There are so many important events in the Church in July. One of our Patrons, St. Maelruain of Tallaght, wrote a Rule which is similar to the teachings of the desert fathers of Egypt recorded by St. John Cassian. Although the Feast of St. John Cassian occurs in November, his teachings are appropriate to remember as connected to St. Maelruain. See the Rule of St. Maelruain on the website at CelticChristianity.org. Both of these Saints taught about spiritual health. The lineage of the Irish teaching is also connected to the monastery at Lerins, which is tied to the desert fathers of Egypt through St. John Cassian.

The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ is in the Holy Gospels, and it is celebrated in the Celtic Church on July 26^th, and the Byzantine and Roman Rites August 6^th. Placing this Feast next to the Feast of St. James the Greater allowed that it would not be too near the Dormition of the most holy Mother of God, and that it would be within the Octave of St. James the Greater, which is on July 25^th. St. James the Greater's relics were miraculously found washed ashore at one of the few places in Spain that did not hold the Arian heresy; a part of Spain in the north that happened to be a Celtic colony. The Arians qualified, diminished, and eventually denied the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, using methods of pagan philosophers rather than the tradition of the Church. Although they were known to diminish the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Arians said that the Holy Spirit was of still less of the essence of God than Jesus, placing the Holy Spirit under the Son. Orthodox Tradition states that the three Persons of the Trinity are one in Essence and Undivided, One God in Three Persons, of equal importance. The history of the life of St. James does not tell us why, but the assignment of the parts of the Creed in the Bobbio manuscript connect St. James the Greater with the birth of Jesus by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. This could be a confusion with another St. James, but it may be also an appropriate reflection of the meaning of the relics of St.James in overturning the Arian heresy. The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ reminds us that Christ is God, and revealed Himself in His divinity to some of His Apostles as the Son of God before His Resurrection.

Some books recently have suggested that Christianity promotes mental health. The writings of the desert fathers also state this, and their "system" of therapy involves both self-examination and also following the Life and teachings of Jesus Christ, Who has given us a Way to heaven. The Lord's Prayer prays that the Father's will "be done on earth as it is in heaven." Following the Cross and the Resurrection enable us to find God in troubling times, and peace in times of great joy. God is with us at all times. Abbot-Bishop Maelruain, in a sermon commenting on the Gospel of St. Matthew 7:7, states that there is nothing that God tells us that is theoretical: never has been, and never will be. There is nothing that God has told us that He has not done himself. God did many deeds throughout the entirety of the Old Testament in His Divinity, and Christ came in the flesh in the New Testament and again did many deeds which reflect His teachings. He gives us the bread and the fish: tested methods of healing and salvation. "Theory" is the bad gift of a stone or adder, the untested 'truth.' God never gives us knowledge that is untested. There is no 'degree' of truth in God, no partial truth, no truth that is true for one and not true for another.

However, the recent books by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos S. Vlachos on Orthodox psychotherapy have a focus that differs from that of such Saints as St. John Climacus, St. John Cassian, and St. Maelruain. (See St. John Cassian below.) Although Metropolitan Hierotheos studied books written by some of the Fathers when he studied on Mount Athos, his description of Faith divides Faith into two parts: rational and theoretical. This division into two parts might lead one to think that he sees some Christians as either superficial or theological, almost a division similar to the Mandean heresy: between those of the spirit called "pneumatics" and those of the flesh called "sarkics." The "sarkics" were considered canon-fodder in war, and needed to follow the law, whereas the "pneumatics" were considered to be spiritual and above the law. (In The Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition, Metropolitan Hierotheos says on page 33 about the Epistle of St.James 2:26, "Both the first faith and the works are necessary for us to pass the stage of purification of the heart correctly and effectively." And earlier on the same page, "Interpreting the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans [Romans 3:28], Luther, in particular, reached the point of speaking only about faith without works; he was ignorant of the fact that the Apostle Paul means therein the faith from "theoria" - vision of God, which is beyond the works of the Law.") The Mandeans were an offshoot of the Zoroastrian religion, with its sharp division between light and dark. It is interesting that Metropolitan Hierotheos divides those who have the elementary faith of "hearing" from those who have the more advanced faith of "vision," which seems close to this Zoroastrian and Mandean view. It is especially strange considering that Christ is God the Word, and in Icons, God the Father is not depicted as a man, but as a dark cloud, signifying that we cannot view Him. Therefore, although the darkness of sin is not desirable (St. John 3:16-19), the mysterious depiction (or lack of depiction) of God the Father in Icons signifies that there is a greater meaning that may be found, and that dividing faith into the two parts of dark and light may not be such a great idea. It is especially strange, as those who followed St. Gregory Palamas, who is used as a reference by Metropolitan Hierotheos, were often Iconographers who followed the strict conventions of depicting God the Father as a dark cloud. There are other problems with these books as well. When dividing illumination into three parts, the parts are not similar to earlier authors who also used three parts but in a different way. The pain and suffering of Christ on the Cross, the offering of the Eucharist, etc., seem to be part of a different religious system than the Metropolitan Hierotheos. Christ is before and beyond time. If we think in "stages" of illumination, we must still be flexible; the Old Testament says, "Be still and know that I am God," [Psalm 45:11 Greek numbering] and the New Testament, "Behold, I make all things new" [Apocalypse 21:5]. What use is the Life of the Martyrs if we can only think in stages ourselves? More is said in Psalm 18 at the Transfiguration (see below).

St. Gregory Nazianzus, in his Oration "On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria," second paragraph, says that a person is blessed who rises superior to the dualism of matter. Although rising to the Light, he makes no division between Light and Word, vision and hearing. In describing St. John the Baptist, in the third paragraph, he calls him, "the lamp before the Light, the voice before the Word..."

St. John Cassian and other early Fathers divided Faith into three parts: Faith, Hope and Charity, which they said were all part of each other (First Conference with Abbot Chaeremon, Chapters VI through XIII). Faith is the first step and the last: at first the fear of punishment from God so that a person might practice virtue, and at the last the fear of God because of the wonder of seeing Him face to face. As St. Cassian learns from Abbot Paphnutius (Chapter XVI), faith itself is given to us by God, and added to when we are weak. Hope is the second stage of faith: practicing virtue not out of fear of punishment but for the hope of reward. Charity is the practice of virtue because of love of virtue itself, and is linked to the highest fear of God: that of the wonder of God. (The term "piety" is derived from Latin, and combines sweetness with faith.) In the Third Conference of Abbot Chaeremon, Chapter XVI, the Abbot points out that God's grace is not limited by the limits of human faith. He gives several good examples, such as the miracle of Christ curing of the paralyzed man in a way that the man could not imagine, and without being asked (St. John 5:6-8). St. Gregory Nazianzus, in his Oration "On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria,"sixth paragraph, states about the contemplation by St. Athanasius of the Old and New Testaments, "For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and, so to say, its first swathing band; but, when wisdom has burst the bonds of fear and risen up to love, it makes us friends of God, and sons instead of bondsmen." (quoting Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7). Charity might be connected with the Greek and Latin original of the verse read in the Celtic Liturgy, "The kingdom of Heaven tolerates sieges, and the forceful take it." (St. Matthew 11:12). Another verse quoted in the Celtic Liturgy is close to this, "Eat, O my friends... and be intoxicated, O beloved." (Song of Songs 5:1). Both of these verses refer to receiving the Holy Eucharist, which must be done in Faith, Hope, and especially Charity. Although it might be strange to complain that a modern author divides Faith into two, not three parts, a division into two tends to divide intellect from practice, and again lead to the dualism which was influenced by the Augustinians. (Blessed Augustine had been a Manichean, and had tendencies of dualism.)

St. Benedict of Nursia told his monks to read the Conferences of Cassian daily, and although the Cele de are not Benedictines, the teachings of the desert fathers recorded by St. John Cassian in the Conferences are beneficial to all, in many ways much more beneficial than later authors. (Most of these Conferences are available in English translation in the Post-Nicene Fathers of the Eerdmans "Second Series," Volume XI.) These are not only for those seeking a monastic life, but for the healing of the mind and spirit of anybody. Most of the teachings are not about asceticism, but about our attitudes towards everything around us, and how we may be closer to God. The desert monks also had a far greater sense of humor than many people realize.

When studying the writings of the Fathers, one notices how many writings survive from the fourth and fifth centuries especially. That was an age of controversies, and the list of Saints who knew each other is staggering. St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzus, St. Gregory of Nyssa the brother of St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Martin of Tours, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Hilary of Poitiers, St. John Cassian, St. Vincent of Lerins, St. Patrick of Ireland, to name very few, were some of the lights of the fourth and fifth centuries. It is interesting that St. John Cassian, who reposed in Marseilles France, was a close associate and supporter of St. John Chrysostom in Constantinople. St. Patrick studied at the monastery of Lerins, perhaps during the lifetime of St. John Cassian, or shortly after his repose. St. John Cassian taught at Lerins as well as at Marseilles. Many of the Saints of that era were widely traveled; a late 19^th century translator of Greek texts describes the travels of St. Basil the Great as more extensive than the travels of some people since the advent of the railroad and steamship. The Saints did not only travel to work at missions, but to study, visit each other, and escape persecutions. Reading only a small selection of some of the authors from the fourth and fifth centuries is a large task. The Irish Saints built on a solid Christian foundation of the desert fathers together with the teachings of the Orthodox East during the time of their greatest Christian writers.

St. John Cassian appears in the Celtic Calendar on November 25^th, in a confusion with St. John Chyrsostom. Most of the history of St. John Cassian is his life traveling on the road with St. Germanus of Constantinople; an appropriate tourist story for July, and also appropriate for reflection during a vacation or retreat. Compare the Rule of St. Maelruain (on the CelticChristianity.org website) with the writings of St. John Cassian. The history of St. Maelruain follows the life of St. John Cassian, and after that St. James the Greater and the Transfiguration.
 

