Holy Cross Orthodox Parish, Columbus, OH

06/01/2026

Lectionary for Monday, June 1, 2026
Epistle Reading: Ephesians 5:8-19
Gospel Reading: Matthew 18:10-20
Saints and Feasts
Monday of the Holy Spirit; Justin the Philosopher and Martyr and his Companions; Pyrros the Hieromartyr

Today's Gospel Reading:

The Lord said, "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of man came to save the lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Schedule for May 31 – June 7, 2026
Sunday, May 31 Holly Pentecost
9:15 A.M. Hours
9:30 A.M. Divine Liturgy, followed by Kneeling Prayers
Saturday, June 6
4:30 P.M. Confessions
5:00 P.M. Vespers
Sunday, June 7 All Saints
9:15 A.M. Hours
9:30 A.M. Divine Liturgy
Fast Free Week
The Afterfeast of Pentecost is fast free. There are no dietary restrictions in the coming week.

SAINTS AND FEASTS

POSTFEAST OF PENTECOST -- DAY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

On the day after every Great Feast, the Orthodox Church honors the one through whom the Feast is made possible. On the day following the Nativity of the Lord, for example, we celebrate the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos (December 26). On the day after Theophany, we commemorate Saint John the Baptist (January 7), and so on.

Today we honor the all-Holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, Who descended upon the Apostles at Pentecost in the form of fiery tongues in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send the Comforter to His disciples (JN 14:16). That same Holy Spirit remains within the Church throughout the ages, guiding it “into all truth” (JN 16:13).

One of the hymns at Vespers on Saturday evening tells us that the Holy Spirit “provides all things. He gushes forth prophecy, He perfects the priesthood, ... He holds together the whole institution of the Church.”

At Vespers on the day of Pentecost, we hear that the Holy Spirit is “the Fountain of goodness, through Whom the Father is known, and the Son is glorified.” He is “the living Fountain of spiritual gifts” Who “purifies us from our sins.” It is by the Holy Spirit that “the prophets, divine Apostles, and martyrs are crowned.” He is the source of life and of sanctification.

In the services of this day, we sing the same hymns as on Pentecost, except the Canon of the Holy Spirit, which is sung at Compline. The Vigil is not prescribed for the eve of today’s feast. We sing the Great Doxology at Matins, but not the Polyeleos. The Irmos of the Ninth Ode (“Hail, O Queen, glory of mothers and virgins...”) is sung in place of the Song of the Theotokos (“My soul magnifies the Lord...”).

At the Liturgy, the priest or deacon chants the Entrance Verse (“Be exalted in Thy strength, O Lord. We will sing and praise Thy power.”) as on the day of Pentecost. “Holy God” replaces “As many as have been baptized....” The dismissal of Pentecost is also used.

This whole week is fast-free, and the Leave-taking of Pentecost occurs on Saturday.

Source: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/06/01/46-postfeast-of-pentecost-day-of-the-holy-spirit

05/31/2026

05/31/2026

This Sunday, May 31, 2026 is Holy Pentecost Sunday
We also commemorate Hermias the Martyr at Comana; Eustathios, Patriarch of Constantinople; Eusebius and Haralambos the Monk-martyrs

SUNDAY DIVINE LITURGY AT HOLY CROSS WILL BE STREAMED HERE ON FACE BOOK AT 9:30 AM

Epistle Reading: Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11

Gospel Reading: John 7:37-52; 8:12

FEASTS AND SAINTS

HOLY PENTECOST

In the Church’s annual liturgical cycle, Pentecost is “the last and great day.” It is the celebration by the Church of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the end—the achievement and fulfillment—of the entire history of salvation. For the same reason, however, it is also the celebration of the beginning: it is the “birthday” of the Church as the presence among us of the Holy Spirit, of the new life in Christ, of grace, knowledge, adoption to God and holiness.

This double meaning and double joy is revealed to us, first of all, in the very name of the feast. Pentecost in Greek means fifty, and in the sacred biblical symbolism of numbers, the number fifty symbolizes both the fulness of time and that which is beyond time: the Kingdom of God itself. It symbolizes the fulness of time by its first component: 49, which is the fulness of seven (7 x 7): the number of time. And, it symbolizes that which is beyond time by its second component: 49 + 1, this one being the new day, the “day without evening” of God’s eternal Kingdom. With the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ’s disciples, the time of salvation, the Divine work of redemption has been completed, the fulness revealed, all gifts bestowed: it belongs to us now to “appropriate” these gifts, to be that which we have become in Christ: participants and citizens of His Kingdom.

THE VIGIL OF PENTECOST

The all-night Vigil service begins with a solemn invitation:

“Let us celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit,
The appointed day of promise, and the fulfillment of hope,
The mystery which is as great as it is precious.”

In the coming of the Spirit, the very essence of the Church is revealed:

“The Holy Spirit provides all,
Overflows with prophecy, fulfills the priesthood,
Has taught wisdom to illiterates, has revealed fishermen as theologians,
He brings together the whole council of the Church.”

