A Camel back breaker?

It's really one of the first straws laid on the Camel's back of my loyalty to the Anglican Way, and not the final one, but it was crucial in showing me how the Episcopal Church leadership itself was using the revision of it's liturgy to shoe-horn in a substitute religion for the reformed-catholicity of the Anglican Way. A kind of new agey Unitarian-like religion. Important stuff to know for those who are Anglicans or are in some degree of fellowship with such. This among many other issues, is why I eventually saw the Orthodox Faith as the heirs and custodians of the "faith once delivered to the saints," and transferred my alegiance to her.

A Form Of Godliness, by Jerome E Politzer, S.T.M.       

Wait up!

Since starting a family it has always been my kids and wife who had trouble keeping up with me when we go on a walk. Now on my too infrequent walks, when my youngest boy Tony, 11 years old with autism spectrum syndrome, I have to ask him to slow down. This is quite an adjustment for me. Wah, I'm old.

My Son Tony

I posted a new video on Youtube

Ss. Simon & Jude vs Magicians

Simon and Jude

The link above is to my new video featuring the propers and a lesson appointed for the feast of Ss. Simon and Jude. I regret that I have only my own poor voice to chant the Introit and gradual w/Alleluia, but the text is featured so if you can't stand my voice just plug your ears and read the text.
An indulgence of 40 days is awarded for those that suffer listening all the way to the end. (Just kiddin' about the indulgence, orthodoxy doesn't offer indulgences)

Ss. Simon and Jude, Apostles October 28

Ss. Simon and Jude, Apostles

A Lesson from the Holy Gospel according to St. John

Chapter 15:17ffAt that time: Jesus said unto his disciples, These things I command you, that ye love one another, And so on, and that which followeth.

Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

A Homily by St. Augustine the Bishop
The words of the Gospel which precede this Lesson are these sayings of the Lord: Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name, he may give it you. And here he saith: These things I command you, that ye love one another. Putting the two passages together, we may understand what that fruit is whereof he saith : I have chosen you that ye should bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. And thus we may also come to understand the added words : That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name, he may give it you. That is, the Father will give what we ask if we love one another. For love is itself the chief gift of him who chose us to be his own when as yet we were fruitless. It was not we that chose him, but he that chose us and ordained us, that we should go, and bring forth fruit, which same is that we love one another.
Charity, then, is the fruit which we should bring forth, like as the Apostle Paul saith : The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. And this is the charity wherewith we love our neighbour, namely, the charity wherewith we love God ; for we do not truly love on another unless we love God. For everyone that loveth God also loveth his neighbour as himself. And he that loveth not God cannot even truly love himself. For on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Love, then, is the fruit which we should bring forth. And when the Lord would give us a commandment concerning fruit, he saith : These things I command you, that ye love one another. Hence also the Apostle Paul, what time he commandeth the fruits of the Spirit as opposed to the works of the flesh, putteth love first of all. The fruit of the Spirit is Love, saith he. And from that as the beginning he draweth out a string of other fruits, as thence begotten and thereto bound, namely : joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance, chastity.
What man is truly joyful that loveth not the cause of his joy? Who can truly live in peace, one with another, unless the one love the other? Who is cheerful and persevering under long and hard toil in good works, unless he be fervent in love? Who is kind, unless he love the object of his tenderness? Who is good, unless by the persuasion of love? Who is truly faithful, unless by the faith which worketh by love? Who is meek to any purpose, unless love move him? Who turneth away from baseness unless he love honour? Well doth the good Master so often command us to love, as though that commandment were all-sufficient, for love is that gift without which all other good things avail nothing. Yea, love cannot be in us without bringing along every other good gift which maketh a man good.

Collect:

O Almighty God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head cornerstone, grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee, through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Saint Evaristus, Pope and Martyr, October 26

Saint Evaristus, Pope and Martyr, October 26

Saint Evaristus Ordaining Clergy

Evaristus was the successor of Saint Clement in the See of Rome. The Pontifical Book saith that he was by birth a Grecian Jew, and held the Popedom in the reign of the Emperor Trajan; and that it was he who divided amongst the presbyters of Rome the titles of the basilicas in the City, and commanded that seven Deacons should attend the Bishop when he was executing his Office of Gospel preaching. It is said also that it was he who commanded, in accordance with the tradition of the Apostles, that marriages should be celebrated openly, and that a priest should be asked to invoke a blessing thereon. The Book also saith that he ruled the Church for nine years and three months, and held four Ordinations in the month of December, wherein he ordained seventeen priests, two deacons and fifteen bishops. Having finished his testimony, he was buried upon the Vatican, hard by the grave of the Prince of the Apostles, on October 26, 107. He is revered as a Martyr, albeit no record of his martyrdom remaineth.

Collect:

Be merciful to the people of thy flock, O Lord, eternal Shepherd and Bishop of the souls of men; and keep us in thy continual protection, at the intercession of thy blessed Martyr, the holy Father Evaristus, whom thou didst raise up in thy Church to be thine under-shepherd, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Saints Crispin and Crispinian, Martyrs.

Saints Crispin and Crispinian, Mm

Saints Crispin & Crispinian

Crispin, and his brother Crispinian, were preachers of Christ, who, in imitation of the Apostle Paul, supported themselves by their own handwork. During the day they preached Christ, and at night they worked a shoemakers. They came from Rome to spread the Faith in Gaul, toward the middle of the third century. And there they abode in Soissons, where they astonished the heathen by their words and lives, and led many to Christ. For which reason they were tortured in divers cruel ways by Rictiovarus, under the Emperor Maximian, by whose order they were beheaded, about the year 285. According to a local tradition at Faversham in Kent, during one time of their persecutions they fled thither, and followed their trade of shoemaking in that place. They are said to have taken no payment for their work, unless it was offered to them. By which means they disposed men to listen to the Gospel. And they are venerated as the Patrons of shoemakers, cobblers, and other workers in leather.
　

