Installation of Archbishop Okoh

Anglican Mainstream
March 25th, 2010
By Chris Sugden, in Abuja

The service lasted just under four hours and was worth every minute! Had it been on a weekend, there would have been “an explosion of numbers” a bishop sitting next to me said. The installation had to be held at the smaller Anglican Cathedral of the Advent as that is where the Bishop’s chair in which Archbishop Okoh was to be seated is placed, rather than at the much larger Ecumenical Cathedral. So to contain numbers the ceremony was held on a weekday. As it was there must have been over two thousand inside the building with an overflow outside.

The service was classical Anglican in words and music. A well-trained cathedral choir led the congregation who needed no encouragement to sing our heads off. “Faith of our Fathers”. “The Church’s One Foundation”, “Christ is made the sure foundation”, “To God be the Glory”, mingled with Parry’s Anthem “I was Glad”, and Handel’s “Zadok the Priest”.

Were the choirs specially assembled and trained we asked? No, we were told: “In our diocese [another one] all the boys know these off by heart. They are sung at all the ordinations.“ The one hundred and seventy one bishops of the Church of Nigeria, including those exercising oversight through CANA in the USA, were present. the rest