"For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting." [John 3:16]  is probably one of the most widely quoted verses from Scripture. It proclaims the vastness of God's love for us and that the basis of Salvation is belief in His Son who suffered and died for us.   Our Lord continues and states that He did not come to judge us but that we are judged depending on whether or not we have Faith: "For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him. He that believeth in him is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of God."   He goes on to say "And this is the judgment: because the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved.  But he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God.".

But immediately, Saint John the Evangelist and Theologian goes on to say  "After these things Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea: and there he abode with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Ennon near Salim; because there was much water there; and they came and were baptized.  For John was not yet cast into prison."

Why mention Saint John the Baptist?  It is because the Holy Forerunner himself has stated a great deal about Christ:  "The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him, and he saith: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world.  This is he, of whom I said: After me there cometh a man, who is preferred before me: because he was before me. And I knew him not, but that he may be made manifest in Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John gave testimony, saying: I saw the Spirit coming down, as a dove from heaven, and he remained upon him. And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptize with water, said to me: He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and I gave testimony, that this is the Son of God." John 1::29-34

Christ is God the Son, the Son of God and the Spirit of God abides with Him.  This is very important to the understanding of belief in Christ.  It also is essential to our understanding of the Faith and especially our understanding of the Church.  The Baptist baptized people with the Baptism of repentence.  Christ's Baptism is  with the Holy Spirit.  Saint John the Baptist did not consider his Baptism, sufficient, but looked to Christ Whose Baptism he calls sufficient since it is of the life-giving Holy Spirit.

Christ's proclamation "For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting." is probably one of the most abused line of Scripture.  It has been taken to mean that all who believe in Christ are members of the Church.

Yet St. John the Theologian, being aware of the fact that we tend toward the minimum effort mentions the Holy Baptist to remind us that more than the minimal belief is required.  St. John the Baptist saw Jesus and heard the voice of the Father  and the presence of the Holy Spirit proclaim Him.   St. John the Baptist is the last of the Old Testament Prophets and he beheld the reality for which all of his predecessors prayed.  He, as they, knew that only Christ can fulfill our needs, not we ourselves.

When we follow the admonition of St. John the Baptist, we repent and turn to Christ: the real Christ Whom the Baptist recognized before both were born.  We are to love him and praise him, we are to confess his Divinity and the reality of his Incarnation.  God the Father sent His Son into the world.  To deny  or forget the fulness of the Incarnation, that God the Son took on our humanity so that all of us might be redeemed is to forget Who Christ is.  To reject any of the Sacraments which He gave us as a means of receiving God's Grace is also to forget Who Christ is.

Therefore let us celebrate all that God gave us through His Son.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given me: because they are thine:  And all my things are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are.  John 17: 9-11

Before His arrest, Christ prayed for the Disciples and for all of the Church, that we be one.  Many desire that all who confess Christ act as members of one church.  They forget details of the rest of Christ's prayer:
"While I was with them, I kept them in thy name. ...  I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world. ...  Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth.  ... And for them do I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. ...  Just Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee: and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have made known thy name to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them."

Christ asks that the Church be Sanctified in Truth and speaks of the doctrine which He know and has passed on to the Church through His Disciples.   At the end of the Gospel of St. John we learn that Scripture itself does not contain all of the works and sayings of our Lord since"there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written." [John 21:25]

Christ asks that God keep us one in Truth: one in the completeness of the Faith, both written and preserved in Holy Tradition.   Yet there are many who seek a unity based on a less than complete faith.  Christians cannot live on a partial Faith.  Christ knows this and this is why He said that "And for them do I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth."   Christ died so that we could be saved.  The Faith and Grace He taught and gave us is the truth in which He asked that God sanctify us.  How can Christians we deny the Doctrine Christ taught, even the detailed Theology taught out of the Son's knowledge of the Father and knowledge of His own Divinity and Incarnation?

Periodically various persons contact our clergy and state that they want to help our church obtain formal recognition by the present Ecumenical Patriarch.  They are thanked for their desire to help our church and advised to take no action on our behalf.  Since they feel that the recognition of their Patriarch is important, they themselves do not want to be separated from him.  Action on our behalf would probably cause them to be ostracized.  We want people to understand the true character of the current Ecumenical Patriarchate, but involuntary separation is not the same as realizing that one is drinking from a poisoned well.

The primary reason for declining such offers is that such recognition always has the same price tag: acceptance of actions by the Ecumenical Patriarchate which have always been condemned by the Church.  Recognition has reciprocal meaning.  If we were to seek recognition of any other church, that would mean that we share their current concept of the Church.  Very few churches still hold the original concept of the Church.  By their actions the Ecumenical Patriarchate is not one of them.

The Church always defined itself as  Body of Christ. and that only the combination of fidelity to the Christian Faith and the succession of Grace in the  Apostolic succession of Bishops is sufficient for a church to be a member of the Body of Christ.  The Church is a community of common belief and Grace.

Yet the Ecumenical Patriarchate states that the Christian Faith is the same as falsehoods condemned by the Church.  They state, for example that the monophysites' denial of the fulness  and reality of the Incarnation is compatible with Christianity.  They also state that there is a fundamental basic set of beliefs upon which Orthodox may seek unity with other churches which disagree on beliefs apart from the basic set.  This is clearly not fidelity to the Christian Faith.  Some of the larger churches protested these actions, yet they still remain in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.   Remaining in communion under such circumstances contradicts any protest they make since being in communion is a confession of common belief more important than any paper protest.  A very typical reflection of this thinking is found in the often-echoed statement "but without the externals, the internals are mere fluffery" of the "main stream" apologists.

This is rubbish and damnable rubbish at that.

So what would the recognition of any of the churches in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate mean?  It would mean that we share the same beliefs as apostates and they recognize us as a church like theirs.

Why seek the adulation of apostates when this would require repudiation of the chain of Faith and Grace that connects us to the Saints and to Christ Himself?

"When I see the Church of Constantinople as she was formerly, then I will  enter into communion with her without any  exhortation on the part of men.  But while there are heretical temptations in her, and while heretics are  her bishops, no word  or deed will convince me ever to enter into communion with her"   St. Maximus the Confessor