Collect:

O God, which makest us glad with the yearly festival of blessed Crispin and Crispinian, thy holy Martyrs, grant, we beseech thee, that as we do rejoice in their merits, so we may be enkindled to follow them in all virtuous and godly living, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ss. Chrysanthus and Daria, Mm. October 25

Saints Chrysanthus and Daria, Martyrs

Chrysanthus and Daria were put to death for Christ, most probably about the year 283, for they were venerated as Martyrs at Rome at a very early date. Not until the fifth century, however, was their Book of Acts composed, wherefrom cometh the following details. They were an husband and wife, of noble faith, which the wife learned from the husband, and they brought to Christ a great number of persons at Rome, she women, and he men. Therefore the Prefect Celerinus caused them to be fast bound in chains, and then baited, like a wild beast, as a sport for the soldiers. After this he was sewn up in an ox’s hide and set in the full heat of the sun ; and thereafter chained hand and foot and cast into a dark prison, which place was to him filled with a great light. Meanwhile Daria was haled to a brothel, but God kept her from insult, and wondrously sustained her, so that she was always rapt in prayer. Lastly they were both of them led to a sandpit upon the Salarian way, where they were thrown alive into a hole, and buried by stones cast upon them. And so they were not divided in winning the victory of martyrdom.

Collect:

We beseech thee, O Lord, that we may in such wise be assisted by the prayers of thy blessed Martyrs, Chrysanthus and Daria: that, like as we do here render them our outward honour, so we may ever feel the succour of their loving-kindness, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, October 24

A Homily of St. John Chrysostom

Archangel St. Raphael

What are we to learn from the healing power of this pool? What mystery doth it signify? For these things are not written without purpose. In figure and type they do shew things are not written without purpose. In figure and type they do shew us something of things to come, so that what was exceeding strange might not, by coming unexpectedly, shock the faith of the hearers. What then is it that they foreshew? A Baptism was shortly to be instituted ; a Baptism of such abundant power and grace as would cleanse all sins, and make the dead to live. These things are therefore set forth under the type of the pool and in many other figures. First of all, there was the use of water for washing away the stains of the body, and for cleansing from certain ceremonial defilements, such as the uncleanness engendered by touching dead bodies, or lepers and the like. Under the old Law, many things were cleansed by water for similar reasons.
But let us now return to the subject. As we have said, water is chiefly used to cleanse bodily defilement. It is also used to do away with infirmities of different kinds. God would have his people familiar with the benefits of water that the grace of the waters of Baptism might not seem strange to them. To that end he gave water as a means of cleansing, not only from defilements, but also from disease. Now it would seem that as the time of fulfillment drew nigh, the figures given for Baptism, and the passion, and such approaching realities, were clearer than those which had been given in times further back. Just as the king’s body-guard is more carefully uniformed to shew what is than are the king’s men at a distance, so was it done with types. On this wise we are told how the Angel came down and troubled the water, and endued it with a healing power, that is, that the Jews might learn how the Lord of Angels had even more power with which to heal the diseases of the soul. But here it was not simply the nature of the water that wrought the cure, otherwise it would always have done this. Rather it was done by the handwork of the Angel. So likewise it is not merely the water used in Baptism that works in us, but rather the gift of the Spirit, which same it hath received to the end that we may be set free from all sin.
Around this pool lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. And a certain man who desired to be healed was there, whose very infirmity prevented him from entering the waters. But now everyone that so desireth is able to come unto the water of life. For it is not an Angel that giveth virtue to this water, but the very Lord of Angels, even he that is able to do all things. We cannot now say : While I am coming another steppeth down before me. If the whole world were to come, grace would in no wise be lacking for each and all. Nor doth its power to cure ever grow less, but is always the same. Just as the sun’s rays give light every day, and are not diminished, nor their brightness made less by their lavish supply, so (and much more so) is the working of the Spirit not diminished by the number of them that receive it. The wonders that were worked at this pool were done to teach mankind how that by water bodily diseases could be healed, so that being long-exercised in this belief, thay might the more easily have faith in the waters of Baptism for the healing of sick souls.
　

Antiphon on the Benedictus:

I am Raphael, one of the seven holy Angels which present the prayers of the saints, * and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One.

Antiphon on the Magnificat:

Glorious Prince and Archangel Raphael, remember us; * here and everywhere entreat the Son of God for us.

Archangel St. Raphael

Collect:

O God, who gavest blessed Raphael the Archangel unto thy servant Tobias to be the companion of his wayfaring : grant unto us thy servants, that we may ever be protected by the guardianship of this same thine Archangel, and defended by his help, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth ever one God, world without end. Amen.

A fish story.



Bishop Basil at OLW Pilgrimage Oct 16, 2010

 At the recent Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham at our Parish here in North Texas, Bishop Basil of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America, while speaking on the subject of Devotion to Our Lady remarked on the story of Simeon, whose encounter with our Lord is recorded in the Gospel according to Saint Luke, and which provides us with the canticle typically chanted at Compline. He noted that tradition provides more detail regarding the back story of Simeon's life prior to the Encounter with Our Lord and the Mother of God in the Temple. We know from the New Testament that God promised Simeon he would not die before he saw the fulfillment of the "consolation of Israel" and beheld the Lord's Christ. How Simeon received this promise was shared from tradition by Bishop Basil.

In the mid third century BC the Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus desired to include the bible in the Library of Alexandria, and requested scholars to work on a translation into Greek. This is the well known Septuagint, named so for the 70 elders that did the work of translation. Simeon was one of the translators, and while completing his assigned task of rendering Isaiah into Greek, he came to the words: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a Son" (Is 7:14). As it was not possible that a virgin can conceive he thought an error had occurred in previous copying and made to correct the term by rendering it "young girl" in his Greek version. Having been called away from his task, on returning to it he saw that the word in his translation was "virgin", and he made to change it, when an angel appeared to him and prevented him. The angel said, You shall see these words fulfilled. You shall not die until you behold Christ the Lord born of a pure and spotless Virgin."

