The Greeks have a word – or two – for it: 58, ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia), θεοφάνεια, (theopháneia),Epiphany and Theophany

The Blessing of the Water at the Venetian harbour in Rethymnon … a Theophany or Epiphany tradition that brings the Christmas celebrations to a close (Photograph: Municipality of Rethymno, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Tomorrow (6 January) is the Feast of the Epiphany, which celebrates three Epiphanies of Theophanies, when God is seen as present among us in the person of Christ:

1, The visit of the Magi (Matthew 2: 1-12);

2, The Baptism of Christ (Matthew 3: 13-17; Mark 1: 9-11; Luke 3: 15-22; John 1: 29-33);

3, The Wedding at Cana (John 2: 1-11).

Alternative names for the feast in Greek include τα Θεοφάνια (ta Theophánia), ‘Theophany’, a neuter plural rather than feminine singular; η Ημέρα των Φώτων (i Iméra ton Fóton), ‘The Day of the Lights’, and τα Φώτα (ta Fóta), ‘The Lights’.

We often describe the moment when something enlightens us or dawns on us as an Epiphany moment. But in theological terms, an Epiphany or Theophany is a moment when God becomes manifest, when people realise who Christ truly is.

In Greece and among Greek speakers, tomorrow (6 January) is Θεοφάνεια (Theophania) and brings the Christmas celebrations to a conclusion. People are going to gather at the nearest seaside, lake or river, where the priest blesses a cross, throws it into the water, and young men dive in to retrieve the cross.

The Feast of the Holy Epiphany or Holy Theophany (Γιορτή των Αγίων Θεοφανείων) is being marked tomorrow (6 January) by the Greek Orthodox Community in Stony Stratford with Orthros (9 am), the Divine Liturgy, the Great Anointing, and the Blessing of the Great Ouse.

But what is the difference between Epiphany and Theophany, in theology, language and culture?

An icon of the Baptism of Christ, worked on a cut of olive wood by Eleftheria Syrianoglou, in an exhibition in the Fortezza in Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The word Epiphany, from the Koine Greek ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia), means a manifestation or appearance. It is derived from the verb φαίνειν (phainein), meaning ‘to appear’. In classical Greek it was used for the appearance of dawn or of an enemy in war, for example, but especially of a manifestation of a deity to a worshipper.

In the Septuagint, the word is used of a manifestation of the God of Israel (II Maccabees 15: 27). In the New Testament, the word is used in II Timothy 1: 10 to refer either to the birth of Christ or to his appearance after his resurrection, and five times to refer to his Second Coming.

Epiphanies, or visions of gods, were reported and believed in many cities in ancient Greece. They were most commonly reported on the battlefields and, during moments of crisis, when citizens were most eager to believe that the gods of their poliswere coming to assist them.

An alleged visitation or manifestation of a god was known as an epiphaneia (ἡ ἐπιφάνεια). Sometimes the gods who appeared were prominent deities, but more often, they were minor figures, whose shrines were linked to the location of a particular event or battle. The gods did not always reveal themselves to mortals, but could indicate their presence through physical signs or unusual phenomena.

They could also appear to individuals, particularly in dreams. But epiphanies tend to have been reported more frequently at times of extreme danger, such as the Persian Wars. For example, at the Battle of Marathon in 490 it was said that Pan, Theseus and others fought against the Persians. It was widely said that on the eve of the battle of Marathon the runner Pheidippides met Pan on Mount Parthenion, where the god promised to support the Athenians. After their unexpected victory, the Athenians introduced the cult of Pan to their city.

At the Battle of Salamis, visions of the sons of Aias were reported. Themistokles said that the Greek victory over the Persian fleet at Salamis was aided by gods and heroes.

Accounts of attacks on Delphi, the most sacred Panhellenic sanctuary, attracted reports of battlefield epiphanies. Herodotos says that when the forces of Xerxes attacked the sanctuary in 480 BCE, two giant heroes were seen repelling the Persians. But not all epiphanies were believed. Dionysios of Halikarnassos said that many accounts of epiphanies were ridiculed.

The name Epiphanes was used by the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties who ruled in Hellenised Egypt and in the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire in Syria, both successors to Alexander the Great’s broken empire. In their vanity, they adopted the divine-sounding epithet Epiphanes, meaning ‘god manifest’, to enhance their royal image.

Ptolemy V Epiphanes reigned in 204-181 BCE and took this title in a display of a Hellenistic trend of divine self-presentation.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes reigned as the Seleucid king in Syria from 175 to 164 BCE. He seized power, aggressively promoted Hellenisation, attempted to suppress Judaism, and sparked the Maccabean revolt, recalled in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. He became a major villain in Jewish history and has been described as ‘the Bible’s most notoriously forgotten villain; equalling Pharaoh of the Exodus and King Nebuchadnezzar, or some of the Israelite monarchs, such as Saul and Ahab, or the great villains in the New Testament, including King Herod the Great and the Roman emperors Nero and Domitian.

By calling himself Epiphanes, Antiochus also claimed to be Zeus incarnate. According to the books of Maccabees and the Jewish historian Josephus, Antiochus plundered the Jerusalem Temple and carried off the sacred vessels to help finance his campaigns.

When Antiochus arrived in Jerusalem, he slaying many innocents and brutally enforcing his cultural and religious policies on the population, outlawing circumcision, burning sacred scriptures, and imposing brutally punishments, including death. Antiochus built a new fortress known as the Acra or ‘the Citadel’ and proceeded to profane the Temple by erecting idols and sacrificing pigs to Zeus on the altar.

