By Walt Garlington
St. James Parish —
Named for the Holy Apostle James, the brother of St. John the Theologian
“The son of Zebedee and brother of John, he was one of the Twelve. At the call of the Lord Jesus, he left his fishing nets and his father and, together with John, immediately followed Christ. He was one of the three apostles to whom the Lord revealed the greatest mysteries: before whom He was transfigured on Tabor and before whom He was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane before His Passion. After receiving the Holy Spirit, he preached the Gospel in various places, going as far as Spain.
On his return from Spain, a violent quarrel broke out between the Jews and himself on the Holy Scriptures, and, being unable to withstand him, they hired a magician, Hermogenes. But Hermogenes and Philip his pupil were overcome by the power and truth that James preached, and were baptised. Then the Jews denounced him to Herod, and persuaded one Josias to slander the Apostle.
This Josias, seeing James’s manly bearing and hearing his clear preaching of the truth, repented and came to faith in Christ. When James was condemned to death, this Josias was also condemned. Mounting the scaffold, Josias begged James’s forgiveness for the sin of slander, and James embraced him, kissing him and saying: “peace be to thee, and forgiveness.” And they both laid their heads under the sword and were beheaded for the sake of the Lord whom they had loved and served.
St. James suffered in Jerusalem in the year 45. His body was taken to Spain, where to this day miracles of healing are performed at his tomb.” (Prologue)
His relics are venerated at his shrine in Compostela, Spain. Commemorated April 30th.
The site of his relics was one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in Western Europe, leading to the establishment of several routes to Compostela, some of which ran through France.
http://www.abbamoses.com/months/april.html
http://santiago-compostela.net/routes/
Ascension Parish —
Named for the Ascension of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. See Acts 1:1-11
By His Resurrection He abolished and destroyed death, abolished the law of corruption, “and raised with Himself the whole race of Adam.” Christ has risen, and now “no dead are left in the grave” (cf. The Easter Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom). And now He ascends to the Father, yet He does not “go away,” but abides with the faithful for ever (cf. The Kontakion of Ascension). For He raises the very earth with Him to heaven, and even higher than any heaven. God’s power, in the phrase of Saint John Chrysostom, “manifests itself not only in the Resurrection, but in something much stronger.” For “He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19).
And with Christ, man’s nature ascends also.
“We who seemed unworthy of the earth, are now raised to heaven,” says Saint John Chrysostom. “We who were unworthy of earthly dominion have been raised to the Kingdom on high, have ascended higher than heaven, have came to occupy the King’s throne, and the same nature from which the angels guarded Paradise, stopped not until it ascended to the throne of the Lord.” By His Ascension the Lord not only opened to man the entrance to heaven, not only appeared before the face of God on our behalf and for our sake, but likewise “transferred man” to the high places. “He honored them He loved by putting them close to the Father.” God quickened and raised us together with Christ, as Saint Paul says, “and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephes. 2:6). Heaven received the inhabitants of the earth. “The First fruits of them that slept” sits now on high, and in Him all creation is summed up and bound together. “The earth rejoices in mystery, and the heavens are filled with joy.”
The very existence of the Church is the fruit of the Ascension. It is in the Church that man’s nature is truly ascended to the Divine heights. “And gave Him to be Head over all things” (Ephesians 1:22). Saint John Chrysostom comments: “Amazing! Look again, whither He has raised the Church. As though He were lifting it up by some engine, He has raised it up to a vast height, and set it on yonder throne; for where the Head is, there is the body also. There is no interval of separation between the Head and the body; for were there a separation, then would the one no longer be a body, nor would the other any longer be a Head.” The whole race of men is to follow Christ, even in His ultimate exaltation, “to follow in His train.” Within the Church, through an acquisition of the Spirit in the fellowship of Sacraments, the Ascension continues still, and will continue until the measure is full. “Only then shall the Head be filled up, when the body is rendered perfect, when we are knit together and united,” concludes Saint John Chrysostom.