          3 May /   16 May.  Oengus' verse: The first finding of Christ's Cross with (its) many virtues: the death of Conlaed, a fair pillar: the great feast of the Virgin Mary.  The first finding of the wood of the Cross, i.e. the authentic finding of Christ's Cross in the time of Constantine son of Helena. i.e. the Discovery of the True Cross of Christ, discovered in the time of Constantine the son of Helena.  Therefore the Cross was found.   The Cross had been stolen forty years after the Passion of the Lord, when the Romans sacked Jerusalem under Titus and Vespasian. [See note on September 15th.]  (According to Oengus and his glossator: the old Feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary).  The great Feast of the Virgin Mary.  "Conception of the Virgin Mary. [LL. 360a  i.e. this beginning of her, as others believe, but in the month of February or in March the fact is this, that she was born after seven months, as has been told, or any other Feast of hers, as you please (quae libet)."  LB.  See Rev. H Thurston, S.J. in The Month, May, 1904.]   This date for the Conception of the Virgin Mary would make her birth on September 8th a premature birth of only four months.  This date does not refer to the Annunciation, as that date is exactly nine months away from Christmas.  The important thing is that May 3rd, and the days of May, are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, although the actual meaning of this is obscured today.  See May 7th, some controversy as to which date these occurred.]  Death of Conlaed, a Bishop of Kildare, artisan to St. Brigid, known as a metal worker, copyist and illuminator.  Cogitosus says that in Kildare a golden crown was suspended above Brigid's tomb, and a silver crown above Conleth's tomb.  A crozier belonging to Finbar of Termon-Barry made by Conleth is in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.  The name Conlaed means half (leth) to wolves (coin).    Wolves devoured him in Sceich Condlaid beside Liamain in Mag Laigen, because he was proceeding to Rome despite Brigit.  From him Leth Conlaid in Kildare is named.  Roncenn was his previous name.  [See August 18th, Daig, son of Cairell, Ciaran of Saiger's chief artisan; and April 14th, the royal Bishop Tassach (t-Assach), who was St. Patrick's artisan and Bishop.  Daig, Conlaed, and Tassach were the three greatest artisans of Ireland.  Considering the beauty, complexity, and speed of the Irish scribes and artisans, the three greatest of them must be among the world's greatest artists and calligraphers.]  Also:  Mochonna of Daire cum Conlaed.  From The Martyrology of Tallaght:  Discovery of the Cross of Christ; the Conception of the Virgin Mary; Eventius; Teodolus; Ambrosius; Rufina; Musa; Saturninus; Marianus; Fortunatus.  Also: Condlaed (Roncend former or foremost) of Cell Dara; Scandal of Cell Conbraind; Barrfind of Druim Culinn; Saint Clothaig; Carpre Bishop of Mag Bile (Movilla); Aithgin of Both (Domnaig); Aedani; Neccain;  Mochonnae or Moconna of Daire (also March 8th); the daughters of Ossene; Dairchella of Glenn da Locha (Glendalough).   For the Liturgy of the Finding of the True Cross   (May 3/ 16)  Epistle: Phil. 2:5-11  (Jesus as Divine, humbling Himself to be obedient to death, and to Whom every knee should bow and tongue confess.)           Gradual and Alleluia:  Psalm 134:  Praise ye the Name of the Lord, O you, His servants, praise the Lord:  You that stand in the house of the Lord; in the courts of the house of our God.  Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good: sing ye to His Name, for it is sweet.  For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself: Israel for His own possession.  For I have known that the Lord is great: and our God is above all gods.  Whatsoever the Lord pleased He hath done, in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all the deeps.  He bringeth up clouds from the end of the earth: He hath made lightnings for the rain.  He bringeth forth winds out of His stores: He slew the firstborn of Egypt from man even unto beast.  He sent forth signs and wonders in the midst of thee, O Egypt: upon Pharao, and upon all his servants.  He smote many nations: and slew mighty kings: Sehon king of the Amorhites, and Og king of Basan, and all the kingdoms of Chanaan.  And gave their land for an inheritance: for an inheritance to His people Israel.  Thy Name, O Lord, is for ever: Thy memorial, O Lord, unto all generations.  For the Lord will judge His people: and will be entreated in favor of His servants.  The idols of the gentiles are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have a mouth, but they speak not: they have eyes, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not: neither is there any breath in their mouths.  Let them that make them be like to them: and every one that trusteth in them.   Bless the Lord, O house of Israel: bless the Lord, O house of Aaron.  Bless the Lord, O house of Levi: you that fear the Lord, bless the Lord.  Blessed be the Lord out of Sion, Who dwelleth in Jerusalem.

 Gospel: St. Matthew 13:44-50  (The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, and a pearl of great price, and the net full of fishes, where the good fish are kept and the bad cast out.  The end of the world the angels will separate the good from the bad.)

               5 May / 18 May  Oengus' verse: The Deacons Euthymius and Hilary past pains, They went on the day of Festival whereon our Lord had Ascended.  The Deacon Justinus, i.e. Deacon Ius who is in Connaught at Fidarta in Mag Ai, and 'tis he that Baptized Ciaran of Cluain, and of France was he, as some think.  St. Eustinus the Deacon suffered in or near Alexandria, and the one in Gaul was St. Hillary the Bishop's [Deacon] and a Martyr.  Eutimus is not Justin, as some texts would have it.  (St. Hilary of Poitiers - see also January 13th.)  The original Ascension, 40 days after March 27th the original Pascha.  (And May 15th was the original Pentecost.)  The Irish did not celebrate Pascha, the Ascension, and Pentecost on fixed days, but on the "Movable Calendar," so that the position of moon and day of the week of the original Pascha, as well as the time of year may be followed.  Pascha occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal Equinox as calculated by the Orthodox calendar, which also usually calculates the moon at a different time than our modern calendar.  Orthodox keep their "Old Calendar" calculations because the Light of the Resurrection often lights the congregation's candles at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on the Orthodox date. The remembrance of the original fixed dates of these events is kept in the Church.   Diuma first Bishop of Mercia (in England) is commemorated today, who died in A.D. 658.  Around 653 the daughter of king Oswy married Prince Peada.  Peada was Baptized by the Irish Bishop Finan of Lindisfarne, and asked for missionaries into Mercia (central England, around modern Liverpool).  The Irish Diuma was Consecrated Bishop of all the Mercians by Finan, and went with three English monks: Cedd, Adda and Bettin, who were also trained by Aidan of Lindisfarne. (Bede remarks that the lack of clergy made it necessary for one Bishop to rule so many people.  The Irish supplied as many missionaries as they could, but Rome sent few after the small group originally sent with St. Augustine of Canterbury for the conversion of the Angles and Saxons.  Many English monks were trained at Lindisfarne.)  Diuma brought many to Christ in the short two years he lasted as Bishop.  His monastery was dedicated to St. Peter, which is now Peterborough, "the first resting place of Christianity in central England."  Mercia's first five Bishops were either educated in Ireland or Lindisfarne, including Diuma (May 5th), Ceallach (October 6th), Trumhere, Jaruman, Ceadda or Chad brother of Cedd.  From The Martyrology of Tallaght: The first Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Herenna; Galla; Felicissus; Eutinus and non Justinus; Grigorius; Hilarius; Petivius; Bellus; Petrus; Marciasus; Erenneus; Archilaus; Necturus; Nicetus; Eutemus; Iohannis; Petrus; Zefanus and six others.  Also:  Euchbrit the Saxon; Faelan Find (the fair) of Cell Colmai; Senani.   (See Justin's names'sake, August 4th.)                  6 May / 19 May  Oengus' verse: A man who has written without stint fair stories of Christ crucified: venerated by princes is the great nativity of Matthew the magnified (Evangelist)  Two Apostles: St. Matthew and St. John.  The exit of Noah from the ark.  Also here comes the escape of the Apostle John from the tub of boiling oil into which he was cast in Rome before the Porta Latina by Domitian Caesar's order.  From The Martyrology of Tallaght: Matteus; Secundianus; Jacobus and translation of Johannis son of Zacharia; Gerontius; Jacobus; Saturninus; Maurianus and eighty others; Heliodorus; Concordius; Marina; Maria; Curice; Brigitona; Ausidia; Judith; Emeria; Acaca; Faustina; Victoris; Felicis; Marcellus; Maximus; Augustinus; Valerianus; Gaianus and seventy two others.  Also: Colmain of Loch Echin.  St. Matthew - from the Bobbio Apostle's Creed, he said, 'From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.'  Roman date of celebration: Sept 21  Celtic Rite dates:  Nativity of Matthew May 6, Sept 21, October 7th, October 22nd, also May 1st with Philip and James.  Psalm for St. Matthew: Psalm 129, "De Profundis" "Out of the depth I have cried to Thee."  St. John, Apostle, Evangelist, and Theologian, also called "the Divine" - from the Bobbio Apostle's Creed, he said, 'I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, God and our Lord.'  Roman dates of celebration:  Dec 27th, before the Latin gate May 6th, with Cyrus Jan 31st, with Paul June 26th. Celtic Rite dates: Dec 27th, escape of John from boiling oil, before the Latin Gate, May 6th, May 25th, John and Paul June 26th.  See "Theologian."  Note:  There is a relationship in the Latin language of "Jonah" and "John," and also "oil" with "whale."  From the prayers before a funeral: "Free, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant, as Thou didst free Jonah from the belly of the whale."  In Latin:  "Libera, Domine, animam servi tui, sicut liberasti Ionam de ventre ceti."  The late Latin term for oil is cetum.  So, this miracle of St. John the Evangelist would have reminded people of the miracle of Jonah in the whale, and also of the Sign of Christ on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead. Also the chastisement at sea of St. John is similar to Jonah, see his history below.  In this way, all the miracles of the Saints remind us of the miracle of Christ's Resurrection.  Also, it is tied to the day that Noah leaves the Ark.  This is the day of the major Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist.  See the history of St. Matthew in September.