St. John Cassian (November 25 / December 7)

Although St. John Cassian was called Cassianus in his early years, the monks in Egypt called him John. The names have traditionally been put together as "John Cassian." He was called "John" in Egypt before he was Ordained a Deacon by St. John Chrysostom. Although the calendar of Oengus lists him as a Bishop of Constantinople, John Cassian not only influenced the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus through his book On the Incarnation against Nestorius, but he lived his later years in southern Gaul (southern France). In southern Gaul, he was one of the great teachers of monasticism, which he had learned directly at the feet of the Desert Fathers in Egypt. He was a friend of Patriarchs and Popes, and relied upon for both theological understanding and also a practical understanding of the Christian life. St. John Cassian was a very prolific writer, whose works survive today. In modern typeset, in small print, his works are almost five hundred pages long, but many of these are the words he remembered of the Desert Fathers. They cover a wide variety of subjects, from Rules for monastics, eight deadly sins, and many others. St. John Cassian is considered one of the great Fathers of the Church. In his own words, he set down a monastic Rule, derived from experience among the monks who were the successors of the earliest monastic communities of Egypt. Later monastic orders would reduce this Rule, but this complete ascetic Rule was inherited by the Irish Fathers, together with monks who had lived in Lerins and lived by this Rule, including St. Patrick the Apostle of Ireland (March 17^th), and St. Secundinus. Indeed, St. John Cassian could have been one of the teachers of St. Patrick before St. Patrick was Consecrated Bishop. (The Germanus who accompanied St. John Cassian was not the same person as St. Germanus of Auxerre the teacher of St. Patrick, see May 28^th, even though they lived around the same time. St. John Cassian traveled to Palestine, Egypt, Constantinople, and then lived in Marseilles in southern France. However, St. Patrick said that he did visit southern France. Also, see St. Vincent of Lerins, May 24^th. As with others in southern Gaul, he was accused of Semi-Pelagianism, but he probably only inherited monastic views from his stay in Egypt among the desert fathers. See below: the Desert Fathers tended to reject extreme views, such as those of Augustine of Hippo.)

John Cassian was born around 360 A.D. to a pious and well-to-do family. As a child, he was educated in classical poetry, which often vexed him when trying to pray, because much later in life he would remember poetry and battles he had studied as a child. (Many Gallican people, not only the Irish, in whatever country they lived, believed in the education of children through memorization of poetry.) Butler's Lives of the Saints says that he may have been born in the Dobruja (Rumania), although no references are given, and it says that no complete life exists. It also says he may have fought against the Goths at the battle of Adrianople, but St. John Cassian says his memory of his childhood lessons vexed him, not his experiences as a soldier. Also, St. John Cassian was in Bethlehem in the service of God when still a child, not enlisted as a soldier. Although John Cassian spent many years in Egypt, some said he was born a Scythian, although some others have thought this really means he was from the desert in Scetis. However, Scetis had many monasteries, and John Cassian said that he grew up in a wooded area with plenty of food, although he complained that in his country it was impossible to find any person who had adopted the monastic life. The area around Marseilles in southern Gaul where John Cassian spent his later years had many monastic communities after St. Hilary of Poitiers and St. Martin of Tours brought their missions, but this area was not yet populated with monastic communities when John Cassian was a child, so some have speculated that he returned to the place he had lived as a child. There may have been some monasticism in that area however, due to efforts of St. Irenaeus of Lyons, unless it had been wiped out by persecution. In a Preface to his book, the Institutes, St. John Cassian mentions that the diocese of Apta Julia in Gallia Narbonensis still had no monasteries, so this may be the area he had lived in before. In his later years he had no trouble communicating with native speakers in southern Gaul, but various forms of Gaelic were common in many places, as far west as Ireland and Brittany, and as far east as Galatia near the Black Sea.

As a boy John Cassian rejected the world, moved to Bethlehem and was tonsured and accepted into a monastery in Bethlehem with his friend Germanus. They also became familiar with the monasteries in Syria during their stay in Bethlehem. John Cassian had much of his education at Bethlehem, stayed long in the East, and spoke Greek fluently. (Although today it might seem strange that a boy should travel so far, Marseilles and other seaports on the Mediterranean Sea would have given them access by sea to the land of Palestine, and then they could easily travel to the famous city of Christ's birth.) John Cassian and his friend Germanus decided to visit the famous desert fathers in Egypt, where monastic life originated. (See St. Mark, April 25^th.) They received permission to depart from their monastery, if they would promise to return soon. They did not return soon: the visits to Egypt occurred for several years, after 380 and before 400 A.D. John Cassian much later wrote the details of his journey and the instruction of the Desert Fathers in his book, the Conferences.

They sailed to Thennesus, at the mouth of the Tanitic branch of the Nile, near Lake Menzaleh. They met an Anchorite, Bishop Archebius, Bishopf of Panephysis, the town nearby. Bishop Archebius was in Thennesus because of the election of a Bishop, and business he had there. He offered John Cassian and Germanus to see some of the famous Anchorites who lived near him. They agreed to travel with him. He took them to the salt marshes dotted with islands, flooded by the waters of the Nile. The islands were retreats for the monks. The villages in that area were in ruins because of abnormal high flooding. They met Chaeremon, Nesteros, and Joseph. Chaeremon was over a hundred years old, and was so bent with age and prayer that he crawled. He instructed them in Perfection, Chastity, and Protection of God. Next, they visited Abbot Nesteros, who instructed them on Spiritual Knowledge, and Divine Gifts. Then they visited Joseph who had been from a noble family, and before he left the world was "primarius" of Thmuis. He was educated in Greek, and did not need an interpreter. He questioned them about their relationship, and asked if they were brothers. They said their brotherhood was spiritual and not carnal. He instructed them in Friendship, and on the Obligation of Promises. John Cassian and Germanus were finding it difficult to keep their promise to return quickly to Bethlehem, because they found so much to learn in Egypt. They asked Joseph about their promise to return to Bethlehem, and they were convinced to break the letter of the promise to stay longer, which turned out to be for seven years. Cassian says that the displeasure of the brethren in Bethlehem was not removed by frequent letters home. Cassian and Germanus also visited and stayed with an Abbot whom they had known in Bethlehem. The Abbot had disguised himself pretended to be a novice, staying with Cassian and Germanus in their cell. When discovered, this Abbot, Pinufius, who was also a Priest over a large monastery, was taken back to Egypt. He returned the hospitality that Cassian and Germanus had given him in Bethlehem. He gave them instruction "on the end of penitence and the marks of satisfaction."

John Cassian and Germanus continued traveling, crossing the river to Diolcos, by the Sebennytic mouth of the Nile. Between the river and the sea, the salty and sandy soil was not fit for cultivation, and the land was barren. Monks came here in great numbers, even though they had to go three miles to the river for water. They met Abbot Piamun, an Anchorite, who explained the three types of monks: the Coenobites, the Anchorites, and the Sarabaites. They longed for the life of the Anchorite (who lived as a hermit) more than the Coenobite (who lived in a community). They also visited a large monastery of more than two hundred monks, governed by Abbot Paul. At the time a very large number of visiting monks were celebrating the "depositio" of the late Abbot. They met an Abbot John, who had given up the life of an Anchorite out of humility, and was now a Coenobite, so that he could practice obedience and subjection. He spoke to them about the aims of the Anchorite and Coenobite life. Another Abbot, Theonas was an almoner (who distributed the alms to the poor). He spoke to them on the relaxation of the fast during Paschaltide and Pentecost. He also spoke on Nocturnal Illusions, and another time on Sinlessness.

Because of all the wonderful teachings of the Anchorites, John Cassian and Germanus desired the life of Anchorites, not to go back in Bethlehem, but returning to their home in Gaul, where they would not be hindered from the practice of austerities. They asked Abbot Abraham, who disagreed with them, and gave them instruction on Mortification. Because of this, they stayed in Egypt years longer. They stayed with Abbot Archebius in the area of Diolcos. Abbot Archebius pretended that he was about to go on a journey, and they could stay at his cell. After going away for a few days, he returned, collected some materials and built a new cell for himself. Some more brethren came, and again Abbot Archebius gave up his new cell and built another for himself.

At some point, they returned to Bethlehem, but they came back to Scetis, farther into Egypt, in the southern part of the Nitrian Valley, where the Syrian manuscripts were found. It was "to the northwest of Cairo, three days' journey in the Libyan desert." It was named for the nitre found in the salt lakes, which was taken from that area for at least two thousand years. It was said to be the oldest center of monasticism, perhaps a colony of Therapeutae settling in the early days. (See St. Mark, April 25^th.) St. Frontonius stayed there with seventy brethren in the middle of the second century. St. Ammon, who lived at the same time as St. Anthony in the fourth century, "filled the same place in lower Egypt as Antony in the Thebaid." At the end of the fourth century it was crowded with cells and monasteries. Rufinus and Sozomen separately visited Scetis in 372 A.D., and mentions fifty monasteries, both as communities and solitaries. Twenty years later, Palladius reported five thousand monks and ascetics living there. (This Palladius later became a Bishop. Before that, he traveled to several of the same Desert Fathers visited by St. John Cassian and St. Germanus.) St. Jerome also visited Scetis, and wrote about the monks in his Epistles. As late as the early part of the nineteenth century, monks still remained at Scetis. When St. John Cassian and Germanus arrived in Scetis, visited the Abbot Moses, who had previously lived in the Thebaid near St. Antony, and now lived in the desert of Scete in a place called Calamus. Abbot Moses was known for goodness, practicality, and also contemplation. He instructed them "on the goal or aim of a monk," and the next day, on Discretion. They visited next the Abbot Paphnutius, called the Buffalo for his love of solitude, who left his cell only to go to church on Saturday and Sunday, which was five miles distant. When he returned from church, Abbot Paphnutius carried a large bucket of water on his shoulders that would last him a week. He taught them "three kinds of renunciation" necessary for a monk. They visited the disciple of Paphnutius named Daniel, who had been Ordained a Priest, but would not perform his Priestly functions in the presence of his master. He spoke to them about "the lust of the flesh and the spirit."

