You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December, 2008.
by Brigid Ainley
I am currently reading John T McNeill’s 1974 book, ‘The Celtic Churches – A History, A.D. 200 to 1200′. In his chapter on ‘St Columban and Other Missionary Peregrini’ he mentions a mission to the Slavs, pre-dating that of Ss Cyril and Methodius:
‘In recent years scholars have become aware that Celtic monks played a pioneer role as missionaries in Slavic lands. Nearly a century before the supposed planting of Christianity in Moravia by Methodius and Cyril (ca. 863) unnamed Irish and British missionaries penetrated in some numbers into that kingdom. The excavation of a stone church of Irish type built about 800 at Modra in the heart of old Moravia was completed in 1954. It was 9 by 7 meters in size with an additional rectangular presbytery and resembled one at Gelndalough of similar date. Such a building would naturally have been preceeded by a good many years of missionary work. The scholars Josef Cibulka and Zdenek Dittrich both confidently attribute the origins of this mission to the activities and influence of Vergil of Salzburg (d.784) and the monastery of St Peter of which he was abbot. Here too a British element from Bavaria was associated with the Irish mission. These Celts were the earliest missionaries to operate in Moravia with lasting success.’ (p.174)
In a later chapter, McNeill refers to a somewhat different mission to Kiev:
‘Mention was made earlier of an eight-century Irish and British mission to the Slavic kingdom of Moravia. About three centuries later Irish monks undertook a somewhat different mission to Kiev, then Russia’s most active centre of the the trade. This enterprise was undertaken by the monastery of St James, Ratisbon, at the very time of its inception (see p.190)
[p.190 In an early adventure the monks of St James of Ratisbon found their way to Russia. They first wrote to Vratislav II (d.1092), Christian ruler of Bohemia, asking escort through his territory to Poland. This being obtained, they dispatched a band of monks led by one Mauritius to traverse Bohemian and Polish areas into Russia. They reached Kiev (ca.1089) and apparently made a lasting impression there. On their return they brought some carriage-loads of Russian furs, the gift of the prince of Kiev. These were not used to warm the brethren but rather were sold to obtain funds for the rebuilding of the church.]
Father John Henning has briefly called attention to this little-known venture, which Professor Mikhael Shaitan earlier investigated in some detail. Shaitan regards Mauritius, leader of the first Irish monastic visit to Kiev (ca. 1089), as an emissary of the emperor Henry IV (1084-1106), who intended to establish mercantile intercourse between the empire and the Russians. Shaitan calls special attention to the role apparently played by the devout and capable Polish princess known as St Gertrude, sister of Casimir II of Poland and wife of the Russian prince Izaslav of Kiev. She is represented as a patroness of the Irish and seems to have been on friendly terms with the emperor. When the monastery church at Ratisbon was completed in 1090 with the aid of funds obtained from Russian furs brought back by Mauritius, it was dedicated both to St James and to St Gertrude. Shaitan shows evidence for the continuing presence of an Irish monastic community in Kiev from the late eleventh century to 1242.’ (pp. 220-221).
In a footnote, McNeill says ‘ Father Henning points with approval to Fritz Blanke’s reference to Columban’s desire to establish a mission to the Slavs as “the earliest medieval proposal for “an unpolitical, merely spiritual mission to foreign countries”.
As Fr Henning’s original paper, “Irish Monastic Activities in Eastern Europe”, was published in 1945, and the archaeological excavation in Moravia was in the 1950s, I wonder what more recent thinking is on the Irish mission to the Slavs?
+
The Office (Introit):
O mayest Thou be Present as a Trusted Protection unto Thy servants.
+ Unto Thee, O Lord, lift I up my soul; O My God, in Thee have I trusted, let me not be confounded; neither let mine enemies triumph over me, for all they that look for Thee shall not be ashamed.
Ps. Shew me Thy ways, O Lord; and teach me Thy paths.
(On Sundays, there is repeated:)
Inflam-ed aforetime with a sweet-sounding breathing-forth,
David expounded clear sounding odes unto Christ with these voices:
Unto Thee, O Lord, lift I up my soul; O My God, in Thee have I trusted; let me not be confounded;
But radiating with virtue in the honor of Thy triumph.
