Holy Week Blog: Maundy Thursday

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Blog posts will be released each day until Easter Sunday 4 April

Contributed by Christian members of the Faith and Spirituality Team.

Thursday

By Thursday Jesus’ teaching in the temple was causing a great stir. The Jewish and the Roman authorities were becoming very anxious about the amount of unrest they were witnessing as Jesus’ supporters and detractors argued it out. Some of the supporters were claiming that Jesus was the Messiah, the King who would overthrow the Romans. Jesus would have known that in this overheated atmosphere, he was in grave danger. But it was Passover, and he wanted to celebrate the sacred meal with his friends. They gathered quietly in a private home; but there was a traitor in their midst, Judas, who for a bribe of 30 pieces of silver had offered to tell the authorities where Jesus was. During the meal Jesus told them to remember him every time they have bread and wine. This sharing of bread and wine and remembering Jesus was to become a foundational act of Christendom, called communion. Accounts of the meal vary a bit and in one account Jesus also washes the feet of his disciples, a custom in hot dusty climates, but usually done by a servant, not by the host. Jesus tells his disciples they should have such care for one another. After the meal, Jesus was growing very worried, because he felt sure he was going to be betrayed. He and his friends went into the garden and he asked them to pray with him. But they fell asleep and were awakened by an armed crowd, led by Judas, and Jesus was arrested. They took him away and interrogated him. You can read the full account of the meal, the arrest and the interrogation in Mark, chapter 14, verse 12 to 72.

Christians in English speaking countries call this day Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” (from Latin mandatum) refers to the command to wash one another’s feet and in medieval times, monarchs would wash the feet of their servants. Today the Queen gives Maundy money to a selected group of people. Christians observe the day usually in an evening gathering with readings, meditation, prayer and sharing in bread and wine. It is a solemn occasion. In some churches, the sanctuary is stripped of decoration, the cross is covered, and a vigil is held through the night. From the Iona Community’s Stages on the Way:

It was on the Thursday
that he became valuable.

He didn’t have anything to sell,
not since leaving his carpenter’s bench three years earlier.
He had nowhere to keep his stuff.
He even had to eat his last meal
in somebody else’s dining room.

He wasn’t worth much.
Mostly what he did was…
well,
talking, I suppose,
and listening
and healing
and forgiving
and encouraging
and loving
and the things for which there is no pay
and the job centre has no advertisements.

But suddenly somebody would pay
a silver penny, or two,
or thirty
for him.

And no matter about bread and wine shared,
no matter about feet washed,
no matter about promises of fidelity.
His price was too high.

It was on the Thursday …
that he became valuable.

Painting of the Last Supper shown in shadows. An abstract depiction of Jesus and the Disciples at a long table facing each other. Painting by Shirley J. Veater

The Last Supper. Painting by Shirley J. Veater

The material from Iona comes from Stages on the Way, 1998. Copyright(c) WGRG, Iona community, Glasgow Scotland. wilgooselscotland. Reproduced with permission.

Artworks by Shirley Veater used with grateful thanks. www.shirleyveaterdesigns.co.uk

Holy Week Daily Blog: Wednesday

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Blog posts will be released each day until Easter Sunday 4 April

Contributed by Christian members of the Faith and Spirituality Team.

Wednesday

During the week Jesus and his friends were probably staying outside Jerusalem in a village called Bethany at the home of Simon who had a skin disease and was therefore considered unclean, an outcast. But Jesus’ trademark was to befriend those whom other people disregarded and Simon made him welcome. During supper on Wednesday a woman joined them and, wanting to do something kind for Jesus, broke open a jar of very costly ointment and anointed him with it. The disciples thought this extravagance was ridiculous and reprimanded her. Jesus however was greatly moved and noted that such tender and unexpected acts of kindness are sometimes the most important thing we can do for each other. So touched was he that he said, “Wherever the good news is proclaimed in all the world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”  You can read this lovely story in Mark chapter 14, verses 3 to 9.  From the Iona Community’s Stages on the Way:

It was on the Wednesday
that they called him a waster.