In the three readings of the Old Testament (Numbers 11:16-17, 24-29; Joel 2:23-32; Ezekiel 36:24-28) we hear the prophecies concerning the Holy Spirit. We are taught that the entire history of mankind was directed towards the day on which God “would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.” This day has come! All hope, all promises, all expectations have been fulfilled. At the end of the Aposticha hymns, for the first time since Easter, we sing the hymn: “O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth...,” the one with which we inaugurate all our services, all prayers, which is, as it were, the life-breath of the Church, and whose coming to us, whose “descent” upon us in this festal Vigil, is indeed the very experience of the Holy Spirit “coming and abiding in us.”

Having reached its climax, the Vigil continues as an explosion of joy and light for “verily the light of the Comforter has come and illumined the world.” In the Gospel reading (John 20:19-23) the feast is interpreted to us as the feast of the Church, of her divine nature, power and authority. The Lord sends His disciples into the world, as He Himself was sent by His Father. Later, in the antiphons of the Liturgy, we proclaim the universality of the apostles’ preaching, the cosmical significance of the feast, the sanctification of the whole world, the true manifestation of God’s Kingdom.

THE VESPERS OF PENTECOST

The liturgical peculiarity of Pentecost is a very special Vespers of the day itself. Usually this service follows immediately the Divine Liturgy, is “added” to it as its own fulfillment. The service begins as a solemn “summing up” of the entire celebration, as its liturgical synthesis. We hold flowers in our hands symbolizing the joy of the eternal spring, inaugurated by the coming of the Holy Spirit. After the festal Entrance, this joy reaches its climax in the singing of the Great Prokeimenon:

“Who is so great a God as our God?”

Then, having reached this climax, we are invited to kneel. This is our first kneeling since Easter. It signifies that after these fifty days of Paschal joy and fulness, of experiencing the Kingdom of God, the Church now is about to begin her pilgrimage through time and history. It is evening again, and the night approaches, during which temptations and failures await us, when, more than anything else, we need Divine help, that presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who has already revealed to us the joyful End, who now will help us in our effort towards fulfillment and salvation.

All this is revealed in the three prayers which the celebrant reads now as we all kneel and listen to him. In the first prayer, we bring to God our repentance, our increased appeal for forgiveness of sins, the first condition for entering into the Kingdom of God.

In the second prayer, we ask the Holy Spirit to help us, to teach us to pray and to follow the true path in the dark and difficult night of our earthly existence. Finally, in the third prayer, we remember all those who have achieved their earthly journey, but who are united with us in the eternal God of Love.

The joy of Easter has been completed and we again have to wait for the dawn of the Eternal Day. Yet, knowing our weakness, humbling ourselves by kneeling, we also know the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit who has come. We know that God is with us, that in Him is our victory.

Thus is completed the feast of Pentecost and we enter “the ordinary time” of the year. Yet, every Sunday now will be called “after Pentecost”—and this means that it is from the power and light of these fifty days that we shall receive our own power, the Divine help in our daily struggle. At Pentecost we decorate our churches with flowers and green branches—for the Church “never grows old, but is always young.” It is an evergreen, ever-living Tree of grace and life, of joy and comfort. For the Holy Spirit—“the Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life—comes and abides in us, and cleanses us from all impurity,” and fills our life with meaning, love, faith and hope.

Father Alexander Schmemann (1974)

Source: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/05/31/45-holy-pentecost

Below is a prayer to the Holy Spirit, by Saint Symeon the New Theologian, which has now
become a traditional part of the bulletin for Pentecost.

Come, true light.
Come, life eternal.
Come, hidden mystery.
Come, treasure without name.
Come, reality beyond all words.
Come, person beyond all understanding.
Come, rejoicing without end.
Come, light that knows no evening.
Come, unfailing expectation of the saved.
Come, raising of the fallen.
Come, resurrection of the dead.
Come, all-powerful, for unceasingly you create, refashion and change all things by your
will alone.
Come, invisible whom none may touch and handle.
Come, for you continue always unmoved, yet at every instant you are wholly in movement;
you draw near to us who lie in hell, yet you remain higher than the heavens.
Come, for your name fills our hearts with longing and is ever on our lips; yet who you are
and what your nature is, we cannot say or know.
Come, Alone to the alone.
Come, for you are yourself the desire that is within me.
Come, my breath and my life.
Come, the consolation of my humble soul.
Come, my joy, my glory, my endless delight.

05/30/2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=A3KUcwnPeys&fbclid=IwY2xjawSHm7dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEejUzcyYXJGdb9cUoGTRi5TVDVQ90kbdFMGfqJs8DfouAEARxbTvWyrgJBbB4_aem_PMA_5G-S_amrTn5ufQ2PCQ

composer Alexander Arkhangelsky (1846-1924)
№ 8 from the Liturgy of the Resurrection
mixed choir of the Russian Choral Art Academy
conductor - professor Victor Popov

Blessed are they whom Thou hast chosen and taken, O Lord. Their memory is from generation to generation. Their souls will dwell amid good things. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

composer Alexander Arkhangelsky (1846-1924)№ 8 from the Liturgy o...

