Troparion (Tone 3)
Holy Bishop Patrick,
Faithful shepherd of Christ's royal flock,
You filled Ireland with the radiance of the Gospel:
The mighty strength of the Trinity!
Now that you stand before the Savior,
Pray that He may preserve us in faith and love!
Kontakion (Tone 4)
From slavery you escaped to freedom in Christ's service:
He sent you to deliver Ireland from the devil's bondage.
You planted the Word of the Gospel in pagan hearts.
In your journeys and hardships you rivaled the Apostle Paul!
Having received the reward for your labors in heaven,
Never cease to pray for the flock you have gathered on earth,
Holy bishop Patrick!
Holy Bishop Patrick,
Faithful shepherd of Christ's royal flock,
You filled Ireland with the radiance of the Gospel:
The mighty strength of the Trinity!
Now that you stand before the Savior,
Pray that He may preserve us in faith and love!
Kontakion (Tone 4)
From slavery you escaped to freedom in Christ's service:
He sent you to deliver Ireland from the devil's bondage.
You planted the Word of the Gospel in pagan hearts.
In your journeys and hardships you rivaled the Apostle Paul!
Having received the reward for your labors in heaven,
Never cease to pray for the flock you have gathered on earth,
Holy bishop Patrick!
Nor is listening to the Dubliners or the Pogues and celebrating everything Irish.
It is an important day for Ireland because it celebrates the man who bought Christianity to that island.
And that is how we will celebrate St Patrick's day on this blog, we will remember the man.
Saint Patrick was born in Scotland around about 390 AD.
He was captured as a youth by pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave. But after six years in captivity he escaped and went to England.
After his escape he had a dream where he saw the people of Ireland calling out to him "We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us."
So he studied for the priesthood and was ordained by St. Germanus the bishop of Auxerre.
And after becoming a Bishop, St Patrick did indeed return to the people of Ireland and he preached the Gospel, reaching out to the tribal chieftains and gaining their permission to teach their subjects.
And thereby establishing Christianity in Ireland where it has remained to this day.
Saint Patrick fell asleep in the Lord on the 17th of March in 461 Anno Domini..
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ReplyDeleteHere's a post from a few years ago on this day, with St Patrick's prayer as he prepared to defeat paganism.
ReplyDeleteHe taught them about the nature of the three persons in God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) by using the shamrock or three leaf clover.
ReplyDeleteA modern version of this (I have heard someone use) is of putting a bottle of Cola into the refrigerator until ice forms. When you take it out you have three states solid (ice), liquid, and gas all in the one bottle, but it's still all Cola.
Fletch, cool.
ReplyDeleteAnd didn't he banish snakes from Ireland too?
ReplyDeleteOf course, the pollies are still there :)
"Here is someone whose sufferings enlarged rather than degraded his soul, whose love for the Irish that had captured and enslaved him was one of the purest examples of Christ’s own, and whose simple, good-humored faith [drove a] multitude of serpents roaring and hissing from Ireland.
ReplyDeleteThose serpents, the dark old Irish gods, [and the terrible fear by which they bind men], are not gone from the world. They lurk in many places, waiting to reestablish their reign wherever men turn from the light."