This holy hierarch, whose full name is given as Oenghus Breac Coemán Mac Nissi, is also known as Mac Nisse, Mac Nissi, Mac Nessi, Macanisius, Macnisius and Mac Cneise. He was the son of Forbach, or Fáebrach, son of Erc, who belonged, according to the tradition preserved in the source, to the Dál Fiatach of the north-eastern coast of Ireland. His mother was Ness, daughter of Comchad or Conchaide of the Dál Ceithirn; and from her name came his designation Mac Nissi, son of Nessa, according to a matrilineal custom associated with the Pictish or Cruathan peoples.

While still young he was baptised by the holy Apostle Patrick and received the name Oengus. He was fostered under Saint Patrick together with Olcán, who afterwards became Bishop of Amoy. Being endowed with a beautiful voice, the young Oengus was trained by Patrick as a cantor and learned to share in the sacred psalmody. In due season Patrick consecrated him bishop for the lands of his own people, the Dál Ceithirn.

So great was the young bishop’s reverence for the divine Scriptures that he would not carry his Gospel book in an ordinary leather satchel, but bore it upon his own shoulders as though bearing the Cross of his Lord. After the repose of Saint Patrick, Olcán, who was somewhat older than Oengus, became his spiritual father. These first bishops of Patrick’s planting lived as monks, remained in communion with one another, and gathered monastic brotherhoods around themselves.

Among the other disciples of Patrick was Cóelán Mochaoi, who established the monastery of Nendrum upon Mahee Island. There Saint Colman the Wonderworker began his monastic life; and it was Bishop MacNis who told him that it was the will of God that he should establish a monastery upon the plain of Coba. From this obedience arose the bishopric and monastery of Dromore, wherein the great Finnian of Moville would afterwards be trained.

MacNis himself settled at Connor and at first lived there in a manner little removed from that of a hermit. In time young men gathered around him, and about the year 480 a monastery arose. It stood near the ancient royal road called the slighe miodhluachra, where that road crossed the Kellswater on its long course from Tara to the northern coast.

The monastery was ordered according to the ancient Irish manner, with enclosures surrounding the church at its heart and places wherein the monks gathered for sacred study. The holy bishop chose nearby Kells for a more solitary hermitage, to which he and his brethren might withdraw from the more active life of Connor.

MacNis held the ancient dignity of Coarb, being at once Abbot of the monastery and Bishop of the local Church. Having served God in this manner, instructing his flock, cherishing the Scriptures and forming men in the monastic life, the holy hierarch reposed on the third day of September in the year 514 and was buried in the cathedral. He was succeeded by Saint Colman Elo, who had already founded the monastery of Lann Elo near Durrow; and the holy MacNis had, while still a young disciple of Patrick, foretold both that foundation and the close fellowship which would unite the two monasteries.

The holy bishop’s work continued to bear fruit long after his repose. Connor and its hermitage at Kells endured destruction by fire during inter-tribal warfare in 612 and plundering in the year 781. In 804 Kells received the monks of Saint Columba who had been driven from Iona, and with them came the unfinished manuscript which became known as the Book of Kells. In 878 the relics of Saint Columba were solemnly received there.

In later centuries Connor remained an important ecclesiastical centre. Following the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111 its diocese extended as far as Coleraine and embraced the territories later associated with Down and Dromore. Saint Malachy subsequently built a Romanesque cathedral and placed Augustinian canons at Kells; in his time the ancient union of the offices of bishop and abbot which MacNis had embodied finally came to an end. Yet Saint MacNis continued, together with Saint Malachy, to be honoured as a patron of Down and Connor.

After more than a thousand years of monastic life in the district, the Abbey of Kells was surrendered to the commissioners of Henry VIII upon the feast of the Meeting of the Lord in 1542. Portions of its walls survived at the place known as Templemoyle, the ruined church. The old cathedral at Connor briefly resumed cathedral use in the early seventeenth century, and the later church of Saint Saviour arose upon the ancient Christian site.
By the prayers of our Father among the Saints Oengus MacNis, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion of Saint MacNis — Tone VIII

O holy hierarch MacNis, disciple of the Enlightener of Ireland,
thou didst bear the Gospel of Christ upon thy shoulders
as a precious image of the life-giving Cross;
and having gathered a flock at Connor,
thou didst shine forth in psalmody, asceticism and pastoral care.
Wherefore, O God-bearing Father,
entreat Christ our God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion of Saint MacNis — Tone IV

Let us praise the divinely-wise MacNis,
the disciple of Patrick and faithful shepherd of Connor;
for, bearing the divine Gospel as the Cross of the Lord,
he planted the word of salvation among his people
and gathered a flock unto Christ.
Wherefore, standing before the throne of the Master,
he intercedeth unceasingly for us all.

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This blessed Drithelm, who is also called Drythelm, was a native of Ayrshire, in that part of Northumbria which was then called Incuneningum or Crunningham. He was a married man, living devoutly with his wife and family, until it pleased God to call him by a fearful and wondrous providence from the ordinary course of his life.

For Drithelm fell grievously sick, and his sickness increased until, in the early hours of the night, he died. But at the coming of day he returned suddenly to life and sat upright, so that those who had gathered weeping around his body fled away in terror. His wife alone remained beside him, though trembling; and he reassured her, declaring that he had indeed been permitted to return from the grasp of death, but that henceforth he must live in an altogether different manner.

Straightway he arose and went to the village church, where he continued in prayer. He thereafter divided his possessions into three portions, giving one to his wife, another to his sons, and distributing the third among the poor. Thus, having set his earthly affairs in order, he forsook the cares of the world and entered the monastery of Melrose upon the River Tweed. This was the ancient monastery of Mailros, founded in the tradition of Iona, and not the later Cistercian house which bore the same name. There Drithelm received the tonsure and entered the manner of life known among the Celtic monks as that of a manaig, a layman who embraced the ascetic life of the monastery.

Thereafter the venerable one gave himself to such bodily and spiritual austerity that, as the Venerable Bede relates, even had he never spoken of what he had seen beyond the threshold of death, his manner of life would itself have borne witness that terrible and glorious mysteries had been revealed unto him. He did not recount his vision to the idle or careless, but only to those who sought repentance through fear of judgement or who were strengthened by hope of the joys to come. The monk Haemgils learned much from him by repeated questioning; Drithelm also related these things to King Aldfrith of Northumbria and to Æthelwold, Bishop of Lindisfarne.

The abbot Ethelwald gave him a solitary dwelling, wherein he might serve his Maker in unbroken prayer. Since his cell stood beside the river, Drithelm repeatedly entered the freezing water while chanting psalms and prayers, remaining motionless with the water sometimes to his loins and sometimes to his neck. Even in winter he broke the ice and stood amidst its fragments, and when he came forth he did not remove his dripping garments but suffered them to dry upon his body.

When the brethren marvelled that he could endure such bitter cold, he answered simply that he had known colder things; and when they wondered at the severity of his discipline, he answered that he had seen greater suffering. Thus until his repose he subdued his aged body with fasting and ascetic labour, moved by an insatiable longing for the blessings of heaven; and by his words and his manner of life he led many towards salvation. His vision became the earliest recorded example of this kind of spiritual account arising from England.

By the prayers of our Venerable Father Drithelm, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone IV

Having returned from the gates of death by the providence of God,
O venerable Father Drithelm,
thou didst forsake the world and choose the narrow way;
and by fasting, psalmody, prayer and bitter cold
thou didst subdue the flesh and set thy desire upon the things of heaven.
Wherefore, entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion — Tone II

Having beheld the dread things hidden from mortal sight,
O wise Drithelm, thou didst make thy whole life repentance;
and dwelling apart at Melrose,
thou didst teach men by word and deed
to fear the judgement and desire the blessings to come.
Cease not to pray for those who honour thy holy memory.

On this day we also commemorate our venerable Mothers Cuthberga and Cwenburgh, Abbesses of Wimborne, sisters of Ine of Wessex.

Cuthberga was first married to King Aldfrith. The husband and wife afterwards separated in order to embrace the monastic life, and Cuthberga entered the monastery which the source describes as Barking of Wimbourne.

Her sister Cwenburh, or Cwenburgh, later joined her.

Together the two sisters founded a double monastery at Wimborne in Dorset, where the monastic life of both women and men was established under their rule.

Saint Aldhelm addressed his treatise De Virginitate to Cuthberga.

The women of the monastery lived an enclosed life and communicated with those outside the enclosure through a parlour window.

The source records a tradition that Cuthberga’s body lies beneath the wall of the chancel.

Her head, however, was preserved separately within a silver reliquary. During the Reformation Thomas Cromwell caused the silver shrine to be melted down to provide money for repairs.

The source adds that after this desecration of the relic, the tower collapsed.

No further separate biography of Cwenburgh is supplied in the document. Nothing has therefore been added to her Life beyond her kinship with Cuthberga and their joint foundation at Wimborne.

No reliably established saint-specific Troparion and Kontakion pair surfaced in the hymnographical search; accordingly the traditional Common of Multiple Venerable Women is used.

By the holy intercessions of the venerable Mothers Cuthberga and Cwenburgh, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone II

Common of Venerable Women

With sincere desire you were betrothed unto Christ,
O venerable Mothers Cuthberga and Cwenburgh,
and rejected the vanity of the world;
having grown strong in the struggle for the virtues,
you became pillars of the monastic life.
Therefore pray without ceasing
for those who honour your sacred memory.