The place smelt like the perfume department of a big store.
It was as if somebody had bumped their elbow
against a bottle of something expensive
and sent it crashing to the floor.

But it happened in a house,
not a shop.

And the woman who broke the bottle
was no casual afternoon shopper.
She was the poorest of the poor,
giving away the only precious thing she had.

And he sat still
while she poured the liquid all over his head,
extravagant, fragrant, comforting, tender

And those who smelt it,
and those who saw it,
and those who remembered
that he was against extravagance,
called him a waster.

But they forgot
that he too was the poorest of the poor
and that he was exhausted and fearful and anxious.

Jealousy was in the air
when a poor woman’s generous and tender love
became an embarrassment to their tight-fistedness
and their hard hearts.

That was on the Wednesday …
when they called him a waster.

Painting of an abstract forest early in the morning at sunrise. The trees are spindly and cast in shadows going in to the distance and in monchrome tones. Painting by Shirley J. Veater

Very Early. Painting by Shirley J. Veater

The material from Iona comes from Stages on the Way, 1998. Copyright(c) WGRG, Iona community, Glasgow Scotland. wilgooselscotland. Reproduced with permission.

Artworks by Shirley Veater used with grateful thanks. www.shirleyveaterdesigns.co.uk

Holy Week Daily Blog: Tuesday

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Blog posts will be released each day until Easter Sunday 4 April

Contributed by Christian members of the Faith and Spirituality Team.

Tuesday

Jesus was a Rabbi (teacher) and throughout the week his main activity was to talk with anyone who would listen. He had a reputation for teaching radical things, not, he said, to abolish the law which Jews observe, but to fulfil it. So, his teaching was not about the letter of the law, but the spirit. And to Jesus the spirit was always love and forgiveness. Many wanted to debate the issues. You can read some of that debate in Mark’s gospel, chapter 11, verse 11, through to chapter 12, verse 37. But if you want a concise summary of the best of Jesus’ teaching, go to Matthew’s gospel and read chapters 5,6,7, what we call “the sermon on the mount.”  From the Iona Community’s Stages on the Way:

It was on the Tuesday
that he gave it to them in the neck.

If you had been there
you would have thought
that a union official was being taken to task
by a group of back bench Tory MPs;
or that the chairman of a multinational
was being interrogated by left wing activists,
posing as shareholders.

They wanted to know why
and they wanted to know how.

They were the respectable men,
the influential men,
the establishment.

The questions they asked
ranged from silly speculations
about whether you would be a bigamist in heaven
if you had married twice on earth,
to what was the central rule of civilized behaviour.

They knew the answers already ….
or so they thought.

And like most of us
they were looking for an argument
with no intention of a change of heart.

But he flailed them with his tongue,
those who tried to look interested
but never wanted to be committed.

And that was on the Tuesday…
the day when he gave it to them…
to us,
in the neck.

Painting showing Jesus and the Desciples. Jesus is washing one of the Disciples' feet in a shallow basin. Painting by Shirley J. Veater.

Jesus Washes the Disciples feet. Painting by Shirley J. Veater

The material from Iona comes from Stages on the Way, 1998. Copyright(c) WGRG, Iona community, Glasgow Scotland. wilgooselscotland. Reproduced with permission.

Artworks by Shirley Veater used with grateful thanks. www.shirleyveaterdesigns.co.uk

Holy Week Daily Blog: Monday

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Blog posts will be released each day until Easter Sunday 4 April

Contributed by Christian members of the Faith and Spirituality Team.

Monday

The temple was to be Jesus’ centre of activity for the week. On Monday he went to the temple and found the forecourt was full of stalls selling animals for sacrifice. To buy the animals one had to use the temple currency and the exchange rate was not favourable! The presence of this commercial activity made Jesus extremely angry; a holy place had been turned into a marketplace! In a fury he threw over the stalls and shouted at them all. The temple authorities were very troubled about Jesus and realised he had an agenda that threatened their livelihood.  The story is told in Mark chapter 11, verses 15-19.

