Only by the Grace of and only to the Glory of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, Unbegotten; God the Son, Onlybegotten; and God the Holy Spirit from the Father Proceeding: Celtic Orthodox Christian Monthly

Patrick Apostle to the Irish (March 17/30)

Psalm 139:
Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man. Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.

Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me: who have proposed to supplant my steps: the proud have hidden a net for me: And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling-block by the wayside.

I said to the Lord: Thou art my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication. O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: Thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle. Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me: do not Thou forsake me, lest they should triumph.

The head of them compassing me about: the labor of their lips shall overwhelm them. Burning coals shall fall upon them; Thou wilt cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand. A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.

I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy: and will revenge the poor. But as for the just, they shall give glory to Thy Name: and the upright shall dwell with Thy countenance.

St. Patrick, the Apostle to the Celtic people (and the people of the American continents, as Irish writing has been found in this area from before Christ, and from later in the Christian era, and the people of continental Europe who were brought back to knowledge after the dark ages by Irish monks). There is too much to say about St. Patrick: his birth in Briton or Brittany, his capture by opportunists and his slavery in Ireland, his escape by means of the angel Victor who appeared as a bird, his studies in Gaul and Italy under St. Germanus and others, his Consecration as Bishop (after Palladius) by Pope Celestine in 432, his conversion of the entire nation of Ireland to Christianity. There were four Bishops in Ireland previous to St. Patrick, not including Palladius, but each of these was Bishop of a small area or did not manage to convert the entire country: Ailbe at Emly, Ibar at "Little Ireland", Declan, and Ciaran of Saiger. All of them had been consecrated on the continent or in Rome.

During his study in France, St. Patrick accompanied St. Germanus of Auxerre (see May 28th) on a journey to Briton to decide the controversy surrounding a heresy promoted by Palagius Britto. This heresy said that one could attain heaven by ones' own efforts, without God's help. Through both argument and also great miracles, including the destruction of a city in Briton, the people were completely convinced that God must help us every step of the way to heaven. (Some monks later were accused of being "semi-Palagians" because they believed in the goodness of following a rule, fasting, etc. However, these good works were always done with the great faith that God alone could save them.)

When St. Patrick first returned to Ireland as a Bishop, he and the monks lit a fire before the druids could light their fire in Tara, the seat of the king of Ireland. The chief druid (pagan religious leader) said that if the fire of St. Patrick (which happened to be the fire of Holy Pascha) were not put out, it would take over the whole country. St. Patrick composed a prayer called "The Breastplate" or "Lorrica," "The Deer's Cry." When his monks were trying to escape the soldiers of king Laoghaire, they repeated this prayer, and the soldiers only thought they saw deer passing them. One little fawn had a satchel of books... the youngest monk carrying the books. Since the monks managed safe passage, Christianity did spread. There were many attempts on St. Patrick's life, and his charioteer Odran died when he switched places with St. Patrick. The king's son Feidlimidh converted to Christianity, along with many others, and Armagh became the seat of the Church in Ireland, leaving Tara a sheep-field.

The druids had twice before this predicted the coming of Christianity: first when Christ died on the Cross, a druid told the king then that God had just been killed in Rome. The king vowed that he would destroy Rome for that, and immediately the king fell dead. At that time, Ireland was very powerful, with many ingenious weapons, and may have been able to overcome Rome, but Christ came into the world to save sinners. Another time the druids predicted that their garment which was a single large cloth wrapped around them would be replaced by a garment with a neck-hole, and the religious leaders would chant strange words, "Amen, Amen." The third time the druids predicted Christianity was when they looked directly into the light of the Risen Christ in the fire of Pascha, and realized that their fires would no longer have the place of honor. As there is so much in the life of St. Patrick tied to the Orthodox Christian faith, it is worthy to read more.

It is said that St. Patrick destroyed all the snakes in Ireland. This could mean heretics there, but it also could have meant a pagan snake worship. In the lives of the holy Apostles, snake cults among the Greeks were mentioned, and the prayers of the Saints did kill some great vipers. (See St. John the Apostle, May 6th , for example.) Also, in the lives of the Apostles, we see earthquakes, collapse of temples, melting of idols, etc., so these acts of St. Germanus and St. Patrick were equal to the holy Apostles.