Kontakion — Tone II

Common of Venerable Women

Having disciplined your bodies by abstinence
and offered unceasing prayer unto the Giver of Life,
O venerable Mothers,
you received the heavenly Kingdom for which you laboured.
Standing now before Christ our God,
pray without ceasing for us all.

On this day we also commemorate our Father among the Saints Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, also called Naom Aodhán and Aedán, who reposed in the year 651.

The holy Aidan was an Irishman. He first received monastic formation upon Inis Cathaig, Scattery Island in the Shannon Estuary, under the holy abbot-bishop Senan, himself numbered among the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and trained under Saint Finnian of Clonard.

The island possessed several small churches and a severe monastic rule. The source compares its character with that of the Holy Mountain of Athos.

Aidan’s name signifies little fiery one. The source considers it probably a monastic name, perhaps given in honour of King Aedán, who had welcomed Saint Columba to Iona.

Aidan afterwards lived at Iona. He was there when Queen Acha of Deira fled north with her children, among whom were the future Kings Oswald and Oswiu and their sister Ebba. The family found refuge in Dál Riata and entered deeply into the life of the Celtic Church.

When Oswald regained Northumbria in 634, one of his first concerns was the restoration and spread of Christianity. He therefore appealed to Iona for missionaries.

The first monk sent proved too severe for the people and soon returned, complaining that the Northumbrians were obstinate and unteachable.

When the brethren gathered in council to consider the failure, Aidan answered that the missionary had demanded too much too soon. Like the Apostles, he said, the teacher should first give the hearers the milk of simple teaching and only gradually lead them towards the higher commandments of Christ.

The community recognised the wisdom of his counsel. Aidan himself was therefore consecrated bishop and sent to King Oswald at Bamburgh.

Oswald offered the new bishop a choice of places for the establishment of his monastery and episcopal seat. Aidan chose Lindisfarne, approximately twenty miles from Bamburgh.

The tidal island offered both the solitude necessary for prayer and easy access to the mainland for missionary work. It also lay sufficiently near the royal residence for bishop and king to labour together for the conversion of the people.

Aidan initially could not speak the Saxon language, and therefore King Oswald himself translated the bishop’s preaching for his people.

The holy bishop and his monks travelled throughout Northumbria on foot, regarding horses as a luxury inconsistent with their ascetic discipline.

Whenever Aidan met another person, he sought first the condition of that person’s soul. If the stranger was already Christian, he encouraged him towards a more perfect Christian life; if not, he asked permission to speak about the Faith.

Through this humble manner of evangelisation, his ministry prospered.

He persuaded the king and his nobles to share their wealth with the poor and established a school on Lindisfarne for twelve boys. Among those associated by the source with this formation were Chad, Cedd and Eata, all of whom afterwards became bishops.

The monastery grew as more local boys entered as novices and pupils, and from this religious and scholarly life would later emerge the illuminated tradition represented by the Lindisfarne Gospels.

King Oswald himself became a friend of the poor. At an Easter meal with Aidan, a great company of needy people came asking alms. Oswald ordered that the prepared food be distributed to them and that the great silver dish upon which it had been brought should be broken into pieces and shared among them.

Aidan seized the king’s right hand and blessed it, praying that the hand should never perish. The source recalls Bede’s testimony that after Oswald’s martyrdom this hand remained incorrupt and was venerated at Bamburgh.

Aidan practised severe moderation in food, eating only a small portion before withdrawing to read or write.

He and his monks fasted until the ninth hour, approximately three in the afternoon, upon Wednesdays and Fridays, except during the fifty days after Pascha. Their example encouraged others to adopt similar discipline.

Aidan avoided every appearance of simony. Money given to him was distributed to the poor or used for the ransom of slaves.

Those whom he freed were not merely retained as servants. He instructed them, and those possessing the necessary gifts were educated and advanced towards the priesthood.

He neither bribed the powerful nor permitted them to purchase his favour.

Many miracles accompanied his ministry. During Lent the bishop sometimes withdrew to Inner Farne for greater solitude.

During Lent in 651, while in retreat, he saw in a vision that King Penda and the Mercians had attacked Bamburgh and set fire against its walls.

Aidan prayed. The wind changed direction and drove the flames back upon the attackers, who fled. The source notes that because of this miracle some venerate Saint Aidan as a patron of firefighters.

On another occasion he gave blessed oil to the priest accompanying Oswiu’s bride on her journey to Northumbria and instructed him to pour it upon the sea if a storm arose. When the vessel encountered a tempest, the priest obeyed and the waters became calm.

Lindisfarne became the heart of Christian life in Northumbria and a centre from which churches and monasteries spread throughout the country.

The source records that Aidan’s holiness and missionary success won respect even from Pope Honorius I, while other missionary bishops laboured in the southern kingdoms.

After the martyrdom of Saint Oswald, Aidan formed a similarly close spiritual friendship with Saint Oswin of Deira. The bishop frequently visited the young king and encouraged him never to become content with his existing good works but always to ascend towards greater perfection.

Their affection was profound: Oswin regarded the bishop almost as an angel and received his corrections obediently, while Aidan loved the king as a spiritual son and friend.

As Aidan grew older, Oswin presented him with a magnificent horse furnished with royal trappings so that his journeys might be easier.

At the first opportunity the bishop gave the horse and its equipment to a poor man.

When Oswin protested that a less valuable animal could have been given to a beggar, Aidan rebuked him by asking whether the offspring of a mare could be worth more to him than a child of God.

The king fell silent, considered the words and then laid aside his sword, knelt before the bishop and begged forgiveness, promising never again to question the generosity which Aidan showed to the poor.

Aidan raised and forgave him, but then began to weep.

He told his attendant that he had never before seen so humble a king and feared that Oswin would soon be taken from the people because the nation was not worthy of such a ruler.

The prophecy was fulfilled when Oswin, having relinquished his claim in order to avoid further bloodshed, was treacherously slain in 651.

Eleven days after Oswin’s martyrdom, and nine or ten years after the death of Saint Oswald, the aged Bishop Aidan came to the end of his earthly life.

He fell ill beside his cell at the royal residence at Bamburgh. His body had become so weak that his attendants did not move him but erected a shelter around him.

Leaning against the wooden buttress supporting the church, Aidan surrendered his soul to God on 31 August 651.

Miracles were subsequently associated with the beam. Although the church itself twice burned, the timber remained unharmed. The source records that the Y-shaped beam was later incorporated into the ceiling of the baptistry in Saint Aidan’s Church upon the site of his repose.

On the night of Aidan’s death a young shepherd among the Lammermuir Hills saw heavenly light and the hosts of heaven descend and receive a wonderfully radiant human soul.

The next day he learned that Bishop Aidan had died.

The young man returned the sheep to their owners and entered the monastic life at Melrose. He was Saint Cuthbert, the future bishop of Lindisfarne.

Aidan’s body was taken back to Lindisfarne and buried in the monastic cemetery.

After the Council of Whitby, Saint Colman took a portion of Aidan’s relics with him when he departed for Iona and Ireland, while the body was translated into the monastery church of Saint Peter.

The source records traditions that relics of Aidan were later preserved in Ireland, particularly at the site associated with Saint Columba at Limavady. It also notes as a possibility that some portion may have been carried to Inishbofin when Colman established his monastery there; these are presented by the document as traditions and possibilities rather than certainties.

After the Viking attack upon Lindisfarne in 793, another portion of Aidan’s relics is said to have been taken to Glastonbury.

When the monks finally abandoned Lindisfarne in 875 after repeated raids, they carried relics of Saints Oswald and Aidan together with the incorrupt body of Saint Cuthbert.

For more than a century the community wandered from place to place before eventually coming to Durham. Medieval inventories there recorded bones attributed to Aidan and, later, a jewelled reliquary containing his head.

Monastic life was re-established upon Lindisfarne in 1093 and continued until the Dissolution.

The source also preserves a miracle in which Aidan appeared after death to a sick pilgrim at Newcastle. Calling himself the former bishop of Saint Oswin, he healed one of the sufferer’s ailments and directed him to Oswin’s tomb at Tynemouth, where the remainder of his sickness was cured.

Approximately eighty years after Aidan’s repose, the Venerable Bede summed up his ministry by declaring that the strongest testimony to Aidan’s teaching was that he and his followers taught no differently from the way in which they themselves lived.

The source itself supplies his Troparion in Tone IV, and the same Troparion together with a proper Kontakion in Tone II is preserved in contemporary Orthodox liturgical use.

By the holy intercessions of our Father among the Saints Aidan, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion of Saint Aidan — Tone IV

As given in the source Synaxarion

The truth of things revealed you to your flock as a rule of faith,
a model of meekness, and a teacher of temperance.
Therefore, through humility, you attained the heights;
and through poverty, riches.
O Hierarch Aidan, our Father,
entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion of Saint Aidan — Tone II

Traditional rendering of the proper Kontakion

O holy Hierarch Aidan, trumpet of the Spirit
and planter of the Faith,
standing with the Angels before the Holy Trinity,
cease not to make intercession
for all who honour thy sacred memory.

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On this day we commemorate our venerable Mother Eanswythe of Folkstone, also called Eanswith and Eanswide, virgin and founder of the first Anglo-Saxon monastery for women.

The holy Eanswythe was a daughter of Eadbald, King of Kent, and his wife Emma, who may have been a Frankish princess. She had two brothers, Eorcenberht, who later succeeded their father as king, and Eormenred, whom the source suggests may have become a monk.