They went next to Serapion, who told them about the "eight principal faults" to which a monk is exposed (which today have been reduced to seven, as the "seven deadly sins"). These are gluttony, fornication, covetousness, anger, dejection, "accidie," vain glory, and pride. (From Book X chapters I and II, of the Institutes, Accidie is "weariness or distress of heart. This is akin to dejection, and is especially trying to solitaries, and a dangerous and frequent foe to dwellers in the desert; and especially disturbing to a monk about the sixth hour, like some fever which seizes him at stated times, bringing the burning heat of its attacks on the sick man at usual and regular hours. Lastly, there are some of the elders who declare that this is the 'midday demon' spoken of in the ninetieth Psalm... it produces dislike of the place, disgust with the cell, and disdain and contempt of the brethren who dwell with him or at a little distance, as if they were careless or unspiritual. It also makes a man lazy and sluggish about all manner of work which has to be done within the enclosure of his dormitory. It does not suffer him to stay in his cell, or to take any pains about reading, and he often groans because he can do no good while he stays there, and complains and sighs because he can bear no spiritual fruit so long as he is joined to that society; and he complains that he is cut off from spiritual gain, and is of no use in the place, as if he were one who, though he could govern others and be useful to a great number of people, yet was edifying none, nor profiting any one by his teaching and doctrine..." The description is both educational and entertaining, and shows how the monk is enticed to leave his cell, and stop the contemplation of God. The mention of this fault has been neglected in modern lists of "deadly sins." Serapion says that the opposite of accidie is courage, in Chapter XXIII of the Conference of Abbot Serapion.) Abbot Serapion himself tells Germanus why there are eight, not seven faults, and these are related symbolically to the nations that Moses overthrew. From Chapter XVIII and XIX, Book V, the Conference of the Abbot Serapion. "Everybody is perfectly agreed that there are eight principal faults which affect a monk. And all of them are not included in the figure of the nations for this reason, because in Deuteronomy Moses, or rather the Lord through him, was speaking to those who had already gone forth from Egypt and been set free from one most powerful nation, I mean that of the Egyptians." [Who better to contemplate this than a monk in Egypt?] "And we find that this figure holds good also in our case, as when we have got clear of the snares of this world we are found to be free from gluttony, i.e., the sin of the belly and palate; and like them we have a conflict against these seven remaining nations, without taking account at all of the one which has been already overcome. And the land of this nation was not given to Israel for a possession, but the command of the Lord ordained that they should at once forsake it and go forth from it. And for this cause our fasts ought to be made moderate, that there may be no need for us through excessive abstinence, which results from weakness of the flesh and infirmity, to return again to the land of Egypt, i.e., to our former greed and carnal lust which we forsook when we made our renunciation of this world. And this has happened in a figure, in those who after having gone forth into the desert of virtue again hanker after the flesh pots over which they sat in Egypt... But the reason why that nation in which the children of Israel were born, was bidden not to be utterly destroyed but only to have its land forsaken, while it was commanded that these seven nations were to be completely destroyed, is this: because however great may be the ardor of spirit, inspired by which we have entered on the desert of virtues, yet we cannot possibly free ourselves entirely from the neighborhood of gluttony or from its service... While then we still retain the feeling for this care, which we are bidden not altogether to cut off, but to keep without its desires, it is clear that we do not destroy the Egyptian nation but separate ourselves in a sort of way from it, not thinking anything about luxuries and delicate feasts, but, as the Apostle says, being 'content with our daily food and clothing'. And this is commanded in a figure in the law, in this way: 'Thou shalt not abhor the Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.' [Deut. 23:7] For necessary food is not refused to the body without danger to it and sinfulness in the soul. But of those seven troublesome faults we must in every possible way root out the affections from the inmost recesses of our souls..." In Chapter XXII, Abbot Serapion quotes Genesis 15:18-21, where Abraham is promised not seven nations, but ten, whose land was part of the promise. Abbot Serapion then adds the sins of idolatry and blasphemy, "to whose dominion, before the knowledge of God and the grace of Baptism, both the irreligious hosts of the Gentiles and blasphemous ones of the Jews were subject, while they dwelt in a spiritual Egypt. But when a man has made his renunciation and come forth from thence, and having by God's grace conquered gluttony, has come into the spiritual wilderness, then he is free from the attacks of these three, and will only have to wage war against those seven" [deadly sins within ourselves] "which Moses enumerates." (St. Maelruain, Abbot-Bishop of Tallaght in Ireland, much later included this information about the eight deadly sins in his Rule. See the Rule of Maelruain. St. Maelruain is on the calendar of Oengus July 7^th.)

After John Cassian and Germanus left Abbot Serapion, they traveled eighty miles to Cellae, between the desert of Scete and the Nitrian Valley, to see Abbot Theodore. A number of monks in Palestine had been slain by Saracens. They asked Abbot Theodore why was it that men of such illustrious merits and so great virtues should be slain by robbers, and why should God permit so great a crime to be committed? Abbot Theodore then instructed them about "the death of Saints." They also visited Abbot Serenus, who instructed them on "Inconstancy of mind, and Spiritual wickedness" and also the nature of evil spirits in a conference on "Principalities."

Abbot Isaac gave them two discourses on "Prayer." Before the second one, the messenger who yearly gave the date that Pascha would fall on, who arrived just after Epiphany, also brought news of a heresy. This caused great conflict among the brethren. This occurred in 399 A.D. The Bishop who sent the letter (the Patriarch of Alexandria, in this case said that we should not view God as looking like a man (meaning God the heavenly Father in His heavenly form), because although man is made in God's image, God is not made in man's image. The people who held the error of thinking of God as the image of a man were called "Anthropomorphites" from the Greek words "Anthropos" - man, and "morph" - shape. (In modern terms, to "Anthropomorphize" something means to see human characteristics in something that in fact does not have them.) This caused immediate controversy, because most of the monks at Scetis believed that God looks like a man, perhaps thinking about our Lord Jesus Christ Who indeed is both completely God and completely man. The Abbot that John Cassian and Germanus were staying with, Abbot Paphnutius, however, was the only Abbot or Priest in Scetis who accepted the words of the Bishop, and understood. The other monks not only rejected the letter from the Bishop, but were ready to create a schism. However, a very well educated Deacon named Photinus explained how all the churches in the East interpreted Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man after our image and likeness." He explained that the image and likeness was spiritual, and stressed the infinite, incomprehensible, and invisible glory of God, and supported this with Scripture to the satisfaction of all the brethren. Photinus was from Cappadocia (the country where the "Three Hierarchs: St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, and St. Gregory Nazianzus the Theologian came from). One of the elders was very disturbed by this teaching, and cried that he needed an image of God to pray to. (In later centuries, the icon controversy was resolved: we may meditate on an Image of the Lord, because He has revealed Himself to us in the flesh. However, we also must never forget that we do not pray to the Image, but to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. See St. John of Damascus. The Father in heaven is not pictured in human form in traditional icons. The only exception is the Icon of the Three Persons of the Trinity eating at Abraham's table, from Genesis Chapter 18. Abraham calls them "Lord," not "Lords," indicating the Oneness of our God.)

Abbot Isaac then continues to describe prayer as going up with Jesus in the "mount of virtues," with the Apostles Peter, James, and John, in other words, at the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor. Abbot Isaac said that neither Jesus nor we are soiled in crowds, and it is possible to meet Jesus in any village and through any labor, but even so, by the example of Jesus in the Transfiguration, we learn to go to a place alone to pray. This helps us to approach God with "a pure and spotless affection of heart."

John Cassian speaks of others, such as the monks of the Thebaid and their monasteries, but he may have heard this from others. He intended to visit these monasteries, but around that time, both John Cassian and Germanus traveled to Constantinople, and were Ordained by St. John Chrysostom. Both John Cassian and Germanus were put in charge of the treasury, which was the only part of the Cathedral to escape fire in 404 A.D. St. John Cassian witnessed the terrible persecution of St. John Chrysostom, and took his side in the controversy. Germanus was Ordained a Priest at Constantinople, but John Cassian was still a Deacon, when they traveled to Rome to petition Pope Innocent I on behalf of St. John Chrysostom. (Rome sent some Bishops to Constantinople in support of St. John Chrysostom, but they were imprisoned. St. John Chyrsostom himself was banished by the Emperor, and died on a forced march.) During his stay in Rome, St. John Cassian was Ordained a Priest by Pope Innocent I. They also met Leo, then Archdeacon of Rome (much later Pope Leo the Great). At the request of Leo, John Cassian later wrote his book, On the Incarnation against Nestorius. Nestorius, then Bishop of Constantinople, believed that Christ's two natures: God and man, were radically divided. Also, that the Mother of God was only the mother of Christ's human nature after His birth. (See also St. Vincent of Lerins, May 24^th; and also the Feast of the Holy Innocents, December 29^th.)

After John Cassian left Rome, he went to Gaul. In his long absence from Gaul, when he lived in Bethlehem and Egypt, monasticism had arrived in Gaul, due to the work of St. Hilary of Poitiers and St. Martin of Tours, and others such as St. Victricius, who also founded a monastery. These Abbot-Bishops were in the Loire valley area. Liguge was founded after 360 A.D., and Marmoutier after 371 A.D., and other monasteries were forming in Provence. St. Honoratus founded his monastery in 410 A.D. on the island of Lerins. (See May 24^th.) Lerins became a school of theology and Christian philosophy, and also other subjects of education, and produced many Saints and Bishops who spread Christianity to Gaul and beyond. The island of Lerins was also inaccessible to invasion by "barbarians" of various nations. (See St. Patrick, March 17^th, who stayed at Lerins for a while. Many Irish monasteries were modeled after Lerins.)