St. Patrick's bell survives to this day, but his miraculous pastoral staff of Jesus Christ that St. Patrick carried was destroyed in the Protestant Reformation. A thorn tree at St. Patrice in France near Tours that bloomed in midwinter survived into the 20th century, but is now gone. St. Patrick wrote an autobiography called his Confession. A bardic poem on the life of St. Patrick, the Genair Patraic was written by St. Fiacc. A three-part book was to be read on the three days of St. Patrick's Feast, The Tripartite Life. A Hymn about the life of St. Patrick by Secundinus, "Audite Omnes" written in Abecedarian form, was written by a close disciple of St. Patrick who came with him from the continent.. Each verse begins with a letter of the Latin alphabet, except that the last verse begins with a "P" for Patrick. It is also a protective "Breast Plate," and especially worthy to read on the three days of St. Patrick's feast, according to Tirechan of Armagh.. Muirchu states that all persons who sang this Hymn on their last day would be saved by the intercession of St. Patrick. (The Hymns "The Deer's Cry" and "Audite Omnes" are included in the Prayer Book.) Psalm 139 was chosen for his Feast day because it is almost a telling of the life of St. Patrick and what happened to his enemies through the hand of God, not the armies of men, and much of this Psalm is similar to St. Patrick's prayer, "The Deer's Cry."

The Celtic Liturgy does all of that and more. Moreover, it is the only service of the Offering of the Eucharist to survive intact and unchanged from the time of the  Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church before the Great Schism.  Like the early Church, it says some glorious things and some harsh things because it proclaims Gods love and reminds us of our deficiencies that Christ died to heal. It makes no apologies, unlike PC translations of the Bible.  The  Missal and other Celtic Christian writings meet the needs of our times. Bland expressions of Christ's teachings have allowed evil to grow because they excuse all sorts of ideas which Christ himself corrected because of His love for us. The Celtic Liturgy reveals the reality of Christ's presence in the Eucharist and prepares the Faithful to receive it.  So there is no need to invent new services.

We celebrate the Saints of the Celtic countries for the examples of their lives and the services and writings they have left to us.  We use the name Celtic in our title to state that in our humble way, we ask their blessing in continuing their work in Christ's service.   The expression of the unadulterated Christian Faith is our only calling to this work.  There is no other interest.

To the remark, "Why bother?"  Saint Basil the Great was asked the same sort of question and was vilified for reconstructing the Eastern Liturgy after heretics suppressed its use and destroyed all of the service books. Efforts to restore Orthodox Liturgies puts us in very esteemed company.

Read most of your website.   It is nice to see a group that is not critical of everyone else in the Church.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. L.
Response:   You are too kind.  We are critical, but we wish there were not so much that anyone holding to the Christian Faith has reject.

          Mar 11 Lent II [P]

          Mar 18 Lent III [P]

          Mar 25  Mid Lent (IV) [P]
          Mar 17/30 Saint Patrick of Ireland[W]

          Apr 1 Lent V [P]
          Mar 22/Apr 5  Departure of the Apostle Brendan  with Sixty disciples to the New World[W]
          Mar 25/Apr 7 Annunciation (fixed calendar commemoration of the Crucifixion &offering of Isaac by
          Abraham)[W]

          Apr 8 Lent VI (Palm Sunday)[W]
          Apr 12 THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST, THE FOOT WASHING, BEGINNING OF THE
          PASSION GOSPELS[W](At the Cathedral: Chrism is blessed)
          Apr 13 THE PASSION AND CRUCIFIXION OF THE LORD[P]
          Apr 14 HOLY SATURDAY[P]

Apr 15 EASTER SUNDAY[R, W at dawn](Matins Gospel of the Dawn Mass)
    ( Why do Orthodox Celebrate Easter on a "different" date?)
 

April 4/17 Ambrose of Milan[W]

Apr 22 Thomas Sunday (Low Sunday)[W](Matins Gospel of the Mass)
 

Apr 29 Second Sunday After Easter[W](Matins Gospel of the Mass)
April22/May 4- Philip the Apostle[W]

May 6 Third Sunday After Easter[W](Matins Gospel of the Mass)
April 25/May 8 Mark the Evangelist[W]