Neither let mine enemies triumph over me;
That have contempt for their very selves to bow their necks unto the proud.
For all they that look for Thee shall not be ashamed.
The Office on all days is concluded in the following manner:
V/. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, + and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, throughout the ages of ages. Amen.
Unto Thee, O Lord, lift I up my soul; O My God, in Thee have I trusted; let me not be confounded; neither let mine enemies triumph over me; for all they that look for Thee shall not be ashamed.
The Collects:
V/. Let us pray. Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy power and come; that we may be found fit to be rescued by Thy protection from the threatening dangers of our sins, and to be set free by Thy deliverance. Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, through all the ages of ages. R/. Amen.
V./ Let us pray.
(Here are added any special Collects of commemoration. Then are added the following Collects:)
O God, Who wast pleaséd that Thy Word should take Flesh in the womb of the ever-Virgin Mary, through the message of an Angel, grant unto us, Thy suppliants, that as we believe her to be truly the God-Bearer, so we may be aided by her intercession before Thee.
Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the intercession of Mary, the Holy God-Bearer, and of all the holy and heavenly powers, and of the blessed Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, and especially Saints NN. (here is mentioned the Saints of both the Western and Eastern Calendars whose Feasts fall on this day), and all Thy Saints may everywhere makes us glad; so that while we commemorate their memory, we may
be conscious of their assistance.
(The following Collect for the Church need not be added, but is added only if the Celebrant wish, or if the number of Collects otherwise would not be an odd number:)
Mercifully receive, O Lord, the prayers of Thy Church; that being delivered from all adversities and errors, It may serve Thee in perfect liberty.
Through (the Same) Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God,
V/. Through all the ages of ages. Ŗ/. Amen.
The Epistle (except from Wednesday to Friday):
A Reading from the Epistle of blesséd Paul the Apostle, to the Romans…
(Rom 13: 11-14) R/. Thanks be to God.
The Gradual:
For all they that look for Thee shall not be ashaméd, O Lord.
V/. Make known to me Thy ways, O Lord; and teach me Thy paths.
For all they that look for Thee shall not be ashaméd, O Lord.
The Alleluya:
Alelluya, Alleluya.
V/. Shew us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation.
Alelluya.
The Sequence (which is to be used on Sunday only):
Saviour Eternal! Health and Life of the world Unfailing;
Light Everlasting, and in verity Our Redemption;
Grieving that the ages of men must perish through the tempter’s wiliness,
Still in Heav’n abiding, Thou camest earthward of Thine Own great clemency;
Then freely and graciously Deigning to assume humanity,
To lost ones and perishing gavest Thou Thy free deliverance,
Filling all the world with joy.
O Christ, our souls and bodies cleanse by Thy Perfect Sacrifice;
So we, as Temples pure and bright, fir for Thine Abode may be.
By Thy former Advent justify;
By Thy second grant us liberty;
That when in a blaze of glory Thou descendest, Judge of all;
Robed in raiment undefiléd, we may shine and ever follow,
Lord, Thy footsteps blest where-e’er they lead us.
The Gospel (except from Wednesday to Friday):
V/. The Lord be with you. R/. And with thy spirit.
V/. The Holy Gospel according to Matthew.
R/. Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
At that time… (Mat. 21: 1-9) R/. Praise be to Thee, O Christ.
The Offertory:
V/. The Lord be with you. R/. And with thy spirit.
V/. Let us pray.
Unto Thee, O Lord, lift I up my soul; O My God, in Thee have I trusted; let me not be confounded; neither let mine enemies triumph over me; for all they that look for Thee shall not be asha-med.
Pious hope, support, virtue, defense, Jesus:
For all they that hope in Thee shall not be asha-med.
Thou, the Way, Leader, Commander, Thou Knowledge of the True Height.
V/. Lead me forth in Thy Truth and learn me; for THOU ART the God of my salvation; in Thee hath been my hope all the day long.
For all they that hope in Thee shall not be asha-med.