St. John Cassian founded two monasteries at Marseilles, one for men and one for women, around this time. The monastery for men was built over the tomb of St. Victor, who was a Martyr who had died under Diocletian. At Marseilles St. John Cassian wrote three books, the Institutes, the Conferences, and On the Incarnation against Nestorius. St. John Cassian called the Institutes, "Twelve books on the institutes of the monasteries and the remedies for the eight principal faults." His monasteries in Marseilles, organized around his "Institutes" (the Rule), were looked up to by others, and his fame increased. The Conferences were written from his memory of the details of instructions from the Abbots in Scetis he had visited years before. (Later, St. Benedict of Nursia told his monks to read the Conferences of St. John Cassian daily. Many libraries throughout Europe copied these books.) The Institutes were written at the request of Bishop Castor of Apta Julia, forty miles north of Marseilles, which still did not have monasteries. Bishop Castor wished to introduce monastic life into his diocese. The book was dedicated to Castor, who died in 426 A.D., and is thought to have been written some time between 419 A.D. and 426 A.D. Bishop Castor also requested the Conferences to be written, but he died before the first part was ready for publication. St. John Cassian was sorrowful that he could not dedicate the book to Bishop Castor, so St. John Cassian dedicated the book to Leontius Bishop of Frejus, and Helladius who was called "brother." Part II, with Conferences XI to XVII was dedicated to Honoratus and Eucherius, who he called brothers. Eucherius became Bishop of Lyons in 434, but Honoratus was made Bishop of Arles in 426, so all of these Conferences must have been published soon after the death of Bishop Castor, but before the Consecration of Bishop Honoratus, in 426 A.D.By the preface to Conference XVIII, Helladius had been raised to Bishop. Honoratus was described as living, so it was composed before the end of 428. Honoratus died in January, 429. Conferences XVIII to XXIV are dedicated to Jovinian, Minervius, Leontius, and Theodore, all called "fratres" (brothers). (This must be a different Leontius than the one referred to in Conferences I - X). The others are not known, but Theodore was Consecrated Bishop, and succeeded Leontius at Frejus in 432.

The seven books, On the Incarnation against Nestorius were published in haste before 430 A.D., before the Council of Ephesus. John Cassian speaks of Nestorius as still Bishop (Patriarch) of Constantinople, and speaks of Augustine as though he were also still alive. (Blessed Augustine died in 430 A.D.) "Nestorianism" was a heresy which started at Constantinople, beginning with a sermon by the Bishop's chaplain Anastasius. Nestorius himself supported his chaplain, giving more sermons against the use of the term "Theotokos" or Birthgiver to describe the Blessed Virgin Mary. The heresy also attacked the unity of the natures of Jesus Christ as God and man. News of the controversy came to Egypt, and the then Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria, later St. Cyril of Alexandria, who at the time was caught up in the dispute over which Patriarchate should have the second place: Alexandria or Constantinople, added to the difficulties of St. John Chrysostom, in fact visiting Constantinople and causing more trouble with the emperor of Constantinople. Although St. Cyril was against the Nestorians and in favor of the use of the term "Theotokos" or "Birthgiver" to describe the Blessed Virgin Mary, otherwise he opposed St. John Chrysostom because of the political controversy between Alexandria and Constantinople. (Treatises of St. Cyril were also used later to support the doctrines of the Monophysites, which said that Christ only had one nature: Divine, and that His human nature was completely swallowed up; which led many away from the understanding of His great Offering: His suffering and death on the Cross as a man, leading to our salvation. At first the treatises of St. Cyril were not considered extreme.) Other Patriarchates became involved, taking a stand against Nestorius, and the Roman Pope Celestine's Archdeacon Leo (later Pope St. Leo the Great) asked John Cassian, who was familiar with Greek and the East, to help write a book refuting the Nestorian heresy. They supported the use of the term "Theotokos" or "Birthgiver of God," in Latin "Deigenitrix," and that she is truly the Mother of God from the time of the conception of Christ at the Annunciation (in Greek: Mater Theou). John Cassian refers to Scripture, showing the unity of our Lord's Divinity and Person. He connects this new Nestorian heresy with the heresy of Pelagius, through the errors of Leporius of Treves, who had erroneously suggested that the Pelagian views of man's "sufficiency and strength" could be applied to our Lord, as if Christ were a mere man who used his free will to live without sin, and then at His Baptism He had been made Christ, as though after that time there were two Christs. St. John Cassian points to the connection between Pelagianism and Nestorianism, and underlines it in this work; the first writer to make this connection. He made this connection, and rejected both Nestorianism and Pelagianism, within the lifetime of Nestorius. The rejection of Nestorianism at the Council of Ephesus therefore also firmly rejected Pelagiansim.

In spite of his absolute rejection of Pelagianism, John Cassian was accused of "Semi-Pelagianism" because of his rejection of the excesses of Blessed Augustine. (As noted under Lerins, May 24^th, the Orthodox Church does not use the title "Saint" for Augustine; and to this day his works are considered controversial. See the book, Dogmatic Theology of the Orthodox Church, by Pomazansky.) Augustine had struggled against Pelagianism, but between the years 410 and 420 A.D. his views had hardened into a belief in absolute predestination of our soul "irrespective of foreseen character." (Description from Rev. Edgar C. S. Gibson). He wrote in a letter to a Priest Sixtus in 418 stating that God's grace must be irresistible, and therefore also not capable of being overcome, and therefore God would decide ahead of time who would be saved and who would not. Today such theories such as "eternal security" and "Calvinist predestination" come from the extremes of Augustine: the idea that one is not capable of sin following Baptism, or in some cases one is not capable of sin following a profession of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, this view is extreme, and leaves out the fact that in Paradise Adam was at first also without sin and in a close, loving, and obedient relationship to God, but through his own free will still Adam disobeyed God; and we too, even those of us who are Baptized and Confirmed Christians, are capable of disobedience. John Cassian, who had been trained as a monk in Bethlehem and Egypt, would have known that disobedience is possible, and must be struggled against. One of the sayings of the Desert Fathers is that we fall again and again, but with God's grace we get up again and again and follow the narrow road to heaven. (The Church, both East and West, holds that Confession of sins with Absolution is one of the Mysteries or Sacraments of the Church. Without the Sacrament of Confession, the spiritual life can become weakened through distractions, which lead to greater sins that lead a person away from salvation.)

The letter Augustine had written to the Priest Sixtus in 418 later fell into the hands of the monks of Adrumetum, who were puzzled; and because they argued amongst themselves over it, wrote to Augustine himself asking for an explanation. To further explain himself, Augustine wrote the treatise, "De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio" in 426 A.D. The monks were still puzzled, so Augustine wrote another work, "De Correptione et Gratia" also in 426 A.D. Although the monks at Adrumetum made no further comment, a great controversy was stirred in southern Gaul. John Cassian felt that Augustine had a serious error: that is, a denial of the need of effort on man's part. (Orthodox Christians today cite the Epistles of the Apostle James, who emphasizes that faith without works is dead. Also, that St. Paul, who defended Faith above the letter of the Law, still upheld Charity as greater, and Charity is both the grace of God and at the same time works of man in giving. St. Paul also said that faith without works is dead. See the short sermon of Succat, that is, St. Patrick, below, who summarizes the danger and also the importance of works.) Augustine seemed to "treat predestination as respective of foreseen conduct, and to limit the Divine good-will to a fixed number of persons thus selected, who, as such, are assured of perseverance." This denied not only earlier teachings, but also the earlier teachings of Augustine of Hippo himself. Augustine also seems to say that some people deserve heaven from birth, while others do not, which itself stands in the way of Christ's Redemption of all humans on the Cross. Christ came "not for the righteous, but for sinners." Those in southern Gaul said that the door of salvation was open to all, because the Savior died for all. Those from southern Gaul did believe in the doctrine of the Fall, original sin, and the necessity of the Grace of God to salvation, and that this grace must be present in order for a Christian to do good works. The view called "Semi-Pelagian" on the part of the monks of southern Gaul was that, human nature could take the first step in desiring to be healed through faith in Christ. If all such good were strictly a divine act, then any sermons would be vain, and any correction of criminals would be unjust, because it could be said that they could not help their actions, and would not or could not understand anything of God or good, including morality, logic, and especially the desire for salvation. (As all people are made in the image of God, all have a small "mustard seed" of faith which could grow, in spite of original sin.)

John Cassian wrote no works against Augustine or in support of the "Semi-Pelagians," but many said that he was the head of those who disagreed with Augustine. His thirteenth Conference with Abbot Chaeremon on the Protection of God is thought to be a rebuttal to the Augustinians. (The monks in Scetis were actually aware of a controversy, although not yet embodied in the words of Augustine, between non-possessor monks and those who had possessions. In the third part of the Conferences, the first monk met is Abbot Piamun. In speaking of three kinds of monks, Abbot Piamun names coenobites who live in communities, anchorites who live as solitaries, and Sarabaites who hold personal possessions and who are considered to be descendants of Arians with no holiness whatsoever. The problem with the Sarabaites is the same problem found in Augustinians or Calvinists: since they do not share possessions, they acquire a false doctrine glorifying their acquisition of personal possessions and unwillingness to share them; or that they were blessed or not blessed based upon the evidence of their possessions instead of their good works of sharing both their physical possessions and their spiritual understanding. The coenobites and anchorites did not water down the faith to reach more people, but they never withheld the truth from others either; instead they shared the truth with those who asked them for a "word." The only exception to their sharing was that they would not tolerate sin and allow it hospitality, as Abbot Serapion says in his conference on the eight principal faults, the seven nations which must be taken over (I Corinthians 10:6, Deuteronomy 7:1-2) which represent the multitude of sins such as "murders, strifes, heresies, thefts, false witness, blasphemy, surfeiting, drunkenness, back-biting, buffoonery, filthy conversation, lies, perjury, foolish talking, scurrility, restlessness, greediness, bitterness, clamor, wrath, contempt, murmering, temptation, despair, and many other faults, which it would take too long to describe.")