Her grandfather was Saint Ethelbert, the first Anglo-Saxon high king to receive Baptism and the founder of the cathedral at Canterbury. The source estimates that Eanswythe was born approximately ten years after the death of Saint Augustine of Canterbury.

After Ethelbert’s death, King Eadbald openly returned to paganism, although he did not actively persecute Christianity.

Eanswythe, however, desired the religious life from her early youth. While still scarcely into her teens, she persuaded her father to build a private oratory for her near the cliff at Folkstone.

While the building was still underway, a pagan prince from Northumbria sought her hand in marriage. Eanswythe answered him with prudence.

A beam intended for her oratory was too short. She declared that if the prince could make it long enough through the power of his gods, she would accept his proposal; if he could not, he must leave her to the life she had chosen.

The prince prayed to his gods without effect. Eanswythe then prayed in the name of the Lord, and the beam miraculously extended to the length required for the building. The chastened suitor abandoned his demand and departed.

This occurred during a difficult generation for the newly established Christian kingdoms. Several royal houses whose previous rulers had received the Faith returned temporarily to paganism.

Even the monks at Canterbury became so discouraged that they considered withdrawing to Gaul. Saint Laurence of Canterbury kept vigil in the church of Saints Peter and Paul, where the Apostle Peter appeared to him and rebuked him for contemplating abandonment of his flock.

The missionaries remained, and King Eadbald eventually returned to Christianity.

Thereafter he built and endowed a monastery for his daughter, whose church was dedicated to Saint Peter. Completed about 630, the foundation at Folkstone was the first Anglo-Saxon monastery for women in Britain.

The source considers that, as an early Kentish foundation, it would have received guidance from the monks at Canterbury and followed the Benedictine rule. Since organised monastic life was still new among Anglo-Saxon women, the document considers it likely that experienced nuns came from the Continent to instruct Eanswythe and her companions.

The holy virgin showed a markedly practical holiness. A small aqueduct brought water from a spring at Swecton, now Sweton, to supply both monastery and local people. To observers the water appeared astonishingly to flow uphill. The stream became known as Saint Eanswythe’s Water and flowed into the Bayle Pond.

Many healings of both people and animals were attributed to her prayers. The blind received sight and the sick were made whole.

On one occasion a flock of geese devastated the monastic fields. Eanswythe had the birds confined for the night, but in the morning their loud cries revealed that one was missing.

Three servants had stolen and cooked it. The holy woman prayed over what remained of the goose, whereupon it was restored to life and flew away with the flock.

The examination of her relics in 1885 led the source to conclude that Eanswythe died while still a very young woman, probably in her early twenties.

Miracles continued after her repose. Four wealthy brothers had refused to pay the tithes owed to the monastery. Three were moved to repentance and went to the saint’s tomb, while the fourth remained hardened.

When his brothers returned, they found him violently possessed. They bound him and carried him to the altar beside Eanswythe’s tomb. There he became contrite and was healed, and thereafter all four fulfilled their obligation.

A man afflicted with a disease of the skin likewise came to pray at her tomb. Eanswythe appeared to him, washed him and restored him to health.

She had first been buried within her oratory, but subsidence endangered the site and her body was transferred to a shrine in the monastery church.

The monastery itself was later destroyed in the Danish raids and was not rebuilt, probably in part because the sea was steadily consuming the coast. The church containing Eanswythe’s relics nevertheless continued to serve the local Christian population.

In 927 King Aethelstane expelled the Danes and gave the abandoned monastic property to the monks of Canterbury.

After the Norman conquest the lord of Folkstone placed the establishment under the Benedictine Abbey of Lonlay in France. As coastal erosion became increasingly severe, a new Folkstone Priory was built farther inland in 1137, and the saint’s relics were translated there.

The earlier monastery, the oldest Anglo-Saxon women’s monastery in Britain according to the source, was eventually swallowed by the sea.

Strong local devotion to Eanswythe continued. The priory was poor by the time of the Reformation and surrendered to the Crown in 1535. The sick prior and the one remaining monk received pensions, and the priory church of Saint Mary and Saint Eanswythe became the parish church.

The documentary records disappeared, but the relics themselves apparently escaped destruction.

During restoration work in 1885, a twelfth-century lead reliquary was discovered concealed within the north wall of the church near the high altar. Within it were Eanswythe’s relics.

They remain in the place of their discovery, within the original reliquary and protected behind an engraved door and elaborate brass grille. Saint Eanswythe remains the patron of Folkstone.

The source itself supplies her Troparion in Tone VI. A saint-specific Orthodox Kontakion is also attested.

By her holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion of Saint Eanswythe — Tone VI

As given in the source Synaxarion

With gladsome voices and hymns of praise let us extol the venerable Eanswythe, who, setting aside rich princely apparel, gladly put on the mean and lowly habit of a nun; and, in place of the idle pursuits of the royal court, set herself boldly to acquire all the virtues. Wherefore, having pleased Christ by her charity and love, she ever intercedeth with Him to have mercy on our souls.

Kontakion of Saint Eanswythe — Tone II

Traditional rendering of the attested Kontakion

Forsaking earthly rest for the love of God,
O venerable Mother Eanswythe,
thou didst illumine thy soul by fasting
and overcome the assaults of the adversary.
By thine intercessions destroy his snares against us
and entreat Christ to grant us great mercy.

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The source heading describes him as a Monk-Martyr, but its own critical note records an important uncertainty. The earlier martyrologies call him a Confessor, while later accounts call him a martyr; moreover, the narrative relates that after his beheading he was miraculously restored to life. The source’s author therefore judges that the earliest surviving text should ultimately be consulted before the matter is settled. This uncertainty is retained here rather than concealed.

The holy Decuman came from a Christian family of old Romano-British stock living and farming at Rhoscrowther in Pembrokeshire. His name is connected in the source with the Latin decumanus, referring to a farmer responsible for paying the Roman tithe.

His family provided him with a good education, including a practical knowledge of medicine, and established him upon a small rented farm. His lands extended towards Pwllcrochan and included a chapel.

From his youth Decuman displayed the disposition of a hesychast. While his companions went hunting, he preferred to enter the church and pray. He sought not worldly cleverness but the good life and contemplation and increasingly desired to leave his own country in order to serve the Lord in greater quietness.

Taking only a few possessions and his milch cow, Decuman went to the coast. Having no ship, he bound reeds together into a raft, upon which both he and the animal crossed safely.

They travelled around the south-western extremity of Wales and entered the Severn estuary, where the current carried them towards the coast near Dunster and Exmoor.

After a time Decuman went farther along the estuary and settled in the greater solitude of Watchet. The district was then wilderness, well suited to his ascetic purpose.

There the servant of God lived upon herbs and roots and gave himself to fasting and prayer. The ancient account praises the depth of his solitude by saying that he was visited less by men than by angels.

Yet holiness cannot remain altogether hidden. The surrounding people gradually began to seek him out, asking both healing for their infirmities and counsel for their souls.

The local pagan leaders became jealous of the reverence shown to him and plotted his death. One of them approached Decuman while the saint was at prayer and struck off his head with a spade.

Then, according to the tradition preserved in the source, the headless body rose, took the severed head into its hands and carried it to the clear spring at which Decuman had been accustomed to wash.

The narrative proceeds to state that Decuman was miraculously restored to life and continued his missionary labour. The miracle so astonished the people that many abandoned their former pagan beliefs and assisted him in building a church.

The fame of his sanctity spread among the fishing and farming communities around North Wales, Ireland and the Cornish peninsula.

The source states that Decuman finally reposed on 27 August 706, although his commemoration is placed here on 30 August; it also records a secondary Somerset feast on 27 February. These differing dates are left exactly as the source gives them.

After his repose, the faithful continued to visit his fountain and to venerate his wonderworking relics.

The first church associated with him is believed to have stood at Daw Castle, an Iron Age hill-fort upon the sea cliff which had also been occupied in Roman times. During the Anglo-Saxon period the establishment developed into a minster with a monastic community.

As coastal erosion threatened the site, a new church was built upon higher ground across the Washford River towards the end of the twelfth century.

The chancel of the present church belongs to this rebuilding. It was made exceptionally long and broad in order to accommodate the shrine of Saint Decuman, and the doorway belonging to the earlier church remains within the chancel wall.

Traces of medieval sacred imagery remain in the church, including a small representation of the saint in a niche upon the bell-tower. Its screens are described by the source as the oldest surviving in the United Kingdom and once enclosed chapels on either side of the altar in an arrangement which the document compares with an Orthodox sanctuary.

In 1175 the church, together with lands supporting a prebend and a dependent chapel at Williton, was donated to Wells Cathedral by Simon Brito and Robert Fitzurse. The source interprets the donation as an act of penance, since the two men had been among the knights involved in the killing of Thomas Becket at Canterbury some twenty years before.

From this time Saint Decuman’s feast was entered into the calendar used at Wells.

At the Reformation every visible trace of his shrine was destroyed, although the church itself remained in use.

His holy well, however, preserved his local veneration. Known as the Fountain of Saint Decuman, it had drawn pilgrims from the time of the saint’s death until the Reformation, and private visits continued afterwards.

The spring lies down the lane from the present church at Watchet. At the beginning of the twentieth century it was described as enclosed by great upright stones with another stone forming the roof, the water descending through three stone basins placed one below the other.

Steps descend from the field towards the well. Despite periods of neglect and vandalism, a considerable flow of clear water remains, and the surrounding place has been planted as a secluded garden.