The Jewish revolt led by the Maccabees is celebrated at Hanukkah. Soon after, the Seleucid kingdom crumbled as well. The Greek historian Polybius, in a pun in Greek, referred to Antiochus as Ἐπιμανής (Epimanes), ‘the Insane One’.

The Adoration of the Magi, by Mikhail Damaskinos (ca 1585-1591) in the Museum of Christian Art in the Church of Saint Catherine of Sinai, Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The word epiphany does not appear in the Greek Orthodox liturgical texts for the feast of the Theophany on 6 January.

The word theophany derives from the Ancient Greek θεοφάνεια (theopháneia), meaning ‘appearance of a god’ from θεός (theós), ‘divinity’, and φαίνειν (phainein), ‘to show’ or ‘to appear’. A theophany was an ‘appearance of a deity’, or an encounter with a deity that manifests in a visible, observable and tangible form. But they are not considered theophanies unless the deity reveals itself in a visible form.

While the Iliad is the earliest source for descriptions of theophanies in classical antiquity, the first description appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

These appearances of deities to humans could be in anthropomorphic form or as other phenomena, such as light, fire, or cloud, and often served to affirm the deity’s favour, deliver a message, or enact divine will. In the Hebrew Bible and related literature, theophanies are often characterised by awe-inspiring phenomena such as thunder, fire, clouds, or bright light.

In ancient Greek religion, theophanies typically occurred through visions or dreams, either spontaneously or as the result of ritual preparation. Although rare in historical accounts, mythological literature contains numerous examples of gods appearing to mortals in anthropomorphic form. These include Zeus appearing to Semele, Athena guiding Odysseus, or Apollo communicating with seers and prophets.

In cult practices, theophanies were reenacted and commemorated in ritual settings. The theophania (θεοφάνια) at Delphi was an annual spring festival celebrating the return of Apollo from his winter sojourn.

The Theophany is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, celebrated on 6 January. This feast recalls the Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist or Saint John the Forerunner in the River Jordan, marking the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry and revealing God as Trinity: the Father’s voice is heard above, the Son is incarnate and standing physically in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descends on him.

On this day, the day before Theophania, children go house-to-house singing kalanta (carols) and are given coins or sweets in return. In churches, on the eve of the feast, the Mikros Agiasmos (the Lesser Blessing of the Waters) is celebrated, where a bowl of water is blessed and distributed among people.

The Feast of the Theophany tomorrow is the culmination of the Christmas Season, starting on 25 December and ending on 6 January. The traditional celebrations include the Great Blessing of Water, Μέγας Αγιασμός (Megas Agiasmos). In Rethymnon, the ceremony takes place at the Venetian Harbour, with hundreds of people lining the harbour front to see the celebrations.

After the final prayer, the priest raises his arm and throws a wooden crucifix out across the water. As he does this, swimmers dive headfirst, and thrash frantically to find where the cross has landed. Stretching out to grab the holy prize, the winner clutches the cross before kissing it, and holding it high above their head. One man is said to have retrieved the cross in Rethymnon on 11 consecutive years.

Retrieving the cross was traditionally reserved for men. But in 2018 in the village of Platanias, west of Chania, Maria Varouxaki became the first woman in Crete to take part and beat her all-male competitors.

‘We three kings of Orient’ … the Adoration of the Magi in a Christmas card from the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge

Previous words in this series:

1, Neologism, Νεολογισμός.

2, Welcoming the stranger, Φιλοξενία.

3, Bread, Ψωμί.

4, Wine, Οίνος and Κρασί.

5, Yogurt, Γιαούρτι.

6, Orthodoxy, Ορθοδοξία.

7, Sea, Θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ.

8,Theology, Θεολογία.

9, Icon, Εἰκών.

10, Philosophy, Φιλοσοφία.

11, Chaos, Χάος.

12, Liturgy, Λειτουργία.

13, Greeks, Ἕλληνες or Ρωμαίοι.

14, Mañana, Αύριο.

15, Europe, Εὐρώπη.

16, Architecture, Αρχιτεκτονική.

17, The missing words.

18, Theatre, θέατρον, and Drama, Δρᾶμα.

19, Pharmacy, Φᾰρμᾰκείᾱ.

20, Rhapsody, Ραψῳδός.

21, Holocaust, Ολοκαύτωμα.

22, Hygiene, Υγιεινή.

23, Laconic, Λακωνικός.

24, Telephone, Τηλέφωνο.

25, Asthma, Ασθμα.

26, Synagogue, Συναγωγή.

27, Diaspora, Διασπορά.

28, School, Σχολείο.

29, Muse, Μούσα.

30, Monastery, Μοναστήρι.

31, Olympian, Ολύμπιος.

32, Hypocrite, Υποκριτής.

33, Genocide, Γενοκτονία.

34, Cinema, Κινημα.

35, autopsy and biopsy

36, Exodus, ἔξοδος

37, Bishop, ἐπίσκοπος

38, Socratic, Σωκρατικὸς

39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια

40, Practice, πρᾶξις

41, Idiotic, Ιδιωτικός

42, Pentecost, Πεντηκοστή

43, Apostrophe, ἀποστροφή

44, catastrophe, καταστροφή

45, democracy, δημοκρατία

46, ‘Αρχή, beginning, Τέλος, end

47, ‘Αποκάλυψις, Apocalypse

48, ‘Απόκρυφα, Apocrypha

49, Ἠλεκτρον (Elektron), electric

50, Metamorphosis, Μεταμόρφωσις

51, Bimah, βῆμα

52, ἰχθύς (ichthýs) and ψάρι (psari), fish.