Augustine learned of the controversy in southern Gaul, and wrote further works on his position. Although Augustine acknowledged the difference between his opponents and the Pelagians, he still kept his extreme views. Prosper of Aquitaine wrote a poem of a thousand lines in support of Augustine, called "De Ingratis," where he accuses both Pelagians and those he calls "Semi-Pelagians." This poem was written before the death of Augustine (August 28^th, 430 A.D.) (See note May 24^th: the calendar of Oengus includes both Augustine of Hippo on August 28^th, and Augustine of Canterbury May 24^th and November 16^th; but although the calendar of Oengus seems to exclude St. Vincent of Lerins on May 24^th, it includes St. John Cassian November 25^th, who opposed the extreme teachings of Augustine. There are many St. Vincents on the Celtic calendar, and one of these may be St. Vincent of Lerins.)

At the writing of Prosper of Aquitaine and also a layman named Hilary - not the Bishop of Arles, Pope Celestine wrote a letter in support of Augustine to the Gallican Bishops: Venerius of Marseilles, Leontius of Frejus, Marinus, Auxonius, Arcadius, Filtanius, and the rest. The Pope said that "Priests ought not to teach so as to invade the Episcopal prerogative." This referred to the fact that John Cassian was a Priest, and not a Bishop. Although a Patriarch or Pope could claim primacy in his See, he had no right to declare doctrine valid or invalid without a meeting of the entire Christian Church, called an "Ecumenical Council," because it was a meeting of the entire "Body of Christ." Pope Celestine was very old, and may have been responding to other pressures, in any case, he did write this edict without the consent of the entire Church, East and West. (A few centuries later, St. Gregory the Great, also a Pope of Rome, declared that no Pope or Patriarch should declare themselves "infallible," in reference to the Patriarch of Constantinople calling himself the "Ecumenical Patriarch." Pope Celestine was not entirely against those who had trained in southern Gaul: just prior to his death he participated in the Consecration of St. Patrick, who had been trained there.) Bishop Venerius of Marseilles was at the top of the list to indicate that the Priest John Cassian was from Marseilles. Even so, in spite of Pope Augustine's reproach, such Saints as St. Vincent of Lerins and St. John Cassian, even though respecting the Pope, remained in disagreement with the teachings of Augustine. This led to Prosper of Aquitaine making a direct criticism of the Conferences by John Cassian, in "Contra Collatorem," an attack on the Conference of Abbot Chaeremon. Prosper's attack of John Cassian occurred after Pope Celestine died in April of 432 A.D., because Prosper says that he hoped Pope Sixtus would condemn the doctrine that had been condemned by Celestine and his predecessors (even though Augustine's doctrine had not existed before Celestine). Again, St. Benedict of Nursia later told his monks to read the Conferences of Cassian daily, and this work was not condemned by most others. Also, although the Desert Fathers themselves often said that their views were simple and not always with the deepest theological training, their understanding of monasticism and salvation has always been held as a standard of Christian truth. The monks of Scetis had the greater antiquity and longer Christian tradition, a tradition that, before the time of St. John Cassian, was the same in all Patriarchates, including Rome. The fact that the East Canonized St. John Cassian indicates that an Ecumenical Council probably would have found in his favor, but this controversy was not examined in such a Council.

St. John Cassian died soon after this, and before he died he had made no reply to Prosper. His answers to Prosper were already written in his Conferences, for example, the Conference of Abbot Theodore On the Death of the Saints, which addresses questions of virtue and sin, good and evil, whether actions are good or evil, and how God allows the death of His Saints. Instead, St. John Cassian concerned himself in his work On the Incarnation against Nestorius, and died shortly after completing that. The last chapter of his seven books against Nestorius seems to be a plea from St. John Cassian to those in Constantinople that he considers Constantinople as his own country in the unity of the faith, "absent in body yet I am still there in heart," and St. John Chrysostom as his teacher. It also suggests that he grieves with them over this heresy (Nestorianism), and pleads with them to touch not, and taste not anything which leads to (soul) death, and touch not the unclean thing. He tells them to remember their ancient teachers, Gregory [Nazianzus, who wrote against Arianism], Nectarius, John [Chrysostom]. It seems as though St. John Cassian himself is remembering them, and comparing them to all the reduction of doctrine that seemed to be present at the time. (See St. Dionysius the Areopagite, October 9^th: his philosophy was mystical, although not Augustinian, and is considered Orthdoox.)

A century later, a more moderate view of Augustine entered the church's thinking in Europe. To counter Pelagianism, in a local council, the ideas of Augustine were read into the Council. This was not ratified in the entire Christian Church, but with the last remnant of Pelagianism at an end, most Christians were not as inclined to follow the extremes of Augustine either. However, by that time, much laxity and a return of Arianism had crept into many churches in France, and the inheritors of the monasticism of St. John Cassian: the Irish monks, re-entered France with the practices and faith of the earlier monks of Egypt, giving back to Gaul the gift of faith they had generously given. (See St. Columbanus of Luxeiul and Bobbio, November 23^rd.) Although one might say that any human response or activity in salvation is not possible, those who were Pelagian heretics thought that only human effort was needed for salvation. But St. John Cassian and other Orthodox Christians believe that Jesus Christ, of two natures, both God and man, still is unified in His Person. Human effort works in "synergy" with God, not apart from God's grace, because God still allows us free will. Otherwise, salvation would not set us free, but would enslave us. Although the Irish monks referred to themselves as "slaves of God," they also believed they were free in Christ. They had loosened the "chains of sin" and joined with other Christians in a "chain of charity." St. John Cassian was Canonized a Saint by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchates, but at that time the Roman Patriarchate did not Canonize him, only calling him "Blessed." In the same way, the East only calls Augustine "Blessed."

"St. Cassian" is celebrated on the Byzantine calendar February 29^th, a date that seems to be an after thought, although it acknowledges a man whose writing led to a decision against Nestorianism in the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, and a condemnation of Pelagianism. (Another person Canonized by the Byzantines "St. Cyril of Alexandria," also wrote against the Nestorian heresy, but Cyril was instrumental in the torture and banishment of St. John Chrysostom and the writings of Cyril when taken to extremes later led to the Monophysite heresy. Some modern writers are especially interested in the writings of Cyril, while not as aware of the importance of the writings of Cassian against Nestorianism and Pelagianism. Indeed, some modern writers do not realize that Pelagius and his heresy were rejected in writing at the Ecumenical Council at Ephesus.) Note that on the Irish calendar, in spite of the fact that many people knew that St. John Cassian was only Ordained to the Priesthood, Oengus calls him a "Bishop of Constantinople," probably confusing him with St. John Chrysostom, whose feast day according to the Byzantine Rite is November 13^th. Without using the term "Saint" which might have been controversial, this indicates the respect the Irish had for St. John Cassian. According to Butler's Lives of the Saints he is listed July 23^rd and referred to as "Saint." No mention of why he is now listed as "Saint" within the modern Roman church is made, or when he was elevated from "Blessed" to the status of "Saint" according to their understanding.

To understand the difference between the view of grace of the Eastern and Western Patriarchates, and why the controversy between Cassian and Augustine continues, it is necessary to understand the differences in the teachings on the Holy Spirit. This is part of the "Filoque" controversy about the changes to the Creed made by the Roman Patriarchate, and which led to the split between East and West. (See St. James the Greater below, as the "Filoque" originated in Spain.) Grace originates with God. The Holy Spirit confers Grace. Each Person of the Holy Trinity is indeed a Person, with Intelligence, etc., and although Almighty, is not a "force" alone. Nor are they three Gods, but one God. In Augustine's views, the Holy Spirit would seem to be in some people, but not others. Yet, St. Paul said, in the Book of Acts Chapter 17, that we are all His offspring (through Adam), in Whom "we live, and move, and have our being." This being so, all of us are predestined to salvation, not just some people, but we must "live and move" within this grace. We can attain nothing without the Holy Spirit, but with Him, we can receive Holy Baptism, the Anointing of the Holy Spirit in Chrismation, the love and Presence of Christ in Holy Communion, and all else. This can only be achieved with God, and this must be achieved through free will. An infant may approach these Mysteries, and yet they are required through their childhood years to be taught to understand the faith. Therefore, their continued participation through their life is still with free will, together with their knowledge and experience. See St. Gregory Nazianzus, who wrote against the Arians (March 29^th), St. Basil the Great (one of the "Three Hierarchs") who wrote on the Holy Spirit, and St. Photius, who also wrote on the Holy Spirit.