The Bishop explained how sometime later, Simeon was assailed with doubt, and taking a ring from his finger, he cast it into the Mediterranean Sea saying that if the promise and translation were true, God would bring the ring to him. Later, Simeon was served a fish at a meal (perhaps the same day, my memory fails on some details now), and behold his ring was in the fish's mouth.

When Bishop Basil recounted the throwing of the ring in the sea, I guessed that it would be miraculously brought back to him via a fish. Only a few evenings before the reading appointed for Vespers had been the Gospel passage including the story were Peter was questioned  "doth not your master pay tribute." Our Lord instructed him to cast a hook in the sea, and in the mouth of the fish would be a coin to cover the tribute for both Him and Peter. An odd coincidence? Maybe.

Tradition holds that Simeon was 360 years old when he died. The Lord had blessed him by permitting him to see the Christ and he departed in peace.

Saint Hilarion of Gaza, Ab ; Saint Ursula, V

Saint Hilarion of Gaza

Hilarion was born of heathen parentage at Tabatha in Palestine, five miles south of Gaza, about the 291. Saint Epiphanius, Bishop of Salarius, knew him well, and wrote his life, from which the following account is largely taken. As a lad he was sent to study at Alexandria, where he bore a fair name for life and wit. There he embraced the religion of Jesus Christ, and made wonderful headway in faith and love. When the name of Anthony became famous in Egypt, Hilarion made a journey into the desert on purpose to see him, and dwelt with him two months, to the end that he might learn his complete rule of life. After the death of his father and mother, he gave all that he had to the poor. And so, before he had completed the fifteenth year of his age, he went into the desert, and built a little house, scarcely big enough to hold him, and wherein he was used to sleep on the ground. He was a comely and delicate youth, and therefore set about to mortify and harden himself. His food was a few figs and some porridge of vegetables, and this he ate not before set of sun, but his prayer was unceasing. Till his time neither Syria nor Palestine knew of the monastic life, so that Hilarion was the founder of it therein, as Anthony had been in Egypt. He had built many monasteries, and become famous for miracles, when, in the eightieth year of his age, he fell sick. As he was gasping for his last breath, he said : Go out, my soul; what art thou afraid of? And so he gave up the ghost.

Collect:

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that the prayers of thy holy Abbot, blessed Hilarion may commend us unto thee : that we, who have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, may by his advocacy, find favour in thy sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

On October 21^st is also commemorated holy Ursula and he Companion-Martyrs, who are presumed to have died sometime in the third century ; for an ancient inscription at cologne giveth proof that certain Virgins were there martyred for Christ in the early days ; and these same were natives of Britain, returning from Palestine, and many number, under the leadership of holy Ursula.

Collect:

O God, who among the manifold works of thine almighty power hast bestowed even upon the weakness of women strength to win the victory of martyrdom : grant, we beseech thee, that we, who on this day recall the heavenly birth of blessed Ursula thy Virgin and Martyr ; may so follow in her footsteps, that we may likewise attain unto thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Fridewide, Virgin 735

Saint Frideswide, V

Frideswide, the Patron Saint of Oxford and the foundress of that city, was born about the year 735, probably of a South Mercian family of noble rank. And she founded a nunnery at Oxford ; which same, in the twelfth century, was rebuilt and re-founded as a theological school by the Austin Canons ; and from this beginning, it is believed that the great University of Oxford came into being. Wherefore, on February 11^th, in 1180 her relicks were solemnly translated to the church which had been built in her name, whereafter her shrine became one of the chief pilgrimage places of England. * In 1546 Cardinal Wolsey dissolved the Priory of Saint Frideswide, and made it into a college : which Henry VIII re-established in 1546 as the House of Christ, or Christ College ; whereupon the Church of Saint Frideswide was used as the college chapel, and later became Christ Church Cathedral of the Diocese of Oxford, where her shrine is still shewn, and the faithful still invoke her prayers. * It is told that after her father built her a nunnery at Oxford, a South Mercian prince, who loved her, tried to carry her off ; and that she was obliged to flee with two companions to Abingdon, where she concealed herself for three years in a pig’s cote. And that to rid herself of her suitor’s attentions, she invoked God’s aid, who struck him with blindness, from which he recovered only when he firmly resolved to leave the maiden in peace. Which story so frightened the men of England that for many years those with similar illicit passions avoided the shrine of Saint Frideswide, who died in the peace of God about the year 735, after having lived in retirement for a long time in a cell near the town Thornburg.

Antiphon on the Benedictus:

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, * who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it (Alleluia).

Antiphon on Magnificat:

Come, thou bride of Christ, receive the crown * which the Lord hath prepared for thee for ever. (Alleluia).

Collect:

Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation, that like as we do rejoice in the festival of blessed Frideswide thy holy Virgin, so we may learn to follow her in all godly and devout affections, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

My son Tony writes

My son was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. He doesn't have autism proper but was designated with PDD(Pervasive Developmental Disorder). He is 11 and has recently becaome expressive in writing. It reads like something a typical child in 1st or 2nd grade might write. He spelling has been preserved.

" My new Galloway School.

