Akathist by Mykhayl

Martha, Martha it’s the festival of Bishop Nicholas the saintly wonder worker.

O Kto Kto Nikolya

All who loves as Nicholas the saintly
All who serves as Nicholas the shepherd
They Nicholas will embrace
Giving help in time of need
Our Nicholas
There are two, a cold one in the midst of advent and a warm one in May. The December one in the Slavic lands from the Carpathians crossing Ukrainian to the vast Siberian wastelands snow is dusting. As the royal doors of heaven open wide to give access to Saint Nicholas’ coming and going the accumulated dust sprinkle the earth below from off the threshold of Heaven’s gates.

FEBRUARY 29th’s FEAST OF ST. JOHN CASSIAN (+ 435)

Born in Scythia he migrated from the east as the Magi did to Bethlehem, then westward to Egypt where he became a desert hermit. While in Constantinople Saint Cassian was ordained by Saint Chrysostom, whose exile this John personally protested by going to Rome and before Pope innocent I he refuted the injustice inflected upon the other John. Pope Saint Gregory the Great referrers to him as a saint. While in the west Saint John Cassian so influenced others’ lifestyle it spread further west to Gallic and north to the Gaelic eremitical monastic hermits. Later these hermitages developed into coenobitic communal monasteries. He is so praised in the Rule of Saint Benedict. These spiritual sprouts of Saint John grew to one day sustain Western Christendom. In ascetic writings he refuted Augustinian erroneous opinions on predestination which his memory will pay for later. Upon the request of Saint Leo the Great condemned the Nestorian heresy.

O Kto Kto Nikolya

All who loves as Nicholas the saintly
All who serves as Nicholas the shepherd
They Nicholas will embrace
Giving help in time of need
Our Nicholas
ONCE EVERY FOUR by Mykhayl Dzula.

This is a lore of the designation of Saint John Cassian’s feast day. Here is as it is told in Ukraine from the highlands down to the lowlands beyond the marshes and across the steppes:

When the time came to celebrate with a calendar of saints there was so much internal squabbling Saint Peter was asked to come and bring order. He came first upon the refugee vagabond Bishop from Myra Nicholas, followed by a relaxing Father Deacon, John Cassian wearing a scapular in crisp folded dark wool over a flowing drape of bleached linen. During their interview Saint Peter asked of Bishop Nicholas why his episcopal robes were so tattered and torn. He answered “Holy Father I am constantly returning into the world of mankind to fix one problem or another. These rags simple wear there”. Saint Peter than woke sleeping Brother John and inquired how he kept his robes so crisp and clean. “Well Holy Father, unlike this Bishop who occupies himself with worldly trifles I fight blasphemy and heretics with my pen, which in all humility I must admit is mightier than the sword”. “So my son you revisit the land of man?” asked Saint Peter. “Of course not Holy Father, we the heavenly have a prestigious aura to maintain and these holy robes would not long remain pristine in the world. I depend upon the scribes in the scriptoriums to be my pawns in life’s chess game.

The litany of saints’ feast days was intoned: “Saint Nicholas for the many wonders you personally work upon the earth you are honored in the cold of December on the 6th (19 ns) and again in the warm on the 9th (22 ns) of May. Saint John Cassian for your exemplary stance of orthodoxy you will be honored on February 29 (3-18 ns)”. Saint John inquired “Holy Father I fight heretics in libraries all over the world while Nicholas merely wipes the noses of snotty kids, protects prostitutes on the streets and steers pirates on crippling waters. For that he is more than doubly honored with two festivals every year to my one and only when it’s leap year?”. Saint Peter answered “Yes.” John retorted “Why?”. “Whereas Nicholas runs himself ragged as a good shepherd day after day leading his common flock across traitorous pastures to tranquil waters in the world, you in turn wage war with the prideful elite directing crisp ink scribed across flowing white pages on the shelves of the worlds’ hollowed library halls. We believe it to be balanced”. Peter has spoken.

(Julian dates in New Calendar tabulation March 12 in leap year only, December 19, May 22)

Another tells of the visit of the monarch of Kyiv Saint Volodymyr to Imperial Constantinople. As he was led from one censery stimuli to another he transfixed upon an icon of Saint Nicholas. What made this Christian bishop special is the Emperor in the scene was bowing to him not the other way around. Not only was Saint Nicholas the patron of one of Kyiv’s earliest churches marking the grave of Askold the usurper, he was also commissioned as ambassador in the court of Heaven for the vassal state of Rus’. Unlike the mighty dragon fighter Saint George whose name was transliterated amongst the Slavs as Yury or Yur the prince of thunder, Saint Nicholas retained his own.

This devotion of Saint Nicholas can be traced from its cult amongst the Greeks to that of the Slavs then westward across Europe. The Venetian pirating of his relics liberated them from his cathedral in Lycia held hostage by the Seljuks to the port of Bari Italy was unique. Not only did it promote his patronage in the number of churches in his honor only outnumbered by those to Christ and His mother, but the date of the relics arrival is set as a feast in the calendar of the Eastern Church. This occurred in 1087 which is 33 years or a Christian lifetime after the so called schism of the Christian Church.

From what I heard but never seen it in print, when the Rusyn aka Ukrainian peasantry took a child to church for its christening the priest named it after one of the saints he commemorated that day. Name days and birth days were virtually the same, more or less. The bard Taras Shevchenko was baptized on March 9 which by the old style was known as February 25. In 1814 there was only a 12 day differential between Julian and Gregorian. This was the 68th day of the year (unless it was leap year then the 69th) so 68 – 12 = 56.

In the United States the 68th day was Thursday March 9 in 1814, was know as Thursday February 26 on the Imperial Russian Court’s ledgers which recorded it on page 56 as Saint Tarasios’ day in the Eastern Church as we all used the same calendar then (Byzantine Gregorian Catholics today celebrate St. Tarasios on February 25, the 40 Saints of Sebaste on March 9 when the RC’s commemorate Saint Francis of Rome). Being a serf (slave) the actual acquisition date was not as important as correct quantity and location (ownership) of property. It is imposable to determine if Taras Shevchenko was baptized on the day of his birth or 40 days later. Being it was a Thursday in 1814 and not a Sunday or major feast the baby may have looked week and was baptized immediately as a safeguard.

Clear as mud? Don’t forget we fought civil (parish) wars over it.