St. Patrick - an Orthodox Saint?
This may
come as a surprise to many that St. Patrick was and is an Orthodox Saint
centuries before Rome split from the Holy Apostolic Church.
The rule
of thumb for Orthodox Christians is that a Latin Christian who lived after the
Great Schism of 1054, while they may have lived exemplary lives, are not saints
in the full sense of the Church’s understanding. But because he lived from c. 385 to 17 March
460/461 Patrick is considered part of the undivided Church and therefore is an
Orthodox saint.
St. Patrick’s Life
The name
“Patrick” is derived from the Latin “Patricius” which means “highborn.” He was born in the village of Bannavem
Taburniae. Its location is uncertain;
some scholars place it on the west coast of England, while others place it in
Scotland. His father was Calpurnius, a
Roman Decurion (an official responsible for collecting taxes) and a deacon in
the church. His grandfather, Potitus,
was a priest.
This
means that Patrick had a solid Christian upbringing and was well acquainted
with the refinements of Roman civilization.
But he lived on the edge of civilization at a time when the Roman Empire
was under siege by barbarians. When
Patrick was sixteen he was kidnapped by pirates, taken to Ireland, and there
sold as a slave. He was put to work as a
herder of swine on a mountain in County Antrim.
Looking
back on his youth, he recounts:
I was at that time about sixteen years of
age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in
Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our deserts, for quite
drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our
priests who used to remind us of our salvation.
(Confessio §1)
Although
Patrick had a Christian upbringing, he took his faith for granted. This complacency would be shaken by the
calamity of being taken into exile. For
the next six years he spent much of his time in solitude and prayer which would
prepare him for life as a monastic. During this time Patrick also learned the
local language which would prepare him for his future work as a missionary
bishop.
But after I reached Ireland I used to pasture
the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the
love of God, and my fear of him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so
that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like
number. . . . (Confessio §16)
His
escape from slavery resulted from two visions.
In the first vision it was revealed that he would return home. The second vision told him his ship was
ready. He then walked two hundred miles
to the coast, succeeded in boarding a ship, and reunited with his parents.
Sometime
later Patrick studied for the priesthood under St. Germanus in Gaul
(France). Eventually, he was consecrated
as a bishop and entrusted with the mission to Ireland. Patrick had a dream in which he heard the
Irish people begging him to come back to them.
There were other missionaries in Ireland but it was St. Patrick who had
the greatest success. For this reason,
he is known as “The Enlightener of Ireland.”
Evangelizing
the Irish people was not an easy task.
The Irish populace regarded him with hostility and disdain. He was a foreigner and, worst yet, a former
slave. Despite the opposition, Patrick
persevered in his missionary calling and baptized many into Christ. This resulted in churches and monasteries all
across Ireland.
In his
autobiography Patrick described his motivation for doing missionary work:
I am greatly God’s debtor, because he granted
me so much grace, that through me many people would be reborn in God, and soon
after confirmed, and that clergy would be ordained everywhere for them, the
masses lately come to belief, whom the Lord drew from the ends of the earth,
just as he once promised through his prophets: ‘To you shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth. . . . (Confessio §38)
St.
Patrick’s missionary labors would result in a blessing, not just to the Irish,
but to humankind as well. How the Irish
Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill tells how Ireland became an isle of saints
and scholars, preserving Western civilization while the Continent was being
overrun by barbarians.
American
culture has been richly blessed by the presence of the Irish. In the US, March 17th has become something
close to a national holiday. While in
many instances St. Patrick’s day has become more of an excuse for partying, it
can also be made into an occasion for renewing our faith in Christ.
St. Patrick’s Faith
We learn
of his faith through the well known Breastplate of St. Patrick. It is also known as the Lorica (Latin for
‘breastplate.’). In the monastic
tradition a lorica is a prayer/incantation for spiritual protection.
Below are
some excerpts of the rather lengthy but powerful and inspiring prayer. There is a strong masculine and militant tone
in Patrick’s prayer that contrasts with the softer, more feminine quality of
later Christian spirituality.
I arise today
through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the Oneness of the
Creator of creation.
***
I arise today
through the strength of Christ with His
Baptism,
through the strength of His Crucifixion with
His Burial,
through the strength of His Resurrection with
His Ascension,
through the strength of His descent for the
Judgment of Doom.