Ms. O'Quinn talks awful to me. When I do a little growl she sends me to mr. matt horrible room its horrible because mr. matt has a terrifine big loud voice when he yells that scars me because its loud and terrible. on pe days outside the Sun beats down on us. We go down where all the trees have terrible nasty yellw tree zap. on music days it is wonderful because our music teacher is nice not awful like my old music teacher vecause my old music teacher was talking awful and was mean. My new music teacher is nice because She gives us wonderful singing sheets that we sing with its music playing. "

Saint Luke the Evangelist

Saint Luke the Evangelist

　
Luke, was a physician of Antioch, who, as appeared from his writings, was skilled in the Greek tongue. He was a follower of the Apostle Paul, and his fellow traveller in all his wanderings. He wrote a Gospel, whereof the same Paul maketh mention when he saith that Luke is the brother hose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches. Of him the Apostle wrote unto the Colossians : Luke, the beloved physician, greeteth you. And again, unto Timothy: Only Luke is with me. In addition to the Gospel called by his name, Luke published also another notable volume, entitled The Acts of the Apostles, wherein the progress of the Gospel-story is brought down to Paul’s two years sojourn at Rome, that is to say, until the fourth year of Nero, from which we gather that it was at Rome that the said book was composed.
The silence of Luke is one of the reasons why we reckon as apocryphal the Book of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and the whole story about the Baptism of Leo. For why should the fellow traveller of the Apostle, who knew other things, be ignorant only of this? Moreover, there is against these documents the statement of Tertullian, almost a contemporary writer, that the Apostle John convicted a certain priest in Asia, who was a great admirer of the Apostle Paul, of having written them, and that the said priest owned that he had been induced to compost them through his admiration for Paul, and that he was deposed in consequence. Some persons suppose that when Paul in his Epistles useth the phrase: According to my Gospel: he meaneth the Gospel written by Luke.
Howbeit, Luke learnt his Gospel not from the Apostle Paul only ( who had not companied with the Lord in the flesh )but also from other Apostles, as himself declareth at the beginning of his work, where he saith of the things he wrote: They delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. According to what he had heard, therefore, did he write his Gospel. As to the Acts of the Apostles, he composed them from his own personal knowledge. He was never married. He lived eighty-four years. He is buried at Constantinople, whither his bones are supposed to have been brought from Achaia in the twentieth year of Constantine, together with the relicks of the Apostle Andrew. [ And when the Church of the Apostles at Constantinople was repaired by order of the Emperor Justinian, three wooden coffins were found, bearing inscriptions which averred that they contained, respectively, the bodies of Saints Andrew, Luke, and Timothy. But tradition saith that the relicks of Saint Luke were afterwards carried to Padua.]
　

Antiphon on Benedictus:

In the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures, having each of them six wings, and full of eyes within, * and they rest not day and night, saying, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come(Alleluia).

Antiphon on the Magnificat:

For the wisdom of the ancients the holy Evangelists searched with diligent inquiry * and by the Prophets sayings did they establish the truth of their narration(Alleluia).

Collect:

Almighty God, who calledst Luke the Physician, whose praise is in the Gospel, to be an Evangelist, and Physician of the soul, may it please thee, that, by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed. Through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

I was blessed.

Since being laid off in '09 the cheif difficulty I have had of late is getting funds to purchase prescriptions I must have for high BP (and one script for a stupid anti-depressant my doctor put me on that I don't think I really need), and I mentioned this in passing to a brother from church with whom I was working to help set up for the Pilgimage at our parish. I was floored when, before we parted for home, he bestowed on me a considerable sum of money toward the purchase of the medications. This act of generosity was not solicited and unexpected, but very welcome.

I was tremendously blessed by his loving gift and willingness to be used of God for the succour of one in some need. Nothing earth-shattering as our family still has food and shelter, my wife is providing by her job, but we are in somewhat straitened circumstances so I have to scrape up funds for my own needs, like the medications. What a blessing that this brother could be so moved to an act of generosity without even being directly asked.

Our Lady of Walsingham, Oct 15

The Walsingham Story

Retold by the Rt. Rev’d Archimandrite Daniel Keller

The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is the most renowned sanctuary of the Mother of God in the whole of the British Isles.
Walsingham itself is a village in a remote part of East Anglia some 125 miles from London.  Here in the year 1061, (when England was still considered part of the One Orthodox Catholic Church) Richeldis, Lady of the Manor, received a vision in the fields near her home.  The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her and...

click here for the rest of the story

Collect:

O God, who in the Blessed Virgin Mary didst make a fit dwelling place for thy Son, grant we beseech thee, that we who honor her shrine at Walsingham may also become temples of Thy Holy Ghost, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, and the same Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Walking on an empty stomach.

I took a long walk this morning, but was a little late getting started, and before I was finished I worried about getting all the way home before passing out. Was light headed and woozy. I will really have to watch that. Apparantly I waited too long after a meager breakfast and was already a little hungry when I left on the walk. Kinda scary,you know. Boy, it's hell, um, I mean heck, getting old.

Saint Callistus, P.M.