53, Τὰ Βιβλία (Ta Biblia), The Bible

54, Φῐλοξενῐ́ᾱ (Philoxenia), true hospitality

55, εκκλησία (ekklesia), the Church

56, ναός (naos) and ἱερός (ieros), a church

57, Χριστούγεννα (Christougenna), Christmas

58, ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia), θεοφάνεια, (theopháneia),
Epiphany and Theophany

59, Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros), the West Wind

60, Αύριο (Avrio), Tomorrow.

61, καλημέρα (κaliméra), ‘Good Morning’, and καλαμάρι, κalamári, ‘squid’.

Series to be continued

An icon of the Baptism of Christ in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Updated: 6 January 2026 with a photograph of the day’s celebrations in Rethymnon

Saint Patrick’s, Soho Square, was first built for poor Irish Catholics living in squalid slums in London

Saint Patrick’s Church on Soho Square is one of the oldest post-Reformation Catholic parish churches in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

As I was walking around Soho Square recently, in search of Soho’s Jewish history and of local architectural landmarks, I also visited the two churches on the square: Saint Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church and the French Protestant Church.

Saint Patrick’s on Soho Square is one of the oldest post-Reformation Catholic parishes in London, and the original church on the site was the first Catholic place of worship to open in London after the Roman Catholic Relief Acts were passed in 1778 and 1791 and the first post-Reformation church in England dedicated to Saint Patrick.

The first church on the site was in a building behind Carlisle House and was consecrated in 1792. The present church, built in 1891-1893, is a Grade II* listed building designed by the Leeds architect John Kelly.

Inside Saint Patrick’s Church, Soho Square, designed by the Leeds architect John Kelly and built in 1891-1893 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Catholic martyrs on their way to execution at Tyburn in the 16th and 17th centuries, were given their last drink in Saint Giles’s and were buried in the churchyard of Saint Giles-in-the-Fields. The last of these martyrs, Saint Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, was executed at Tyburn in 1681.

Several embassies were in Soho in the 18th century, and they had private chapels where Catholics attended Mass. The French Embassy and chapel were in Greek Street in the 1730s; the Neapolitan Embassy and chapel were at 13 Soho Square for a time; and 21 Soho Square housed the Spanish Embassy and chapel in the 1770s, although it later became the White House, an unsavoury hotel and high-class brothel.

Carlisle House was built in 1690 as the town house of the Earl of Carlisle. It was leased in the 1760s by Teresa Cornelys, a Venetian adventuress and sometime opera singer, whose former lovers included Casanova. The house was a venue for masquerade balls, operas and recitals until she was fined for staging operas without a licence. The old mansion was demolished in 1788 and two houses, 21a and 21b Soho Square, were built on the site.

The number of Catholics living in the area rose significantly in the 18th century, with thousands of Irish immigrants living around the Rookery, a squalid slum on the edge of Soho often called ‘Little Ireland’ or ‘Little Dublin’. In response to their plight, the Confraternity of Saint Patrick was founded in October 1791 by a group of prosperous Irish Catholics who wanted to acquire Carlisle House and convert it into a chapel.

The monument to Father Arthur O’Leary in Saint Patrick’s Church, Soho Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Father Arthur O’Leary (1729-1802), a celebrated Irish Capuchin preacher and controversialist who was staying at Wardour Street, raised the funds to lease Carlisle House. He was born in Fanlobbus, Dunmanway, Co Cork. He was educated by the Capuchins in Saint Malo, where he was ordained and spent 24 years as a prison chaplain. He returned to Cork in 1777 and his preaching soon attracted large numbers. He played a key role in the ‘Paper War’, arguing for Catholic Emancipation, and later supported the Act of Union as a means to Catholic emancipation.

Father O’Leary moved to London and he was a chaplain at the Spanish Embassy from 1789 until he died. His social circle included Edmund Burke, Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Charles James Fox.

O’Leary acquired a 62-year lease on the property on Soho Square, and the chapel was solemnly opened on 29 September 1792. Bishop John Douglass (1743-1812) presided at the Mass and Father O’Leary preached the sermon.

A statue of Saint Patrick in Saint Patrick’s Church, Soho Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Father Daniel Gaffey became the chaplain of the new church, but for many years it continued to be known as ‘Father O’Leary’s Chapel’. Its fittings included a painting of the Crucifixion by Van Dyck or a pupil. The organ was built by Robert and William Gray in 1793 and the early organists included Vincent Novello, the musician, composer and music publisher.

When Pope Pius VI died in captivity in France in 1799 a prisoner of Napoleon, the papal envoy in London, Cardinal Charles Erskine (1739-1811), chose Saint Patrick’s for the official papal requiem. The Mass began at 10 in the morning and finished at 3:30 in the afternoon, with Father O’Leary preaching. O’Leary died a few years later in January 1802, aged 72, and was buried in Old Saint Pancras Churchyard.

The most densely crowded part of Saint Giles’s Rookery was demolished in the 1840s to make way for New Oxford Street. The number of very poor Catholics then numbered about 10,000 people. Most lived in the part of the Rookery that remained, south of New Oxford Street around Church Lane, until this too was demolished later in the 19th century.

The High Altar and sanctuary in Saint Patrick’s Church, Soho Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The original Saint Patrick’s Chapel was in an unsafe conditions when it was demolished in 1889. The present church, designed by John Kelly of Leeds, was built on the site in 1891-1893.

John Kelly (1840-1904) and Edward Birchall (1839-1903) were partners in Kelly and Birchall, an architectural practice in Leeds from 1886 to 1904, specialising in churches in the Italianate and Gothic Revival styles. Kelly’s other churches include Saint Alban and Saint Stephen in St Albans, Hertfordshire (1903).