Other churches reflected the spread of Decuman’s veneration along the old sea routes. A church stood at Mulcheney in Somerset; another dedication survived at Degibna near Helston in Cornwall; and churches dedicated to him stood at Killiane Little, Killag and Ballyconnick in County Wexford.

In Wales his family lands at Rhoscrowther possessed a church bearing his name, which later became the chief church of the cantref of Penfro and one of the ancient bishop-houses of Dyfed. Nearby Pwllcrochan was dedicated to the Mother of God, while another church dedicated to Decuman stood inland at Llanfihangel Cwm Du in the Brecon Beacons.

Liturgical Note

Because the source itself leaves unresolved whether Decuman is to be treated as martyr or confessor, it would be unwise to manufacture a martyr-specific Troparion and Kontakion before the source-critical question is settled. No reliable proper saint-specific pair surfaced in the Orthodox hymnographical search. The Common of a Venerable Confessor is therefore used provisionally.

By his holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone VIII

Common of a Venerable Confessor

O guide of the Orthodox Faith,
teacher of piety and humility,
and glory of the ascetic life, venerable Father Decuman,
thou didst enlighten those around thee by thy godly life.
O harp of the Spirit,
intercede with Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion — Tone II

Common of a Venerable Confessor

Having disciplined thy mind and body by abstinence,
O God-bearing Decuman,
thou didst seek the quietness wherein Christ is found
and didst shine forth in faith.
Pray without ceasing for those
who honour thy holy memory.

On this day we commemorate the righteous Sebbi, King of the East Saxons, who reposed about the year 694.

The Venerable Bede, who lived in his own age, remembered Sebbi as a soldier of the heavenly Kingdom. Although he wore an earthly crown, the king preferred the quietness of monastic life to the riches and honours of royal power.

Throughout his reign he devoted himself to frequent prayer and works of mercy. So greatly did his heart incline towards the monastic life that he wished to abdicate his kingdom and become a monk.

His wife, however, would not agree to be separated from him, and for her sake he continued to bear the responsibilities of kingship.

After thirty years of rule, Sebbi became gravely ill. Knowing that his earthly course was drawing towards its end, he counselled his wife that both should now devote the remainder of their lives entirely to God.

This time she consented, and the king was permitted to spend his last days within a monastery.

A heavenly vision then revealed to him the day upon which he would depart this life. Three days after receiving this revelation, Sebbi reposed peacefully in the Lord.

Having desired the heavenly Kingdom more than the earthly and having practised prayer and mercy even amid the cares of government, the righteous king departed from the royal court to finish his course among the servants of God.

A search locates modern saint-specific hymnography for Sebbi, but not a securely established historical Orthodox service comparable with those of Rumwold, Aidan or the Ebbas. I therefore retain the safer Menaion practice of an adaptation based upon the Common of a Venerable rather than presenting a modern composition as received hymnography.

By his holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone VIII

Traditional adaptation after the Common of a Venerable

Preferring the heavenly Kingdom to an earthly crown,
O righteous King Sebbi,
thou didst adorn thy rule with prayer and mercy
and longedst for the quietness of the monastic life.
Having peacefully finished thy course among the servants of God,
entreat Christ that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion — Tone II

The honours of kingship did not captivate thy heart, O blessed Sebbi,
for thy desire was fixed upon the Kingdom which cannot be shaken.
Having served God through prayer and works of mercy,
and having received beforehand the knowledge of thy departure,
pray now for us who honour thy memory.

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The source specifically identifies 28 August as the feast of the Translation of his Relics, observing that the principal commemoration of his repose is probably 3 November.

The holy infant was the son of a Northumbrian prince, whom the source identifies as either Ethelwald of Deira or Saint Oswald himself, and of a Mercian princess, a daughter of King Penda.

While his parents were travelling from Northumbria into Mercia, probably intending to visit Penda, the princess went into labour at King’s Sutton, now lying near the meeting of Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire.

Immediately after his birth the child received Holy Baptism and Chrismation and was communicated with the Holy Mysteries by the priests Widerin and Edwold.

Then a wonder occurred: the newborn child began to speak. With a loud voice he proclaimed, I am a Christian, and continued to bear witness to the Faith during the brief span allotted to him.

Upon the third day after his birth, the holy infant departed this life and was buried at King’s Sutton.

His relics became the source of numerous miracles. Pilgrims came seeking his intercession for women in childbirth and for the health and welfare of children. Parents prayed that through his intercession their children might remain steadfast in the Christian Faith.

Women who had suffered miscarriage came seeking comfort and healing, while those who had destroyed or aborted their children were brought to repentance. The source notes that some Orthodox Christians today therefore venerate Saint Rumwold as a patron of aborted children.

His veneration spread widely across Britain and beyond. Churches dedicated to him stood in Kent, Essex, Lincolnshire, Dorset, North Yorkshire and Durham, and a number of pre-Conquest monasteries in Mercia and Wessex bore his name.

His cult also spread into continental Europe, with particularly strong veneration in Sweden, and continued in England until the Reformation, when his shrine was destroyed.

A complete Orthodox service to Saint Rumwold was composed by Rumwold Leigh, and its proper Troparion and Kontakion are attested for both his principal feast and this Translation of Relics.

By the holy intercessions of the Infant Rumwold, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion of Saint Rumwold — Tone IV

Liturgical rendering of the proper Troparion

Great was thy confession, O holy Infant Rumwold,
and wondrous the wisdom poured forth from thy lips;
for the Holy Spirit made thee a herald of Christ
even from the font of regeneration.
Wherefore, O wondrous child,
intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion of Saint Rumwold — Tone II

Liturgical rendering of the proper Kontakion

Thy three days upon the earth were filled with confession,
O wondrous Infant Rumwold;
for, born anew in Holy Baptism,
thou didst proclaim the Faith and then ascend unto the Father.
Pray that we who honour thee
may receive from Christ great mercy.

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The source document supplies only his name, episcopal office and year of repose. No further biographical material is given. Therefore nothing from later historical accounts has been inserted into this Synaxarion.

By his holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone IV

Common of a Hierarch

The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock
as a rule of faith, a model of meekness and a teacher of abstinence;
therefore by humility thou didst attain the heights
and by poverty riches.
O Father and Hierarch Bregwin,
intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion — Tone VIII

Common of a Hierarch

O Hierarch Bregwin, servant of the Holy Trinity,
standing now with the Angels before God,
cease not to make intercession
for those who honour thy sacred memory.

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On this day the source places a commemoration of Saint Ninian, Bishop and Missionary, assigning him to the sixth century.

Source Note

The document itself is deliberately uncertain about this entry. It records that a French Orthodox calendar inserts Saint Ninian on 26 August as a bishop and missionary in England, but observes that there does not appear to have been a second Ninian. It therefore raises, without resolving, the possibility that this date represents a translation of relics, perhaps connected with relics preserved in France.

No additional Life has therefore been constructed for 26 August.

A proper Orthodox Troparion and Kontakion for Saint Ninian certainly exist for his established principal commemoration. However, because the source does not establish what the 26 August observance represents, the Common of a Hierarch is used here rather than silently importing details from another feast.

By the holy intercessions of the Hierarch Ninian, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone IV

Common of a Hierarch

The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock
as a rule of faith, a model of meekness and a teacher of abstinence;
therefore by humility thou didst attain the heights
and by poverty riches.
O Father and Hierarch Ninian,
intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion — Tone VIII

Common of a Hierarch

As a shepherd of Christ’s flock, O holy Ninian,
thou standest now before the throne of the Holy Trinity.
Together with the Angels make supplication
for those who honour thy sacred memory.

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The holy Ebba was a daughter of King Æthelfrith of Bernicia and Acha of Deira. Among her brothers were Eanfrith, Oswald and Oswiu, the latter three ruling successively in the northern kingdoms.

After Æthelfrith was killed in battle by Edwin of Deira, Queen Acha fled with her seven children into Dál Riata in western Scotland. King Domnall Brec received them, and there the exiled royal household entered fully into the life of the Celtic Church. Ebba embraced the Christian Faith with great fervour.

When circumstances permitted her return to Northumbria, she determined to embrace virginity and the monastic life. She received the veil from Saint Finan, the second abbot and bishop of Lindisfarne, whose monastery had been established through her brother Saint Oswald.

While Ebba had been growing up in Scotland, a prince named Aidan had determined to marry her. Learning that she had become a nun, he attempted to take her by force.

Ebba fled northward along the coast until she was trapped upon a high rock beside the sea. She prayed, and the tide rose around the rock and isolated it from the shore. For three days the waters remained high until the prince acknowledged the miracle protecting her and departed.

King Oswiu, impressed by his sister’s resolution, granted her the old Roman fort of Vindomora, about fifteen miles north-west of Durham. There she founded her first monastery, and from her the place became known as Ebchester, the fort of Ebba.

Although this monastery was afterwards destroyed during the Danish raids, the place continued to attract solitary ascetics so strongly that in the Middle Ages it became known as the place of the anchorites.

Ebba soon established a much larger community at another ancient Roman site, Urbs Coludi, near the rock of her miraculous deliverance. The monastery stood at the place now called Kirk Hill; the rock became Saint Abb’s Head, and the wider settlement came to be known as Coldingham.

Her foundation was a double monastery of men and women and became an important centre for the Christian mission among the Angles living along the North Sea coast.