Thou Having mercy upon the wretched, Gentle Mercy, forthwith now:
V/. Look upon me and have mercy upon me, O Lord; keep my soul and deliver me, because I have put my trust in Thee;
For all they that hope in Thee shall not be asha-med.
Text from the official use of the Archdiocese of New York and New Jersey, Autonomous Orthodox Synod of Western Europe and the Americas, St Gregory’s Press. The structure of the text for this website follows the same pattern as previous festal listings. Neither the bidding of the bedes nor the communion parts, while in the text, were copied here due to time constraints.
(HT: Rev. Reader Joseph Suaiden for typing and submitting the above to OrthodoxWest Yahoo! Group)
by Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov
Sophrony (Sakharov) (23 September 1896 – 12 July 1993), also Elder Sophrony, was best known as the disciple and biographer of St Silouan the Athonite and compiler of St Silouan’s works, and as the founder of the Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights, Maldon, Essex, England. –Wikipedia
The whole of our earthy life, from birth to our last breath, in the end will look like one concise act. Its content and quality will be seen in a flash. Imagine a glass of the clearest crystal full of water. A glance will tell whether the water is clean or not. So will it be with us when we have crossed into another sphere. The most transitory reflex of heart or mind leaves its mark on the sum total of our life. Suppose that just once in the entire course of my existence I have a moment’s wicked impulse, say, to murder. Unless I reject the idea from my heart in an act of contrition, it will remain with me, a black stain impossible to hide. ‘For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known’ (Luke 12.2). We often comfort ourselves with the thought that no one saw what we did or knows what we think. But when we look upon this life as a preparation for eternity; when we strive to get rid of the dark places within us, the picture changes.
‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1.8,9). When we repent, resolutely condemning ourselves before God and man, we are cleansed within. The water in the glass is purified, having been passed through the spiritual filter of repentance. So when I make my confession I convict myself of every evil because there is no sin in all the world of which I am not guilty, even if only for a second. Who can be quite certain that he is altogether free from the power of passionate thoughts? And if for a fleeting moment I have been held by an evil thought, where is the guarantee that this moment will not be transmuted into eternity? Therefore, in so far as we can see ourselves we must thoroughly confess our sins, lest we carry them with us after our death.
Straightforward resistance is not always the most successful way of trying to defeat wicked or simply idle thoughts. Often the best method is to stay our minds on the ‘good pleasure of the Father’s will’ (cp. Eph. 1.5) for us. To conduct our lives fittingly, it is of cardinal importance to know that before the very creation of the world we were intended to be perfect. To belittle God’s initial idea for us is not just mistaken: it is a sin. Because we do not see in ourselves, and still less in our fellow men, any permanent virtue, we behave towards each other like jungle beasts. O what a paradox is man- to contemplate him provokes both delighted wonder and consternation at his savage cruelty! The soul is constrained to pray for the world but her prayer will never fully achieve her purpose, since nothing and no one can deprive man of his freedom to give in to evil, to prefer darkness to light (cf. John 3.19).
Prayer offered to God in truth is imperishable. Now and then we may forget what we have prayed about but God preserves our prayer for ever. On the Day of Judgement all the good that we have done during our lives will stand at our side, to our glory. And vice versa: the bad, if unrepented, will condemn and cast us into outer darkness. Repentance can obliterate the effects of sin. By Divine power life may be restored in all its plenitude- not, however, by unilateral intervention on God’s part but always and only in accord with us. God does nothing with man without man’s co-operation.
God’s participation in our individual life we call Providence. This Providence is not like heathen Fate: at certain crucial moments we do, indeed, decide for ourselves on one or other course. When we are faced with various possibilities our choice should be conditioned by the final aim that we have in view: the Kingdom of the Father. But too often we are influenced by other, more temporary considerations, and we turn aside from the true path offered to us by God, on to false tracks which will not lead to the hoped-for dawn. In any case, whatever we choose, suffering is inevitable. But when we opt for the way of God our sacrifice likens us to Christ. ‘Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done’ (Luke 22.42).