Kelly made the fullest use of the available space on a narrow site as he skilfully planned the interior, and his church transformed the site.

The church was built in the Italian Renaissance style with small-gauge dark red brick, with rubbed brick detail. It has a west campanile tower, vestibule, antechapel, aisled, apsidal sanctuary and south chapel. The main entrance has a Roman-style porch with Corinthian columns. Above the entrance is the inscription: Ut Christiani ita et Romani sitis (‘Be ye Christians as those of the Roman Church’), a quotation from the writings of Saint Patrick.

Inside Saint Patrick’s Church, Soho Square, facing the west end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The main entrance has a portico in Portland stone, with Corinthian columns and pilasters, and the Papal tiara and keys set into the pediment. This forms the base of the imposing 125 ft high campanile that rises in arcaded stages. A niche in the tower has a statue of Saint Patrick by Boulton and Sons.

The tower, the main body of the church and the narthex are built in red brick. A blind arcade forms the north wall of the nave along Sutton Street (now Sutton Row) with a clerestory and another blind arcade above. The octagonal vestibule at the bottom of the campanile, and the antechapel beyond it, occupy the entire width of the old presbytery.

Inside, the church has an elegant, light and airy nave without aisles. The round-headed arches are separated by tall Corinthian pilasters that form shallow recesses along the sides. These bays accommodate a series of side chapels, shrines and the confessionals.

A plain-glassed clerestory runs along the north and south sides of the nave and along the west end wall over the gallery, and the west wall has a large, round window. The barrel-vaulted ceiling is coffered. The nave ends in an apsidal sanctuary, the two separated by marble altar rails with intricately carved, pierced panels.

The Baptistry in Saint Patrick’s Church, Soho Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The high altar is built of white marble with amber marble panels. The two tiers of the apse wall, above and below the cornice, are ornamented with Corinthian pilasters. The arch and domed ceiling of the sanctuary are ribbed and panelled, in the same manner as the nave.

The iron and brass tabernacle from the old chapel was adapted to the new high altar. The Gray organ had been rebuilt by Hill in 1882 and was installed on the left of the sanctuary.

The Stations of the Cross from the old chapel were re-erected in the nave. The former high altar was used in Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel, with the altarpiece of the Crucifixion. Phyffers’s Pietà and the Mater Dolorosa attributed to Dolci were in the same chapel, along with a relic of Saint Oliver Plunkett.

The elaborate, neo-Renaissance Carrara marble altar in Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel, at the west end of the nave on the south side, was donated to the church in 1892.

The 18th-century Carrara marble Pietà in the vestibule (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The 18th-century Carrara marble Pietà in the vestibule features an angel holding the body of Christ. A large mural memorial commemorating Father O’Leary, with his portrait carved in relief, was re-erected in the antechapel on the right. I also noticed a copy of Murillo’s ‘Mater Dolorosa’ at the back of the church, below the gallery.

The church holds several old pre-Reformation vestments, including chasubles once used in the private chapel of Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. Their original embroidery and orphreys have been restored and, 500 years later, they are still worn on special occasions.

During the Blitz, a German bomb penetrated the church roof on 19 November 1940, struck a pier on the south side of the nave and hit the floor, but failed to detonate.

A copy of Murillo’s ‘Mater Dolorosa’ at the back of the church, below the gallery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Many alterations have been made to Kelly’s church since it was built. The old Stations of the Cross were replaced by ones in cast relief, the former high altar was moved to the Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel, and the altar to Saint Anthony of Padua in the antechapel dates from the 1920s.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the first Catholic television evangelist, was a regular preacher in Saint Patrick’s from the 1920s to the 1960s. He once described himself as the ‘unappointed curate of the Parish’ and often stayed in the parish house.

In the 1960s, in response to the reforms following the Second Vatican Council, the high altar was adapted from the mensa of the original and brought forward to a lower position, leaving the reredos in situ.

Saint Patrick’s Church was renovated and refurbished at a cost of £4 million in 2010-2011. During the renovations, Mass was celebrated nearby in the Chapel of Saint Barnabas, at the House of Saint Barnabas.

Today, only a handful of resident Catholics remains in the parish. Hundreds of people continue to attend Saint Patrick’s Church, but they are mostly visitors, tourists and people working in the area. The church continues to attract immigrants and migrant workers from across London, and Mass is regularly celebrated in both Spanish and Portuguese.

Looking out on Soho Square from Saint Patrick’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Did St Patrick Bring Christianity to Ireland?

The Last Word:
Did St Patrick Bring Christianity
to Ireland?

Patrick Comerford

Traditionally and romantically, St Patrick is said to have converted the entire population of Ireland from paganism in a very short period between 432 and 461, less than the span of one generation. These dates are of significance in the history of the wider Church: Saint Augustine died in 430, the Council of Ephesus met in 431, and the Council of Chalcedon met in 451.

But putting aside myth and romance, it is important to recognise that there were Christians in Ireland before Saint Patrick arrived and that Irish mythology was long anxious to claim Irish connections with the Christian story before Patrick. These include the stories of Altus, said to have been an Irish witness to the passion and death of Christ; Conor Mac Nessa, King of Ireland, who died of a broken heart when he heard of Christ’s crucifixion; Cormac Mac Airt, who converted to Christianity in the third century; and Mansuetus, said to have been an Irish bishop in fourth century France.