The abbess also became involved in the difficult disputes surrounding her royal family and Bishop Wilfrid. Her nephew King Ecgfrith had married Ethelthryth, daughter of King Anna of East Anglia. Ethelthryth desired to preserve her virginity and enter the monastic life, and through Wilfrid’s intervention she was permitted to enter Ebba’s monastery.

After a year of monastic formation at Coldingham, Ethelthryth received the veil from Wilfrid and was blessed to establish her own double monastery among the East Anglian fens at the place where Ely Cathedral later stood.

Conflict between Ecgfrith and Wilfrid nevertheless intensified, and the king imprisoned the bishop at Dunbar. Ecgfrith’s new queen, Eormenburgh, took possession of Wilfrid’s encolpion, the sacred reliquary which signified his episcopal rank, and wore it herself.

When the royal couple came to Coldingham, the queen was afflicted during the night and came near to death. Ebba fearlessly rebuked her nephew, declaring that his wife’s bondage corresponded to the bondage in which he held the bishop. She required at least that Wilfrid and his companions be released and sent into exile if the king would not restore him to his see.

When Ecgfrith obeyed, his wife recovered. Wilfrid afterwards continued his work elsewhere and was eventually restored to his bishopric.

As Ebba grew older, discipline within her large community became difficult to maintain. Many of the monks and nuns were first-generation converts drawn from noble families and possessed little inherited experience of the religious life.

The holy abbess therefore sought the assistance of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. While staying at Coldingham, Cuthbert continued his custom of spending the night in prayer in the sea at the place now called Horse Castle Bay. One monk secretly watching him saw two otters approach when the saint emerged from the freezing water and warm and dry his feet with their fur.

Another monk of the community, Adamnan, who had turned from a dissolute youth to a life of severe abstinence, received the gift of prophecy. He foretold that after Ebba’s death the community would again become lax and that the monastery would be destroyed by fire.

The holy abbess reposed peacefully in 683 and immediately received veneration because of her renowned holiness. Three years afterwards, in 686, the foretold fire destroyed the monastery. It was rebuilt, but never recovered the greatness it had possessed during Ebba’s lifetime.

Local veneration nevertheless endured. Pilgrims visited Kirk Hill and the two springs associated with the saint, one upon the summit and the other at sea level beneath it.

At the beginning of the twelfth century King David I of Scotland founded a Benedictine priory at Coldingham. Some of its monks initially doubted the local veneration of Ebba.

At this time a layman named Henry, who had been poisoned by his mistress and lost his reason, slept in the monastery church dedicated to Saint Michael. Ebba appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to build an oratory in her honour upon Saint Abb’s Head.

Henry awoke healed and in possession of his faculties and fulfilled her command. Miracles multiplied there, and Reginald, the biographer of the shrine, recorded forty-three of them. Almost all concerned healing, and approximately half involved children or young people.

A poor blind woman prayed at the oratory and dreamed that Ebba told her to wash in the saint’s spring. She obeyed and received her sight.

Around the same period shepherds discovered Ebba’s wooden coffin upon Saint Abb’s Head. When they attempted to open it with their crooks they were struck blind. The coffin was carried to the monks at Coldingham and enclosed within an outer stone coffin.

Soon afterwards Ebba appeared to one of the monks and gave permission for it to be opened. Within were found dust retaining the form of a human body, cinders which the source suggests may have been from incense, and bones which rapidly crumbled.

The monks carefully dried the remains and sieved the dust, dividing the sacred relics between a new shrine within the altar at Coldingham and the mother house at Durham.

Dedications in England and Scotland testify to the breadth of her cult, including a church at Oxford founded before 1091. Her feast appeared in early calendars at Durham, Winchcombe and Aberdeen.

Thus Saint Ebba became remembered as the Mother of Northumbria, having laboured for the establishment of Christian and monastic life in northern England and south-eastern Scotland.

A saint-specific Orthodox service to Ebba the Elder is attested; its Troparion follows the traditional Tone VIII form for a venerable woman.

By her holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone VIII

Common of a Venerable Mother

In thee, O mother, the image of God was preserved;
for, taking up thy cross, thou didst follow after Christ;
by activity thou didst learn to disdain the flesh, as something transient,
but to care for thy soul as something immortal.
Wherefore, with the Angels thy spirit doth rejoice,
O venerable Ebba.

Kontakion — Tone II

Special melody: Having received the grace

Having discarded a bed for rest,
for the sake of thy love for God,
O Mother Ebba,
and illuminating thy spirit with fasting,
thou hast completely vanquished thine enemies;
and by thine intercessions
destroy the evil machinations of our adversaries.

On this day we commemorate the holy Martyr Tydfil of Merthyr, who is also called Tutglid and Tutglit, and who suffered about the year 480.

The holy Tydfil was born during the first part of the fifth century, when Roman power had withdrawn from Wales and then from Britain, and the old Romano-British Christian families increasingly bore responsibility for preserving both the civil order and the Faith. Wales and the south-west became strongholds of British Christianity amid the disorders which followed the Roman withdrawal.

Tydfil belonged to the great Christian ruling family of Brycheiniog. Her great-grandfather Tewdrig was king of Garth Madryn in the region of Brecon. His only daughter Marchell was given in marriage to Anlach, a prince of the Déisi of southern Ireland, and their son Brychan, Tydfil’s father, was nursed in Ireland before being brought back to Britain at the age of two.

Brychan was fostered by the blind warrior Drychan and later became a hostage after his father suffered defeat in war. The source records a grave sin from this period of his life, when he violated the daughter of King Benadi and fathered Saint Cynog. Thereafter the record falls silent concerning him for a time, but when he returned to inherit his father’s rule he had changed greatly, and the tradition records that he increased in virtue and became a godly and responsible ruler.

He became known as Brychan Brycheiniog, and was remembered as the patriarch of a vast Christian kindred whose sons, daughters and descendants included many rulers and saints throughout South Wales, Cornwall and North Devon.

The genealogies place Tydfil among Brychan’s younger children. The source therefore considers it possible, though not certain, that she received some instruction from Saint Dyfrig, who maintained a school at nearby Gwenddwr in the Wye valley.

Most of the traditions preserved in the source agree that Tydfil married a local ruler in Pembrokeshire and herself became the mother of saints. After her husband’s death she withdrew to the valley of the Taff in Glamorgan, at the place which afterwards received the name Merthyr Tydfil.

There, together with companions, she probably established a small Christian cell and oratory upon or near the site of the later church. She devoted herself to prayer while also giving practical assistance to the people dwelling around her and became renowned for healing both human beings and animals.

The holy woman remained in close contact with members of her family. One of her sisters headed a Christian settlement at Cil-Sanws, less than four miles away, while another, Tudwystyl, lived at Ystrad Tywi.

Towards the end of the fifth century the region became increasingly dangerous as raiders penetrated the country. On one occasion members of Tydfil’s family had gathered at Ystrad Tywi. Returning towards Merthyr, they discovered a raid already in progress.

Some attempted to escape northwards but were overtaken beside the River Taff at the place now called Troedyrhiw. There Tydfil’s brother Rhun was killed while defending the river crossing. Rhun’s son Nefydd went to obtain reinforcements and afterwards pursued the raiders over Aberdare Mountain, defeating them at the place called Irishman’s Hill.

Tydfil herself appears to have hastened directly to her cell and given herself to prayer. There the raiders found her and slew her. From her martyrdom the place received the Welsh designation Merthyr, signifying a place associated with a martyr.

The local people buried the holy woman where she had been killed and raised a small church over her grave. Miracles were manifested there, and the shrine of Saint Tydfil became a place of pilgrimage.

Even when the Reformation took early hold in the region, reverence for Tydfil did not disappear. Her relics and images were quietly removed, but her memory endured among the people. The later borough arms portrayed her as a woman working with a distaff, while the First World War memorial represented her standing with a miner and with a mother and child.

Her holy spring, Ffynnon Dydfil, has been lost, but stood near the southern end of Well Street in Merthyr Tydfil, close to the place now marked by Saint Tydfil’s Well Church. A chapel dedicated to her also stood for five centuries at Llantwit Major until destroyed by the Normans, while a church dedicated to her survives at Llysworney.

Thus the holy Tydfil, having served Christ through prayer, healing and care for those around her, sealed her life by the shedding of her blood and left her very name upon the land sanctified by her martyrdom.

By her holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone IV

Common of a Woman Martyr

Thy ewe-lamb Tydfil, O Jesus,
crieth with a loud voice:
Thee, O my Bridegroom, do I love,
and seeking Thee I endure suffering;
with Thee I am crucified and buried through Baptism,
that I may reign and live with Thee.
Through her intercessions, O Merciful One, save our souls.

Kontakion — Tone III

Common of a Woman Martyr

Having offered thy life unto Christ, O Martyr Tydfil,
thou didst make the place of thy suffering a dwelling of grace;
and those who came unto thy grave received healing.
Wherefore we honour thy sacred memory
and beseech thee to pray unceasingly for us all.

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On this day we commemorate the holy Martyr Ebba the Younger, Abbess of Coldingham, and all the holy women who suffered with her, in the year 870.

When Danish raiders landed near the monastery of Coldingham, the community of holy women faced the imminent danger of violation and captivity.

Seeking to preserve the chastity of those entrusted to her, the abbess Ebba acted according to the severe counsel she discerned in the Lord’s words concerning relinquishing a bodily member rather than falling into sin. Taking a razor, she cut away her own nose and lips before her spiritual daughters.

Seeing their mother’s resolve, the nuns followed her example. When the invaders entered and beheld them, they recoiled from abusing the women. Yet the holy community was not thereby delivered from death: the raiders returned and set fire to the monastery.