Celebrated 40 days after Easter.
https://oca.org/saints/lives/2018/05/17/42-the-ascension-of-our-lord
Assumption Parish —
Named for the Dormition (Assumption) of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary
On the Cross, the Lord charged the Apostle John to care for His holy Mother. The Apostle settled her in a house in Jerusalem, where she lived for the rest of her days on earth, praying and offering counsel and encouragement to the Apostles. In her old age, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her and told her that in three days’ time she would enter into her rest. Giving thanks to God, she hastened to the Mount of Olives where she prayed continually, preparing herself to meet the Lord.
Meanwhile, the Apostles, scattered in various parts of the earth, were caught up in clouds and miraculously brought by the holy Angels to Jerusalem, so that they might all be with the Theotokos at her repose. After she had blessed them, she gave up her soul to God. The Apostles buried her with all honor, solemnity and joy at Gethsemane. The Apostle Thomas, who was delayed (again!) by God’s providence, arrived on the third day and went to her tomb, intending to honor her.
But when the Apostles opened her grave, they found her holy body gone and only the winding-sheet remaining. That evening the Theotokos appeared to them surrounded by angels, and said to them, “Rejoice: I will be with you always!” Thus they learned that she had been bodily translated to heaven, anticipating the general resurrection of all. Her age at her repose is not known, but many say that she was about sixty years old.
“The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception proclaimed by the Roman Catholics in 1858 is rejected by the Orthodox Church, but without in any way detracting from the dignity of the Mother of God. In fact, according to the Fathers, the inheritance from Adam consists not in a personal responsibility of all men for original sin, but simply in the inheritance of the consequences of sin: death, corruption and the passions (including procreation and fleshly union).
“Hence, the Orthodox have no difficulty in recognizing that the Mother of God was heir, like us, of all the consequences of Adam’s sin – Christ alone was exempt – but at the same time pure and without personal sin, for she freely kept herself from all attraction for the world and for the passions, and she voluntarily co-operated in God’s purpose by obeying His will with docility: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word, she replied to the Angel Gabriel (Luke 1:38).” (Synaxarion)
Celebrated August 15th.
http://www.abbamoses.com/months/august.html
http://www.abbamoses.com/months/december.html
https://oca.org/saints/lives/2018/08/15/102302-the-dormition-of-our-most-holy-lady-the-mother-of-god-and-ever-v
St. Helena Parish —
Named for St. Helen, Equal to the Apostles, Mother of the First Christian Emperor of Rome, St. Constantine
The Church calls Saint Constantine (306-337) “the Equal of the Apostles,” and historians call him “the Great.” He was the son of the Caesar Constantius Chlorus (305-306), who governed the lands of Gaul and Britain. His mother was Saint Helen, a Christian of humble birth.
The holy emperor St. Constantine deeply revered the victory-bearing Sign of the Cross of the Lord, and also wanted to find the actual Cross upon which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. For this purpose he sent his own mother, the holy Empress Helen, to Jerusalem, granting her both power and money. Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem and Saint Helen began the search, and through the will of God, the Life-Creating Cross was miraculously discovered in 326. (The account of the finding of the Cross of the Lord is found under the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14). The Orthodox Church commemorates the Uncovering of the Precious Cross and the Precious Nails by the Holy Empress Helen on March 6.
While in Palestine, the holy empress did much of benefit for the Church. She ordered that all places connected with the earthly life of the Lord and His All-Pure Mother, should be freed of all traces of paganism, and she commanded that churches should be built at these places.
The emperor Constantine ordered a magnificent church in honor of Christ’s Resurrection to be built over His tomb. Saint Helen gave the Life-Creating Cross to the Patriarch for safe-keeping, and took part of the Cross with her for the emperor. After distributing generous alms at Jerusalem and feeding the needy (at times she even served them herself), the holy Empress Helen returned to Constantinople, where she died in the year 327.
Because of her great services to the Church and her efforts in finding the Life-Creating Cross, the empress Helen is called “the Equal of the Apostles.”