Patrick’s
commitment to Orthodoxy can be seen in the third stanza which refers to the
fellowship of the saints and angelic hosts.
His was not the faith of rugged individualism but one marked by a
profound awareness of the interconnectedness with the spirit and biblical
worlds as expressed in the Liturgy.
I arise today
through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
in obedience of Angels, in the service of the
Archangels,
in hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
in prayers of Patriarchs, in predictions of
Prophets,
in preachings of Apostles, in faiths of
Confessors,
in innocence of Holy Virgins, in deeds of
righteous men.
In the
fourth stanza we learn of Patrick’s zeal for holy Orthodoxy and spiritual
warfare against the forces of darkness.
I summon today all these powers between me
(and these evils):
against every cruel and merciless power that
may oppose my body and my soul,
against incantations of false prophets,
against black laws of heathenry,
against false laws of heretics,
against craft of idolatry,
against spells of witches and smiths and
wizards,
against every knowledge that endangers man’s
body and soul.
Christ to protect me today
against poison, against burning,
against drowning, against wounding,
so that there may come abundance of reward.
Living in
dangerous times Patrick was keenly aware of the dangers all around him and
constantly invoked divine protection as he went about his missionary and
pastoral labors.
Honoring St. Patrick Today
One key
means by which the Orthodox Church honors its saints is by remembering them on
their feast day. Usually during the
Vespers and Matins service preceding the Liturgy, we hear a short summary of
the saint’s life and sing a hymn celebrating God’s work in that saint’s life. The Orthodox Church in America’s website
posted the two hymns for St. Patrick’s feast day:
Troparion — Tone 3
Holy
Bishop Patrick, / Faithful shepherd of Christ’s royal flock, / You filled
Ireland with the radiance of the Gospel: / The mighty strength of the Trinity!
/ Now that you stand before the Savior, / Pray that He may preserve us in faith
and love!
Kontakion — Tone 4
From
slavery you escaped to freedom in Christ’s service: / He sent you to deliver
Ireland from the devil’s bondage. / You planted the Word of the Gospel in pagan
hearts. / In your journeys and hardships you rivaled the Apostle Paul! / Having
received the reward for your labors in heaven, / Never cease to pray for the
flock you have gathered on earth, / Holy bishop Patrick!
Source: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxbridge/is-st-patrick-an-orthodox-saint/
"A Different Way of Life"
That week, an important event for St. Elisabeth
Convent took place - Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavl tonsured the
sisters of the convent as nuns. The tonsuring was held in the church in honor
of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God at the festal service.
After the Divine service, Metropolitan Pavel
congratulated all with the feast day or the Reigning icon of the Mother of God,
and the newly tonsured nuns – with the beginning of a different life.
March 15, 2017
St. Elisabeth Convent
The Role of Monasticism in the Byzantine and Ottoman States
With the development of Monasticism during the fourth century and thereafter, many monastics became involved with the various heresies, especially those concerning the Christological dogma. Most of the monastics were the defenders of the Orthodox faith. Still, Eutyches, an archimandrite from Constantinople, headed the heresy of monophysitism. On the Orthodox side, St. Maximos the Confessor (c. 580-662) played an important role in defeating the heresies of monothelitism and monoenergism. The Sixth Ecumenical Council (680) condemned monothelitism and reestablished the doctrine of Chalcedon. During the time of the iconoclastic controversy, the Studite monks, led by St. Theodore the Studite (759-826), played a very important role. In addition to organizing his monastery, the Studion, on the basis of the cenobitic principles of St. Pachomios and St. Basil, St. Theodore also wrote his three Antirrhetics against iconoclasm.
After the
condemnation of the iconoclasts, monasticism thrived even more. Many
representatives of the Byzantine aristocracy became monks. Monks were men of
letters; clergy received their education in the monasteries. Bishops,
metropolitans, and patriarchs were taken from their ranks; monks were involved
with the church affairs, at times for the good of the church, at times creating
trouble. Monasteries existed in almost every diocese, with the Bishop as their
head, planting a cross in their foundations. Since 879, the right was given to
the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople of planting a cross in monasteries
that were under the jurisdiction of other dioceses throughout the empire. They
were called "Patriarchal Stavropighiac Monasteries." This right
exists to our days.