Epistle:  Romans 5:1-9  (General Lection for Apostles)

Psalm for St. Matthew:  Gradual Canticle, 129  (A perfect Psalm illustrating prayer of the Publican in the Parable).  Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice:  Let Thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.  If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it?  For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of Thy law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.  My soul hath relied on His word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord.  From the morning watch even until night: let Israel hope in the Lord.  Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with Him plentiful redemption.  And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Psalm for St. John the Evangelist, referring to the boiling in oil and also to his chastisement at sea, see his history below : Gradual Canticle, 123.  If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say: If it had not been that the Lord was with us, When men rose up against us; perhaps they had swallowed us up alive:  When their fury was enkindled against us; perhaps the waters had swallowed us up.  Our soul hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable.  Blessed be the Lord, Who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth.  Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers:  The snare is broken; and we are delivered.

Gospel: St. Matthew 9:9-13?   (Gospel specific for St. Matthew, Jesus eating with him, Jesus saving sinners.) Also: St. Matthew 4:18-20; John 21:15-19 or Luke 6:6-19  (General Lection for Apostles.)  (The Gospel specific for St. Matthew is appropriate for both Apostles on this day, because only through God's mercy was St. John also saved from boiling oil.  As in the Gospel read on another of St. John's Feasts, on December 27th with St. James, the Gospel of St. Matthew 20:20-23, the mother of St. John asks if her sons may sit on the right and left of Jesus in the Kingdom of heaven, and Jesus says that the Father would decide that, but then after that Jesus tells all the Apostles that the greatest shall be the servant of all.  Today is a day we ask for forgiveness, not assuming that we will always be pulled out of boiling oil, but that God is merciful on sinners, even Publicans such as St. Matthew.  St. Matthew was very fruitful, writing the first Holy Gospel, and St. John was also very fruitful, writing the last Gospel, Epistles, and the Book of Revelation.  However, in all icons, at the right hand and left hand of Jesus is the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist, who was called "least in the kingdom of heaven," but who is always pictured next to Christ because St. John the Baptist Baptized our Lord.  The two Psalms for today illustrate death and resurrection.)