When it is given to man to know the overriding value of prayer as compared with any other activity, be it in the field of science, the arts, medicine or social or political work, it is not difficult to sacrifice material well-being for the sake of leisure to converse with God. It is a great privilege to be able to let one’s mind dwell on the everlasting, which is above and beyond all the most splendid achievements of science, philosophy, the arts, and so on. At first the struggle to acquire this privilege may seem disproportionately hard; though in many cases known to me the pursuit of freedom for prayer became imperative.
Prayer affords an experience of spiritual liberty of which most people are ignorant. The first sign of emancipation is a disinclination to impose one’s will on others. The second- an inner release from the hold of others on oneself. Mastery over the wish to dominate is an extremely important stage which is closely followed by dislike of constraining our brother. Man is made in the image of God, Who is humble but at the same time free. Therefore it is normal and natural that he should be after the likeness of His Creator- that he should recoil from exercising control of the presence of the Holy Spirit within him. Those who are possessed by the lust for power cloud the image of God in themselves. The light of true life departs, leaving a tormenting void, a distressing tedium. Life is bereft of meaning. When the Holy Spirit by its gentle presence in our soul enables us to master our passions we realise that to look down on others is contrary to the spirit of love. And if I have not charity everything else- even the gifts of prophecy, of understanding all mysteries, or of performing miracles- profits me nothing (cf. 1 Cor. 13.1-3).
Spiritual freedom is a sublime grace. Without it there is no salvation- salvation revealed to us as the deification of man, as the assimilation by man of the divine form of being.
It is essential that man of his own free will should determine himself for all eternity. The one true guide in the fight to fulfil this ineffably high calling is the bondage of corruption, waiting for deliverance which will come through ‘the manifestation of the sons of God’ (cf. Rom. 8.19-23). It is sad to see that hardly anyone perceives what the genuine, divinely royal freedom of ‘sons of God’ consists in.
Intense prayer can so transport both heart and mind, in their urgent desire for the eternal, that the past fades into oblivion and there is no thought of any earthly future- the whole inner attention is concentrated on the one interest, to become worthy of God. It is a fact that the more urgent our quest for the infinite, the more slowly we seem to advance. The overwhelming contrast between our own nothingness and the inscrutable majesty of the God Whom we seek makes it impossible to judge with any certainty whether we are moving forward or sliding back. In his contemplation of the holiness and humility of God, man’s spiritual understanding develops more quickly than does his ability to harmonise his conduct with God’s word. Hence the impression that the distance separating him from God continually increases. The analogy is remote but this phenomenon is known to every genuine artist or scientist. Inspiration far outstrips the capacity to perform. It is normal for the artist to feel his objective slipping farther and farther from his grasp. And if it is thus in the field of art, it is still more so where knowledge of the unoriginate inapprehensible Divinity is concerned. Every artist knows the torment of trying to materialise his aesthetic vision. The soul of the man of prayer is often even more dreadfully racked. The dismay that invades him when he sees himself in the grip of base passions drives him ever deeper into the core of his being. This concentration within may take the form of a cramp whereby heart, mind and body are contracted together, like a tightly clenched fist. Prayer becomes a wordless cry, and regret for the distance separating him from God turns to acute grief. To behold oneself in the black pit of sin, cut off from the Holy of holies is distressing indeed.
Prayer often proceeds without words. If there are words they come slowly, with long pauses between. Our human word is the image of the Word that was ‘in the beginning’. When words reflect intellectual knowledge they undoubtedly have metaphysical roots, especially where knowledge of God is involved. In this connection the fathers of the Church, in an endeavour to express the inexpressible in concepts and modes within the limits of our worldly experience, suggested a certain parallel between the God-the-Father and God-the-Word relationship and the correlation of our mind and our word. They distinguished between the inner, immanent word of our mind- the έμφυτος logos and the word pronounced, expressed- the έναρθρος logos. The former manifests a certain analogy with God-the-Word ‘which is in the bosom of the Father’ (John 1.18); the latter can be seen as an analogy of the incarnation. And if in His incarnation as the Son of man He could say: ‘My Father is greater than I’ (John 14.28). Thus the human word uttered aloud conveys less than divine reality, knowledge of which was given in visions and revelations to the prophets, apostles and fathers. However, the vision when proclaimed was diminished more for the hearer than for the prophets themselves, since the revelation prompting the words was not lessened for them with their utterance. Just as for the Father the Incarnation did not diminish the Son.
