All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
1 Cor 11:1
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
The Confession of St Patrick
I pray God that he gives me perseverance, and that he will deign that I should be a faithful witness for his sake right up to the time of my passing.
I said in my first post that I would probably start this blog out by writing about the title and url of this blog and the screen name by which I write this blog. So far I have commented on the title and url of this blog. The reason the title and url are different is actually pretty simple, I came up with the title first and the url had already been taken. I had to find a different url but wanted to keep the title, so this is the result. Following through with my initial idea, this post will be dedicated to my screen name.
While being received into the Orthodox Church, I had to find a patron saint. For those who might be reading this and do not come from a faith tradition which has patron saints, just think of them as a big brother or sister in Christ in which you can first and foremost recognize Christ and the Holy Spirit in their life having persevered until the end, personally identify with, and look to for guidance in how to live a life in service to and drawing near to God. Most people usually pick someone with the the same name as them, unfortunately I'm not aware of any Orthodox saints sharing my first or middle name. I used to be into music and had a couple of bands a while back, so for a while I thought of St Romanos the Melodist, who was a deacon that had no musical talent (which I also have no talent yet played anyway) but loved to sing in the choir. One night he had a dream and woke up singing what would become the kontakion (a type of hymn) for the Nativity (Today the virgin gives birth to the transcendent one...) and would go on to compose many other hymns including the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos (sung every year in the Orthodox Church during great lent). Another possibility was to choose the saint commemorated on my birthday, St Patrick. I found a chaplet to St Patrick on a Catholic web site that had nothing contradictory to the Orthodox faith, and after praying about it for a time, ended up with the saint whose feast day I've celebrated with some regularity throughout my life as my patron saint. Because St Patrick is my patron saint, when receiving Communion in my church, I am referred to as "The servant of God, Patrick".
St Patrick was born in Britain in the year 373. He was kidnapped, taken to Ireland, and sold into slavery at the age of 16. After watching over sheep as a slave for 6 years he ran away from his master and returned back to his homeland. After spending some time in Europe, Patrick was ordained as a bishop and returned to Ireland as a missionary following the example of the apostles in their missionary journeys. He traveled throughout the island turning the people from their pagan druid religion and converting them to Christ, establishing churches where he went. At one point during Patrick's mission, a British king named Coroticus ordered a raid in which people were taken as slaves on an Irish settlement under Patrick's pastoral care. The same Patrick who had been kidnapped and forced into slavery as a youth, was now writing a letter to a king threatening excommunication and condemnation in defense of and in order to set free the same nation of people who had once held Patrick in bondage. On march 17th in the year 493 (the year of hs death is questioned today, but this date is more consistent with more ancient accounts of him), at the age of 120 years, after spending a lifetime in Ireland converting people and kings, performing mighty acts, healing the sick, raising the dead, establishing churches ordaining bishops and priests, lighting the fire of faith in Christ in Ireland that was prophesied to never die out, St Patrick left the body in order to be present with the Lord Jesus. He defended his flock during his lifetime, helps us now through his prayers at the feet of Christ Himself, and was promised by Christ in a vision to stand as judge alongside the apostles at the resurrection.
While thou didst live on earth, O blessed father Patrick, thou didst bind to thyself the strong name of the Holy Trinity, and faith in the undivided Trinity Who created the universe. Now that thou standest before the throne of the Holy Trinity, entreat Christ our God to save our souls!
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