Some of the History of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (Abbreviated)  St. John wrote the Gospel of St.. John, the general Epistles of St. John, and the Apocalypse.  The Apostle and Evangelist John is also called "the Divine" as he was divinely inspired to write the Apocalypse, also called "the Book of Revelation of St. John the Divine," and also called Theologian (Theo meaning God, and Logos meaning Word), because he was one of the few Saints to talk about the nature of God Himself, beginning his Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word..."  The term "Theologian" does not mean a student of theology, as incorrectly used today, but is an ancient Christian term reserved for very few of the Saints, a Saint with insight into the nature of God Himself before time.  St. Peter, whose faith is the rock that Jesus Christ said is the foundation on which Jesus would build His Church, is not called "Pansouphas" or All-Wise by the Church, not Theologian, because the insight of St. Peter related to the Incarnation of Christ as the Son of God, not the nature of God before time.     Of the writers of the four books of the holy Gospels, St. John is the one who soars to the heavens giving us direct news of God, and therefore St. John is given the symbol of the eagle, one of the four Cherubs from the prophecy of Ezekiel.  (See September 21st about the four Kerubs and the Gospels, beginning with the Gospel of St. Matthew.  The "Opening of the Ears," a very important Rite of the Church read on Palm Sunday, explains the four Kerubs of the Gospels.)  It is stated by Blessed Theophylact that St. John received the other three Gospels after the Evangelist had been Martyred, and was asked if they were composed according to the truth.  He not only approved the other Gospels, but when he composed the Gospel of St. John he completed what they had omitted, and elaborated what they had touched on briefly.  Blessed Theophylact also mentions that St. John spoke about God the Word in the beginning of his Gospel so that "no one would think that God the Word was a mere man, that is, without divinity." Blessed Theophylact also points to St. John's title "Theologian," as St. John was the only person who wrote, "In the beginning was the Word..."  St. John is the one Apostle who stayed with Christ on the Cross, with the holy mother of God so that Christ said from the Cross to her, "Woman, behold thy son," and to John, "Behold thy mother." (John 19:26-27), and St. John cared for her after that.  St. John is also known as the "Beloved disciple" who leaned on Christ at the Last Supper.  St. John was the youngest of the Twelve Apostles, and was the brother of James the son of Zebedee.  They were called by Christ the 'sons of thunder.'  Zebedee was married to Salome, a daughter of Joseph who was Betrothed to Mary, so John would have been a step-nephew of Jesus.  As an Apostle, and the one who cared for Mary until her repose, St. John was also an adopted brother of the Lord.  The Apostles Peter, James, and John were especially close to Jesus, being with Him at the Transfiguration, at the raising of Jairus' daughter, and at the Garden of Gethsemane just before Jesus' arrest.  The wonderful inspiration from the Gospel of St. John is unique, but often the beautiful verses are quoted out of context.  For example, St. John 3:16 in the Celtic Lectionary is read during the Paschal season, but the reading continues until we are reminded that belief, as preached by St. John the Baptist, must be made whole by the Holy Spirit given by Jesus.  Scripture or belief, which was upheld as the letter of the Law in the time of the Old Testament, needs the direction of the Tradition of the Church, which is guided by the Holy Spirit.  Many favorite verses of St. John's Gospel include:  "In the beginning was the Word..." (John 1:1); "For God so loved the world..." (John 3:16); "I am the bread of life..." (John 6:35, 48); "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his Blood, you shall not have life in you..." (John 6:54); "...no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father."  (John 6:66); "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  (John 8:58); "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  (John 9:5); "I am the door..." (John 10:9); "I am the good shepherd." (John 10:11); "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30); "Do you say of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?" (John 10:34-36, and Psalm 81:6, or 82 KJV numbering); "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live..." (John 11:25); "...Jesus wept." (John 11:35); "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself." (John 12:32); "He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me." (John 13:20); "...love one another, as I have loved you..." (John 13:34, 15:12, and 15:17); "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man cometh to the Father, but by me." (John 14:6); "I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever..." (John 14:16); "...I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you..." (John 14:20); "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you..." (John 14:27); "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." (John 15:1); "I am the vine, you are the branches..." (John 15:5); "As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you.  Abide in my love." (John 15:9)  "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends..." (John 15:13); "...ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full."  (John 16:24); "My kingdom is not of this world..." (John 18:36); '...there came out blood and water.' (John 19:34).  "Peace be to you." (John 20: 19, 21) "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you." (John 19:21).  "...lovest thou me?... Feed my sheep." (John 21: 15,16,17).  There are many other important quotes in the Gospel of St. John, and St. John himself said at the end of his Gospel that there were so many teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ that they could not all be put into one book, in fact, "I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21:25).  The Church often says that Scripture is part of Tradition: that the Apostles and Saints were witnesses to our Lord, and they recorded what they could in writing, but also they left a legacy in the Church of oral Tradition which the Church holds in reverence as well, precisely because the world itself could not contain all the books that could be written.  The Gospel of St. John is famous for many one line quotes, but actually it is the Gospel which shows the logical development of discussions our Lord had with others, including His teachings concerning the Law and our relationship to God.  In the same way, Jesus showed us His relationship to God the Father in the Gospel of John.  In the Gospel of St. John it is clear to see that Jesus is fully divine as well as fully human.  Some scholars in the past questioned that one author could write the Gospel of St. John, which appears to jump around in subject matter.  However, the Roman Catholic Priest John Gerhardt wrote a treatise in the 1960s concerning the "chiastic" structure of the Biblical Greek of the paragraphs and verses in the Gospel of John;  not only did one man write the Gospel of St. John, but that the Gospel is one continuous poem from beginning to end with verses grouped in such a way to allow memorization of the entire book.  (John Gerhardt was quoted in a book by Peter Ellis on the same subject, The Genius of John.  Peter Ellis finds the main theme of the Gospel as Jesus walking on the water "It is I, be not afraid." John 6:20, which seems forced because it is not a central location or theme in the Gospel, although it may be the center of one of the chiastic groups.  Other "centers" of the chiastic themes may be found.  John Gerhardt taught religion in Brooklyn Preparatory School for many years, and happened be teaching there in 1971 - 1972 when the then student Kristopher Dowling, now Bishop Maelruain, attended his class, one year totaling 120 hours of class time on St. John's Gospel alone.  Soon after that time, Gerhardt's work on the Greek text of St. John's Gospel became very popular at the Master's and Seminary level at St. John's University in New York and some Orthodox seminaries, because Gerhardt's work refutes those who seek to destroy the Bible by removing "extraneous" passages.  Bishop Maelruain has some of John Gerhardt's working notes for the treatise.)  A "chiastic" structure means that the subject matter repeats, but not in the way some earlier poetry styles did.  (Many ancient poems repeat themes outlined as A, A, B, B, C, C, D, D, E, E, etc.)  The themes in a chiastic structure repeat in an A, B, C, B, A form, or rarely a simpler A, B, A form, or a more complex A, B, C, D, E, D, C, B, A form.  Also, there are outer structures of groups of the chiastic sets of themes also grouped A, B, C, B, A, finally including the entire book in a great chiastic outline.  In a few places where an Old Testament passage is quoted in the Gospel of St. John, these quotes fall outside of the structure of the rest of the Gospel, but otherwise the entire Gospel of John is structured for poetic reflection and understanding.  The Irish who greatly appreciated poetry, read the Gospel of St. John every other week at the Hour of Beginning of Night.  Some wonder about the age of St. John during the events, but St. John was a youth when he became an Apostle, and was a very old man when he died.  He wrote the Gospel of St. John later in his life, when his understanding of Greek was better than his early years, and after the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem had occurred.  St. John's Gospel shows that Jesus instituted all seven Sacraments.  Jesus sent out Apostles.   Jesus is one in essence with the Father in heaven, the Father's only begotten Son in heaven, and at the same time a man.  St. John quotes Jesus Christ at great length showing that He is completely God and at the same time completely man.  St. John also shows that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and is given to the Apostles by Jesus.  This doctrine of the Holy Spirit would become a controversy later in the Church that would divide the Church, because St. John also points out that the doctrines of the Lord are very important to keep: the branches which are not of Jesus will be cast forth by the father (John 15:1, 6). In the second book of his Epistle St. John reminds us, "Whosoever revolteth and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.  He that continueth in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son." (II John verse 9).  (The Creed as said by the Irish in the Celtic Missal is the original Creed, and has the doctrine of the Lord.)  The reason that the Church does not ignore false doctrine within itself is this: "If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him: God speed you.  For he that saith unto him: God speed you, communicateth with his wicked works" (the General Epistle: II John verses 10 and 11).  As the Irish considered themselves to be the Church of St. John because of their love for his teachings, to be true to their mission, it is important to keep Orthodox doctrine.     The Apocalypse of St. John (also called the Book of Revelation) has always been considered the most difficult book to interpret in the Bible, and is about the Last Judgement, the Resurrection of the dead and the life in the age to come..  It has some famous passages, such as "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end..." (Apoc. 1:8, 21:6, 22:13); "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come." (Apoc. 4:8); "Behold, I come quickly..." (Apoc. 3:11, quoted several times...22:20).  "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth." (Apoc. 21:1); "Behold, I make all things new." (Apoc. 21:5).  In Greek, the phrase "I come quickly" grammatically suggests that the Lord is immediately with us, but the Last Judgement will not be at a time we may predict.  This phrase has caused controversy, but St. John and St. James in their Epistles tell us to wait patiently for the Lord.  According to the writings of St. Prochorus, who accompanied St. John in his missions, St. John chose the last lot deciding which lands he would missionize after Pentecost: that he would go to Asia Minor.  He sighed three times, but then realized that his lack of trust in the Lord would cost him more difficulties. He spent a number of years with the Blessed Virgin Mary, but when he set out on his mission, he went with one of the seven Deacons chosen by Christ: St. Prochorus.  St. Prochorus writes at great length about the mission, concentrating on the many miracles accomplished by Saint John, especially in the overthrowing of many demons worshipped by people in gentile nations.  St. Prochorus does not record much on the theology of St. John, except for short sermons, that St. John was often informed by the Holy Spirit when people were planning evil against him, and that many great miracles were done in Christ's Name.  Prochorus says that St. John traveled with him after the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but some sources say there was a house in Ephesus where St. John resided with the Blessed Virgin Mary, today a place of worship.  (In another book, it is recorded that St. John took the Blessed Virgin Mary to Ephesus for awhile to avoid some of the difficulties in Jerusalem, but she was living in Jerusalem when she died when she was around age 70.) The Blessed Virgin Mary was betrothed at a young age to the older St. Joseph.  If she was fifteen at the time of Betrothal, and Jesus was crucified and resurrected at age thirty three, then she would have been forty eight or forty nine at the time of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.  She was not too old to travel, but Prochorus records a shipwreck in the first journey which caused all to swim to land.  (All but St. John came to shore quickly, but Prochorus says that St. John spent forty days and nights at sea before being washed ashore at Mareotis.)  If the Blessed Virgin Mary were in a shipwreck with St. John and St. Prochorus, the Deacon Prochorus probably would have noted this.  It is possible that St. John traveled before her Dormition, but later with St. Prochorus.  This discrepancy should not lead us to reject the writings of Prochorus, but to look further for sources into the lives of the Apostles.  St. John also briefly met St. Andrew in Ephesus, according to the history of St. Andrew (November 29th).  After they recovered from the shipwreck, they went on to Ephesus.  St. John cast out many demons, which did not only possess people, but also temples, rocks, trees, lakes, rivers, etc.  A possessed person might have limited powers of prediction, often would be picked up by the demons so they could float in air, but ultimately would be killed and dragged to hell.  (A mentally ill person could not do these things; modern exorcists notice a great difference between possessed persons and those who suffer mental illness.) Many pagan Greeks worshiped "pythonic spirits," which were demons possessing snakes, or appearing in the form of a snake.  