There is a connection of St. Germanus of Auxerre with Lerins (see St. Germanus of Auxerre, May 28^th, and St. Vincent of Lerins, May 24^th). Another book, Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church, edited by F. E. Warren, 1881, page 79, quotes an anonymous author from the 8^th century who traces the lineage of teaching and Succession in the early churches of the Gauls and Irish. He says that Saints Germanus of Auxerre and St. Lupus were trained in two lineages, one of which was at Lerins which could trace its teachings back to St. Mark the Evangelist. The other lineage was as monks from Gaul, through Irenaeus of Lyons, who was the disciple of St. Polycarp, who was the disciple of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. This lineage does not explain whether the companion of St. Cassian: St. Germanus of Constantinople may have changed has name to Honorius, or if St. Germanus of Constantinople stayed there, and another monk helped St. John Cassian found Lerins. St. Germanus of Auxerre was a different person than St. Germanus of Constantinople. Translation from the Latin is by Bishop Maelruain. "And here is another course [line of teachings and practices including Liturgics] which is held at the present time among the Scots and which is passed down. That Blessed (St.) Mark the Evangelist [see April 25^th], as referred to by Josephus and Eusebius in the fourth volume, diligently preached through all of Egypt and Italy so that one Church so that all of the Saints whether in glory unto God in the highest or by the Lord's Prayer and Amen would sing universally. This was his prediction of unity, and afterwards he made the Gospel from the mouth of St. Peter the Apostle. Blessed Jerome affirms this course which is said at the present time among the Scots, that Blessed Mark sang, and after him, St. Gregory Nazianzus whom Jerome said was a Magistrate, and Blessed Basil and his brother St. Gregory [of Nyssa], and Saints Anthony, Paul, Macarius, or John, and Malchus, as sung in the order of the Fathers. [This is to say that many important Saints, such as St. Gregory Nazianzus, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, etc. studied for a while in the Egyptian deserts with those who were trained in the lineage of St. Mark, such as the desert Saints Anthony, Paul, Macarius or John, and Malchus. St. John Cassian also studied under the same Egyptian desert fathers very soon after that time, and studied with some of the same desert Fathers.] And afterwards, most Blessed Cassian had a companion named Blessed Honorius, and they lived at the monastery of Lerins [founding it], and after him Blessed Honoratus was the first Abbot, and St. Caesarius was the Bishop in Arles, and Blessed Procharius was the Abbot who was at that monastery, whom they sing of in this Succession, who Blessed Lupus and Blessed Germanus dwelled as monks in this monastery, and they sang according to the norms of the Rules of this Succession. And afterwards, they attained the Episcopal throne of the highest honor with reverence and sanctity of them. And afterwards, they preached among the Britons and the Scots (Irish), as stated in the life of Bishop Germanus of Auxerre and the life of Blessed Lupus confirms, who taught Patrick spiritually the holy letters, and nurtured him in the faith, and predicted that he would become the Archbishop among the Scots and the Britons."

(The following, from an anonymous source attributed to Succat, was in answer to a very prideful question: are we doing what we should be doing?)

It is always a presumption to assume that one can help/ save others. It is always an act of pride. However, the devil did not understand that it is just as much a prideful thing to work for others as to work against others. His pride was destructive, and not beneficial, therefore he affirms, "No." So one must always realize that one acts with a certain amount of conceit thinking that one's offering is sufficient for anyone's salvation. However, this affirms Being, creation, God's will over human will, and is a Godly pride rather than a destructive pride. Do good understanding that there is a danger to it. Do evil and there is always a danger to it. Do nothing and the darkness is already fallen upon one. It is sufficient unto grace to act: it is insufficient not to act, for there is no offering in it. God alone knows the outcome of all actions. One can only make an effort and pray that it is sufficient and right. One builds one step, it is up to others to continue the work so that all might ascend. It is not the task of any one of us to complete the work for all. That would be presumptuous. That would be truly evil pride, for only God alone knows, can comprehend the whole. To declare one's work, one's own work or the work of another insufficient is pride, destructive, dangerous. So in seeming humility, there is pride. In seeming pride in building just one's simple work as part of the whole there is true humility. Do not presume that the servant is greater than the One who is served or the One Who knows the outcome of all, but do not forget that we are not here groping blindly. We know which way to face, and that is toward God.
 

7 July /
20 July

With a great and beautiful host of Parmenius, steadfast troop,
Mael-rúain has attained heaven, splendid sun of the Gaels' island!

[Dates related to St. Maelruain: March 6^th, July 7^th, October 1^st. Dates related to Tallaght, also called Tamlachta: January 3^rd, April 1^st, October 26^th. Note: Tamlachta means a memorial for a plague, and it was founded by St. Maelruain. Tallaght lasted only seventy years, and was destroyed by Norse invaders, but during that relatively short time was considered very important. The Rule of St. Maelruain is used for the weekly Psalms for the Hours, and the Rule of the Cele De. The "Gospel of St. Maelruain" is another name for the Celtic Missal or Lorrha-Stowe Missal.]

From two Prefaces to The Speckled Book (the Martyrology of Oengus, which is quoted in the calendar as the verses for each day and also commentary) concerning Tallaght and St. Maelruain:

The Place of this work of art is Cuil Bennchuir (Bangor) in Mag Rechet, in the territory of Hui Failgi, as regards its commencement: in Cluain Eidnech, however, the greater part of it: in Tamlachtu (Tallacht) Libren the completion of it all (to wit, in the time of Abbot Maelruain it was composed).

Its Author was Oengus son of Oengoba, son of Oiblen, of the community of Cluain Eidnech.

In the Time of Cobthach Coelbreg (it was composed).

Now this is the Cause. Once upon a time he (Oengus) fared from Disert [Desert, a place of prayer] Oengusa in Munster to Cuil Bennchuir (Bangor), going to get Maelruain in Tamlachtu for (his) soulfriend (spiritual elder, the 'anamchara'). And he saw a grave in the church, and (all) over it was full of angels up to heaven. So Oengus asked the Priest of the church, "who has been buried there?"

"A certain wretched ex-layman who dwelt in the place," says the Priest.

"What good has he done?" says Oengus.

"Truly we used not to see," says the Priest, "any good done by him, save that on lying down and rising up he recounted the Saints of the world, as is the custom of ex-laymen."

"O God of heaven," says Oengus, "whoso should make a song of praise for the Saints, great would be his guerdon!"

So then he bagan the Martyrology at once. Howbeit in Tamlachtu it was completed.

Four and twenty syllables in every quatrain, and if there be more or less, it is an error.

To Fothuth of the Canon, now, Oengus frist showed the Martyrology, when he went on the hosting (with the army, the host) of Dun Cuair with Ireland's clerics along with him, including Connmach, a successor of St. Patrick; and it is on that hosting that clerics were freed from hosting, for it is Fothuth that passed the judgment whereby the churches of Ireland were freed, as he himself said:

[Note: See Sept. 23^rd, St. Adamnan obtains the release of women from the draft.]

"The Church of living God, leave to her what is hers: let her right be apart as best it has been.

"Every true monk that is, be it on his pure conscience, for the church to which it is due let him work like any slave.

"Every freeman then, who is without (monastic) rule, without obedience, is allowed to go to the battle of noble Aed son of Niall. ["Allowed..." the king's wishes are his commands.]

"This is the right regulation, neither great nor small, let every slave of God serve without fault and without sin."

Then he showed to Oengus the Song of the Canon and the Song of the Complaint, and they made their union there, and each of them blessed the other's work of art, and they left many graces on him who should recite it often.

Many, indeed, are the graces of the Martyrology, as it recounted in the last prologue (the epilogue).

That Oengus, then, was an humble, lowly servant to God, and 'tis he that used to chant his psalms thus, while he was a Disert Oengusso, to wit, fifty in the river with a withe round his neck and tied to the tree; fifty under the tree, and fifty in his cell. (150 every day.)

Thereafter he repaired to Maelruain that he might get him as a soulfriend.

Now it is that Maelruain who decided that he would not take land in Tamlachtu until Michael (the Archangel), with whom he had a friendship, should take it; and because of that agreement there are in Tamlachtu relics consecrated to Michael. Now once upon a time after that decision it happened that an epistle, together with a sod, was cast from heaven to Maelruain (as a token) that he might take land; and thus then Tamlachtu has been acquired.

Afterwards Oengus, in guise of a slave, came to him, and Maelruain entrusted to Oengus the care of the (corn) kiln. He took that in hand, and this is related, that the cornblades grew through his hair by reason of the greatness of the service. (Corn: wheat, as in English wording.)

So it happened there that a little boy was studying his Psalms with Maelruain, and once upon a time the cleric went to the church and charged the boy to learn his lesson by heart, so that he might be ready to repeat it before him. The boy, however, runs away, for he did not expect that thing, and he came to the kiln to Oengus. So Oengus asked him "what was the matter?" The boy tells him. "Come hither," says Oengus, "and put thy head on my knee, and sleep." Thus was it done. Afterwards the boy arose. Then said Oengus: "Repeat thy lesson, my son." So the boy says somewhat more than the lesson. "What is that thing, my son?" Says Oengus. "I have the whole lection," says the boy. "Depart," says Oengus, "and confess not whom thou hast visited." So the boy goes and sets forth the lesson to Maelruain, and Maelruain perceived that he had somewhat more, and asked him: "Whom didst thou visit, my son?" "I know not," says the boy. "That is a lie indeed," says the cleric, "tell me quickly." "I know not," says the boy, "but I came to the kiln, and I fell asleep with my head on the knee of the kiln-man." "That is true," says Maelruain: "that man is Oengus the prophesied one!" And then he comes forth suddenly and brought only one shoe on him, and sought the kiln. "Well, O Oengus," says he, "it was not meet for thee to lie unto us, for meeter were it for us to be serving thee than thou us."
 

Then Maelruain brought Oengus with him with great honor, and Oengus knelt to him, and they make their union the union in heaven and earth. So thus it was then that Oengus was revealed to Maelruain. (St. Oengus accepted the rule of St. Maelruain, and became a monk and a Cele De in Tallaght.)
 

From The Martyrology of Tallaght: Saint Tiugmaich (or Trigmech) Bishop; Maol Ruain (Mael Ruain) Bishop of Tamlachta (Tallaght); Cronae Bicce (Crone the Little); Fiadabuir of Uachtar Achaid; Comgell daughter of Diarmata.
 

25 July /7 August

My Colmóc, my Silóc, with Nessán if we dare:
the death of John's brother, James without reproach.

Marginal notes from The Martyrology of Tallaght from May 1^st:

Though you be in ignorance
of the wondrous renowned Jameses,
I will reveal them to you, without baseness.
I have studied them with full science.
James son of Cleophas and Mary
chief of the noble high Apostles, [of the noble Apostles, not "of the Twelve"]
suffered Martyrdom on the eighth of the calends of April [March 25^th]
'twas not only terrible, it was a fierce deed.
On the tenth of the calends of July, Alpheus' son, [June 22^nd, one of the Twelve Apostles.]
fair James, with grace,
after he had preached in Syria
north in Persia he died.
James the distinguished son of Zebedee [One of the Twelve Apostles.]
a chief Apostle of God's people,
suffered Martyrdom on the eighth of the calends of August [July 25^th]
He was a head of counsel of this world.