There is no particular Christian observance of this day, or on Tuesday or Wednesday. From the Iona Community’s Stages on the Way:

It was on the Monday
that religion got in the way.

An outsider would have thought
that it was a pet shop’s fire sale.
And the outsider, in some ways,
wouldn’t have been far wrong.

Only, it wasn’t household pets.
It was pigeons that were being purchased.
And it wasn’t a fire sale.
It was a rip-off stall in a holy temple
bartering birds for sacrifice.
And the price was something only the rich could afford,
No discounts to students, pensioners or disabled types.

Then he,
the holiest man on earth,
went through the bizarre bazaar
like a bull in a china shop.
So the doves got liberated
and the profit margins got wiped out
and the pigeon sellers got angry;
and the police went crazy;
and the poor people clapped like mad,
because he was making a sign
that God was for everybody,
not just for those who could afford him.

He turned the tables on Monday…
the day that religion got in the way.

Painting showing doves swooping down into a temple and disarray with the contents of the template evaporating into vapours in the air to represent cleansing. Painting by Shirley J. Veater.

Cleansing the Temple. Painting by Shirley J. Veater

The material from Iona comes from Stages on the Way, 1998. Copyright(c) WGRG, Iona community, Glasgow Scotland. wilgooselscotland. Reproduced with permission.

Artworks by Shirley Veater used with grateful thanks. www.shirleyveaterdesigns.co.uk

Holy Week Daily Blog: Palm Sunday

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Blog posts will be released each day until Easter Sunday 4 April

Contributed by Christian members of the Faith and Spirituality Team.

In the Western Church, Easter falls on April 4 this year and during the week preceding it, Christians remember some of the significant things which happened during Jesus’ last days before his death by crucifixion. They call these days Holy Week. It is a week of sorrow and distress; but it ends gloriously in joy and hope with Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Some of the Christian members of the Faith and Spirituality Team have put together a rough sketch of each of those days and included references from the gospel of St. Mark, where you will find a biblical account. We have also given a brief explanation of how Christians observe the day, and a meditation from the Iona Community’s Stages on the Way (used with permission).

Palm Sunday

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. Jesus was coming to Jerusalem for the Jewish Passover celebrations with his disciples. During the three years of his ministry of teaching and healing he had gained a huge crowd of followers, mostly humble people who were grateful for his loving, inclusive affirmation. On Sunday he came into Jerusalem. Word had gone before him that he was entering the city and crowds lined the streets to welcome him, waving branches from the trees (palms) crying “Hosanna” which means “save us.” You can read the account at Mark, chapter 11, verses 1-11.

In churches around the world, Christians will celebrate this day by waving palms, some woven into crosses or other shapes, and singing “Hosanna!”  It is a day of joy, but with undertones of sorrow as  they will probably also consider some of the things that happened during Jesus’ last week. When they gather again on Thursday, the tone will be very different. Some thoughts from the Iona Community:

It was on the Sunday
that he took on the city.

Religious freaks usually appear in the desert,
cutting themselves off from the hurly burly
for God wouldn’t dirty his hands
with things of the city,
political things,
criminal things,
beggars and thieves and prostitutes.

But on the Sunday
he rode in,
to claim all he saw
for God does weep in the dust of the streets.
God does cry out in the grand temples and courtyards.
God does yearn for the hustlers and the crooks,
the power hungry and the power brokers,
the fashionistas and the dolly birds,
the addicts and the dealers.

It was on the Sunday …
that he took on the city.

Painting of Jesus in white robes on a donkey amongst many palm trees with a blue sky

Triumphal entry – Hosanna! Painting by Shirley J. Veater

The material from Iona comes from Stages on the Way, 1998. Copyright(c) WGRG, Iona community, Glasgow Scotland. wilgooselscotland. Reproduced with permission.