All the Apostles cast out demons, and most Apostles were Martyred because of jealousy of pagan priests who had lost income when the oracles no longer made predictions, or when the people who were happy to be free of the demons joined the Christian churches.  St. John was almost Martyred for this reason, but his body did not die in boiling oil, and this caused too much embarrassment and publicity, so it was decided to send him to live where he wouldn't influence too many people.  There isn't space to include the entire life of St. John, which may be found in an excellent book, The Lives of the Holy Apostles, published by Holy Apostles Convent, P.O. Box 3118, Buena Vista, CO 81211, U.S.A. (translated from Russian by Reader Isaac E. Lambertsen and from Greek by the Holy Apostles Convent).  This has been recently published, in 1988.  Very few abbreviated excerpts are given below:  One example of St. John's dealings with demons was his first visit to Ephesus with Prochorus.  John decided that they should not reveal themselves at first, so they went to work  at a bath house near the residence of the chief citizen, John as fire-man and Prochorus as water man.  The caretaker of the bath house, a very strong woman named Romana, beat John and also claimed they were runaway slaves, and had papers drawn up so they would be enslaved. Demons lived at the bath house, and when it was built a human sacrifice of a youth or maiden had been put into the foundation.  Three times a year a youth or maiden would be killed by the demon, on certain dates.  Dioscorides was the owner of the bath house, and did not allow his son Domnus to go to the bath house on the dates the demons would attack, but one day the demon attacked anyway and Domnus was strangled.  Romana was very afraid of punishment, so John raised Domnus from the dead.  His father found out Domnus had died, and Dioscorides died himself of grief. Then John went to Dioscorides and raised him from the dead.  Romana tore up the false papers of slavery.  John catechized them, and Baptized Romana, Domnus, and Dioscorides.  Then he cast out all the demons from the bath house.  On a feast day of the pagan goddess Artemis when everybody in the city wore white, John wore his sooty clothes from his job as fireman at the bath house and stood at a prominent place just under the statue.  The people were very angry that a person dressed like that should stand in such a place, and they began to throw stones at him, but none of the stones would touch him, only striking and breaking the statue.  Then, an earthquake and heat killed two hundred out of their own fear, but John raised them again, and many asked for instruction and Baptism.  John also healed a man who had been paralyzed for twelve years.  (Many people think that white clothing, the clean garment of Baptism, is more appropriate for Christians.  Clergy wear the black of St. John the Apostle, sometimes with a patch of white indicating Baptism.  St. John wore his sooty clothing to defy the pretended purity of those who worshiped demons.  The black clothing of Christian clergy does not make fun of other religions, but asks us to examine what is purity: is it the purity of our love of God, the clothing of goodness of soul, or the purity of any kind of opinion whether right or wrong, and care for outer appearances.  Irish clergy wore white or black, depending on what order of monks.  St. Brigid wore white; those from the continent wore black.)  A demon from the temple of Artemis pretended to be a magistrate from Palestine, and claimed that he had arrest warrants for the "sorcerers" John and Prochorus.  He convinced two court officers and also gave them money to put them in a house and kill them.  Romana and Dioscorides found out, and Dioscorides confronted the officers saying that it was against the law to imprison untried persons, especially not in a house.  Dioscorides said they could stay in his house until the charges could be tried and the accuser found.  The demon finally appeared in his disguise, and loudly calling John and Prochorus sorcerers attracted a large crowd in front of the house of Dioscorides.  John and Prochorus gave themselves up to the crowd who took them to the temple of Artemis.  At the prayer of John, the idol of the temple of Artemis fell, and then the temple collapsed.  Then John asked the demon how long he had lived there, and the demon replied two hundred forty nine years, and that he had incited the officers and people against John.  John commanded the demon to leave in the Name of Jesus Christ, and the demon left the city.  Many people then in the city believed and were Baptized, but some who were furious that the temple was destroyed delivered him to the Proconsul who bound John and took him to the Emperor Domitian in Rome.  Domitian began a persecution of Christians.  He made John drink poison, but that did not harm him.  Then he put John into boiling oil, and John came out without any marks.  The people said "Great is the God of the Christians!" and Domitian decided John was immortal and causing more trouble because of this publicity, so Domitian exiled John to Patmos.  On the ship to Patmos, St. John was able to save a man who had fallen overboard. Through the Name of Jesus Christ, a great wave throwing the man onto the ship.  He also calmed a storm saving the ship, and healed a crew member who suffered from dysentery and was near death.  The entire crew of the ship was instructed and Baptized before they landed at Patmos, and John insisted that they take him to exile on Patmos even so.  The crew were afraid to leave John, who protected them from dangers, but John assured them that if they stayed in the grace they had received from our Lord Jesus Christ, that they would not be harmed in any place.  In several sources Patmos has been called a penal colony, but according to Prochorus the inhabitants were free on the island, just not free to leave the island.  There are some, however, that say that salt mines and terrible conditions of slavery were on Patmos.  According to Prochorus, they arrived in the city of Flora on Patmos.  The eldest son of the father-in-law of the governor was possessed by a demon, and this son fled the house when John came there.  This man, named Myron, thought that John and Prochorus were sorcerers causing their son to flee.  After being jailed, John told the governor about Jesus Christ, who was crucified and rose on the third day, and the governor said that it was silly to continue with this speech which caused John to be exiled in the first place, and that his brother-in-law (the son of Myron) should be returned to his home at once.  John said he would not stop preaching, but that he had no faults with his brother-in-law, and asked the governor to send Prochorus to him.  John asked the governor to write a letter to the son of Myron, name Apollonides.  John wrote, "John, the Apostle of Christ, to the spirit of divination who dwelleth in Apollonides the rhetor: I command thee, in the Name of Jesus Christ, to come out of the image of God and never again to enter into any other man.  Depart from this island, and remain ever in the wilderness."  When Prochorus brought the letter to Apollonides, the unclean spirit came out of him immediately, and he was filled with joy and calmness.  He then went with Prochorus to the city of Flora, and went to the prison and released John from his chains. Then they returned to the house of Myron, and Apollonides told them about his many years possessed by the demon, and his release when Prochorus came to where the demon had made him flee.  John then taught them about the power of the Crucified, our Lord Jesus Christ.  The entire family was Baptized, although the governor had to wait until his term was over.  The governor set John at liberty.  The wife of the governor and her son were Baptized first, and St. John sent them back to live with her husband until her husband could be Baptized.  He also told Myron and his family to give the money they intended to give to John to the poor, asking, as he and all the Apostles always asked, that Myron give the money to the poor out of his own hands.  There are many other incidents listed, such as the paralytic who offered to share his meal with St. John.  John asked him who would serve the meal, and the man said he had inconvenienced them to ask them to serve him.  But John said, "Nay, in the Name of Jesus Christ, rise up and serve us."  The man then was healed, and rose up serving them with joy, praising God.  The next day he came to John and asked to be Baptized, which John did.  There are several confrontations with an evil magician named Coenops, who lived in the wilderness with demons, and had a pact with the prince of darkness.  Coenops sent invisible demons to kill John, but St. John saw them, and told the demons never to enter the dwellings of man, or return to Coenops, but to go forth from the island to torment. Coenops then took a multitude of demons with him into the city.  A crowd came to see Coenops, and Coenops challenged the crowd to compare the wonders that he would perform compared to John.  Coenops chose a boy whose father had drowned at sea, and said to John to raise his father.  John said, "Christ hath not sent me to bring forth the dead from the sea, but to teach deluded people."  Coenops told the people that he would do what John could not, and to seize John.  Coenops held out his arms and struck the water, and became invisible.  Then he appeared holding what looked like the boy's father.  The boy agreed that it was his father, and the crowd decided to kill John, but Coenops said he had greater wonders than that.  Another man had a son who was slain out of envy, and Coenops produced both the boy and his murderer.  He asked John if John were amazed by this, and John said he was not amazed, and the signs of Coenops would soon come to nothing.  The people then beat John until they thought he was dead, and Coenops told them to leave John without burial for the birds.  At about 2:00 A.M. John told Prochorus to tell Myron that he was alive.  John's disciples rejoiced went to John, who was then standing in prayer.  John told them not to be deceived by the signs of Coenops who only created phantoms.  Coenops then came with the three demons posing as those he had resurrected and the crowds to where John was.  He told the people to hold John, while Coenops dove into the sea.  John put his arms in the shape of a Cross and commanded the demons not to depart.  And then John prayed, "O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who by the figure of Thy Cross didst enable Thy servant Moses to put Amalek to flight: bring down in the abyss of the sea the deceiver Coenops, that he may never see the sun again, or be numbered among the living." There was a great thunder and waves, but Coenops was taken as Pharoah's army and never came out of the sea.  John then told the demons to depart from the island in the Name of Jesus Christ who was crucified and rose on the third day, and the demons vanished.  Those family members who thought their loved ones had returned told John to bring them back. All decided to wait for the return of Coenops, and they waited on the sand for three days and nights, and three of their children died from hunger and thirst.  John then prayed for all the people to open their hearts, and told the people to depart home for food and drink.  Then he prayed for Jesus to raise the children from the dead, and they returned to life.  The bystanders confessed that John was truly a teacher, and they had been deceived.  The next day the city appeared at Myron's doorstep and called for John, who was not afraid to come out. He gave a wonderful sermon, similar to the Creed: that Jesus Christ is our Lord the true Benefactor and guiding Light of men's souls, who had taken pity on the race of men in ignorance and deception, and was incarnate of the holy Virgin and without change became man though still God, like us in every way but in sin.  He was crucified by His own will, and by death did away with death, overcoming hades and delivering the souls who were there.  He arose on the third day, and sent his disciples and ministers into the world to preach His kingdom.  He gave us authority over unclean spirits by the Holy Spirit, and also the power to work miracles and healings of illnesses, and because of this all nations are turning to the true God and Creator of all.  John pleaded with them not to close their ears or hearts, but leave the lies and come to the light of truth.  He continued in this sermon, and many believed and were Baptized in the house of Myron.  A well educated Jew named Philo in that city had a wife who had leprosy.  However, he debated with John in the marketplace on the books of Moses, and took the opposite opinion of everything John said.  This continued for three days, until John said, "Philo, Philo, the holy Scriptures do not require verbosity, but obedience to their teachings with a pure heart."  Just then a man with a fever was placed on the ground by his kinsfolk, and John said, "In the Name of Jesus Christ, arise and go to thy home."  The sick one rose up and thanked John, glorifying God.  Philo ran to John and asked, "Teacher, what is love?"  John answered, "O observer of the law, God is love and he who hath love hath God!"  Philo then asked John home with him for the love of God so that they could eat bread together.  As they entered his home, Philo's wife was healed.  Then Philo changed his mind, and asked John not to be angry with him, but give himself and his wife Baptism.  John instructed them and Baptized them.  A priest of Apollo who had visited Coenops tempted John to heal his son who was lame in both feet so that he could believe in the Crucified one.  John told him, "If thou believest in Christ, He will heal thy son." The man said he wanted the healing first and then he would believe.  John then told the man that he spoke blasphemy, and the priest of Apollo fell down with both of his feet lame.  John then sent Prochorus to the house where the lame child was, with the message that he should rise up and come to him. The boy rose up and followed Prochorus.  The paralysed priest saw his healed son, and cried out for mercy.  John then took pity on him, making the sign of the Cross three times over him, and he was healed, and both the priest and his son was Baptized with their household.  After three years in Flora, John and Prochorus went to another city on Patmos, Myrinousa.  They arrived on the first of August, and found a young man bound in chains that the people were going to give to a demon in the river in the form of a wolf, who the people worshipped as a god.  This sacrifice took place on the first day of every month.  The demon appeared in the fourth hour of the day (10:00 A.M.), and John told the evil spirit he was speaking to him, and the demon was still.  Then he asked it how long it had been there, and it answered one hundred sixty five years, and John commanded it in the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God to depart and never return to the island, and to dwell in the desert and desolate places.  The demon vanished.  The man who had led John there asked who he was to command the gods, and John told him that he was an Apostle of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and that the one they called a wolf was an evil spirit.  