Most people who think of Saint Patrick of Ireland think of him on this day. They dress in green, eat some corned beef and cabbage, and maybe drink some green beer and Irish whiskey. But, most know little of Saint Patrick. So, you can let Saint Patrick tell you about himself. Below is a short beginning quote from the Confession of Saint Patrick. And, if you click on the title below, you can go and read the whole document. It is short, but quite enlightening.
The Confession of Saint Patrick
1. I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many, had for father the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late Potitus, a priest, of the settlement [vicus] of Bannavem Taburniae; he had a small villa nearby where I was taken captive. I was at that time about sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our deserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our priests who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord brought down on us the fury of his being and scattered us among many nations, even to the ends of the earth, where I, in my smallness, am now to be found among foreigners.
2. And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.
3. Therefore, indeed, I cannot keep silent, nor would it be proper, so many favours and graces has the Lord deigned to bestow on me in the land of my captivity. For after chastisement from God, and recognizing him, our way to repay him is to exalt him and confess his wonders before every nation under heaven.
4. For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds. And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed, and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name.
5. He himself said through the prophet: Call upon me in the day of trouble; ‘I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’ And again: ‘It is right to reveal and publish abroad the works of God.’
6. I am imperfect in many things, nevertheless I want my brethren and kinsfolk to know my nature so that they may be able to perceive my soul’s desire. . . .
For the rest of the Confession, you will simply have to follow the link.
Those who celebrate St. Patrick’s day have it half right. They are celebrating, but have forgotten just exactly what they are celebrating.
I would like to hear your take (the Orthodox opinion) on St. Patrick, the early Celtic church, and that theology. It was a unique situation in that it was early in the history of the church (pre-schism), in the west, yet “un-Latin/un-Rome” (my term) in its approach.
Protestants and Roman Catholics both like to “claim” St. Patrick as one of their heroes, and I wonder if the Orthodox Churches feel the same.
We do honor him as one of the saints of the undivided Church. There are many Orthodox who use Saint Patrick to argue that there was clearly contact between the East and the Celts. It is true that there are “Orthodox-like” themes in Celtic Christianity, but there are also clearly Western themes. Their monasticism resembled the more loosely guided monasticism of the East than the more “regimented” monasticism of the West. And, the travels of St. Columba through Germany certainly appear to have brought those monastic missionaries into contact with the Orthodox East, because some conflicts are recorded. However, those very conflicts point out that the Celtic Church was not simply an Orthodox Church stuck up in the north-west of Europe!
Frankly, they resemble the West and the East both because, as you point out, it was a rather unique situation of a Church growing up among warring tribes with strong mystic backgrounds. The East and the West were both somewhat Imperial Churches, whereas the Celts were clearly a “barbarian” Church. However, their approach points out the areas where the Church was unwilling to compromise and the areas where the Church was willing to compromise.