Artworks by Shirley Veater used with grateful thanks. www.shirleyveaterdesigns.co.uk

Passover – sundown 27th March, until nightfall 4th April

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Pesach – Nissan 15-22, the Hebrew Calendar dates (27 March – 04 April)

Featuring contributions from: Raf Salkie, Rebecca Graber, Josh Newman, Fiona MacNeill

Pesach is almost certainly the most celebrated festival in the Jewish calendar – and celebrated almost entirely at home.

Pesach (/ˈpɛsɑːx, ˈpeɪsəx /, English Passover) is a Jewish holiday which celebrates the escape of the Hebrew slaves from ancient Egypt.  The highlight is the evening Seder (SAY-duh, meaning ‘order’), which is a combination of a religious service and a celebratory meal.  The service retells the story of the Exodus from Egypt over several obligatory glasses of wine.  The Seder is a family event, centred round children.

During the Seder various symbolic items are assembled on a plate.  The pictures included below show a traditional Seder Plate with explanations, and a similar plate with some extra new traditions.

Line drawing of traditional Seder plate with written descriptions included in the caption

Descriptive text in this image: The traditional seder plate includes: a roasted egg representing a new life after Egypt. Parsley, a spring vegetable and sign of new life. Charoset (a mix of apples cinnamon, nuts and wine), the mortar used making bricks as slaves. Salt water, the tears of the slaves. Lamb bone, the sacrifice on the last night. Matzah (unleavened bread), as there was no time in the escape to let it rise.

As a point of clarity in relation to the illustration above. The lamb, as the source of the lamb bone, would traditionally have been slaughtered before Passover begins. In the story, the blood of the lamb was daubed on the doorways of the Hebrews’ homes to let the Angel of Death know to ‘pass over’ these homes while enacting the 10th plague, the death of first born sons. The 10 plagues are key to the Judeo-Christian story of Moses or Moshe. For a brief refresh read this article (Gill, 2021; SEE also Shemōt the second book of the Torah, known as the Book of Exodus in the Christian Old Testament).

Illustration of a non-traditional Seder place with descriptions included in the caption

Descriptive text in this image: What’s on your Seder plate? Bitter herb, often romaine lettuce. Bitter herb, often horseradish. Shank bone. Hard-boiled egg, often roasted. For vegans flower or seed replaces the egg. For vegetarians and vegans, roasted beetroot, replaces the shank bone. Charoset (mixture of chopped nuts and apples, wine and cinnamon). Parsley or boiled potato for dipping in salt water. New traditions: some celebrants have introduced additions to their Seder plates: orange in support of LGBT inclusion; olive in support of peace between Israelis and Palestinians; artichoke in support of interfaith families; tomato in support of farmworker’s rights.

Practices and observances

The story of Pesach is the foundation story of Judaism and is absolutely central to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (the Torah): the divinely driven escape from slavery that takes the Hebrews into the desert and to the revelation on Mount Sinai where Torah is handed to Moses*. This is officially marked 50 days later on Shavuot (on 17/18th May in 2021).

The story told at the Seder is in the first person: Jews say we were slaves in Egypt – and explain the story to the children. It is common, as illustrated by the ‘new traditions’ of the illustrated Seder plate above, to discuss oppression in current society and to think about how to fight against slavery – real and metaphorical – in the world today.

For the eseven or eight days of Passover, observant Jews eat matzah (a crisp, unleavened bread), and do not eat bread or anything made with a number of grains other than matzah.  Fortunately, meat, fish, cheese, vegetables, nuts, crisps and chocolate are allowed.  There is a tradition of making biscuits and cakes out of ground almonds, potato flour or desiccated coconut.

Pesach is one of the three festivals that even many non-observant Jews celebrate (the other two are Rosh Hashanah [New year] and Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement], which fall close to each other in the Autumn).  Pesach is celebrated in Spring: this year Seder is on Saturday 27 March and Passover ends on 4 April.

First-born males traditionally fast on the day before the Seder meal.  Since fasting on Saturday, the Sabbath, is not permitted, this year the Fast of the First Born is held on Thursday 25 March.

Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Israeli Jewish customs

Key points about differences in observances:

  • Passover is a seven day festival, although in the diaspora (outside Israel) most Jews observe an extra day – and celebrate a second Seder on the second night.
  • Observances of which foods are permitted on Passover differ slightly with Ashkenazi (European) Jews refraining from eating nuts, beans and rice, and Sephardic (Spanish and Portuguese) Jews being permitted these foods.
  • It is considered a mitzvah (good deed) to welcome strangers to a Passover seder.

How to respectfully recognise Passover/Pesach as someone who is not Jewish

If you have friends or colleagues who you know are practicing Jews you can wish them a Happy Passover. It is respectful to do this in a one-to-one or via a private written message (during the current lockdown). This year you may wish to do this earlier as the Fast of the First Born, as noted above, starts on 25th March, otherwise the 27th March is fine. If you wish to say ‘Good Holiday’ in Hebrew you can say the phrase: Chag Sameach (pronounced: Chag Sa-May-ach, the ch is like the end of the word loch, this phrase in Hebrew: חג שמח). You can also post a message on social media in a general way, but it is important not to tag people as practice and beliefs can be private and this should always be considered. Also, if you are selecting an image for your social media post, keep it simple with a text-based greeting and visual reference to the Seder. There are some nice examples at this site (although there are also some to avoid on this site too!). If you are invited to a Passover Seder, this is an honour and it is important to listen and learn from the stories shared as part of the meal and to thank your hosts for their trust and hospitality.

Comparative Theology

The foundation story festival of Passover occurs at the same time as the foundation story festival of Easter in Christianity. In the ‘Synoptic Gospels‘ (2021) the Last Supper is traditionally thought to be a Seder. This may explain why in the Western churches the bread shared at the eucharist is unleavened. In John’s gospel Jesus dies at the same time that the Pascal Lamb (from the word Pesach) is slaughtered.

Further reading

In Nazi Concentration Camps, some Jews tried hard to observe Pesach despite the terrible conditions.  Two moving stories are told here:

The Story of a Prayer: A Seder in Bergen-Belsen

A Seder in Dachau: How a “Rebbe” Created Hope in the Most Dire of Circumstances

Passover resources and event

Helpful resources for Pesach from Chabad.org

The British Shalom-Salaam Trust is hosting an event on Tuesday, 30th March at 7.00pm which is open to all. This event will be held on Zoom and for more details please visit the BSST’s Facebook page.

OneTable provides advice for celebrating Passover solo if you are in a situation where you need to self-isolate or cannot be with family and friends.

References

Gill, N.S. (2021, January 26). The 10 Egyptian Plagues. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/plagues-of-egypt-ancient-jewish-history-118238 (Accessed: 14 March 2021).

‘Synoptic gospels’ (2021) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synoptic_Gospels (Accessed: 14 March 2021).

*Interestingly, Moses is not mentioned in the Seder — it says repeatedly says that God led Jews out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and that God gave the Ten Commandments on Sinai, but Moses is never mentioned by name.  Why Moses is absent, in some versions of the Seder he gets one passing mention, has been a topic of much discussion. For one discussion see this web page.

Ash Wednesday and Lent

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About this post

Claire O’Sullivan, Catholic Chaplain and Faith and Spirituality Adviser at University of Brighton has contributed this post to help us learn more about Lent and its significance to Christians.

What is Ash Wednesday?

On Wednesday you may have come across people walking around with a blurry cross marked on their forehead.

Ash Wednesday is part of the Christian tradition and marks the first day of Lent.

The imposition of ashes comes from an ancient Jewish practice and is a sign of penance, a reminder of reliance on God and the fleeting nature of the earthly life: The ashes are applied by a priest in a church service usually with the words “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (This is a quote from the book of Genesis addressed to Adam. The figure of Adam and his being created from dust is common between Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths).

What is Lent?

Lent is roughly 40 days of fasting and prayer, a spiritual preparation for Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the triumph of good over evil, sin and death.