Saint Callistus, Pope and Martyr,

Callistus, the first Pope to bear that name, was in youth a slave. His master was a Christian of the imperial household, and gave into his charge the funds which he had received on behalf of certain Christian and their widows. These funds were somehow lost, and for this Callistus was blamed by his master. Whereat he fled from punishment which he knew was coming, and went to Oporto, and there took ship. Wherefrom he jumped over-board when his pursuers caught up with him. But they apprehended him, and afterwards he was sentenced to hard labour as a disgraced slave. Howbeit, the Christians secured his release, that he might help recover the lost funds. In pursuance of which, he followed certain Jewish moneylenders to their synagogues where he importuned them, and was by them turned over to the judge as one who had made a disturbance during a religious service. This time he was sentenced hard labour in the mines of Sardinia. But he was afterwards returned to Italy, and Pope Saint Victor gave him a pension. When Saint Zephyrinus became Pope, he recalled Callistus to Rome, and made him superintendent of a catacomb on the Appian Way, which same he greatly improved, so that it came to be called after him, and is known even to this day as the Cemetery of Saint Callistus. * He thus grew well known and much beloved, and in 217, after the death of Zephyrinus, was elected by the clergy and people of Rome to be the next Bishop of Rome. His short pontificate was made notable by his condemnation of the Sabellian heresy, and by his fight against rigorism. He was strongly opposed by the anti-pope Hippolytus, and by Tertullian, whose writings against his are the chief source of our knowledge of his early life. Hippolytus complained that Callistus was unwilling to depose a bishop who had sinned mortally and done penance for the same, and that he had reconciled the excommunicate who expressed penitence. However, Callistus was a man who had done much penance, and had suffered greatly at the hands of rigorists, and it is in no small measure due to him that the Church for all time accepted the compassion of Christ as the guiding rule in dealing with penitents, Hippolytus (who is now venerated as a Saint) not withstanding. * Callistus is said to have sat as Pope for five years, one month, and twelve days ; and to have held five December Ordinations, wherein he ordained sixteen priests, four deacons, and eight bishops. Tradition also saith that, after being long starved, and repeatedly flogged, he was pitched headforemost down a well, and so was crowned with martyrdom under the emperor Alexander. His body was buried on the Aurelian Way, at the Third Milestone, upon October 14^th, but was afterwards by Pope Saint Julius I taken to the Church of Saint Mary beyond the Tiber, where it lieth beneath the high altar, and is held in great reverence of all men.
O God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: we pray thee, that, by the examples of thy Saints, thou wouldest mercifully restore us to the perfect love of thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect:

Saint Edward King and Confessor 1066

Saint Edward, K. C. sd.
Edward, surnamed the Confessor, was the nephew of Saint King Edward the Martyr, and himself the last Anglo-Saxon King. When he was ten years the Danes, who were ravaging England, sought him, to put him to death, and he was driven into exile to dwell with his mother’s brother, Richard II, Duke of Normandy, at whose Court and that of his successors, (Richard III ; Robert, surnamed the Devil ; and William the Bastard,) he lived among all the allurements of vice such a life of uprightness and innocence as made all men to marvel. For he greatly loved God, and was gentle-hearted, and free from any lust for power. Of him the saying is preserved, That he would liefer not be a King than win a kingdom through slaughter and bloodshed. * When the Danish tyrants, who had robbed his brothers Edmund and Alfred of their life and kingdom, were driven away, Edward was called back into his own country and , with the hearty good-will and rejoicing of all, took the kingdom in the 1042, being then about forty years old. Thereupon he set himself to repair the breaches which wars had made, and bean with the things of God, being desirous that religion should rise from the low estate whereinto it had fallen. Because of the abundance of his charity he was styled everywhere The Father of Orphans and Parent of the Poor, and he was never happier than when he had spent upon the needy the whole of his kingly treasures. * He had a wonderful love toward John the Evangelist, so that he was used never to refuse anything for the which he was asked in that Saint’s name. Concerning this a marvelous tale is wont to be told. It is said that the Evangelist appeared to him once while in tattered raiment, and in his own name asked him for an alms. It befell that the King had no money, wherefore he took a ring from off his finger and gifted him therewith. Not long afterward the Evangelist sent the same ring back to him by a pilgrim, with a message concerning his death, which was then at hand. The King therefore commanded that should be made for him, and then fell blessedly asleep in the Lord, upon the very day which had been foretold to him by the Evangelist, that is to say, on January 5^th, in 1066/ In 1161 he was canonized, and on October 13^th, two years later, his body, which was said to have been found incorrupt, was by Saint Thomas Becket translated to Westminster Abbey, where it is still enshrined behind the high altar. Saint Edward is venerated as the heavenly Patron of England, and the story of his ring intertwined with the traditions of the Abbey where he is buried.

Antiphon on the Benedictus:

Well done good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: * enter thou into the joy of thy Lord(Alleluia).

Antiphon on Magnificat:

Lo, a servant of God who esteemed as naught all things earthly, * and by word and work laid him up treasures in heaven(Alleluia).

Collect:

O God, who didst bestow upon thy blessed King Edward the crown of everlasting glory: grant us, we pray thee, so to venerate him on earth, that we may be found worthy to reign with him in heaven, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Lessons Antiphons and Collect for Saint Wilfrid, B.C.

Saint Wilfrid, B.C.