With the Arab
conquest of Syria, Palestine and Egypt (during the 7th century), new centers
for monasteries were sought and founded, among which were Mount Olympus in
Bithynia and the Holy Mount Athos.
During the entire
Byzantine period, the monks took an active part in the life of the Church in
general. Still, spirituality was their strength. Concerning this tension in
Christian anthropology, two schools of thought were represented; that of
Evagrios ponticus (d. 399), who followed a Platonic and Origenistic doctrine
pertaining to the "mind," thus de-emphasizing the importance of the
human body and becoming dualistic, and St. Makarios of Egypt (or, better, the
writings attributed to him), present a more Christian, holistic anthropology;
for in this theology man is a psycho-physical entity, and, as such, being a
destined to deification. "Prayer of the mind," in the Evagrian
spirituality, becomes "prayer of the heart" in the Macarian
spirituality. The two schools of thought with the two different anthropologies
continue to find representatives throughout the history of the Church.
Saint Symeon, the
New Theologian (949-1022), marks an important development in monastic
spirituality. A disciple of a Studite monk, he left the Studion to join the
small monastery of St. Mamas in Constantinople, were he was ordained a priest
and became the abbot. He wrote several works, among which are the fifty-eight
hymns of "Divine Love," in which he stresses that the Christian faith
is a conscious experience of God. St. Symeon is the exponent of an intensive
sacramental life, which leads to this personal conscious experience, as we can
see in his Hymns. In this he is a predecessor of Hesychasm, which also shares
this personal experience of God in conjunction with intensive sacramental life.
Finally, the
spirituality of Hesychasm, as enunciated in the theology of St. Gregory Palamas
(1296-1359), is of paramount importance not only in the life of monasticism,
but also in the life of the entire Church. An Anthonite monk, St. Gregory took
it upon himself to defend the holy Hesychasts of the Holy Mountain in their
ways of praying and experiencing the presence of God the "uncreated
light" that they contemplated. Barlaam the Calabrian had led the attack
against the pious monks and their psycho physical method of prayer, and accused
them of "gross materialism," Messalianism, calling them "navel-souls"
(omphalopsychoi) and "navel-watchers" (omphaloskopoi).
The hesychastic
method of prayer consists of regulating one's breathing with the recitation of
the "Jesus prayer": "O Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have
mercy on me, a sinner." The prayer is repeated constantly until it
descends from the lips and minds into one's heart. At the end of the process,
the peace of Christ is poured into the heart of the worshipper, and the light
itself of Christ shines upon him and around him. This light, as that of the
Holy Transfiguration of Christ, may also be seen by our physical eyes.
After the fall of
Constantinople, the number of idiorrythmic monasteries continued to grow, a
fact which brought a further decline to monastic life. The 16th century was the
lowest ebb. In reaction to this problem, many of the monks themselves,
especially on the Holy Mountain, left the main monasteries and turned to
idiorrhythmic ones, establishing Sketai (dependencies) of the main monasteries,
with a more rigorous typikon (order). Also, Patriarchs Jeremy II of
Constantinople, Silvester of Alexandria, and Sophronios of Jerusalem led the
attack against idiorrhythmic monasticism, thus managing to counteract its spread.
Cenobitic monasticism prevailed for a while, but the tide soon went in its
original direction. Many monasteries of the Holy Mountain, including the mother
monastery, the Great Lavra, became idiorrhythmic. Today an idiorrhythmic
monastery may become cenobitic but not the other way round. Hopefully, this
will guarantee that organized monastic life will finally prevail, according to
the Basilian ideal of monasticism.
Monasticism played
an important role under the Ottoman Empire, as well. The monks not only kept
the faith alive, but they also kept the Greek culture and literature alive. Not
only did the education of clergy continue at the monasteries, but the
monasteries became the "clandestine school" (Krypho Scholeio) for all
the Greeks under Turkish occupation. The monks thus prevented the Christian
nations under Turkish occupation from being assimilated to them, and thereby
became the natural leaders of national ("ethnic") resistance against
the oppressors. It is no accident that the Greek Revolution started in 1821 at
a monastery in the Peloponnesos, Aghia Lavra, with Metropolitan Germanos of Old
Patras raising the banner of revolution and blessing the arms of the Greek
freedom fighters.
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