Lenten practices include prayer, fasting, abstinence and almsgiving, and are most commonly observed by those of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, but other Christian denominations and those with no faith may also follow certain practices.

Get involved

The Faith and Spirituality Advisers have put together a set of weekly ideas for marking this special time:

  • WEEK 1: Giving jar. Over lent add loose change and at the end choose a charity to give the contents to.
  • WEEK 2: Light a candle at mealtimes and pray for peace around the world.
  • WEEK 3: Drink only water for a day reminding you of how precious this resource is.
  • WEEK 4: Send “Thank You” notes to those special people who are a blessing in your life, it could be a tutor, friend or relative.
  • WEEK 5: Bake hot cross buns, in a conscious, meditative fashion. There is a great recipe here
Ash wednesday During COVID-19. Two people with bowed heads and ashes on the crowns of their heads

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vatican guidance suggested the sprinkling of the ashes atop the head, or crown, while observing pandemic protocols [Whoisjohngalt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons].

Ashes to Go at a Train station in Connecticut USA

The image depicts Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church’s ‘Ashes to Go station’ on Ash Wednesday in 2017 that was positioned at the Noroton Heights Train Station in Connecticut [Michael Toy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons].

RFN Contributed Pancake Photos for Shrove Tuesday

Photo of creative pancakes in a rang of shapes and letters s and f

Jess’s very creative pancakes

Fionas pancake stack, small American-style pancakes with mixed berries on a blue plate

Fiona’s healthy pancakes – A bit ‘Instagram-ready’ you might say! [Fiona’s own comment!]

Recognising Holocaust Memorial Day 27/01/21

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Remembering those lost during the Holocaust

Holocaust Memorial Day collage from 2020 - created by F. MacNeill

A collage created by F. MacNeill to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in 2020

A key goal of the Staff Race and Faith Network is to provide a space for staff to come together. Part of coming together is taking time to reflect and learn about the lived experiences of our colleagues and students, educating ourselves about other cultures and historical contexts. We are always learning and invite anyone who is reading this to do so as well. Holocaust Memorial Day is an important day for reflection, remembering the terrible tragedies of the past so that they are not repeated and recognising the legacy of trauma which persists to this day. To mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2021 we provide a selection of events and resources below, specifically highlighting an event facilitated by the Univerisity of Brighton Faith and Spirituality Advisers in collaboration with the Sussex Chaplaincy and with the charity Generation 2 Generation.

Regardless of whether you can attend any of the events that are listed, you can learn more about the Holocaust and the effects of genocides around the world at the Holocaust Memorial Day site.

27/01/21 at 7.30pm
Highlighted event:
Paulette’s Story – the destruction of a Jewish family in France [Online Event]

A Holocaust Memorial Day Presentation and Conversation with Debra Barnes
Organised by the University of Brighton Faith & Spirituality Team and University of Sussex Chaplaincy welcome Debra Barnes from the charity G2G – Generation 2 Generation

Joining details for Zoom are listed on the calendar event on staffcentral.

Presentation via Zoom with opportunities for questions and feedback following the talk.

Debra has recently published a children’s book based on her mother’s story called ‘The Young Survivors’.

G2G (Generation 2 Generation) was formed in order to train the children, grandchildren and close friends of Holocaust survivors to present the memories of their relatives or friends, many of whom have either died or are now in their 80s and 90s. They feel that it is vital that those experiences should not be forgotten and their aim is to promote a clear message of tolerance and understanding for the generations of the future.

Logo for the University of Brighton Faith and Spirituality Advisers Logo for the University of Sussex Chaplaincy

26/01/21 at 6pm
Never Again – Holocaust Memorial Day – Organised by Stand Up To Racism [Online Event]

Speakers include: 
Collette Levy, hidden as a child from the Nazis,
Lorna Brunstein, daughter of Holocaust survivor Lorna Brunstein,
Professor Ruth Levitas, Daniela Abraham Sinta Roma Memorial Trust

For more details and joining information, please see the Facebook event page.