Throughout the ages the doctors of the Church sought ways and means whereby to communicate to the world their knowledge concerning Divine Being. In their attempts they constantly found themselves torn between unwillingness to abandon their imageless contemplation of the essentially one and only mystery, and the love which impelled them to communicate the mystery to their brethren. God did, and does indeed, constrain His saints to tell of the gifts from on High. We see how this affected St Paul: ‘For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have reward’- an effusion of grace- ‘but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me’ (1 Cor. 9.16,17). Thus it was with many ascetics through the centuries of Christian history. We note the same feature in Staretz, who writes: ‘My soul doth love the Lord, and how may I hide this fire which warms my soul? How shall I hide the Lord’s mercies in which my soul delights? How can I hold my peace, with my soul captive to God? How shall I be silent when my spirit is consumed day and night with love for Him?’
Impossible to keep silent; impossible to give voice. And this not only because words fail but also because the Divine Spirit inclines the mind to profound stillness, carrying one into another world. Again, blessed Staretz Silouan says: ‘The Lord has given us the Holy Spirit, and we learned the song of the Lord and so we forget the earth for sweetness of the love of God…
‘Merciful is the Lord!’ ‘And the mind falls silent.’
“It is one thing to believe in God and another thing to know God’ in the Holy Spirit” +Elder Sophrony
The Introduction of the Feast of the Presentation into Anglo-Saxon England
‘Around 1030 two new Marian feasts were introduced into Anglo-Saxon England: the Feast of the Conception of Mary (8 December) and the feast of her Presentation in the Temple (21 November). The manuscripts in which these feasts occur are of great importance for what they tell us about the introduction and dissemination of the feasts, since much confusion has been caused by inaccuracies in the dating of the manuscripts.
The feasts are noted in three eleventh-century calendars: London, BL, Cotton Vitellius E. xviii, Cotton Titus D. xxvii, and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 391. The first two manuscripts were written at Winchester and the third at Worcester. Titus D. xxvii belonged to Aelfwine and was written when he was a dean of New Minster (1023-32), but the entries for the feasts of 8 December and 21 November seem to have been added later and were dated by Edmund Bishop to the period of Aelfwine’s abbacy of the New Minster (1032-57). ..
Titus D. xxvii and Vitellius E. xviii have the same wording: Oblatio sancte Marie in templo Domini cum esset trium annorum for 21 November and Conceptio Sancte dei genitricis Mariae for 8 December. CCCC 391, the so-called ‘Portiforium of St Wulfstan’ has the same entry for 8 December, but none for 21 November. The manuscript evidence suggests, therefore, that the feasts were first introduced into England at Winchester c.1030.
It is noteworthy that these are not the only innovations in Vitellius E. xviii. As Davis points out, the Eastern feasts of St John Chrysostom (27 January) and St Catherine (25 November) are also found for the first time in
this calendar. The feast of St Catherine is not found in any other English calendar until a century later, and that of St John Chrysostom only in two calendars of c.1060. The dates of these two feasts and of the feasts of the Presentation and of the Conception of Mary fall on the same day as, or within a day of, the Eastern feasts and it appears that there was direct influence from the East. The date of 8 December is an obvious one, given that Mary’s nativity was celebrated on 8 September, but the date of the Presentation is not related to any other date and the coincidence can only be explained by direct influence from the East.’
Source: Mary Clayton, The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Anglo-Saxon England (CUP, 1990), 42-44.
‘I take advantage of the present occasion to indicate the reasons which induce me now to believe, counter to what I thought in 1886, that the feast of the Conception was in fact introduced into England from Southern Italy, or at least under South Italian influences.
