St Patrick of Ireland

 

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!

            Today is March 17^th, St. Patrick’s day to those who celebrate it, and just another day for other people…who are crazy. Among the Irish people of Europe and North America today is a national day of celebration, a day of great importance and remembrance for a hero of their people. But who really was St. Patrick? Why do we as Orthodox still remember this great Patron Saint of Ireland and why was his teaching important to the furtherance of the Kingdom of God? I hope to in turn answer some of those questions today.

            First, who was St. Patrick? He was the son of a deacon, born in Kilpatrick in Scotland, he was of Scottish origin, not Irish, which most people believe.  His father, Calpurnius the deacon, was part of the Christian minority in Britain at this time, and was the son himself of a priest. Patrick was raised in the Christian faith, but did not have a strong belief in God at this time in his life. Patrick, it seems was the typical teenager questioning the beliefs of his parents and not strong willed. At the age of 16, Patrick was captured by a raiding party and carried off as a slave to Ireland.  It was during this period of captivity, that Patrick’s faith in Christ was fully realized. Obtaining the grace of the Holy Spirit and becoming well versed in Christian theology and the Faith. Patrick at the age of 22, left Ireland and sought clerical training, becoming a priest, and in 430 at the age of 40 a bishop when he returned to Ireland. From there Patrick preached the gospel to the various kings of the counties of Ireland, and gained permission to teach their subjects.  For nearly 31 years of his life, Patrick brought the pagan worship of Ireland to an end, establishing Christianity on the Emerald Isle and bringing light to the darkness. He reposed in the Lord in 461, around the age of 71.

            The next question I would like to answer is why St. Patrick is still remembered by the Orthodox. For most people, St. Patrick is a Catholic saint, who is most revered by the Roman Catholic population of the island. While this is true that St. Patrick is also recognized by the Roman Catholics, we must remember that St. Patrick born in 390 A.D. was born before the Roman Catholics broke away from the Great Church. Before 1054, or even earlier by some accounts, the Orthodox Church was whole, no breaks of communion and no loss of fellowship or heresies were present in the church. Thus, St. Patrick taught an orthodox theology to the people of Ireland. He taught what the Church had always believed. He preached the Creed without the filioque. He did not promulgate the Arian or Nestorian heresies. St. Patrick is Orthodox rather than Roman Catholic because Roman Catholicism only was established with the break of communion with Constantinople and the other 3 patriarchs in 1054. So, St. Patrick is remembered in the Synaxarion by the Orthodox because he was Orthodox before everything else.

            Finally, why was St. Patrick so important for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God? The most obvious answer is his teaching on the Trinity. As many who read the blog know, the earliest of heresies dealt with the Trinity and relationship between the personages of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So too in Ireland the pagans who worshipped many gods, were confused by the Trinity. It is a teaching of the church that has wrought the downfall of many and causes people to rationalize everything and fall into heresy themselves. So much so that among the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus is a created being, rather than God Himself. St. Patrick in defense of the Trinity is famous for using the shamrock, to describe that while each leaf on the shamrock was different, and had its own portion, it was still one shamrock. That is why he is painted on the icons with the shamrock, and why we see shamrocks in stores and decorations around this time. We see his devotion to God in his Lorica, the Breastplate of St. Patrick. This prayer calls upon the trinity and reaffirms the faith of the apostles. It teaches us of the protection God gives through the saints, through the angels. The prayer also calls upon God to shield him from the heretics, from the wiles of the demons, and other evil things. The prayer is a testament not only to the faith of St. Patrick, but to all who call earnestly on the name of God. St. Patrick realizes as do all who yearn for the love of Christ that they can do nothing without Him. (Philippians 4:13).  He also recognizes that salvation comes from nothing else than Christ. You can’t place your faith in riches, in people, in items, in talismans. Salvation is Christ’s and Christ’s alone to give to those who he sees fit. Lastly, St. Patrick is important because he created a bastion of the faith in Ireland. He established a place where Christianity flourished. Though Roman Catholicism and its heresies have taken root in Ireland, Orthodoxy is slowly returning to the isle and many monasteries and churches are being reestablished there. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia came to the island in the 1920s after the Soviet Revolution. The Greeks came in the 1980s. The people of Ireland though wandering aimlessly for all that time never forgot their original faith, and Orthodoxy is again alive and well in Ireland.

            St. Patrick is more than a leprechaun, more than a celebration of Irish heritage. He is a true beacon of hope in the troubling times that we live in today. He has given us the faith of our forefathers. He brought a land out of darkness. St. Patrick is an inspiration to us all who follow Christ. May we remember his love and his devotion on this his feast day and all days in honor of a true hero of Christianity.

Amen.