27/01/21 at 6pm
Brighton and Hove Holocaust Memorial Day with Latest TV

The Brighton & Hove Holocaust Education Project in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council will be commemorating this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) on 27 January. For the first time this event will be entirely on-line, joining communities around the UK as they observe this national day of awareness and reflection.

A special one-hour programme will be live-streamed courtesy of Latest TV at 2 pm and 6 pm on 27 January via the station’s web site. It will be available for schools and the general public for immediate access.

27/01/21 – 7pm-8pm
Main Holocaust Memorial Day Ceremony [Online Event]

Register to attend the main ceremony which will be streamed online from 7-8pm on 27/01.

Light a candle and put it in your window at 8pm on 27 January 2021 (if you are able to do so safely). Tag your candle photo or artwork with the following hashtags on Social Media: #HolocaustMemorialDay #LightTheDarkness

03/02/21
Q&A session, with Holocaust survivors, Peter Summerfield BEM and his twin brother George – Organised by University of Sussex [Online Event]

From the University of Sussex website:
A pre-recorded video interview of Peter and George talking about their escape from Nazi Germany will be sent to you on Holocaust Memorial day, 27 January 2021, to watch at a convenient time prior to our Zoom event.

Then, a week later, our special Zoom session, will enable you to interact with the brothers and ask them any questions that you may have about what was discussed in the video and of the brothers’ lives under the Nazi regime.

For more details and joining information, please see the Sussex booking page. Attendance is free with a donation to help support the work of the Centre for German-Jewish Studies at the University of Sussex.

Tackling Racial Harassment in Higher Education: a set of recommendations from UniversitiesUK

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Today, the UniversitiesUK published a new set of recommendations to ‘decisively tackle racial harassment’ in response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s challenge to universities last year (EHRC, 2019).

UniversitiesUK acknowledges that structural racism or the decolonising agenda are beyond the scope of the proposals. It has five themes (Culture, Whole-institution response, Prevention, Response, Evaluation. Below is a transcript of its 12 key recommendations.

Recommendation 1

Vice-chancellors, principals and senior leaders are recommended to afford priority status to tackling racial harassment, and to demonstrate this visibly through taking ownership, responsibility, accountability and oversight for tackling it. It is recommended that this is supported by engaging with those with lived experiences of racial harassment, by dedicating specific resources to its eradication, and engaging with governing bodies or university courts.

Recommendation 2
Work with the entire university community, including students’ unions, trades unions and staff networks, to understand the impact of racial harassment on campus. Ensure that the voices of students and staff from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds with lived experience of racial harassment are given due prominence, and be clear that tackling these issues is everyone’s responsibility and should not fall to a minority of colleagues.

Recommendation 3

Universities should develop a strategy for addressing racial harassment, ensuring this is embedded consistently throughout all areas of the institution and informed by decision- makers across the university. Clear success measures should be identified and progress regularly reviewed by senior leaders and the governing body.

Recommendation 4
Regularly review policies and procedures to understand possible biases or increased potential for racial harassment. Increase racial and cultural competence and awareness of the impact of racial harassment and racial microaggressions throughout the university’s services, including in wellbeing, counselling, disability support and careers services.

Recommendation 5

Be confident in holding open conversations about racism and racial harassment across the institution. Define racial harassment, using clear examples of terminology, including microaggressions, and being clear that the impact on the victim is important in determining harassment. Ensure these definitions are widely communicated and understood.

Recommendation 6
Increase staff and students’ understanding of racism, racial harassment and microaggressions and white privilege, through training that is developed from an anti-racist perspective. This should go beyond unconscious bias training. Set targets for completion and carefully evaluate all training activities to ensure they have the desired effect.

Recommendation 7

Ensure that staff and students are aware of expected behaviours online and the sanctions for breaching these, highlighting that incidents will be treated with the same severity as those happening offline. In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, review the efficacy of university support for online safety and welfare, and how effectively this meets the changing needs of students and staff.

