St. Patrick Enlightener of Ireland
Posted on 03/16/2005 5:37:03 PM PST by Kolokotronis
Apolytikion of Saint Patrick. Third Tone
O Holy Hierarch, equal of the Apostles, Saint Patrick, wonderworker and enlightener of Ireland: Intercede with the merciful God that He grant unto our souls forgiveness of offences.
Kontakion of Saint Patrick. Fourth Tone Be quick to anticipate
The Master revealed you as a skilful fisher of men; and casting forth nets of Gospel preaching, you hauled up the heathen to piety. Those who were the children of idolatrous darkness you rendered sons of day through holy Baptism. O Patrick, intercede for us who honour your memory.
Reading:
St Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish, was seized from his native Britain by Irish marauders when he was sixteen years old. Though born the son of a deacon and grandson of a priest about 373 AD, it was not until his captivity that he sought out the Lord with his whole heart. In his Confession, the testament he wrote towards the end of his life, he says, "After I came to Ireland - every day I had to tend sheep and many times a day I prayed, the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was so moved that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many at night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountain. And I would rise for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm". After six years of slavery, he was guided by God to make his escape from Ireland, and afterwards struggled in the monastic life at Auxerre in Gaul, under the guidance of the holy Bishop Germanus. Many years later he was ordained Bishop and sent back to Ireland around 432 AD, to convert the Irish to Christ. His arduous labours bore so much fruit that within seven years, three Bishops were sent from Gaul to help him shepherd his flock, "My brethren and sons whom I have baptised in the Lord - so many thousands of people", he says in his Confession. His apostolic work was not accomplished without much "weariness and painfulness", long journeys through difficult country, and many perils; he says his very life was in danger twelve times. When he came to Ireland as its enlightener, it was a pagan country, and when he ended his earthly life around 461 AD, some thirty years later, the Faith of Christ was established in every corner of Ireland.
Ping. Possibly the greatest saint in the calendar! :) A Happy and Blessed St. Paddy's Day to all!
I once knew a bloke who claimed the first Irishman was a Greek. He was a Greek and said it to get into the St. Pat's Day dinner. We didn't believe him, but he got in anyway.
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY TO YOU ALL!!!!!
"I once knew a bloke who claimed the first Irishman was a Greek."
My Greek mother claimed to have proof of that but my Irish Dad just laughed!
First thing in the morning I'll be making soda bread to bring to all my new Pennsylvania Dutch neighbors.
Happy Saint Patricks Day!
I came to the Irish people to preach the Gospel and endure the taunts of unbelievers, putting up with reproaches about my earthly pilgrimage, suffering many persecutions, even bondage, and losing my birthright of freedom for the benefit of others.
If I am worthy, I am ready also to give up my life, without hesitation and most willingly, for Christ's name. i want to spend myself for that country, even in death, if the Lord should grant me this favor.
It is among that people that I want to wait for the promise made by him, who assuredly never tells a lie. He makes this promise in the Gospel: "They shall come from the east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." This is our faith: believers are to come from the whole world.
from the Confession of Saint Patrick
" I have a St. Patrick icon on my wall"
And I one on my desk at the office. And interestingly enough, in an odd coincidence, also one of St. Alexios, the Man of God, whose feast day is also March 17th and after whom the monastery church outside my mother's family's village in Greece.
...is named! sheesh!
The Breastplate of St. Patrick versified from the Irish:
"I bind myself to-day
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this day to me for ever
By pow'r of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His brusting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heav'nly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star-lit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old etrnal rocks.
Chirst be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One, and One in Three.
Of Whom all nature hath creation:
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord."
Today, more than any other day of the year, I think of my family's old people who came here from Ireland to escape poverty, starvation and oppression. I particularly remember the stories I was told of the family walking to the port to get the boat and seeing dead little children in the ditches, their mouths green from eating grass because there was no food. They arrived to find "NO IRISH NEED APPLY" signs, but succeeded anyway because they were strong, faith filled people. God Bless them all!
All hail to St. Patrick
who brought to our Island
the gift of God's Faith
the sweet light of His Love!
I heard stories of the "NO DOGS OR IRISH" on the doors of the tenament buildings. One of my old uncles claimed to have one he stole many years ago.
I heard stories of the "NO DOGS OR IRISH" on the doors of the tenament buildings. One of my old uncles claimed to have one he stole many years ago.
Sorry for the double post. My computer is flaky today.
Actually, they were just the first Slavs to head West, possibly because they were the most contentious lot and got kicked out first, but who's to say...
To Truly Honor Saint Patrick, Bishop and Confessor
Apostle to the Irish: The Real Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick [Apostle of Ireland]
Was St. Patrick Catholic?....Of Course!! [Happy St. Pat's Day]
The Confession Of Saint Patrick [IN HIS OWN WORDS] -- (Read Only)
Ironic, isn't it, that everybody wants to claim us contentious people! :)
All that I've read says that Patrick was aligned with the Celtic Church which was primarily aligned with the Orthodox bishops and not with Rome.
Is that how you read history?
Actually, I think it's more a thing of people trying to claim an additional holiday and parlay that into an additional day off from work!
Wait, are you talking the Irish OR the Greeks here?
"Wait, are you talking the Irish OR the Greeks here?"
Six of one, half dozen of the other!
"All that I've read says that Patrick was aligned with the Celtic Church which was primarily aligned with the Orthodox bishops and not with Rome.
Is that how you read history?"
I think in +Patrick's times it is sort of meaningless to talk about alignments one way or the other. There was only The Church then. Christianity was united in its beliefs, but the churches certainly had local or ethnic overtones in both liturgical practice and ecclesiology. I think it is fair to say that the monasticism which developed in Ireland and Scotland and England in the early years was very Eastern in its praxis and quite independant of Rome. There is every reason to believe that the influences on that monasticism were almost purely what we know call Orthodox. It wasn't really until the Synod of Whitby that Rome made a big push for control. That in and of itself made at least some sense since there is no question but that the bishop of Rome was and is the Patriarch of the West. That said, it is important to remember that the conversion of Northern Europe all the way to the borders of Russia was accomplished by Irish and Scottish monks who were very, very Orthodox in their theology and manner of prayer and liturgy.
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