This feast of 8 December has to be considered in connection with another found in the two Winchester calendars Vitellius E XVIII and Titus D XXVII at 21 November thus: Oblatio sancte Marie in templo Domini cum esset trium annorum. This entry might at first sight appear as if one of that class of historical memoranda so well known in our ancient calendars, like Adam creatus est , Egressus Noe de arca etc. But such an impression would be incorrect. In the Canterbury Benedictional Harl. MS. 2892 fol. I86 is an episcopal benediction for this feast there entitled: De Presentatione sancte Mariae.
BENEDICTIO DE PRESENTATIONE SANCTE MARIAE
Benedictionum eelestium vos Dominus imbre locupletet, et sanctuaria cordium vestrorum sue habitationis visitatione perlustret, qui beatam Mariam angelico oraculo concipiendam predixit.
Et quae ilium qui panis est angelorum in sui uteri habitaculo meruit baiulare, vos diu hic adiuvet et vivere, et post celica regna feliciter penetrare. Amen.
Et sicut sibi congaudetis honoris gratia celebrantes hunc diem quo templum Dei, sacrarium Spiritus Sancti, in aula Dei est presentatum, ita vos faciat purificatis nevis contagiorum unico Filio suo presentari, et in albo beati ordinis ascribi. Amen. Quod Ipse Prestare dignetur.
Dmitrievsky’s volume of Typica (annual Directories of church offices; in English, Pies) bearing the date 1895, with its print of Constaninopolitan documents of as early a date as the ninth and tenth centuries gives us firm standing ground; and now we may conclude with practical certainty that in the Greek monasteries newly founded or revived in Lower Italy, both the feast of the Conception (but on 9 December) and that of the Offering in the Temple (on 21 November) were already received as established and accepted as traditional. It is, I believe, through contact of Englishmen with such Greek monks that these two feasts came to us some time in the early decades of the eleventh century, and were established in the two great and dominant churches, the regal and the primatial, of Anglo-Saxon England.
A footnote adds:
Although the entries of the 21 November and 8 December in the calendar of the MS. Titus D XXVII seem to be written by the same hand, or the same kind of hand, they do not occupy the space of ordinary entries but begin in the left hand among the numerals and appear to be no part of the original script. In Vitellius E XVIII these entries are part of the original script. As the Titus calendar seems to date from about the years 1020-1030 and the Vitellius some years later it is probable that we have here an indication of the date when these feasts were adopted at Winchester. ‘
F.A. Gasquet and E. Bishop, The Bosworth psalter: an account of a manuscript formerly belonging to O. Turville-Petre, of Bosworth Hall, now Addit. ms. 37517 at the British Museum (London, 1908), 43-53.
http://www.archive.org/details/bosworthsalter00gasquoft
Hat Tip to “Brigid Ainley” from the UK, participant at Occidentalis Yahoo! Group for this submission.
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From the
Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great
(Anglo-Roman Rite)
commemorating
The Oblation and Entrance of the All-Holy Theotokos,
the Blessed Virgin Mary, into the Temple:
*Collect:
V/. The Lord be with you. R/. And with thy spirit.
V/. Let us pray. O God, Who hast granted that the Blessed Virgin Mary be presented to Thee in the Temple, and that the Holy Ghost be Poured forth; grant to us that the Holy Ghost enter into our way of life; so that we may offer an oblation to Thee fittingly in the devotion of our hearts.
Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, through all the ages of ages. R/. Amen.
*The Sequence:
By the most eminent Wisdom of Our God, always fore-seeing and disposing all things,
Brought together as one, Joachim and Anna are join’d together in a barren bond;
And with affection of heart, they bind themselves together in a faithful vow to the Lord;
That, if He might deign to give them offspring, they would dedicate her to Him in the Temple.
An Angel appear’d, the God of Light instructed them; their vows were hearken’d to;
By the favour of the Highest King, that He grant them a daughter fill’d with grace;
Once consecrated in the womb, and brought forth in a wondrous manner, she is born miraculously.
Born of the Highest Father, a Virgin she intended to remain; she raises the hopes of the world.
Born a Virgin blessed, she is three times presented in the Temple, before the fifteen steps;
She, standing, quickly ascendeth, and both parents striving after, ornately attired.