Recommendation 8
Where these do not already exist, universities should develop and introduce clearly defined channels for reporting incidents of racial harassment, including the option for anonymous reporting where possible. Details of the system should be communicated routinely to all staff and students to encourage usage. The provision of appropriate support to the reporting party should be a key consideration in designing reporting systems.

Recommendation 9

Universities should systematically collect data on reports of incidents of racial harassment, including where issues were resolved informally, and take action to respond to emerging trends. This data should be reported to senior members of staff and governing bodies and discussed with partners, including trades unions and students’ unions. Universities should create a centralised mechanism for recording incidents to understand the true extent of the issue and prevent information being held only locally.

Recommendation 10
Universities should review their procedures for handling racial harassment complaints to ensure that these follow sector frameworks and guidance from ACAS and the EHRC to deliver fair, transparent and equitable outcomes for all parties involved. This should be done in collaboration with staff and students from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, trades unions and students’ unions. Gather, analyse and review satisfaction data to ensure procedures remain fit for purpose.

Recommendation 11

Institutions should develop robust evaluation measures for their activities to prevent and respond to racial harassment. These should incorporate the experience of staff members and students who have used reporting systems and complaints procedures. Established measures should also be kept under review as changes to circumstances, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, may require new action or changes in approach.

Recommendation 12
UUK will carry out a review to evaluate the impact of this guidance and identify areas for further improvement by summer 2022.

A full read of Tackling Racial Harassment in Higher Education is highly recommended for its accompanying case studies and numerous other highly practical recommendations.

Graciano Soares is Chair of the University of Brighton Race and Faith Network. He is Co-editor of Talk it out!

Orthodox Church Festivals

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Photo of St Thomas a Becket Church, Lewes

St Thomas a Becket Church in Lewes where Fr Ian Wallis leads the Orthodox Parish of the Nativity of Christ (more information at the parish website).

Fr Ian Wallis (Faith and Spirituality Advisor: Orthodox Church), provides an overview of festival or feast days celebrated by Orthodox Christians.

The festivals (feast days) of the Orthodox Church are basically the same as those of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches: in particular those festivals that celebrate an event in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Mother of God or Theotokos) can be seen as replicating those of the Roman church, but there is not an exact equivalence. It should be remembered that the term ‘Orthodox’ with reference to the Church is really an abbreviation of ‘Orthodox-Catholic’. The Orthodox Church believes itself to be the ‘One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church’ of antiquity: the formal break in communion with the Roman church was in the year 1054 CE.

When it comes to attending church festivals, as with Anglicans and Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians would not expect any particular difficulties to do with their work obligations. The phrase ‘holy days of obligation’ (a usage taken from Catholic tradition) designates those days when the faithful are expected to attend church, but in practice it is left up to individuals as to whether or not they attend any of the relevant festivities.

However, there is an issue that can arise concerning the two major festivals (in particular) of Christmas (Nativity of Christ) and Easter (Pascha, the Resurrection of Christ) because the dates of these festivals in the Orthodox Church do not necessarily coincide with those of – for example – the Anglican and Roman churches.

The Nativity of Christ will be celebrated on the 7th January in some of the large local churches e.g. Russian, Ukrainian, Coptic etc., because these churches use the Old Style (Julian) Calendar, which is currently thirteen days behind our civil calendar (7th January is 25th December OS). However, not all the local churches keep the Old Style Calendar, and so most Orthodox Christians in the UK (whose church has adopted the New Style [Revised Julian] Calendar) will celebrate the birth of Christ on the 25th December (civil calendar) as do – for example – the Anglican and Roman churches.

The date for Pascha (Easter) in the Orthodox Church rarely coincides with what is the accepted date in most – if not all – of the other churches: it can be as much as two or three weeks after that date; and this also has implications for the start of Lent, which begins on a Monday in the Orthodox Church (cf. Ash Wednesday in Anglican and Roman churches). Although local churches differ as to what calendar they follow – Old or New Style – the Orthodox Church as a whole keeps Pascha on the same date. The Orthodox Church computes the date of Pascha using a date of the Spring Equinox that is not determined astronomically – but by other means!