind them were choir members from the all parishes, the majority dressed in red and white garments.

They were then followed by the lay leaders and clergy, dressed in full clergy apparels and vestments.

After all had taken their seats in the Church, an introit hymn was sung.

The celebrant was St Paul’s Parish Vicar, Revd Handi Ipoh. He led the prayers of preparation and penitence, the Gloria in Excelsis and the Collect before the liturgy of Word.

Giving the sermon was Archdeacon of USA Revd Andrew Pahah.

Andrew began by welcoming the congregations from the other parishes who had come all the way from as far as Lundu to participate in the St Philip’s Day procession and special mass.

He said the participation of every parish of the USA was a bright beginning for the procession and special mass held in conjunction with the Patron Saint’s Day, which will be hosted by the various parishes on rotation in the future.

He said the Patron Saint’s Day would be held together with USA anniversary.

Andrew said St Philip’s Church, Padawan, had been chosen as host for this year’s USA anniversary which coincided with St Philip’s Day.

He dislcosed the next host for USA’s anniversary would be St James’ Quop, adding that the event would be held on St Jame’s Day next year.

He said the aim of having a joint procession and special mass was to enhance the fellowship among all the parishes of USA.

“Except for St Helen Serian, I am very happy to see all USA parishes are sending their representatives to our inaugural event.

“I hope in years to come, St Helen Serian will come to join us for this kind of event.”

Andrew said the annual gathering of all parishes on the Patron Saint’s Day of the respective churches was a good opportunity for worshippers of different dialects to know each other.

“Today, we have Reverends from Taie in Serian and Lundu participating in our reading. Both speak different dialects but read the text in Bidayuh Biatah.

“It’s good for us to gather like this to worship God and commemorate the Patron Saint’s Day.

“From a gathering like this, we will also be able to learn from each other’s successes. It can be a good learning experience for everyone.”

Andrew then related the life of Saint Philip, the Patron Saint of the Parish Church, Padawan.

He said Philip, the third to be called to the group of apostles, was “very outspoken and a practical man.”

“Philip dares to ask Jesus to show them the Father, and his question was very important for all believers.”

For the record, Philip was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus.

The feast day of Philip, along with that of James the Just, was traditionally observed on May 1.

The Gospel of John describes Philip’s calling as a disciple of Jesus.

Philip is described as a disciple from the city of Bethsaida which connects him to Andrew and Peter who were from the same town.

He was also among those surrounding John the Baptist when the latter first pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God.

It was Philip who first introduced Nathanael (sometimes identified with Bartholomew) to Jesus.

Of the four Gospels, Philip figures most prominently in the Gospel of John. Philip is asked by Jesus how to feed 5,000 people.

Later he appears as a link to the Greek community.

During the Last Supper, when Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, he provided Jesus the opportunity to teach his disciples about the unity of the Father and the Son. Philip is commonly associated with the symbol of the Latin cross.

Other symbols assigned to Philip include the cross with the two loaves (because of his answer to the Lord in John 6:7), a basket filled with bread, a spear with the patriarchal cross, and a cross with a carpenter’s square.

According to Sidang Rangud, St Philip Church, Padawan, was named by missionary Peter Hoes in 1957.

He said the priest at the time was Revd Canon James Gunyau.

“I was one of those people involved in building this Church. At that time, I was working as an agriculture assistant and helping as a part time foreman during the construction.

“In fact, I was the one who planted all those cotton trees,” he said, referring to the big cotton trees standing on the hill and the slopes.”

Sidang said students also helped out in the construction of the Church by gotong royong in those days. The 59-year-old added that the land was formerly used to plant hill padi before being given to the mission for the construction of the Church.

“The Church was built bit by bit, taking about three years to complete.

“Peter Hoes, who was then the officer in-charge of the construction of the Church, named it St Philip because St Philip’s Day was nearest its date of full completion,” said Sidang from Kampung Semeru.