Thus Ebba and the entire community perished together in the flames and are numbered among the martyrs.

A proper Orthodox service to Saint Ebba the Younger and her companions is attested, including a proper Troparion in Tone I.

By the prayers of the holy Martyr Ebba and all her companions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone I

Having finished your course and preserved the Faith unto the end,
O glorious Ebba and holy company of virgins,
you passed through the fire unto Christ,
the Lamb and Shepherd of His reason-endowed flock.
Wherefore with gladness we honour your holy martyrdom:
intercede with Him for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion — Tone V

Common of Women Martyrs

Today we celebrate the sacred memory
of Ebba and the holy women who suffered with her;
for having endured unto death for the sake of Christ,
they entered the bridal chamber of the heavenly Bridegroom.
By their prayers, O Saviour,
deliver us from every affliction.

On this day we commemorate our venerable Father Sigfrid, Abbot of Wearmouth, who reposed about the year 688.

The blessed Sigfrid governed the monastery of Wearmouth, situated upon the River Wear in the north-east of England, a short distance from its sister monastery at Jarrow, where the Venerable Bede passed his monastic life.

Bede remembers Sigfrid as a man deeply instructed in the Holy Scriptures, adorned with excellent conduct and remarkable continence. Yet while his inward virtues were strong, his body was greatly weakened by sickness, and particularly by a severe and incurable disease of the lungs.

In his infirmity he was assisted by Benedict. When both men drew near to the end of their earthly course, they summoned the holy Ceolfrid, Abbot of the monastery of Saint Paul at Jarrow, and entrusted both monasteries to his care. Thus Wearmouth and Jarrow were placed beneath the rule of one holy abbot.

Having borne bodily weakness with patience and preserved the virtues of the monastic life, the venerable Sigfrid departed unto the Lord.

By his holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone VIII

Common of a Venerable Father

In thee, O Father, the image of God was preserved with exactness;
for, taking up thy cross, thou didst follow Christ,
and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to disregard the flesh, for it passeth away,
but to care for the soul, for it is immortal.
Wherefore thy spirit, O venerable Sigfrid, rejoiceth with the Angels.

Kontakion — Tone II

Common of a Venerable Father

Arming thyself with the purity of thy soul,
and wielding constant prayer as a spear,
thou didst utterly rout the hosts of demons,
O our venerable Father Sigfrid.
Ceaselessly pray now on behalf of us all.

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On this day we commemorate the holy Oswin, King of Deira and Passion-Bearer, who is also called Oswine and Osuine.

The source calls him a Passion-Bearer, that is, one who accepts martyrdom without resisting violence.

When the holy King Oswald fell in battle in the year 642, the kingdom of Northumbria again divided into its two ancient parts. Deira in the south returned to its own royal house and received Oswin as king, while Bernicia in the north passed to Oswald’s brother Oswiu. Both Christian realms remained for a time beneath the power of the pagan Penda of Mercia.

Oswin himself belonged to the Deiran royal line. His father Osric had received Baptism but had returned to paganism upon becoming king. After Osric fell and the kingdoms descended into terrible violence, the young Oswin was rescued and carried south to safety in Wessex.

The king of Wessex, Cynegils, was still pagan when Oswin arrived. Later Saint Oswald arranged to marry Cynegils’ daughter and required that she embrace Christianity. Cynegils himself received Baptism with his family and court, Saint Oswald serving as his sponsor.

The source judges it most likely that the young Prince Oswin, then a member of the Wessex court, received Baptism at this time. It may likewise have been during these years that he first formed a bond with Oswald, who had taken possession of the throne once held by Oswin’s father. Oswald regarded himself as custodian rather than permanent possessor of Deira and designated the young prince as its rightful successor.

Oswin grew into a man of notable piety. Bede remembered him as tall and handsome, gracious in speech and courteous in manner, while emphasising above all his humility.

He showed generosity towards both great and small and attracted men of noble birth from many regions to his service. His subjects loved him, and Deira prospered beneath his rule.

Oswin and Saint Aidan

Following the pattern of Saint Oswald, Oswin sought the friendship and spiritual direction of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne.

The bishop frequently visited the king because of the holiness which he perceived in him. Aidan urged him never to become satisfied with the good already accomplished, but always to advance towards greater perfection.

Oswin received the bishop’s teaching with obedience. When Aidan corrected him, the king amended his conduct rather than defending himself. Under his spiritual father’s guidance he fed the hungry, clothed the naked and gave readily to those in need.

A deep spiritual affection arose between them. Oswin honoured Aidan almost as an angel sent by God, while the bishop loved the king as a son, correcting him when worldly business consumed too much of his attention and encouraging him through conversation concerning the heavenly life and the glory of the saints.

As Aidan grew old and found his missionary journeys increasingly difficult, Oswin gave him a magnificent horse equipped with royal trappings.

Soon afterwards a poor man asked the bishop for alms. Aidan immediately dismounted and gave him the horse together with all its costly equipment.

When the king heard what had happened, he was troubled. As Aidan came to dine with him, Oswin asked why the bishop had given away the particular horse chosen for his own use when many less valuable animals could have served a beggar.

Aidan rebuked him by asking whether the offspring of a mare possessed greater worth in the king’s eyes than a child of God.

Oswin said nothing immediately. He went towards the fire to warm himself and considered the bishop’s words. Then, before the assembled royal household, he removed his sword, handed it to a servant, approached Aidan and fell upon his knees before him.

He begged forgiveness and promised never again to question how much of the royal bounty Aidan distributed among the children of God.

The bishop immediately raised him and restored him to his place at table. Oswin became cheerful again, but Aidan grew sorrowful and began to weep.

Asked privately why he mourned, the bishop replied that he had never before seen so humble a king. Because the people were not worthy to possess such a ruler, Aidan believed that Oswin would soon be taken from them.

The Conflict with Oswiu

Meanwhile resentment grew in the heart of Oswiu of Bernicia. Oswin possessed the prosperous southern kingdom, the friendship of Aidan and the increasingly renowned monastery of Lindisfarne within his territory, while his own portion contained the harsher lands of the north.

According to the account preserved by the source, Oswiu first sought secretly to bring about his rival’s death. For seven years various plots failed: sometimes through Oswin’s prudence, sometimes through the loyalty of his people, and on occasions because the very men sent against him warned their intended victim.

In the year 649 the hostility became open. Oswiu raised the large forces available to him in Bernicia and marched against Oswin.

The King of Deira assembled his much smaller army at Wilfaresdun, about ten miles from Catterick and close to the place associated with the great baptisms of Deira.

Seeing that his men were hopelessly outnumbered, Oswin refused to purchase his throne with their blood.

He released his army from its obligation to fight and renounced his kingship. His soldiers knelt before him weeping and begged permission to remain, declaring that they would either overcome the enemy or die beside their king.

Oswin would not consent. He understood that Oswiu sought him rather than the destruction of the Deiran people, and therefore judged that surrendering his own claim would spare his subjects from massacre.

He declared that he desired the martyrdom foretold by Aidan and the joys of the heavenly Kingdom.

Then the king prayed to the Father of mercies and God of consolation, asking to be shown the better path. To fight would involve the shedding of blood; to flee might dishonour his earthly station. He therefore anchored his hope in God.

His Passion

Taking only one faithful warrior named Tondhere, Oswin withdrew to Ingetlingum, now Gilling, an estate which he had recently bestowed upon a courtier named Hunwald, who had professed great affection and loyalty towards him.

Oswiu took possession of Deira but remained uneasy while the former king lived. He therefore commanded his officer Ethelwin to find and kill him.

Fearing the destruction of his own estate, Hunwald betrayed the king who had trusted him. Soldiers surrounded the dwelling by night, and Ethelwin entered while the traitor still outwardly paid honour to his guest.

At first Oswin grieved at so bitter a betrayal. Then he recovered his peace, signed his breast and tongue with the Cross and declared that the sentence of Oswiu could take effect only by permission of his own King, Christ.

He asked that Tondhere be spared. The faithful servant, however, refused to survive his master.

Thus Oswin and Tondhere were slain together on 20 August 651 and buried that same day at Gilling.

Eleven days later Saint Aidan followed his beloved spiritual son into eternal life.

The Monastery of Reconciliation

The murder produced widespread horror, particularly because Oswin had already surrendered the throne and posed no military threat.

Oswiu’s own wife Eanflæd was a kinswoman of the murdered king and therefore possessed, according to the custom of the age, the right either to demand vengeance or to receive the customary compensation called a wergild.

From this compensation arose a monastery at Gilling, upon the place associated with the martyrdom.

A relative of Oswin became its first abbot, and members of both the Deiran and Bernician royal houses entered the community. The monks received the task of praying both for the soul of the murdered Oswin and for the repentance and salvation of Oswiu.

In this way a foundation born from murder became an instrument for preventing generations of blood-feud and preserving the Christian future of Northumbria.

The source regards the universal condemnation of his deed and the sacrifice made by the two royal families as instrumental in Oswiu’s eventual repentance. The formerly bitter king afterwards became a great patron of the Church and sought to heal its divisions, presiding four years later at the Council of Whitby.

The Finding of the Holy Relics

Oswin’s body was eventually translated to Tynemouth, probably during the plague which reached Gilling less than twenty years after the monastery’s foundation.

During the Viking incursions of the ninth century the monastery upon the Tynemouth headland was destroyed and knowledge of the place of Oswin’s relics disappeared.

