Patron Saints
August 24th 2009 16:58
You may have picked that I have a strong affection for Mary the Mother of God; my patron saint is also a woman-St Bridget of Kildare in Ireland. Someone suggested sometime ago that my fascination for women saints was because i was at that time single!!! Well I am no longer single but still fascinated by both the Mother of God and St Bridget. I am also fascinated by both St Paul the Apostle and the Venerable Paul Xeropotamou, founder of the monastery of St Paul Xeropotamou on Mount Athos.
Since my given name is Paul-I can remember when first names were called Christian names-so that is how my interest in the Apostle started and when I had the chance to visit the Holy Mountain of Mount Athos, I couldn't decide which monastery to go to, so why not go to the one with the same name!!?? It wasn't rocket science, but then does God want things to be too complicated? I hope not, I am a simple soul really. St Bridget, well her feast day is February 1st-the day before my birthday and also my late paternal grandfather's birthday. St Bridget under the name of St Bride is the patron saint of my mother's family from Scotland, the Douglases. She was, my priest remarked, tapping on my shoulder. St Bridget also lived before the Great Schism of 1054, which separated sadly Eastern and Western Christianity, so she was a Saint of the Undivided Church.
The Mother of God is ubiquitous in Orthodox worship and quite rightly so. The more I look at her, the more I think of her, the more it is clear how important she is. I have already touched on this in other postings, but it seems so clear to me, that Mary is the role model for us all.If there is anyone person in Scripture for whom it is right to model ourselves on it must be her. What a shame so few sermons are preached on Mary.
In XC
Paul
Since my given name is Paul-I can remember when first names were called Christian names-so that is how my interest in the Apostle started and when I had the chance to visit the Holy Mountain of Mount Athos, I couldn't decide which monastery to go to, so why not go to the one with the same name!!?? It wasn't rocket science, but then does God want things to be too complicated? I hope not, I am a simple soul really. St Bridget, well her feast day is February 1st-the day before my birthday and also my late paternal grandfather's birthday. St Bridget under the name of St Bride is the patron saint of my mother's family from Scotland, the Douglases. She was, my priest remarked, tapping on my shoulder. St Bridget also lived before the Great Schism of 1054, which separated sadly Eastern and Western Christianity, so she was a Saint of the Undivided Church.
The Mother of God is ubiquitous in Orthodox worship and quite rightly so. The more I look at her, the more I think of her, the more it is clear how important she is. I have already touched on this in other postings, but it seems so clear to me, that Mary is the role model for us all.If there is anyone person in Scripture for whom it is right to model ourselves on it must be her. What a shame so few sermons are preached on Mary.
In XC
Paul
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