A new glory brightens the Temple, while the distinguish’d Virgin is presented;
Learned of divine things, visited by heavenly, she is placed with the angels.
That while veil’d she orders many, a leader of adults and children: the Virgin first
That to consecrate herself, she did remain a vow’d Virgin, with her parents.
God, inquired of, gave response: that the Virgin should take a spouse;
Joseph, manifesting the Maiden to his parents, dutifully enter’d into the nuptials,
Then Gabriel is given the task of bearing the manner of conception to the Virgin.
She stands upright, and silently pondering, comprehends the meaning of words unusual,
And with him, explains the way a Virgin hath believ’d, and thus by the Holy Ghost,
She soon conceives, and That Which never is Enclosed, is Contain’d within the Virgin.
Behold a unique Virgin, how brightly she shines in glory.
Therefore, may thou thus look down upon us, that with That Fruit by Which thou art glorified,
We may take delight in our homeland. Amen.
*The Collect and Sequence prayers translations © 2008 St. Gregory Press: W. Milford, NJ, USA
From the
Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
(Byzantine Rite, Slavic Use)
Troparion of the Feast (Tone 4).
Today is the prelude of the good will of God, of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. The Virgin appears in the Temple of Cod, in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. Let us rejoice and sing to her: Rejoice, O divine Fulfillment of the Creator’s dispensation!
Kontakion of the Feast (Tone 4).
The most pure Temple of the Savior; the precious Chamber and Virgin; the sacred Treasure of the glory of God, is presented today to the house of the Lord. She brings with her the grace of the Spirit, which the angels of God do praise. Truly this woman is the Abode of Heaven!
For the story of Our Lady’s Presentation into the Temple
visit our Oblation Journal
Born 841; died at Hoxne, Suffolk, England, in 869 or 870. Feast day
also November 2.
Saint Edmund
On Christmas Day 855, 14-year-old Edmund was acclaimed king of Norfolk by the ruling men and clergy of that county. The following year the leaders of Suffolk also made him their king.
For 15 years Edmund ruled over the East Angles with what all acknowledged as Christian dignity and justice. He himself seems to have modelled his piety on that of King David in the Old Testament, becoming especially proficient in reciting the Psalms in public worship.
From the year 866 his kingdom was increasingly threatened by Danish invasions. For four years the East Angles managed to keep a shaky, often broken peace with them. Then the invaders burned Thetford. King
Edmund’s army attacked the Danes but could not defeat the marauders. Edmund was taken prisoner and became the target for Danish bowmen.
In a later account in the “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,” reputedly derived second-hand from an eyewitness, Abbo compared Saint Edmund to Saint Sebastien, and so he also became a saint invoked against the plague. Edmund was captured at Hoxne. He refused to share his Christian kingdom with the heathen invaders, whereupon he was tied to a tree and shot with arrows, till his body was ‘like a thistle covered with prickles’; then his head was struck off. He died with the name of Jesus on his lips.
The record continues that the Danes “killed the king and overcame all the land . . . they destroyed all the churches that they came to, and at the same time reaching Peterborough, killed the abbot and monks and
burned and broke everything they found there.”
Saint Edmund thus remains the only English sovereign until the time of King Charles I to die for religious beliefs as well as the defense of his throne. Edmund was quickly revered as a martyr and his veneration
spread widely during the middle ages (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Hervey, Roeder).
King Saint Edmund is generally depicted as a bearded king holding his emblem–an arrow. Sometimes he is shown suspended from a tree and shot, or his head between the paws of a wolf (Roeder).
He is venerated at Bury Saint Edmunds (Saint Edmund’s borough), where his body was enshrined and a great abbey arose in 1020. There are only three teeth there now. His body is in Arundel Castle and his head in Toulouse.
Sources:
For more Orthodox Anglo-Celtic Saints Lives visit: Celt Saints
For more Orthodox Anglo-Celtic Saints Ikons visit: Western Saints Icon Project
Another Vita: The Passion of St Edmund, King and Martyr
from Aelfric’s Lives of the Saints at our Oblation Journal
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