In the year 1065, however, Edmund, priest of the Church of Saint Mary at Tynemouth, saw Saint Oswin in a vision. The king revealed himself as dwelling unknown within that church and instructed Edmund to tell Bishop Æthelwine of Durham that his body lay beneath its floor.

The bishop came with Judith, wife of Earl Tostig, and others, but their first search found nothing.

Edmund therefore prayed again to the saint, who showed him the place. The priest himself began digging while the others watched.

Presently they uncovered the whole and incorrupt body of the king, from which came a sweet fragrance filling the surrounding air. The relics were translated with honour, and the finding of the sacred body came to be commemorated on the eleventh day of March.

Around the year 1080, Waltheof, the last English Earl of Northumberland, granted the ruined monastery at Tynemouth, together with Oswin’s body and the lands attached to the church, to the monks of Jarrow.

A small community established itself there by 1083, repairing and roofing the Church of Saint Mary. In 1090 control passed to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Albans.

The Poor Woman and the Mariners

When William Rufus came north during warfare with the Scots, supply ships entered Tynemouth and their sailors plundered the surrounding people.

One sailor stole from a poor elderly woman a small piece of weaving upon which she had laboured for an entire year and which formed her only livelihood.

The woman went to Saint Oswin’s tomb and begged the martyr to obtain justice for her. Through the night nothing occurred, and in the morning she watched the ships leave upon a calm sea.

But when they reached the waters near Coquet Island, a sudden storm arose and the ships went down.

The north wind drove the wreckage and bodies back towards Tynemouth. The sea returned what the sailors had stolen, and each of the inhabitants recovered what belonged to him.

Last of all came the old woman. The dead sailor lay upon the shore still clutching her piece of weaving in his hand.

Saint Oswin’s Peace

The monks of Saint Albans began building a large new priory church dedicated to the Mother of God and Saint Oswin. On 20 August 1103, the saint’s relics were translated into a magnificent new shrine ornamented with gold and precious stones.

Soon afterwards fire broke out among the thatched monastic buildings, but an appeal to the holy relics brought the danger to an end.

Because Oswin had surrendered his own life rather than permit his countrymen to slaughter one another, the sanctuary surrounding his shrine became known as Saint Oswin’s Peace.

On one feast day, while crowds of pilgrims gathered at the shrine, a thief entered the workshop of the goldsmith employed to restore its decoration and stole what he could carry.

He attempted to escape but, on reaching the boundary of Saint Oswin’s Peace, found himself restrained by an invisible barrier. Unable to pass beyond it, he sought refuge at an inn within the sanctuary, where his behaviour betrayed him and he was arrested. The stolen goods were returned, and the people glorified God for the protection manifested through the martyr.

Aidan Sends a Pilgrim to Oswin

The spiritual friendship between Aidan and Oswin continued, according to the source, beyond death.

A pilgrim from Norwich who had already travelled three times to Jerusalem set out towards Scotland to venerate the relics of Saint Andrew. His stomach had become gravely weakened through his journeys, and at Newcastle he suffered violent spasms.

While he slept, a venerable man appeared and asked whether he wished to recover.

The stranger instructed him to go to the tomb of King and Martyr Oswin for the feast of the finding of his relics. When the pilgrim asked who spoke to him, the visitor revealed himself as Aidan, formerly Bishop of Oswin.

Aidan touched him and cured the pain in his head but told him that Saint Oswin would heal his inward sickness.

Too weak to walk, the pilgrim travelled by boat to Tynemouth. He was laid beside the martyr’s shrine while the monks were assembled in chapter, and there received healing from his disease.

The Destruction of the Shrine

For a time Saint Oswin numbered among the most renowned saints of Northumbria, and pilgrims gathered in great numbers at Tynemouth.

The monastery’s lands and the offerings of pilgrims eventually made the priory one of the most valuable possessions of Saint Albans. Only shortly before the Dissolution did Tynemouth itself become an independent abbey.

Its wealth then made it a target of the royal commissioners. On 15 January 1539 the monastery surrendered to the Crown.

The shrine of Saint Oswin was destroyed and his bones scattered. Yet a portion of his relics was rescued and preserved at Durham.

The source also records that a Psalter preserved in the British Museum formerly bore, until damage in the fire of 1731, the inscription Liber Oswini Regis — The Book of King Oswin.

Thus the humble king, who preferred the loss of his throne and his own life to the shedding of his people’s blood, received the crown of the Passion-Bearer; and the place surrounding his relics itself came to bear the name of peace. His closeness to Saint Aidan, his humility before correction, and his voluntary acceptance of death remained the chief marks of his memory.

By the prayers of the holy Passion-Bearer Oswin, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion of Saint Oswin — Tone I

Shining forth in courtesy and deep humility,
O radiant Passion-Bearer Oswin,
thou wast formed in Christian kingship beneath the guidance of holy Aidan
and didst enlighten the northern land.
Glory to Christ Who strengthened thee;
glory to Him Who crowned thee;
glory to Him Who worketh healings through thee.

Kontakion of Saint Oswin — Tone II

Thou didst shine forth as a radiant star, O Martyr Oswin,
illumining the northern land by thy humility and godly rule;
and choosing rather to surrender thy life
than to shed the blood of thy people,
thou didst receive from Christ the unfading crown.
Entreat Him unceasingly for us all.

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The holy Mochta was born in Britain. While he was still a child, a Druid named Hoam brought him and his parents to Ireland, and Mochta grew up in County Louth as a member of the Druid’s extended household.

While still very young, he received the Christian Faith through Saint Patrick. Thereafter Mochta himself became the means of Hoam’s conversion: when the Druid’s daughter died, the young Christian restored her to life. She subsequently embraced the monastic life and devoted herself to making vestments and cloths for the holy altar.

An angel then commanded Mochta to journey to Rome. This occurred not long after the controversies associated with Pelagius and Celestine, and there Mochta presented a confession of his Orthodox Faith to Pope Leo.

He continued his studies in a Roman monastery and received episcopal consecration from the Pope, who sent him back to Ireland accompanied by twelve disciples.

Returning to the land of his upbringing, the holy bishop founded a church at Kilmore. He then gave all his possessions to the monks, retaining only what the source calls the fountain at the door.

By a marvel, he travelled by the stream which is now the River Fane towards Louth; according to the alternative form of the tradition preserved in his Life, rather than Mochta being carried by the water, the stream itself followed the saint.

At Louth he established a monastery upon the place formerly occupied by a shrine of the Celtic god Lugh. Thus prayer to Christ replaced the former cult at the place from which Louth received its name.

Mochta became renowned for learning. He began a series of annals which continued to be maintained in his monastery and became known as The Book of the Monks.

When Saint Patrick withdrew to Louth in his old age, Mochta served temporarily as bishop of the see of Armagh until responsibility could be transferred to Begninus.

Having attained a great age, the holy hierarch reposed while in his nineties.

His monastery and the neighbouring settlement endured repeated devastation during the Danish incursions between the years 829 and 968. A round tower was erected for protection but was itself blown down in the year 981.

The source preserves for Menaion use an ancient remembrance from the Annals which praises the extraordinary discipline of the saint. It declares that the teeth of Mochta, the man of good morals, endured the rigour for three hundred years, neither permitting an erring word to pass between them nor receiving a morsel of rich food.

Thus the hierarch who had passed from Britain to Ireland, from the household of a Druid to the household of Patrick, and from Ireland to Rome and back again, became a shepherd, teacher and founder of monastic life in Louth.

By his holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone IV

The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock
as a rule of faith, an image of meekness and a teacher of abstinence;
wherefore by humility thou didst attain the heights
and by poverty riches.
O Father and Hierarch Mochta,
intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion — Tone VIII

As a faithful disciple of the great Patrick
and a shepherd adorned with right belief,
thou didst establish the monastic life at Louth, O holy Mochta,
and didst preserve the Faith undefiled.
Wherefore, standing before the Holy Trinity,
pray without ceasing for us all.

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The holy Credan served as the ninth abbot of Evesham in Worcestershire during the reign of Offa, King of Mercia. Evesham had been founded earlier in the century by Saint Ecgwine following the vision of the Mother of God first granted to the swineherd Eoves and then to the holy bishop himself.

The monastery appears from its beginning to have followed the Rule of Saint Benedict. Standing upon an important route between Wales and England, it rapidly attracted royal patronage and extensive grants of land, while the wonderworking body of its founder, Saint Ecgwine, drew pilgrims to the church.

Credan became one of the three great saints whose shrines made Evesham renowned: Saint Ecgwine the founder, Saint Credan himself, and Saint Odulf, the Frisian missionary whose relics were afterwards brought to the monastery.

Very little concerning Credan’s earthly life has survived, although royal charters bear witness to his abbacy. The source portrays him as a quiet and humble monk who bore the burdens of his office without complaint or display.

Hospitality formed a principal labour of the Evesham brethren, for large numbers of travellers and pilgrims sought lodging there. According to monastic custom, the abbot himself took the chief responsibility for welcoming guests. In this hidden ministry Credan acquired such a reputation for holiness that, after his repose in the year 780, men continued to seek his intercession, and miracles occurred at his grave in the monastic cemetery.

During the tenth century Evesham passed through a troubled period when secular canons occupied the monastery. Regular monastic observance was eventually restored before the Norman conquest.

In the eleventh century Abbot Mannig, appointed during the reign of Edward the Confessor, began rebuilding the ancient church. Again and again he received a vision commanding him to raise the relics of Saint Credan and place them within a shrine.