But Christ sent John to expel demons and show the truth.  Then the man asked John to make him a servant of Christ, and John taught him and Baptized him in the river.  When the priests of the evil spirit brought out the youth who was to be sacrificed bound in iron, John came to them and told them that the wolf was a demon that he had cast out, and they should release the youth, the image of God, and let him go.  This amazed and embittered the priests of Zeus.  John told the boy to return to his parents in the city, who were not permitted in the area during the sacrifice.  John took the swords from the hands of the priests, and after a while John entered the city and preached at the arcade, with many gathering to hear about Christ. A priest of Zeus had a son named Monan who bathed daily at the bath house in the city, and one day he was strangled by a demon in the bath house.  His father asked John to help, and John went to the bath house and raised Monan from the dead.  John went into the bath house, and asked the evil spirit how long it had lived there.  It answered, "Six years.  I formerly dwelt in the bath house at Ephesus owned by Dioscorides, whose son I strangled.  Then I was cast out by thee.  But I beseech thee, cast me not out from this place!"  John said, "In the name of Jesus Christ the Crucified, I command thee to depart from this island and never again to dwell among men, but in a wild and uninhabited place."  The demon vanished immediately.  The priest then fell at John's feet and said he and his household was at the service of John, and asked John to tell him what to do.  John instructed the family, and Baptized them all.  They stayed there seven days.  Then they traveled to another city named Phlogeon, and almost all of the people of that city came to hear John.  A widow who had raised her son alone since he was three years old came to John and asked him to take a demon away from her son who had recently been possessed.  She had spent all her money on pagan priests who did nothing for her.  John told her to bring her son.  She went home and said to him, "Come, let us go to John, the Apostle of Christ, so thou mayst be healed." As soon as she said this, the demon left the boy.  When she brought the boy, the crowd was amazed, and many believed and were Baptized by John.  John and Prochorus stayed there for three days.  John knew that on the fourth day there would be a celebration of a feast of the pagan god Dionysus (Bacchus), so he went near their temple and told the people not to participate and to repent and have faith in Jesus Christ, reminding them that they were made in the image of God and honored with reason.  John ignored the priests when they came out and told him to move away because he was disturbing their feast.  The priests mingled with the crowd and lured them away from John.  Then they bound John and took him to a far place where they beat him.  They left him for dead, and returned to their festival.  John lay on the ground, and prayed, saying, "O God and Father of our hope, Jesus Christ: as it was Thy good pleasure to do through Samson, bringing down the pillars of the great temple of the Philistines, so now grant the destruction of this temple of prodigality!"  The temple fell down, crushing only the twelve priests.  The people freed John and asked him not to slay them.  A sorcerer in that city named Noetian had a wife named Phora and two sons, Raz and Polycarp (see January 26th? - St. Polycarp of Smyrna).  Noetian had many books on the black arts for conjuring demons, and was very upset when John's prayers made the temple fall.  He told John that he didn't blame him for making the temple fall, but that John should raise the twelve priests from the dead so that the people could be persuaded of his goodness of heart. But John said that if the twelve were worthy, they would not have been the only ones to perish, instead of multitudes of people.  Noetian then claimed that he himself could raise them from the dead, and went a little bit away and conjured twelve demons disguised as the priests.  But the demons said that they could not slay John, nor appear where he was, and that Noetian should bring the people to them to look at them.  The Holy Spirit revealed this to John, who told Prochorus to take another path to the demons and tell them, "Thus saith John the Apostles of Christ: Get ye from this island to a dry place."  Noetian immediately came and told the people to come and see the twelve priests, and then they should slay John, but before the people arrived at the place where the demons were, Prochorus had banished them through John's words.  Noetian was unable to conjure them again, and waiting for many hours, the people realized that Noetian was a fraud.  Then John came and told them not to slay Noetian.  John said, "My children, let darkness pass into darkness.  But since ye are sons of light, go to the light; and the darkness will not be able to overtake you, for the truth of Christ is within us."  The next day many came seeking Baptism, and John taught them and Baptized two hundred twenty in the river.  Noetian tried to turn the water into blood by sorcery, but John made the water pure again by prayer, "O Lord Jesus Christ, as Thou didst once divert and invisibly lay low those against Thy Prophet Elisha, so lay low Noetian and blind him, that he may regard Thee with the eyes of his soul." Blinded, Noetian had an insight into the need for the mercy of God.  After many instructions, John Baptized Noetian, who brought John to his home.  When John entered the house, all the idols fell and crumbled to dust.  Noetian's wife and two sons were also Baptized, and so were the household servants.  John and Prochorus stayed there ten days, and after that they left Myrinousa and went to Karo, three miles away, and were received by Faustus a Jew, who was Baptized with his family, and they stayed in Karo a long time.  St. John also saved a boy from being molested by his mother, and through this caused the mother to repent, be Baptized, and stand outside her house giving money to the poor.  Nearly all the people of Patmos believed in Christ after awhile.  When the Emperor Domitian was assassinated and the Emperor was Nerva who did not persecute Christians, John was freed and allowed to go where he wanted.  John decided to return to Ephesus, but the people of Patmos and wept.  John told them they were not concerned with the salvation of others, but they persuaded John to write down the events of Christ's life, and also the teachings of Christ.  John and Prochorus went outside the city about a mile to Katapavsis which means Cessation, and climbed a high mountain.  John fasted and prayed, and on the third day he had Prochorus go and get ink and paper from the city and return.  John told him to leave him with the paper two days, but when Prochorus returned, John was still standing in prayer.  John had Prochorus stand to the right of him, and a loud thunder scared Prochorus who fell down.  John then raised him up and told him to sit there.  Then John dictated the holy Gospel of St. John, which begins, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God..."  After two days they were finished writing the Gospel, and descended the mountain, returning to Sosipater's house.  Then the next day he asked Sosipater to bring good parchment, and Prochorus was told to copy the entire Gospel, so that both Patmos and Ephesus could have copies.  While Prochorus wrote, John Ordained Bishops and Priests for the churches of Patmos.  The Gospel was brought into the Church.  On Patmos it is also recorded that St. John wrote the Apocalypse, some say before the Gospel of St. John. John and Prochorus left the city to a cave in the wilderness.  (Now there is a monastery above that cave.)  John spent ten days with Prochorus and ten days alone.  When he was alone he ate nothing, but only prayed, asking what he should do.  A voice came to him saying, "John, John," and John asked what the Lord commanded.  The Lord told John to wait and pray and other ten days without food.  After that time, the angels came down to John and told him many great things beyond normal human comprehension.  Prochorus returned, and was immediately sent out for pen and paper, and he returned again two days later, when John dictated the revelations he had received.  The tradition that St. John wrote the Apocalypse is recorded by the early writers Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Irenaeus and Eusebius.  The next day John suggested that they leave and teach the people in the countryside of the island before departing.  They went to a place called Agrikia, which had a priest of Zeus named Eucharis who had a blind son. The son of Eucharis listened to John, and being glad of the teachings, he asked if John would pray for him so that he could see John.  John healed him by the sign of the Cross, and the boy's father Eucharis seeing this miracle to instruct him also, and the entire household was Baptized.  The next day they left for Ephesus, all weeping and saying farewell.  They boarded a ship, and John blessed them with the peace of the Lord, and they departed.  The ship carried many who were traveling to Asia Minor.  After fourteen days, they left the ship at a city three miles form Ephesus.  The Christians in Ephesus found out, and met them saying, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!"  Dioscorides had reposed since they had left Ephesus, but Domnus the son of Dioscorides took them home, and from there John taught many.  Clement of Alexandria (+217 A.D.) said that in the cities around Asia John saw a young man with potential for good, and John taught and Baptized him.  But John entrusted this young man to the Bishop of that city, who did instruct the young man in the Scriptures, but did not watch his activities closely.  The youth began to get drunk and steal, and he became friends with thieves who led him into the mountains as their leader to rob travelers on the roads. John came back to that city, and asked the Bishop there to return the treasure he had left in the Bishop's safekeeping, that is, the young man who was to learn the fear of God.  The Bishop then said the youth had perished, that his soul was dead, but his body was a highway robber.  John then searched out the youth himself, asking the robbers to take him to their leader.  John cried out to the youth, "My son, return to thy father and despair not in thy fallen state!  Thy sins shall I take upon myself! Stop and wait, for the Lord hath sent me to thee!"  The young man stopped and fell at the Saint's feet, very ashamed and trembling.  John kissed him and led him back to the city, rejoicing that he was bringing back a lost sheep.  John instructed him in repentance, and forgave him.  The youth continued after that in goodness and peace.  John spent his last years as an ascetic, eating only bread and water, not cutting his hair, and dressing in simple linen clothes.  He did not have the strength to preach even around Ephesus, but he did continue teaching the Bishops of the Church as long as possible, especially that they should teach the commandment of love.  Jerome (September 30th) says that when John became very weak, his disciples carried him to the church, but he could only say, "Little children, love one another." as his sermon.  St. John explained to some close disciples that the reason he would only repeat this instruction was because it is the Lord's commandment, and "if ye keep it, it is enough."  St. John and St. Prochorus spent nine years in the first visit to Ephesus, and fifteen years in exile on Patmos, and another twenty six years back in Ephesus living at the house of Domnus (a total of 50 years after the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary).  Then very early one morning before the sun had risen, he asked seven of his followers including Prochorus to come with him and bring spades.  They went outside the city to a place, where he told them to sit.  John then went a little apart and prayed. Then he returned and told his disciples to dig a cross-shaped trench as long as John was tall.  He continued to pray.  Afterwards, he lay in the trench and told Prochorus that he should go to Jerusalem, and he must end his life there.  He embraced each disciple and told them to cover him with his mother earth, and they put some earth on him to his knees.  He embraced them again and told them to cover him to the neck. Then he told Prochorus to put a thin veil over his face and embrace him for the last time because it was the last time he would be seen in this life.  They were all filled with grief, and they embraced him again.  Some say that when the sun arose he surrendered his spirit.  The disciples returned to the city and told what had occurred in great detail.  The people of the city begged them to show the site, but when they returned to the grave, John was not there, only his shoes.  They then remembered the words the Lord said to the Apostle Peter, "If I will that he tarry until I come, what is that to thee?"  They all then glorified God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who is due all glory and honor to the ages of ages.  Amen.  The Byzantine date for the repose of St. John is May 8th.  See the calendar controversy February 17th: the calendar according to the Alexandrian calculation was a few days different from the older Roman calendar, and this may have resulted in the date of celebration being May 6th in Tallaght, Oengus, and also the Roman calendar for the date of John escaping boiling oil, which may have been the same day John reposed.  Oengus does not mention St. John in his poem, only the glossator mentions him: see May 1st.  It is quite possible that an event that occurred in Rome is commemorated correctly on Roman calendars, but events further away from Rome might have other dates, such as the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, see note January 18th and August 15th.  The repose of St. John is mentioned December 27th in the Celtic calendar, but St. John is also commemorated that same date on the Byzantine calendar.  On the eighth of May in the Byzantine Rite (old calendar, which would be May 21st new calendar) a fragrant myrrh comes from the grave of St. John and the sick are healed then by the prayers of the holy Apostle. (Some Roman sources such as Butler's think that the date St. John surviving the boiling oil may actually be derived from the May date of the repose of St. John on the Byzantine calendar, which is another Feast of St. Michael on Western calendars.)  The Byzantine Rite also celebrates a Feast of St. John on the 26th of September, and also during the week after Christmas, although they move the dates of the celebrations during that week by one day each, giving the holy Birthgiver of God a special day of commemoration the day after Christmas, St. Stephen the day after that, etc.  Since the Celtic Rite celebrates the St. James who is the brother of the Lord with St. John during Christmas week, and celebrates this day in Christmas week as the installation of St. James in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, it is possible that this day might be the date of the assignment of the missions to the Apostles, a conjecture which would need to be examined more closely.