St. James the Greater, called "Greater" simply because of the Twelve Apostles he was older than St. James the son of Alpheus, although he is the nephew of St. James of the Knees "Brother of the Lord" who was not "of the Twelve." - From the Bobbio Apostle's Creed, he said, 'He was born of Mary, the Virgin, through the Holy Spirit.' Roman date of celebration: July 25, died A.D. 44 (brother of St. John the Evangelist, son of Zebedee). James and John were called Boanerges, the "Sons of Thunder." First of the Apostles to fall to martyrdom. The St. James of Compostela in Spain. The Byzantine Rite date for St. James son of Zebedee is April 30^th. Both the Roman and Celtic Rite dates: death of St. James July 25.

The relics of St. James arrived in Spain miraculously, and from the Medieval times to this day there is a great pilgrimage from southern France, by foot, beast or any means, over the Pyrennes mountains to the great cathedral at Santiago de Compostela (St. James of Compostela) for the festival of St. James, also called in French, "St. Jacques." The "cockle shell" or scallop shell is a symbol of that pilgrimage all along the route, and is called the "cockle shell of St. Jacques." (The name "James" is different in various languages, for example, in Hebrew it is Jacob, in Greek it is Iakovos, in Spanish it is Iago, in French it is Jacques, and in English it is James. The English nickname "Jack" is short for James.)
 

A short history of the Apostle St. James the son of Zebedee:

The Apostle St. James the son of Zebedee was the brother of the Apostle and Evangelist St. John the Theologian. The "Brother of the Lord," another James who was a son of Joseph by Joseph's former wife Salome, and not an Apostle but one of the Seventy (see December 27^th), had a sister also named Salome who married Zebedee, and their children were John the Apostle and Evangelist, and James the Apostle, the 'sons of Zebedee.' (The Apostles James and John the sons of Zebedee were nephews of James the "Brother of the Lord," and therefore step-nephews of Jesus.) James and John were called by Christ at the same time, St. Matthew 4:21-22, just after Ss. Peter and Andrew. They were also fishermen on the sea of Galilee. St. James and John wanted to call down the fire of the Lord on unbelievers (Luke 9:54-56), but Christ forbade them. Ss. Peter, John, and James witnessed the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor (St. Matthew chapter 17), which in the Celtic Rite is celebrated tomorrow (July 26^th).

In spite of the brothers' greatness Jesus admonishes them concerning who will sit on His right and left in the kingdom of heaven after the Last Supper. In Icons of Christ sitting on His Throne in heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary is on His right (our left), and St. John the Baptist is on His left (our right), both in an attitude of prayer. This Icon is called the "Deesis" which means "prayer," and in Byzantine churches is usually found as the main theme of the Icon Screen separating the Altar area from the Nave of a church. (St. Matthew 20:20-23 is read on December 27^th, about St. John and his brother St. James, "...My chalice indeed you shall drink; but to sit on my right or left hand, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father." Still, this teaches that St. James and St. John both showed great humility and leadership in the Church. It is recorded in St. Luke 22:24-30 that Christ admonishes the Apostles concerning who will be the greatest.)

After the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, and after Pentecost, St. James traveled through many countries including Spain, preaching the Word of God. James returned to Jerusalem, where his preaching was like thunder (Mark 3:17), preaching Jesus Christ as the true Messiah, the Savior of the world.

According to Byzantine sources, James often debated with the scribes and Pharisees, and they hired a sorcerer named Hermogenes to debate with James and put him to shame. But Hermogenes sent his student, Philetus to dispute with James. No person on earth is able to dispute the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and St. James was filled with this Divine wisdom. Philetus was as silent as a mute person, and was unable to open his mouth to express himself. Philetus returned to Hermogenes and told him that nothing could overcome James, who confirmed his words with miracles. Philetus also told his teacher to abandon sorcery and become the disciple of James. Hermogenes summoned demons to hold Philetus in one spot, and he said, "Let us see how thy James will deliver thee!" Philetus secretly sent word to James that he was bound by demons, and the Apostle sent him his towel, telling Philetus to hold the towel and say, "The Lord looseth the fettered; the Lord setteth aright the fallen." which is a quote from Psalm 145:7b-8 Greek, or Psalm 146 KJV. Philetus said this and was immediately loosed from the demons, who fled from him. Then Philetus laughed, left Hermogenes, and went to St. James, learned the faith, and was Baptized.

Hermogenes was filled with wrath, and sent demons to bring both James and Philetus to him bound. But the Angel of the Lord saw the demons coming near the house where James and Philetus were staying, and at the command of God, the Angel of the Lord bound the demons and began to torment them. The demons cried aloud, "James, Apostle of Christ, be merciful to us; for we came to bind thee and Philetus on orders of Hermogenes, and behold, now we ourselves are bound fast, and suffer cruelly!" James then asked the Angel of God to release them, but to have them bring Hermogenes, but doing him no harm. Immediately Hermogenes arrived, and the demons asked James to avenge their grievances against Hermogenes. When the Apostle James asked the demons why they had not bound Philetus as Hermogenes had commanded them, the demons said, "We cannot even touch a fly in thy house." The Apostle then told Philetus that the Lord taught them to "render good for evil," which he had learned together with his brother John (St. Luke 9:54-56, also the Sermon on the Mount, St. Matthew 5:38-42). Then James told Philetus to release Hermogenes from the demons. Then the Apostle told Hermogenes that the Lord wants voluntary servants, and to go as he wished. But Hermogenes replied that the demons would slay him if he left James' home, and that he needed James' defense against them. So James gave Hermogenes his staff which he used for traveling.

When he arrived home, Hermogenes saw the error of his ways, and he gathered all his books of sorcery, and brought them to James. He fell at James' feet, and said, "True servant of the true God, who deliverest the souls of men from perdition! Have mercy upon me, and accept thine enemy as thy disciple!" Then he learned the holy faith and was Baptized, and burned his books of sorcery. Hermogenes afterwards did miracles in the name of Jesus Christ.

Those who had tried to hire Hermogenes to overcome James were very angry when they saw what had happened, and they appealed to Herod Agrippa to begin a persecution of the Christians and put James to death. In Acts 12:1-3 it states, "And at the same time Herod, the king, stretched forth his hands, to afflict some of the church. And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And, seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take up Peter also. Now it was in the days of the Azymes [flat bread, i.e. the eight days of Passover]." Peter escaped from prison this time (Acts 12: 4-17), but St. James was Martyred.

Eusebius who was Bishop of Caesaria of Palestine, writes about St. James son of Zebedee, that on the way to his Martyrdom was accompanied by one of his accusers named Josiah. Josiah had seen the error of his accusation when he saw for himself the boldness, innocence and holiness of the holy Apostle. When Josiah also confessed that Christ must be the Messiah, he was condemned with James. Along the road to the place of execution they saw a paralyzed man, and the Apostle healed him. Just before the execution, Josiah was able to ask James to forgive him for his former unbelief and slander to the king. The Apostle embraced him and kissed him, saying, "Peace be with thee!" Then they both ended their lives together, bowing their necks to the sword. This took place in A.D. 44.

According to the Byzantines, the body of St. James was taken to Spain by his disciples, where to this day great miracles are worked to the glory of Christ. According to Western sources, the relics arrived in Spain miraculously over the water, and as Santiago de Compostela is on the north coast of Spain, this is probable, because any city of Spain would have been glad for such great relics of an Holy Apostle, and a person traveling to that country from Palestine would naturally visit the southern cities of Spain first. (See St. Bartholomew, August 25^th, whose relics traveled through the Black Sea, through the narrow strait of the Hellespont, the open seas of the Aegean and the Ionian to the island of Lipari off the coast of Sicily. Also see St. Clement, July 19^th, November 14^th, November 21^st, and November 23^rd; the history is at November 23^rd, who was thrown into the sea with an anchor around his neck, but the sea receded every year from that spot three miles, and a shrine of St. Clement there built by angels was a favorite pilgrimage spot.) It happens that Santiago de Compostela is in the Celtic region of Spain, spelled Galicia or Gallaecia. They once spoke a Celtic dialet called Gallego, but now the region speaks Spanish. (Another Celtic region of Europe in Russia is also called Galicia or Galizien. Yet another Celtic region is the area referred to in the letters of St. Paul to the Galatians.)

Arians were in the majority for a while in Spain and parts of France. The Arians believed that Jesus Christ was only a human prophet, not the divine Son of God, an idea which was politically correct to pagans and later to Moslems. According to Arians, their pagan philosophical version of the Trinity stated that the Son was less in essence than the Father, and the Holy Spirit was less in essence than the Son. The Orthodox Church rejects this philosophy of "emanations." The Orthodox Church sees that the infinite and Undivided Essence of God could not be less in the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity is One God in Three Persons. In the Orthodox Church, infinity is appreciated as infinite, and the Essence of God is understood as being incapable of reduction. (For this reason, the term heresy is often called reduction of the truth.) Arianism had started in Alexandria, and spread through northern Africa, Spain, part of France, Constantinople, and Antioch. In Constantinople, Arianism was overcome by the great efforts of St. Gregory Nazianzus. The northern area of Spain that was Celtic was Orthodox and not Arian. They venerated St. Martin of Tours, see November 11^th, and believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and great miracles occurred in the Orthodox churches. Relics of St. James the Greater arrived at Compostela in the north of Spain, for example, and were venerated by pilgrims from many countries in Europe.