But there is a realistic medium between these legends and the concept of a sudden conversion to Christianity at the hands of a single missionary. Tacitus (ca 55-120 AD) tells us that British or Gallic merchants had a reasonably good knowledge of Ireland’s ‘harbours and approaches’. The ‘Celtic’ people in Ireland were traders, raiders and plunderers, and there is evidence of Roman traders reaching Irish harbours and beyond them up rivers such as the Nore and the Barrow, trading in wine, oil and wheat. The Irish imported pottery, metal-work and bric-a-brac from Roman Gaul and Britain, and exported copper, gold, slaves, hides, cattle and wolfhounds.

By the end of the third century, people from Ireland were establishing colonies in Wales, Cornwall and Scotland. By the third or fourth century, there was regular commercial, mercantile and social contact with Roman communities in Britain and Gaul. There have been abundant finds of looted Roman coins all along the north and east coasts of Ireland, and Roman silver ingots with similar Christian provenance have been found in Kent and Limerick.

Catherine Swift argues convincingly that many among the ruling class in Ireland adopted the cultural habits and social customs of Roman Britons. What is now Cathedral Hill in Armagh is an example of one of their temple sites.

Christianity probably arrived in Ireland in the fourth and early fifth centuries by a slow and gradual process from Britain and from continental Europe, probably from Gaul and what we now know as Germany, and perhaps even from the Iberian peninsula, including present-day Spain and Portugal.

Niall of the Nine Hostages commanded several raiding expeditions across the Irish Sea. British captives carried off by Irish raiders may be yet another way of Christianity coming to have a presence on this island. Some educated continental Christians may also have sought refuge in Ireland during the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire at the start of the fourth century, bringing their Christianity with them.

Other points of contact include the contacts made by the Irish migrants in Britain, and trade links with Roman Britain, Gaul and Spain. A gravestone for a fifth century Irish Christian has been found in a Christian cemetery in Trier, and fifth century Christians, some with Latin names, are commemorated on ogham stones in Carlow, Waterford, Cork and Kerry.

In other words, many factors indicate the arrival of Christianity in Ireland long before Patrick was captured as a slave, and there was a considerable Christian presence on this island before Patrick began his mission in 432.

Patrick’s life and mission

The traditional account of the life of St Patrick says he was born about 372 in Roman Britain in Bannavem Taburniae, perhaps in Cumbria or at a Roman outpost at Dumbarton in Scotland. He says his father Calpornius was a deacon and his grandfather Potitus was a priest; both were from a relatively prosperous class of Romans.

At the age of 16, the young Patrick was captured in a great raid along with ‘many thousands of people’ (Confessio 1). According to his own account, some of them were lukewarm Christians, and some could also have been committed Christians, perhaps even priests. His account of his escape from slavery at the age of 22 may be evidence of an escape network for fugitive slaves run by concerned Christians, more than 20 years before Patrick began his own mission (Confessio 17 and 18).

After his escape, Patrick had visions in which he heard the cry of the people in Ireland pleading to him to come back. It is an image that may have drawn on Saint Paul’s vision in Troy of a man calling him across the sea to Macedonia (see Acts 16: 9-10). Most of the details we have of his life are from his Confessio, written in reply to the attacks on his character brought against him in England, and from his Letter to Coroticus.

Patrick arrived back in Ireland from Britain around 432. According to J.B. Bury, he landed in Wicklow, at the mouth of the River Vartry. Traditions associate his early mission with the islands off the Skerries coast, Co Dublin, and Saul, Co. Down. But there are traditions too of Irish saints who preceded St Patrick: St Ciaran of Seir Kieran, Co Offaly; St Ibar or Iberius of Begerin, Co Wexford; his nephew, St Abban of Adamstown, Co Wexford; St Declan of Ardmore, Co Waterford; St Declan’s friend, St Ailbe of Emly, Co Tipperary; St Meltioc or Multose of Kinsale, Co Cork; and so on.

Most of these saints are associated with the south and the south-east. Although there is no primary evidence to support these largely unreliable traditions, they underpin a truth that Christianity was in Ireland for generations before Saint Patrick arrived and that he was not the first person to bring Christianity to Ireland.

The background to St Patrick’s mission includes the presence of perhaps three heresies in Ireland – Arianism, Priscillianism and Pelagianism. Palladius was ordained by Pope Celestine, perhaps in 431, and was sent as the ‘first bishop’ on a mission to ‘the Scotti [Irish] who believe in Christ.’ So, from at least the third decade of the fifth century, Irish Christians were numerically large enough to have a bishop sent from Rome, and Palladius is associated with a number of church sites in Leinster. His work was continued, perhaps, by figures such as Secundinus, Auxilius and Iserninus. His mission activities and those of Patrick may have been confused in later writings, so that much of the work and success of Palladius was attributed wrongly to Patrick.

The late Professor Patrick Corish of Maynooth, in The Irish Catholic Experience (1985), links the mission of Palladius in Leinster with, perhaps, three churches in Co Wicklow. The circular letter known as The First Synod of Saint Patrick seems to provide evidence of a second-generation missionary Church in Leinster, and this stream of Christianity in Ireland has been associated with the Church in Kildare.

By the time Patrick began his mission, the foundations had been laid for a Church in Ireland that in the centuries that followed became a vibrant missionary Church. But, while the missions of Palladius and Patrick may have overlapped, Patrick does not refer to Palladius. Patrick was working in fresh territory, while Roman missionaries in Leinster were consolidating the work of Palladius and others who, by 431, had ensured that there were many people in Ireland who were Christians.

Patrick Comerford is a Church of Ireland priest living in retirement near Milton Keynes. He has lectured in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute and TCD and is a former Irish Times journalist.