Commemorated May 21st.
https://oca.org/saints/lives/2018/05/21/101452-equal-of-the-apostles-and-emperor-constantine-with-his-mother-he
https://orthodoxmonasteryicons.com/products/constantine-and-helen-icon-3
St. Landry Parish —
Named for St. Landry (Landericus), Bishop of Paris
St. Landry was consecrated bishop of Paris in 650. During the famine of 650-51, Saint Landry sold all of his personal possessions, as well as some of the furniture and sacred vessels of the church, to feed the poor. In 651, Saint Landry founded a hospital dedicated to St. Christopher near the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The hospital exists today and is called the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris.
However, it was decided recently that the building could no longer be used as a hospital, so it will serve another purpose in the future. Under the direction of Saint Landry, the original church of St. Germain l’Auxerrois in Paris was built, and it became the parish of the kings of France. Saint Landry served as Bishop of Paris until his death, which occurred in 661.
St. Landry was buried in the Church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, and today you can see his statue and frescos painted in St. Landry’s Chapel in the church. Although his tomb still exists, his holy relics were moved to another location during the French Revolution to prevent desecration. The current location of his relics is unknown.
Commemorated June 10th.
http://www.peintre-icones.fr/PAGES/CALENDRIER/Juin/10.html
The City of St. Amant (Ascension Parish) —
Named for St. Amant (Amandus) of Elnon
St. Amant was born near Nantes, of pious parents, lords of that territory. At 20 years of age, he retired into a small monastery in the little isle of Oye, near that of Rhé. He had not been there above a year, when his father found him out, and made use of every persuasive argument in his power to prevail with him to quit that state of life. To his threats of disinheriting him, the saint cheerfully answered: “Christ is my only inheritance.”
The saint went to Tours, and a year after to Bourges, where he lived near fifteen years under the direction of St. Austregisilus, the bishop, in a cell near the cathedral. His clothing was a single sack-cloth, and his sustenance barley-bread and water. After a pilgrimage to Rome, he was ordained in France a missionary bishop, without any fixed see, in 628, and commissioned to preach the faith to infidels. He preached the gospel in Flanders, and among the Sclavi in Carinthia and other provinces near the Danube: but being banished by King Dagobert, whom he had boldly reproved for his scandalous crimes, he preached to the pagans of Gascony and Navarre. Dagobert soon recalled him, threw himself at his feet to beg his pardon, and caused him to baptize his new-born son, Saint Sigebert, afterwards king.
The idolatrous people about Ghent were so savage, that no preacher durst venture himself amongst them. This moved the saint to choose that mission; during the course of which he was often beaten, and sometimes thrown into the river: he continued preaching, though for a long time he saw no fruit, and supported himself by his labour. The miracle of his raising a dead man to life, at last opened the eyes of the barbarians, and the country came in crowds to receive baptism, destroying the temples of their idols with their own hands.
In 633, the saint having built them several churches, founded two great monasteries in Ghent, both under the patronage St. Peter; one was named Blandinberg, from the hill of Blandin on which it stands, now the rich abbey of St. Peter’s; the other took the name of St. Bavo, from him who gave his estate for its foundation; this became the cathedral in 1559, when the city was created a bishop’s see. Besides many pious foundations, both in France and Flanders, in 639, he built the great abbey three leagues from Tournay, called Elnon, from the river on which it stands; but it has long since taken the name of St. Amand, with its town and warm mineral baths.
In 649, he was chosen bishop of Maestricht; but three years after he resigned that see to St. Remaclus, and returned to his missions, to which his compassion for the blindness of infidels always inclined his heart. He continued his labours amongst them till the age of eighty-six, when, broken with infirmities, he retired to Elnon, which house he governed as abbot four years more, spending that time in preparing his soul for his passage to eternity, which happened in 675. His body is honourably kept in that abbey.
Commemorated February 6th.
https://www.bartleby.com/210/2/063.html
http://www.oodegr.com/english/istorika/europe/orthodox_evangelists_west_europe.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parishes_in_Louisiana
Walt Garlington is a chemical engineer turned writer and editor of the website Confiteri: A Southern Perspective. This longtime Southern Baptist, then Anglican, was united to the Orthodox Church in 2012 and makes his home in Louisiana where he attends a GOA parish.