Orthodox Christians often did great miracles because God would grant His true church mercy, but those who were heretics often did the opposite. It was not unusual for Arian clergy in Spain or Pelagian clergy in Britain to try to fake a miracle, such as having person who would pretend to be blind say that they now could see, but it was common that such a person would then would have his eyes truly shut by God and would become blind for the rest of his life. This happened in front of the Spanish king Leovigild, at the hand of the heretical bishop Cyrila, who was the Arian bishop in the kingdom of the Vandals in North Africa in the early 480s. In Spain, the Arians called themselves "catholic," while they called those who believed the Nicene Creed, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, were called "Roman," because the Orthodox Christians followed the beliefs of the closest Christian Patriarchate. Eventually, because of miracles and the conversion of Reccared, the son of Leovigild, in 587, Spain as a whole rejected the Arian heresy at the Council of Toledo in 589 A.D. (See St. Basil the Great, January 1^st.) But, at the Council of Toledo, they confused the Creed to say the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father "and the Son," "Filoque" to bolster the idea that Christ is Divine, instead of saying that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father, and together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, as the Nicene Creed states. Those who had always been Orthodox Christians did not need to make erroneous additions to the Creed, but those from the middle and south of Spain who had rejected a full Christianity made the addition. The heretical addition to the Creed eventually spread to the countries controlled by Charlemagne, and then the rest of the Roman Patriarchate. Although the Spanish added the Filioque to the Creed to reject a heresy against the divinity of Christ, they put the Holy Spirit into a lesser position, almost not a Person, and this divided the entire Christian Church, causing the Great Schism between the Roman Patriarchate and all the other Patriarchates: the Patriarchates of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and later Moscow. St. Gregory Nazianzus and St. Basil the Great argued that it is impossible to say that Christ and the Holy Spirit are less than God the Father, because that would state that the Word of God Who created the universe was somehow less than divinely perfect; that God did not give a perfect command, and the Holy Spirit in whom we live and move and have our being is somehow less than the divinely perfect Spirit. The Toledo addition of the "Filoque" to the Creed is still an Arian belief, because it says that the Holy Spirit might be seen as less than the Father "and the Son." We worship one God, one in essence, but in three Persons. The Arian heresy long ago had been firmly rejected in Alexandria and the other Patriarchates, but they had made no addition to the original Nicene Creed: see the Bishop St. Amphilochius, November 23^rd, who convinced emperor Theodosius I that the Arians should not be allowed to hold their assemblies. The Irish had been taken over by the English under Henry II in 1170, and they were forced to follow the new Roman teachings after that, but the Creed in the Lorrha-Stowe Missal does not contain the "Filoque." Today the Arian heresy survives in some forms, such as the beliefs of Isaac Newton and others who had a great influence upon the "age of reason." Miracles do not fall within the bounds of human logic, and as the earliest Church fathers compared the Logos, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, with the truth from heaven or true Reason, such an idea would be in conflict with those who, as the early Arians or Pelagians, thought that human reason alone could reach to the stars. The Byzantine Christmas hymn reminds us that we do not worship the stars as the magi, but the Sun of Justice, our Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Psalm for St. James the Greater: Gradual Canticle, 124.

They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth in Jerusalem. Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round about His people, from henceforth now and for ever. For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the just: that the just may not stretch forth their hands to iniquity. Do good, O Lord, to those that are good, and to the upright of heart. But such as turn aside into bonds, the Lord shall lead out with the workers of iniquity: peace upon Israel.

Gospel: St. Matthew 4:18-20; John 21:15-19 or Luke 6:6-19 (General Lection for Apostles.)

26 July /8 August: The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor

At the Passion of Jovianus with his fair train of pure gold
was the Transfiguration, at daybreak, of Jesus on Mount Tabor.

The Irish emphasize through the Propers of the Mass that Moses and Elijah annunciated the word in the Old Testament as taught by the Holy Spirit, and look to the law of Moses, and St. John the Baptist who is sent in the spirit of Elijah. But Christ IS the Word of God. Hence, St. John is also present, and wrote St. John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word..." From the Bobbio Apostle's Creed, St. John said, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, God and our Lord." St. James also teaches about the Incarnation of Christ according to the Bobbio Apostles' Creed: "He was born of Mary, the Virgin, through the Holy Spirit." St. Peter emphasizes belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and in the Bobbio Apostles' Creed description of him he said, "I believe in God the Father Almighty." See comments about Ss. John and Peter under "Theologian:" St. John is seen as contemplative, while St. Peter is seen as active and hesitant, according to St. John Eriugina. (The St. James here is the brother of St. John. St. Matthew 17:1 states "And after six days, Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart.")

See the Feasts of St. Peter: Cross of Peter Jan 11^th, Throne of Peter for curing Constantine Jan 18^th, Throne at Antioch Feb 22^nd, June 29^th the Apostles Peter and Paul, and a Roman date of celebration, church ad Vincula Aug 1^st. See the Feasts of St. John: Dec. 27^th with St. James the Brother of the Lord, escape of John from boiling oil May 6^th, and Roman dates of celebration: before the Latin gate May 6^th, with Cyrus Jan 31^st, with Paul June 26^th. See the Feast of St. James the Greater July 25^th. See the Feasts of Moses - the giving of the Law was Pentecost and now is the celebration of the Holy Spirit coming on the Apostles (see note May 15^th ); and Elijah's Ascension August 29^th, celebrated in the Byzantine Rite in July. The Transfiguration is in the three Synoptic Gospels.

(A cycle of prayers may be related to nine or twenty-two, either through a "Novenna," or an "Abecedarian" Hymn such as the Hebrew Psalm 118. A Hymn called the "Dies Irae" which was a reduction of the Irish Altus Prosator Abecedarian was used until the 1950s in Requiem Masses for the dead in the Roman church. A nine-verse Kyrie is a reduction of the 40-verse "Kyrie" hymn, called "The Hymn of the Apostles," from the Antiphonary of Bangor, Hymn 3, similar in content to the Abecedarian Hymns, so the later nine day "Novenna" might be related to forty day periods of prayer and fasting. See the Celtic Prayer book. The Celts observed the date of the Transfiguration on the same date as the Syrian date of the Transfiguration, St. Wiliborod; there is no information about a prayer cycle before the Dormition in the Antiphonary of Bangor; and after coming out of the Pentecost fast forty days after Pentecost there is no other fast, see note on June 29^th, which is not the end of the Pentecost fast. However, the admonishment that "This kind can go out by nothing but by prayer and fasting," St. Mark 9:28 is immediately after the Transfiguration in the Gospel of St. Mark. The habit of observing the Throne of St. Peter, the Transfiguration, and the Dormition all during the winter fast on the dates of the Announcement in Rome makes sense, especially if all the people were busy during the summer caring for their crops, while in the winter fast they would come to church to escape the "damp," which could mean standing water in many areas. In the summer these Feasts seem scattered although they are the correct dates of celebration, while in the winter fast they are all related and make sense, although the dates are half a year away from the correct dates. This is reminiscent of the Feasts of the Nativity of Christ and St. John the Baptist, which are six months from each other, and have a special relationship to eachother. Perhaps the Byzantine date of the Ascension of Elijah is related to the living and therefore not during a fasting season, and the date of Moses is related to the departed. Moses' lent is variously called the summer fast or the Advent fast; it might refer to any forty day fast. The Byzantines ascribe Moses and Elijah as representing the dead and the living, since Christ is Lord of all faithful both living and departed.)

Old Testament: Mal 4:4-6 (Remember the law of Moses; and God will send Elias the Prophet to prepare the day of the Lord, and he will prepare the children to fathers or God will strike the earth with anathema.)

Epistle: 2 Peter 1:16-21 (St. Peter describes what he witnessed on Mount Tabor: the Transfiguration.)

Gradual:
Ezech 20-40-42a
In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them, I say, in the land in which they shall please me.

And there will I require your first-fruits and the chief of your tithes with all your sanctifications. I will accept of you for an odor of sweetness, when I shall have brought you out from the people and shall have gathered you out of the lands into which you are scattered: and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations. And you shall know that I am the Lord.

In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them, I say, in the land in which they shall please me.

Alleluia:
For the Alleluia/ Sequence, use Psalm 18 Greek numbering, same Psalm as the Throne of St. Peter (Jan 18^th ), because it is about the Transfiguration specifically.

"The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of His hands. Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night sheweth knowledge. There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard. Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world. He hath set His tabernacle in the sun: and He, as a Bridegroom coming out of His bride chamber, Hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way: His going out is from the end of heaven, and His circuit even to the end thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from His heat. The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones. The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts: the commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves. More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. For thy servant keepeth them, and in keeping them there is a great reward. Who can understand sins? From my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord: and from those of others spare thy servant. If they shall have no dominion over me, then shall I be without spot: and I shall be cleansed from the greatest sin. And the words of my mouth shall be such as may please: and the meditation of my heart always in Thy sight. O Lord, my helper, and my redeemer."

Gospel: St. Mark 9:1-9 (The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ on the mountain.)

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.
 

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]
Jul 1/14  Apostles Simon and Jude (Thaddaeus),brother of Apostle James, the Brother of the Lord [W]
Jul 14 Last day of post-Pentecost Fast[P]

Jul 15 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost [P] (MatinsGospel VI, Sunday VI)
Jul 7/20 Maelruain of Tallaght
Jul 22 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost  [P] (Matins Gospel VII, Sunday I)

Jul 29 Eighth Sunday after Pentecost [P] (MatinsGospel VIII, Sunday II)

Aug 5 Ninth Sunday after Pentecost [P] (MatinsGospel IX, Sunday III)
Jul 25/Aug 7 Apostle James the Greater, theBrother of John, son of Zebedee [W]
Jul 26/Aug 8 Feast of the Transfiguration[W] (Matins Gospel: Transfiguration)

Aug 12 Tenth Sunday after Pentecost  [P](Matins Gospel X, Sunday IV )

Aug 19 Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost  [P](Matins Gospel I, Sunday V)

Aug 26  Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost  [P] (Matins Gospel II, Sunday VI)
Aug 15/28 Dormition of the Birthgiverof God (No Fasting) [W]

Sep 2 Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost  [P] (Matins Gospel III, Sunday I)
Aug 25/Sep 7 - Apostle Bartholomew [W]

Sep 9  Forteenth Sunday after Pentecost [P](Matins Gospel IV, Sunday II)