Wilfrid, at the age of thirteen, left home to escape from mistreatment by his stepmother ; and thenceforth he found little peace on earth ; for he fought vigorously all his life long to bring the Christians of England who followed the peculiar national Celtic customs into accord with the more general usages of the Western Church under the Roman See. Being the son of a Northumbrian thane, he went first to the court of King Oswy, and thence was sent, at the age of fourteen, to Lindisfarne and Whitby for instruction in divine science. He also studied the Roman usages at Canterbury ; and in 654 set out for Rome with Saint Benedict Biscop on the latter’s first journey to the eternal city. There he tried to perfect himself in holy things, and was finally made secretary to Pope Saint Martin. When he returned to England, Aldfrid, son of Oswy, appointed him to instruct the Northumbrians in the Roman usages, for that prince liked not the Celtic customs concerning the date of Easter and various other matters, any more than did Wilfrid. And when Aldfrid required the monks whom he had placed in his newly-built monastery at Ripon to give up their peculiar Celtic usages, many of them returned to their former monastery of Melrose ; whereupon Wilfrid was made Abbot of Ripon * Now when the dispute regarding the two ecclesiastical observances became more acute, a synod was held at Whitby to decide the matter. For the Celtic party said that their usages came through France from the tradition which Saint John the Evangelist had established in Asia Minor, whereas the Roman party claimed the authority of the Prince of the Apostles for their customs. And when most of those present at the council decided in favour of Roman canon law and discipline, the others withdrew from work in Northumbria, and retired to the holy island of Iona. Whereafter Wilfrid was chosen Bishop of the Northumbrians, and went to Paris for consecration, for he held the neighboring bishops as schismatics. But he was so long delayed on this journey that King Oswy grew impatient, and had Saint Chad consecrated in his stead. Which was the occasion of fresh controversy when Wilfrid returned and went to live in his Abbey of Ripon. However, in 699 Saint Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, set him up as Bishop of York, and Chad went to work among the Mercians. But Wilfrid incurred the enmity of Egfrid, after the latter became King, which same moved Saint Theodore to divide the northern territory into four dioceses, leaving one for Wilfrid, and intruding three others into the rest of Wilfrid’s former jurisdiction. * Then was made the first appeal to the Roman See, namely, from Wilfrid as Bishop of York against the Archbishop of Canterbury ; to which end Wilfrid set out for Rome a second time. And on his way thither he preached the Gospel mightily in Friesland, converting many heathens, and thereby opening the way for the harvest of souls which Saint Willibrord and his companions gathered in. Now when Pope Saint Agatho had decided the case in Wilfrid’s favour, he returned to King Egfrid with the decree, who promptly cast him into prison, and kept him there many months. And when he was set free he was obliged to flee from one place to another, until he came into the region of the South Saxons. There he settled down, and laboured greatly in the Gospel, converting many, and establishing a bishoprick which afterwards became the See of Chichester. But in 686, after King Egfrid had died, Wilfrid was recalled to York, through the intervention of Saint Theodore and others. However, so many difficulties arose that he went to Rome for a third time, to make a second appeal to the Holy See. As a result of which he was again, by papal decree, awarded all his former authority in Northumbria. But he was seventy-two years old, and shortly thereafter died in peace, namely, on April 24^th, 709. But his feast is usually kept on October 12^th, being the day of the translation of his relicks.

Antiphon on Benedictus

Good and faithful servant, enter thou * into the joy of thy Lord.(Alleluia).

 Antiphon on Magnificat

O holy Priest and Bishop, thou worker of so many mighty works, and good shepherd to Christ’s flock, * pray for us unto the Lord our God (Alleluia).

Collect:

O God, who by reason of the singular merits of thy blessed Bishop Saint Wilfrid, didst cause to shine forth in him many wondrous works, we beseech thee, mercifully to grant, that like as we have learnt from his teaching to seek earnestly after all things heavenly, so we may at all times be defended by his intercession, through Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Motherhood of Our Lady, October 11

The Feast for which the following Lesson and Collect are appointed is not strictly speaking of an Orthodox origin. No Orthodox authorities have, to my knowledge, set forth this day to commemorate this feast, but it is a feast primarily intended to acknowledge the great truth recognized and codified in the decision of the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus  in 431 AD, against the Nestorians, and which declared that the Blessed Virgin Mary was rightly to be called Theotokos, "God-Bearer." For these reasons, though it is not to be considered an Orthodox commemoration, I have posted these for your perusal and edification.

A Sermon from Saint Leo the Pope

ST. LEO THE GREAT

The Virgin royal of the lineage of David was chosen to become fruitful with the divine Offspring. For she who was thus chosen to bear the God-Man had already conceived Christ her soul before she conceived him in her body. And first she learned the counsel of God from the Angel, lest the unwonted events should alarm her. So the future Mother of God knew what was to be wrought in her by the Holy Ghost, and that her honour would in no way be lost. For why should she, unto whom was promised all-sufficient strength through the power of the Highest, feel hopeless merely because of the unexampled character of such a conception? Nay, she believeth, and her belief is confirmed by the attestation of a miracle which hath already been wrought, namely, that Elizabeth receiveth fruitfulness, before unhoped for. Hence she might not doubt that God, who had given conception unto one that was barren, would give the same unto her that was virgin. And so the Word of God, (the Son of god, who was in the beginning with God, by whom all things were made, and without whom was not anything made that was made,) was made man to deliver man from eternal death.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, descending from his throne in heaven, but leaving not that glory which he hath with the Father, cometh into this lower world y being born after a new order and in a new kind of birth. He cometh after a new order, in that he who is unseen of us in his own nature was seen amongst us. Thus the Incomprehensible was fain to be comprehended. And he that is from everlasting to everlasting began to be in time. And by a new kind of birth was he begotten: conceived of a Virgin and born of a Virgin ; without the intervention of any fleshly father ; without any breach of his mother’s virginity. For such a birth beseemed the coming Saviour of mankind who was to have in him the nature of man’s being and to be free of any defilement of man’s flesh. Though he sprung not as we spring, yet is his nature as our nature. We believe that he is free from the use and wont of men, in that it was the power of God which wrought this ; namely, that as a Virgin she conceived, as a Virgin she brought forth, and yet abode she Virgin still.

DIVINE MOTERHOOD

Collect:

O God, who didst vouchsafe that thy Word should be made flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the message of an Angel, grant to us thy humble servants, that we, believing her to be indeed the Mother of God, may by her intercession find favour in thy sight, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Denys and Companions, Martyrs

St. Denys with his companions founded the Church at Paris, and gave his blood for what he had founded. Saint Gregory of Tours wrote of this Denys that he was born in Italy, and that about the year 250 he was sent into Gaul as a missionary bishop. And that, with one Rusticus a priest, and Eleutherius a deacon, he penetrated amongst the heathen as far as Paris, where he remained to preach Christ. For whose sake he was more than once tortured, even with fire, and when he persisted, he and his priest and deacon were beheaded. He is venerated as the saint protector of France, and as such was invoked in the hour of battle. He is also counted as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, that is, Saints that are quick to pray for us in time of need. Of old time he was invoked by those who suffered pain in the heads, from the miracle of when he, after his head was cut off, he took it in his hands, and walked four miles toward Paris, carrying it all the while.