Naomh Pádraig Seamus Murphy, 1907-1975, Polished limestone, 1949, St Patrick’s College Maynooth, Photograph supplied by St Patrick’s College Maynooth

• Patrick Comerford, ‘Did St Patrick Bring Christianity to Ireland’, Conversations (Dublin: Dominican Publications, ed Bernard Treacy), Vol 1 No 2, March/April 2024, pp 77-80, ISSN 2990-8388.

Daily prayer in Lent with early English saints: 20, 4 March 2024, Saint Wilfrid of Ripon

Saint Wilfrid depicted in a stained-glass window in Saint Mary’s Church in Whitby, Yorkshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

The Season of Lent began on Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), and yesterday was the Third Sunday in Lent (Lent III, 3 March 2024).

Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated in Common Worship.

Before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Saint Wilfrid (right), with Saint Cuthbert (centre) and Saint Aidan (left), depicted in a stained-glass window in the Church of Saint John Lee near Acomb, Northumberland (Photograph: Mike Quinn / Wikipedia/ CC BY-SA 2.0)

Early English pre-Reformation saints: 20, Saint Wilfrid of Ripon (709), Bishop, Missionary

Saint Wilfrid of Ripon (709), Bishop, Missionary, is commemorated in Common Worship on 12 October. Wilfrid, or Wilfrith, was born in Northumbria ca 633. He was educated at the monastery of Lindisfarne, but disapproved of what he judged to be the Celtic insularity of the monks there.

He travelled to Canterbury and then to Rome, and spent three years at Lyons where he was admitted as a monk. He was appointed Abbot of Ripon and took with him the Roman monastic system and Benedictine Rule, which he immediately introduced. At the Synod of Whitby, his dominance was largely responsible for the victory of the Roman party over the Celts.

When Saint Wilfrid was elected Bishop of York in 664 in succession to Saint Chad, he went to Compiègne to be consecrated by 12 Frankish bishops rather than risk any doubt of schism by being ordained by Celtic bishops. There were upsets first with Saint Chad and then with Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury, but the Roman authorities took his side and he was eventually restored to his see.

After further disputes, he resigned the See of York and became Bishop of Hexham, spending his remaining years at Ripon. His gift to the English Church was to make it more clearly a part of the Church universal, but his manner and methods did not draw people close to him at a personal level. He died on 12 October 709 and was buried in Ripon.

Saint Wilfrid was Bishop of York in 644-678 … York Minster is the second largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Luke 4: 24-30 (NRSVA):

24 And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

The Oratory Church of Saint Wilfrid in York, also known as York Oratory (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 4 March 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘International Women’s Day Reflection.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by the Right Revd Beverley A Mason, Bishop of Warrington.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (4 March 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

Like the Syro-Phoenician, may we have the courage to transcend mental, spiritual, social and religious boundaries and humbly kneel before the Lord our God, bringing our gifts of faith, hope and love.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful Lord,
grant your people grace to withstand the temptations
of the world, the flesh and the devil,
and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Eternal God,
give us insight
to discern your will for us,
to give up what harms us,
and to seek the perfection we are promised
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection: Saint Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne

Tomorrow: The Venerable Bede

The tower of Saint Wilfrid’s Church, York, with York Minster in the background (Photograph Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Last edited: 14 March 2024

Daily prayer in Lent with early English saints: 16, 29 February 2024, Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne

Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne depicted in a window of the Church of All Saints Pavement, York (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

The Season of Lent began earlier this month on Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), and this week began with the Second Sunday in Lent (Lent II, 25 February 2024).

Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated in Common Worship.

Before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne depicted in a window in the baptistry in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

Early English pre-Reformation saints: 16, Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne

Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne is commemorated in Common Worship on 20 March. He was probably born in the Scottish lowlands around the year 640. At the age of eight, a prophetic remark from a playmate turned his mind to sober and godly thoughts, and his upbringing as a shepherd gave him ample time for prayer.

One night, he saw a dazzling light in the sky and angels carrying a soul up to heaven, and resolved to dedicate his life to God. Some years later, Cuthbert came to Melrose Abbey asking to be admitted as a monk. From there, he began his missionary work, which he continued from Lindisfarne when he became abbot there.

He was consecrated bishop in 685. He remained an indefatigable traveller and preacher, walking all over his diocese, and spending time as a hermit on Farne Island in between.

After only a year, however, he felt his end coming and resigned his office. He died on Farne in the company of a few of his monks.

Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (right) in the Church of All Saints Pavement, York, with Saint Paulinus of York (centre) and Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne (left) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Luke 16: 19-31 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 19 ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24 He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” 25 But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” 27 He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house – 28 for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” 29 Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” 30 He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” 31 He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead”.’

The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31) … a stained glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Banbury, Oxford

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 29 February 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Lent Reflection: Freedom in Christ.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Bianca Daébs (Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil).

The USPG Prayer Diary today (29 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

Thank you for our Salvation in Christ, and thank you Father, for the freedom we have in him.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
you show to those who are in error the light of your truth,
that they may return to the way of righteousness:
grant to all those who are admitted
into the fellowship of Christ’s religion,
that they may reject those things
that are contrary to their profession,
and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same;
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
you see that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves:
keep us both outwardly in our bodies,
and inwardly in our souls;
that we may be defended from all adversities
which may happen to the body,
and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Almighty God,
by the prayer and discipline of Lent
may we enter into the mystery of Christ’s sufferings,
and by following in his Way
come to share in his glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection: Saint Hilda of Whitby

Tomorrow: Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, Scholar

The story of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31) has inspired great artists, and composers like Vaughan Williams

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Lent with early English saints: 15, 28 February 2024, Saint Hilda of Whitby

Saint Hilda (614-680), the founding Abbess of Whitby, depicted in a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Whitby (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

The Season of Lent began earlier this month on Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), and this week began with the Second Sunday in Lent (Lent II, 25 February 2024).

Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated in Common Worship.

Before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Whitby Abbey played a crucial role as the venue for the Synod of Whitby in the year 664 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Early English pre-Reformation saints: 15, Saint Hilda of Whitby

Saint Hilda of Whitby is commemorated in Common Worship on 19 November. She was born in the year 614 of the royal house of Northumbria and was baptised in York at the age of 12 by Saint Paulinus. Encouraged by Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, she became a religious at the age of 33.

She established monasteries first at Hartlepool and two years later at Whitby. This house became a great centre of learning and was the meeting-place for the important Synod of Whitby in the year 664 at which it was decided to adopt the Roman tradition in preference to Celtic customs.

Although Hilda was a Celt in religious formation, she played a crucial rôle in reconciling others of that tradition to the decision of the Synod of Whitby. She is also remembered as a great educator, exemplified in her nurturing of Cædmon’s gift of vernacular song. She died on 17 November 680.

Cædmon, who was encouraged by Saint Hilda, is commemorated with a cross in Saint Mary’s churchyard in Whitby (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Matthew 20: 17-28 (NRSVA):

17 While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, 18 ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; 19 then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised.’

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favour of him. 21 And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ 22 But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able.’ 23 He said to them, ‘You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’

24 When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’

The Synod of Whitby was called in 664 to resolve differences, including the calculation of the date of Easter (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 28 February 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Lent Reflection: Freedom in Christ.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Bianca Daébs (Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil).

The USPG Prayer Diary today (28 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

Thank you for our Salvation in Christ, and thank you Father, for the freedom we have in him.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
you show to those who are in error the light of your truth,
that they may return to the way of righteousness:
grant to all those who are admitted
into the fellowship of Christ’s religion,
that they may reject those things
that are contrary to their profession,
and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same;
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
you see that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves:
keep us both outwardly in our bodies,
and inwardly in our souls;
that we may be defended from all adversities
which may happen to the body,
and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Almighty God,
by the prayer and discipline of Lent
may we enter into the mystery of Christ’s sufferings,
and by following in his Way
come to share in his glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection: Saint Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely

Tomorrow: Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne

Whitby Abbey was suppressed in 1539 at the dissolution of the monastic houses (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Lent with early English saints: 2, 15 February 2024,Saint Petroc of Cornwall

A Cornish Cross in a churchyard in Cornwall … Saint Petroc is often known as ‘the captain of Cornish saints’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Season of Lent begins yesterday with Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), and I sang with the Parish Choir at the Ash Wednesday liturgy in the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles in Stony Stratford last night.

Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers Saint Sigfrid (1045), Bishop, Apostle of Sweden, and Thomas Bray (1730), priest, and founder of both SPCK and SPG (now USPG). USPG is marking Founder’s Day today (15 February 2024) in Saint Alban the Martyr Church, London, at 11 am.

In previous years, my Lenten reflections have journeyed with the saints, looked at Lent in Art, discussed poems in Lent, reflected on the music of Vaughan Williams, selected sayings from Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), the Lichfield lexicographer, and similar themes.

This year, I am taking time each morning in Lent to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated by the Church of England in the Calendar of Common Worship. I began this series yesterday with a reflection on Saint Alban, England’s first martyr and saint.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time early this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

A Celtic Cross in a churchyard in Cornwall … Saint Petroc is often known as ‘the captain of Cornish saints’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Early English pre-Reformation saints: 2, Saint Petroc, Abbot of Padstow (6th century)

Saint Petroc, the sixth century Abbot of Padstow, is often known as ‘the captain of Cornish saints.’ Saint Petroc seems to have been the son of a Welsh chieftain. When he arrived in Cornwall, he founded a monastery at Lanwethinoc, now called Padstow (‘Petroc’s Stow’). He later founded another monastery at Bodmin.

It seems that for most of his life Saint Petroc lived as a hermit, although he travelled regularly to visit monasteries.

He died at Treravel and was buried at Padstow. Many churches in Devon and Cornwall are dedicated to his memory. He is commemorated in Common Worship on 4 June.

Padstow is a fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, on the west bank of the River Camel estuary, 16 km north-west of Bodmin and 16 km north-east of Newquay. It has a population of about 3,000.

‘… let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me’ (Luke 8: 23) … a ‘Miner’s Loaf’ with a Cornish Cross on a market stall in Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 8: 22-25 (NRSVA):

22 [Jesus said], ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’

23 Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. 25 What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?

‘… let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me’ (Luke 8: 23) … the rood beam in a church in Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 15 February 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Ash Wednesday Reflection.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Jessie Anand, Chaplain, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (15 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray for all who seek to educate and inform. May our places of learning be open to all, offering new pathways and new vision.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
you have given your only Son to be for us
both a sacrifice for sin
and also an example of godly life:
give us grace
that we may always most thankfully receive
these his inestimable gifts,
and also daily endeavour
to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Holy God,
our lives are laid open before you:
rescue us from the chaos of sin
and through the death of your Son
bring us healing and make us whole
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday: Saint Alban (ca 250)

Tomorrow: Saint Augustine (605), first Archbishop of Canterbury

Saints in the reredos in Truro Cathedral, the cathedral of Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayers in the Kingdom Season with USPG: (17) 21 November 2023

‘May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Galatians 6: 14) … a cross on the sand dunes in Laytown, Co Meath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

In this time between All Saints’ Day and Advent Sunday, we are in the Kingdom Season in the Calendar of the Church of England. This week began with the Second Sunday before Advent (19 November 2023).