               8 May / 21 May  Oengus' verse: Victor and Maxim, for Christ they have brought themselves: for affection towards the King whom they have loved they bathed them in their blood.  Martyrs.  Victor, i.e. the decapitation of Victor under the Emperor Maximian in the city called Mediolanum.  Gibrian, from the sixth century, who with his brother Tressan (February 7th ) missionized with the permission of Archbishop Remigius in the area around Rheims in the forest near the Marne in France.  The family of brothers and sisters were all missionaries, including the brothers Gibrian (May 8th), Tressan of Avenay (Feb. 7th), Helan, Germanus (not the earlier Germanus of Auxerre), Veron, Abramus, Petron and the sisters Franchia, Promptia, and Possena.  There are parishes of St. Gibrian, St. Helan, St. Vran, Abraham, Strand and a grotto of Petron.  Wiro, Plechelm, and Otger, missionaries to the Netherlands.  Wiro died in 739 A.D.  The name Maelmuire (Votary of Mary) was Wiro's original Gaelic name, and he was born in County Clare.  Wiro and Plechelm were Irish Priests, and the Deacon Otger began together as pilgrims to Rome, and stayed together after that.  Wiro and Plechelm were Consecrated Bishops in Rome, perhaps by St. Sergius I, who was from the East, and instituted the four major Feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Roman Rite, according to Byzantine tradition. (The Irish and Celtic Rite already had Feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but the Roman Rite did not before that time: the Roman Rite before that emphasized the Twelve Apostles as major Feast days.)  The two Bishop Saints were on record as attending a Synod called by Pope Sergius in 697.  After returning to Ireland, they came back to Europe and settled in the Netherlands on land given by Pepin of Herstal near Roermond.  They called the land "St. Peter's Hill" and they built a monastery and church there dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Because of their tireless preaching, the were called the Apostles of the Guelderland.  Pepin went barefoot during Lent and other times as a penance from Wiro or Plechelm.  All three companions were honored in the Low Countries.  From The Martyrology of Tallaght:  Victoris; Maximus; Cessus; Donatus; Lucius; Johannis; Saliva; Secundila; Marcia; Datica; Victoria; Stertitia; Rogata; Florida; Nina; Flavia; Julia; Famosa; Maria; Processa; Secunda; Felicia; Eupia; Maxima; Cutidus; Sinclitica; Fortunatus; Saturninus; Tertulus; Arestinus; Tamphus; Marinus; Lucus; Donatus; Rusticus; Marcianus; Datus; Batizus; Militus; Victorianus; Januarius; Odronus; Capitis; Cessus and ten others; Lurentius.  Also: Odranus Bishop; Dommani at Tech Meic Findchon.  Marginal notes from The Martyrology of Tallaght:    Eighth ides of May (May 8th) in Glastonia, i.e. in Glastonbury, Saint Indrath Martyr, i.e. Indrechtach the faithful, i.e. for the faith he suffered Martyrdom. [Today is the Byzantine commemoration of the repose of St. John, different from the Celtic date: see notes May 6th and December 27th, and May 25th.]