At last the abbot obeyed. When the grave was opened, Credan’s body lay between two others but was immediately distinguished from them by the extraordinary brightness which shone from it.

The rebuilt church was consecrated on the tenth day of October in the year 1054. Mannig restored the shrine of Saint Ecgwine and established new shrines for Saints Credan and Odulf.

After the Norman conquest, doubts arose concerning the sanctity of this local saint, of whose life so little had been preserved. In the year 1077 the Norman abbot Walter de Cerisy, after consulting Archbishop Lanfranc, subjected Credan’s relics to an ordeal by fire.

A fast of three days was proclaimed, while the seven penitential psalms and the appointed litanies were chanted. The relics were placed in the flames, together with other relics of Evesham, yet the fire did not consume them or even touch the sacred remains.

Thus the holiness of the quiet abbot, whose earthly deeds had scarcely been recorded, received manifest testimony after his repose.

The church was subsequently rebuilt on a grander scale. In the year 1207 its great tower collapsed and destroyed the sanctuary, yet the shrines of Ecgwine, Credan and Odulf remained unharmed amid the destruction.

Evesham continued to flourish as a great centre of pilgrimage and hospitality. At its height the abbey church possessed fifteen altars, allowing its numerous priest-monks to celebrate throughout the day while serving the great numbers of pilgrims who came to the holy place.

Even at the approach of the English Reformation, the monastery retained a reputation for regular religious life. In 1535 the royal visitors described its abbot as chaste in life and diligent in maintaining his house.

Nevertheless, Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester and an ardent opponent of the old religious order, urged Thomas Cromwell to suppress Evesham and denounced its monks. Abbot Clement was eventually persuaded to surrender the monastery, which he did peacefully in January 1540.

The abbey was immediately despoiled and largely razed. Amid the destruction the relics of the saints disappeared.

The document notes as a possibility, rather than an established fact, that Credan’s later appearance in a French Orthodox calendar might indicate that some relics reached France. It gives no evidence sufficient to establish this.

Although the great church disappeared, elements of the monastic complex survived: the tower associated with Abbot Clement, the gateway, an arch of the cloister, the almonry, and the two parish churches erected by the monks within the abbey precinct.

Thus the Lord glorified after death the servant whose earthly life had passed quietly and without fanfare, manifesting through his relics the holiness which Credan had hidden beneath humility and faithful obedience.

By his holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion — Tone VIII

In thee, O Father Credan,
that which was created according to the image of God was preserved;
for, taking up thy cross, thou didst follow Christ,
teaching by thy deeds to despise that which passeth away
and to care for the immortal soul.
Wherefore thy spirit rejoiceth with the Angels.

Kontakion — Tone IV

Having served without murmuring in the house of the Mother of God,
O venerable Father Credan,
thou didst hide thy virtue beneath humility;
yet after thy repose Christ revealed thy sanctity,
preserving thy relics unharmed by fire.
Entreat Him to grant us great mercy.

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The source document gives no further biographical information concerning the holy hierarch. Since the present Synaxarion is to contain only what the document itself supplies, nothing from later historical accounts has been introduced into his Life.

By his holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion of Saint Jambert — Tone IV

O holy Hierarch Jambert,
faithful shepherd of the Church of Canterbury,
having completed thy ministry thou didst depart unto the Lord;
wherefore, standing among the company of the hierarchs,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion of Saint Jambert — Tone II

The Church of Canterbury honours thy memory,
O holy Hierarch Jambert;
for having borne the episcopal yoke
thou didst finish the course entrusted unto thee.
Pray now before Christ the Chief Shepherd
for those who commemorate thee in faith.

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On this day we also commemorate our venerable Father Fachanan of Roscarberry, also called Fachtna Facundus, Fachtna the Eloquent, abbot and founder of Ros Ailithir.

The blessed Fachtna was born at Tulach Tenn in the territory of the Corco Loígde and belonged to the people from whom the O’Driscoll clan, ancient rulers of western Cork, descended. The Martyrology of Donegal describes him as belonging to the race of Lughaidh, son of Íth.

The Irish records commonly call him Mac Mongach, the Hairy Child. A later note in the Martyrology of Óengus and the Latin Life of Saint Finbarr explain the name by saying that Fachtna came into the world with long locks of hair.

He received his spiritual formation from two great teachers, Saint Ita and Saint Finbarr. The tradition further relates that he suffered from an affliction of the eyes, or even blindness, and received healing through Nessa, the sister of Saint Ita and mother of Saint Mochoemoc, by whose milk his eyes and face were anointed.

Fachtna afterwards studied at Saint Finbarr’s school at Loch Eirce, now Gougane Barra. The traditions concerning his association with the monastic foundation upon the Blackwater are not entirely consistent. Some later martyrologies make him abbot of the foundation of Máel-anfaid there, while the document notes scholarly arguments that this arose from confusion with another entry. Elsewhere the same source records the tradition that before establishing Ros Ailithir he founded the monastery of Molana upon an island in the Blackwater near Youghal. The uncertainty should therefore remain unresolved rather than be concealed.

The great labour of his life was the monastery which he founded near the sea at Ros Ailithir, the Wood of the Pilgrim, now Rosscarbery in County Cork. Around the monastery grew both a settlement and a celebrated school of sacred learning.

The School of Ross became renowned especially for the study of Holy Scripture. Its community of monks and students grew so numerous that the tradition speaks of pupils coming from every land. Saint Brendan the Navigator himself taught there.

For three centuries the school flourished and continued in some form until the coming of the Normans. From the monastic centre established by Fachtna the later Diocese of Ross developed.

The venerable abbot was remembered as a wise and upright man. He is said to have reposed at the age of forty-six, around the year 600.

His name occurs in one of the litanies of the Stowe Missal, bearing witness to his ancient veneration. He became patron of the Diocese of Ross, and his feast is kept upon the fourteenth day of August. In the twelfth century a Benedictine priory dedicated to Saint Mary was also established at Ros Ailithir.

Thus the venerable Fachtna, having first become a disciple, became himself a teacher of multitudes, and the solitary discipline of the saints bore fruit in a school from which the knowledge of the Scriptures spread throughout the land.

By his holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion of Saint Fachanan — Tone VIII

In thee, O Father Fachanan,
the image of God was preserved with diligence;
for taking up thy cross thou didst follow Christ,
and having been instructed by holy teachers
thou didst become thyself a teacher of multitudes at Ros Ailithir.
Wherefore entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion of Saint Fachanan — Tone IV

Enlightened by the wisdom of the Scriptures,
O venerable Fachanan,
thou didst gather a multitude of disciples at Ros Ailithir
and didst make that place a school of sacred learning.
Pray unto Christ the Master of all wisdom
that He enlighten and save our souls.

The holy Muredach belonged to the MacNeill kindred, the Cenél Lóegairi, which held the High Kingship at Tara and was connected with the royal family of Lóegaire mac Néill. He became a disciple of Saint Patrick during the evangelisation of the western lands of Ireland.

The Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick relates that Patrick founded Cell Alaid, now Killala, and left there an aged man of his own household, Bishop Muiredaig. The same tradition places Muredach among those instructed by Patrick and his monks while the Apostle continued his missionary journey through northern Mayo and western Sligo.

Muredach received responsibility for the Christians of the Northern Hy Fiachrach and established the church at Killala, near the royal settlement of Mullaghhorn. Thus he became the first shepherd of the church which afterwards developed into the see of Killala.

The document connects his ministry with the traditions surrounding the holy well at Killala and the Maidens of Focluth Wood, whom Saint Patrick is understood to have baptised there.

Having served the Church, Muredach is said to have withdrawn at length to the solitude of an island in Donegal Bay. The island called Inishmurray, lying off the Sligo coast, bears a name which may signify the island of Muredach. There he is said to have ended his life as a hermit.

The Synaxarion nevertheless preserves a considerable difficulty within the tradition. Sources also speak of a Bishop Muredach of Killala who was fifth in descent from Lóegaire mac Néill and who met Saint Columba at the Synod of Easdara about the year 580. Such a man could not be the same bishop whom Saint Patrick established at Killala in approximately 442 or 443.

For this reason the document judges it most practical to recognise two bishops of Killala bearing the name Muredach. The first belonged to the household and mission of Saint Patrick; the later Muredach, according to Mac Firbis of Leacan, was the third bishop of Killala and may have received either the family name or the name of his holy predecessor.

The traditions concerning retirement to Inishmurray may therefore have become interwoven between the two. Saint Molaise later organised monastic life upon the island, and the fact that Muredach and Molaise share the twelfth day of August as their feast suggests an ancient connection between their commemorations. The source consequently regards the present tradition as probably preserving memories of more than one holy man of the same name.

By the prayers of the holy Hierarch Muredach, O Christ our God, have mercy upon us and save us. Amen.

Troparion of Saint Muredach — Tone IV

Having received the apostolic teaching
from the great Patrick, O holy Hierarch Muredach,
thou didst become the first shepherd of Killala,
feeding the flock of Christ in the western lands;
and at the end thou didst seek the silence of the sea-girt wilderness.
Entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion of Saint Muredach — Tone II

As a faithful disciple of the Apostle of Ireland,
thou didst establish the Church at Killala, O blessed Muredach;
and after thy pastoral labours
thou didst seek the quietness of the island.
Wherefore pray to Christ the Chief Shepherd
that He grant us peace and great mercy.

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