Throughout this week, I am reflecting on the seven churches in cities or places that give their names to the titles of nine letters or epistles by Saint Paul: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.

My reflections this morning follow this pattern:

1, A reflection on a Pauline church;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

A Celtic cross in Duleek, Co Meath … Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is the one book in the Bible that is addressed to a Celtic people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Paul’s Galatia:

The Apostle Paul wrote 14 of the 27 books the New Testament. He founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD, and wrote letters to the churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.

The Letter to the Galatians is the ninth book in the New Testament. It was written in Koine Greek to a number of Early Christian communities not in one particular city but in Galatia. This is either the Roman province of Galatia in southern Anatolia, or a large region defined by Galatians, an ethnic group of Celtic people in central Anatolia.

Galatia (Γαλατία) in the highlands of central Anatolia corresponded approximately to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls or Celts from Thrace who settled there and became a small transient foreign tribe in the 3rd century BCE, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BCE. It was bounded on the north by Bithynia and Paphlagonia, on the east by Pontus and Cappadocia, on the south by Cilicia and Lycaonia, and on the west by Phrygia. Its capital was Ancyra, present-day Ankara, the capital of modern Turkey.

In this letter, Saint Paul is principally concerned with the controversy surrounding Gentile Christians and the Mosaic Law. He argues that the Gentile Galatians do not need to adhere to Mosaic Law, particularly male circumcision, and that Gentiles could convert to Christianity, without converting to Judaism or becoming Jewish proselytes.

Biblical scholars mainly agree that Galatians is a true example of Paul’s writing in its style and themes. The letter also offers s a different point of view from the description of the Council of Jerusalem than that in Acts 15: 2-29.

A majority of scholars agree that Galatians was written between the late 40s and early 50s, although some date it to ca 50-60. But the similarity between this epistle and the Letter to the Romans has led some to the conclusion that they were both written about the same time, during Paul’s stay in Macedonia ca 56-57 CE.

Saint Paul evangelised South Galatia in 47-48 CE. The Acts of the Apostles records him travelling to the ‘region of Galatia and Phrygia,’ which lies immediately west of Galatia, and the New Testament indicates that Paul spent time in the cities of Galatia – Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe – during his missionary journeys.

The letter is addressed ‘to the churches of Galatia.’ However, the location of these churches is a matter of debate. Most scholars agree that it is a geographical reference to the Roman province in central Asia Minor, which had been settled by immigrant Celts in the 270s BCE and retained Gaulish features of culture and language in Paul’s day. Some scholars argue that ‘Galatia’ is an ethnic reference to Galatians, a Celtic people in northern Asia Minor.

After Saint Paul left Galatia, the churches there were led astray by individuals espousing legalism and what Saint Paul saw as a ‘different gospel.’ The Galatians appear to have been receptive to the teaching of these newcomers, and the epistle is his response to what he sees as their willingness to turn from his teaching.

The cities of northern Galatia include Ankyra, Pessinus, and Gordium – known for the story of the Gordian Knot and Alexander the Great.

Others say the letter is addressed to the South Galatians during either his time in Tarsus in Cilicia or during his first missionary journey, when he travelled throughout southern Galatia, and written in 49 CE.

A dangerous legacy of interpretation of this letter during the Reformation is found in Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, in which he expressed his deep and worrying antisemitism.

Probably the best-known single statement by Saint Paul in this letter is: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3: 28).

It is worth noting how Saint Paul provides three different pairs: Jew or Greek, slave or free, and male and female. His words eliminate racism, antisemitism, and the biological differences between males and females, and call gender roles into question, leaving no place for gender hierarchy in the Gospel.

Saint Paul tells these people that the whole law is summed up in one single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Galatians 5: 5). He reminds them that ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ (Galatians 5: 22-23).

The command to love, to love God and to love our neighbour, is at the heart of the Gospel. It is summarised in the two great commandments in Matthew 22: 36-40 and Luke 10: 27 (see Leviticus 19: 18). But Saint Paul, on more than one occasion, reduces it all down to this one great commandment. In this letter, for example, he says: ‘For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”.’ (Galatians 5: 14). Earlier, he writes: ‘The only thing that counts is faith working through love’ (Galatians 5: 6).

‘May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Galatians 6: 14) … an icon cross in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 19: 1-10 (NRSVA):

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ 9 Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

‘Bear one another’s burdens’ (Galatians 6: 2) … a Turkish bag among suitcases belonging to delegates at a USPG conference in High Leigh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 21 November 2023):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’. This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (21 November 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray that this year’s 16 Days campaign might make governments, churches and communities around the world take notice and support an end to gender-based violence.

‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’ (Galatians 5: 22-23) … fruit at breakfast-time in Platanias in Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

Heavenly Father,
whose blessed Son was revealed
to destroy the works of the devil
and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life:
grant that we, having this hope,
may purify ourselves even as he is pure;
that when he shall appear in power and great glory
we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
where he is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Gracious Lord,
in this holy sacrament you give substance to our hope:
bring us at the last
to that fullness of life for which we long;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Yesterday’s Reflection (Corinth)

Continued Tomorrow (Ephesus)

‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’ (Galatians 5: 22-23) … lemon trees bearing fruit in Platanias near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’ (Galatians 5: 22-23) … fruit on a market stall in Tangier (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)