Antiphon on the Benedictus

Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered; * fear not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Collect:

O God, who as on this day didst endow thy blessed Martyr and Bishop Saint Denys with strength to suffer steadfastly for thy sake, and didst join unto him Rusticus and Eleutherius for the preaching of thy glory to the Gentiles, grant us , we beseech thee, so to follow their good example, that for the love of thee we may despise all worldly prosperity, and be afraid of no manner of worldly adversity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lesson from the Divine Office Lectionary

The lectionary for the morning prayer office currently has as the second scripture lesson the Epistle of St. James. For today the passage was as follows…

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
It’s fun watching our Protestant friends, committed to the doctrine of “justification by faith alone,” twisting themselves into pretzels trying to make this passage not mean what it so obviously means. Some of their attempts are actually funny.

I have a grudging respect for how Martin Luther dealt with the plain teaching in the passage of St. James’s epistle. He didn’t try to make it say something it clearly wasn’t saying, he just more or less said, “it doesn’t fit with how I understand the rest of the New Testament, so it must not be truly inspired scripture.” Luther called James an “epistle of straw,” an illusion to St. Paul’s wood hay or stubble teaching in Corinthians, or maybe he was saying it was only good for the barn floor. At least he could tell what it really was saying and didn’t try to contort it into supporting a believe only doctrine of Justification, which since has become the typical Protestant strategy.

Protestants are in trouble beginning with verse 14. “
We certainly saved by grace, but not by believing only. As James tells us, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” In it’s context and given the flow of thought that follows, it is easy to see this is a rhetorical question, to which the expected conclusion is “no!” The following verses are not an excursion into instruction in Christian charity, they are an illustration of the point being made. When people are naked and hungry they can’t wear or eat your words, which words have no real effect, unless it’s to underscore the vanity of the platitude. In short, talk is cheap, it’s works that matter. The entire passage is like this, and our poor Protestant brothers go on trying to fit them somehow into the straightjacket of the solas.the devils also believe, and tremble.“

Bruno, Abbot and Founder of the Charterhouse Monks

Although not technically an Orthodox saint, I am still a great admirer of Abbot Bruno.

Bruno, the founder of the Charterhouse Monks, was born at Cologne, about the year 1030. His parents, who were eminent in rank and goodness, sent him to the Cathedral school at Rheims, which at that time, under the direction of Herimanus, was one of the best schools in Europe. There he did so well in philosophy and theology that he took the degree of Doctor in both of those subjects. And for his extraordinary graces, when he was only about the age of twenty-seven, he succeeded Herimanus as rector of the school. But at the height of his success, a few years lather, he and six comrades, all learned men, forsook the world and betook themselves to Saint Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble. The latter, when he learned the reason of their coming, and believing them to have been figured by seven stars which one night in a dream he had seen falling at his feet, gave them a grant of land in some very wild mountains in his diocese, which are called the Chartreuses, and where was established by them the first Charterhouse monastery. * Thither Bruno and his companions withdrew themselves, in the 1084, and led for some years the life of hermits. But in 1089 Pope Urban II, who had formerly been his disciple at Rheims, commanded him to come to Rome. And there because of the afflictions which then scourged the Church, the Pope held him much against his will for some time as his counsellor. But at last Bruno, who had refused the Archbishoprick of Reggio, got leave to retire to a solitary place in Calabria, which was within easier reach of the Pope than the aforesaid Charterhouse. In this place, owing to a grant of land from his friend Roger Sovereign Earl of Sicily and Calabria, who had begun to cherish him and his comrades, he founded another Charterhouse named for Saint Stephen. And so the life he instituted began to spread. Which same is the eremitical life lived in community, under a most strict Rule. And this Carthusian Order is the only one in the Church which hath never had any reform, for it hath never stood in need of any. From Saint Bruno it learnt quietude and patience through silence and prayer, but withal a holy gaiety. At length Bruno, full of graces and good works, and famous for godliness and gaiety, not less than for learning, fell asleep in the Lord, on October 6^th, in the year 1101, and was buried in the said Monastery of Saint Stephen.

I made a new video for my youtube channel. Check it out!

A video of the Propers for Placidus and Companions.

Watch here!

St. Placidus

Placidus was the son of Tertullus, one of the noblest persons of Rome. He was offered to God when a child and given over to holy Benedict, in whose teaching and Rule of monks he so profited that he was reckoned among the chiefest of his disciples. By him he was sent into Sicily, where he founded near the port of Messin a church and monastery in honour of St. John Baptist, and lived therein with his monks in wonderful holiness. Thither there came to see him his brothers Eutychius and Victorinus and his virgin sister Flavia, and while they were together, there landed there a certain brutal pirate, named Manucha, who took the monastery, and when he could in no wise prevail upon Placidus and the others to deny Christ, he commanded him, his brothers, and his sister to be cruelly murdered. With them Donatus, Firmatus a deacon, Faustus, and thirty other monks brought the conflict of testimony to the blessed end of martyrdom, upon the fifth day of October, in the year of salvation 539.

Antiphon on the Benedictus:

Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered; * fear not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Antiphon on the Magnificat:

In the heavenly kingdom the souls of the Saints are rejoicing, even such as walked in the footsteps of Christ their Master, for love of whom they gave without stint their very life-blood; * therefore with Christ they now do reign for ever and ever.

Let us pray.

O God, who vouchsafest unto us to keep the heavenly birthday of blessed Placidus and his companions, thy holy Martyrs : grant, we beseech thee ; that we may rejoice in the perpetual felicity of their fellowship in heaven. Through.

Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, Matins Lesson, collect and antiphons

Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

A Sermon by St. John Chrysostom

When the Pharisees had heard that Christ had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered themselves together for a fresh attack ; just when it behoved them to be quiet, they willed to contend ; and so they put forward one of themselves who professed skill in the Law, not wishing to learn, but to lay a snare. This person therefore proposed the question : Which is the great commandment in the Law? Now since this is the first : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God : they question him in this manner, expecting that he would make some exception or addition to this in his own case, since (as the Evangelist John saith) he made himself God. With this expectation they asked him the question ; but in answer thereto what said Christ? : To shew that they had adopted this course because they were loveless, and sick with envious ill-will, he answered : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind : this is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt live thy neighbour as thyself.
Why is this second commandment like unto the first? Because the first is the source of the second and its sanction. For everyone (as saith the Evangelist John) that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light. And again, (as saith the Psalmist) : The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. To which saying is added: They are corrupt, and become abominable in their doings. And yet again (as saith the Apostle : The love of money is a root all evil, which while some coveted after they have erred from the Faith. And yet once more (as saith the Evangelist John) : If ye love me, keep my commandments : of which commandments the head and root is : Thou shalt love the Lord thy god, and thy neighbour as thyself.
If therefore, to love God is to love our neighbour also, (as the Lord taught when he said, If ye love me, O Peter, feed my sheep,) and if love is the fulfilling of the Law, justly then doth the Lord say that on these two commandments hang all the Law and Prophets, And bear in mind how, before this, being interrogated about the resurrection, he answered them more than they asked ; for now also, being interrogated concerning the first and great commandment, he answereth more than they asked, for he implieth that the second one is but a little lower than the first. Herein he would have them understand how that it was hatred which stirred them up to question him. For charity, saith the Apostle, envieth not.

Antiphon on the Magnificat:

What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. * He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand?

Collect:
　

 

LORD, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil: and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Funny is funny, isn't it?

I love to watch Rowan Atkinson’s skit in which he plays the Devil welcoming new souls to hell. Atkinson’s timing is impeccable, and delivery flawless. I loved him in the Blackadder series, and Mr. Bean, and this is really more of the same first rate comedy.

He spares no one including us Christians, and it is one of the funniest routines I have ever seen. “Ah hello, its good to see you all here,” as if the devil would be so genteel and polite. He greets them, and tells a joke to break the tension, then begins dividing them into groups based on their sin of choice. “Adulterers over here and all other fornicators over there. Male adulterers if you would just form a line in front of that small guillotine in the corner.” Atkinson's Devil Welcome


I’ve watched it multiple times, and always enjoy it, but maybe I shouldn’t enjoy it. An eternity in hell is a real possibility facing every soul born into the world. If I laugh at these jokes do I in some way reject or diminish the awful finality, or the unremitting anguish and suffering of hell? Do I by my levity lead an uninstructed soul to the notion that there is nothing to fear in a life of sin?
We don’t appear to need comedians to go about diminishing the reality of hell, there are plenty of ministers that are downright anxious to do the job. I guess polite society doesn’t care for a god that is mean and sends people to hell. But what did our Lord say on that topic? “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” (Luke 12:4-5 King James Version)

I think if the Lord Jesus says, “fear him,” its probably sound advice.
Are we to fear real fire and pain in hell? Many say not. Yet our Lord told a story, some say it is a parable, but then again the Lord gives names to the characters of the story, but does not in any other parable, and in this story, “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” (Luke 16: 24-25 King James Version)
Sounds for all the world to me like a real place with real fiery torment, not just psychological angst, and separation from God only.

　

A Day at the Park

Here is a video I put together from clips taken when me and my sons were at Six Flags a couple of years back. Orthodox Christians can have a blast at any family gathering! Praise be to God.

I added music from one of my favorite bands, Thin Lizzy, the Irish quartet from the 70's. No copyright enfringement is intended.

A new video.

I have made and posted a new video on the saint commemorated yesterday, St. Jerome, on my youtube channel. It features the voice of yours truly chanting the propers and reading the lessons and collect for the day. You've been warned.

The brave can click this link to view the video.
St. Jerome Priest, Confessor & Doctor

Saint Remigius Bishop, Confessor, October 1st

Remigius, also called Remi, is reverenced as the Apostle of the French. He came from a distinguished Christian family: for the title of Saint is in France commonly given to his mother Cilinia ; to his older brother Principius, Bishop of Soissons ; to the son of the latter, named Lupus ; and to his nurse Balsmia. Thus in boyhood he was surrounded with holy people, and grew up both godly and learned. Saint Sidonius Apollinaris, who knew him well, saith he was the most eloquent man of his age. When he was only twenty-two, and still a layman, he was chosen by acclamation to be Bishop of Rheims, and thereafter set out to spread the Gospel widely among the Franks. Now Clovis, King of the Franks, was an heathen, rude and cruel. And Saint Clotilde, his wife, prayed long to bring him to Christ. Finally divine grace prevailed, and under the joint instruction of Saints Vedast and Remigius, not only Clovis, but many of his kinsfolk and army as well, were prepared for Baptism, some three thousand in all, it is said. A story is told of Clovis, that during the instruction which he was given concerning the Passion of our Lord, he grasped his weapons, and stood up in anger, and exclaimed that such injustice would not have happened if the had been there with his warriors! And at the laver of regeneration, blessed Remigius is reputed to have charged Clovis, saying : Bow down thy head, O Sicambrian! Adore what thou hast burned, and burn what thou hast adored. Thenceforward great progress was made in the spread of the Gospel among the Franks ; and after more than three score and ten years as bishop, full of good works and famous for miracles, blessed Remigius died on January 13^th, about the year 533. But his feast is kept on October 1^st, being the day when Saint Pope Leo IX, in 1049, translated his relicks to the great Abbey in Rheims.

 

Antiphon on the Benedictus:
Well done, good and faithful servant: + thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: * enter thou into the joy of thy Lord (Alleluia.)

Collect:
Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God : that the devout observance of this festival of blessed Remigius, thy confessor and Bishop, may be profitable unto us for our advancement in all godliness, and for the attainment of everlasting salvation. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.