This is a partial calendar intended primarily to show the dates of moveable observances and primary feast days. Dates are as on the secular calendar except for dates where Orthodox date is followed by the secular calendar date. For convenience, entries for Fast Seasons and Feasts observed with a Fast are shown indented.

          May 3/16 Discovery ofChrist's Cross with its many virtues, Death of Apostle James of
          the Knees, Brother of the Lord[W]

May 6/19- Matthew Apostle and Evangelist and St. John the Theologian [W]

May 20  Fifth Sunday After Easter[W] (MatinsGospel of the Mass)
May 21 Rogation Day I[W]
May 22 Rogation Day II[W]
May 23 Rogation Day III[W]
May 24 The Ascension of the Lord [W](Matins Gospel of the Mass)

May 27 Sunday After the Ascension  [P] (MatinsGospel of the Mass)
May 16/29 Apostle Brendan [W]

June 3 Pentecost [R] (MatinsGospel X) Synodicon is Read after the Liturgy

     Jun 4 First Day of post Pentecost Fast [P]

          Jun 10 First Sunday after Pentecost [P](Matins Gospel I, Sunday I)

          Jun 17  Second Sunday after Pentecost [P](Matins Gospel II, Sunday II)
          Jun10/23  Apostle Barnabas [W]

          Jun 24  Third Sunday after Pentecost [P](Matins Gospel III, Sunday III)

          Jul 1 Fourth Sunday after Pentecost [P] (MatinsGospel IV, Sunday IV)
          Jun 22/Jul 5 Apostle James  the Lesser,of Alpheus [W]
          Jun 24/Jul 7 Nativity of Saint John the Baptist[W]

          Jul 8 Fifth Sunday after Pentecost  [P] (MatinsGospel V, Sunday V)
          Jun 28/Jul 11 Germanus, tutor of Patrick,bane of the Pelagians [W]
          Jun 29/Jul 12 Saints Peter and Paul [W]

All Clergy and Parish Representatives are asked to review proposed revisions of jurisdictional by-laws for a vote in June. The primary purpose of the revision is to reflect the change of the jurisdiction from government by one Bishop to government by Synod.