05/30/2026

Lectionary for Saturday, May 30, 2026
Epistle Reading: I Thessalonians 4:13-17
Gospel Reading: John 21:14-25
Saints and Feasts
The Saturday of Souls; Isaacius, Abbot of the Monastery of Dalmatus; Macrina, grandmother of St. Basil the Great; Barlaam the Monk of Caesarea; Natalios the Martyr; Emilia, mother of Saint Basil the Great

FOR STEAMING VESPERS/VIGIL, SEE THE TRANSFIGURATION MONASTERY AT 6:00 PM AT
http://www.orthodoxmonasteryellwoodcity.org/chapel

SUNDAY DIVINE LITURGY AT HOLY CROSS WILL BE STREAMED HERE ON FACE BOOK AT 9:30AM

This Sunday, May 31, 2026 is Holy Pentecost Sunday
We also commemorate Hermias the Martyr at Comana; Eustathios, Patriarch of Constantinople; Eusebius and Haralambos the Monk-martyrs

Sunday's Matins Gospel: John 20:19-23

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were gathered, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Sunday's Holy Gospel Reading: John 7:37-52; 8:12

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This is really the prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!" The Pharisees answered them, "Are you led astray, you also? Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed." Nikodemos, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee." Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

SAINTS AND FEASTS

FOR SATURDAY

MEMORIAL SATURDAY

Today we remember all pious and Orthodox Christians who have fallen asleep in the Lord, and also recall the dread Day of Judgment. May Christ our God be merciful to them, and to us.

Two Epistles (Acts 28:1-31, I Thess. 4:13-17) and two Gospels (JN 21:14-25, JN 5:24-30) are appointed to be read at Liturgy. The readings from Acts and the Gospel of Saint John, which began on Pascha, now come to an end. The book of Acts does not end, as might be expected, with the death of Saints Peter and Paul, but remains open-ended.

In his article “With all the Saints,” Father Justin Popovich says that the Lives of the Saints are nothing less than a “continuation of the Acts of the Apostles.” Just as the book of Acts describes the works of Christ which the Apostles accomplished through Christ, Who was dwelling in them and working through them, the saints also preach the same Gospel, live the same life, manifest the same righteousness, love, and power from on High. As we prepare for the Sunday of All Saints, we are reminded that each of us is called to a life of holiness.

On this seventh Saturday of Pascha, Saint John Chrysostom’s “Homily on Patience and Gratitude” is appointed to be read in church. It is also prescribed to be read at the funeral service of an Orthodox Christian.

Source: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/05/30/44-memorial-saturday

To read this sermon of St John Chrysostom, see:

https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2020/05/homily-on-value-of-patience-st-john.html

05/28/2026

Lectionary for Friday, May 29, 2026
Epistle Reading: 27:1-44; 28:1
Gospel Reading: John 17:18-26
Saints and Feasts:
Theodosia the Virgin-Martyr of Tyre; Theodosia, Virgin-Martyr of Constantinople; Seven New Martyrs of Kastoria; Andrew the New Martyr of Argentes; John of Smyrna the New Martyr; Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria

Today's Gospel Reading:

At that time, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "As you, Father, did send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.

"I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory which you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which you have given me in your love for me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you; and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

SAINTS AND FEASTS

JESUS CHRIST, OUR HIGH PRIEST by The Very Rev. Vladimir Berzonsky

“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the
true one, but He entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24)

To gain some understanding of the significance of our blessed Lord’s crucifixion from the point of view of His contemporary Jews, we require the knowledge of the Old Testament together with our own creative imagination. We need to have in our mind’s eye the temple of Jerusalem. We must walk as it were through the separate sections and find ourselves in front of the very sanctuary itself, the “holy of holies,” where just one priest could enter, and that only once a year on the day of atonement. He had bells and a rope attached, because the experience could be so overwhelming that those outside listened to the bells ringing, meaning that the priest was moving about; but if the bells stopped ringing, they would pull him out, not daring to enter themselves.

The priest is in linen vestments. He takes two goats a sin offering, a ram as a burnt offering on behalf of the community, and a bullock as a sin offering for himself. One goat is for YHWH, the other for Az**el, a demon of the desert. That goat is the “scapegoat.” He spreads the blood of the sin-offerings on the furniture of the sanctuary and the altar. Next he drives the scapegoat into the wilderness after reciting prayers over it to commit the communal sins onto it, thus freeing the people from past sins. He then changes vestments, sacrifices the whole burnt offering, and with its blood applies it to the inner Holy of Holies. For the Hebrews blood is life, the most precious element of all living things. It should help explain why blood, Christ’s blood, is so prominent a feature in the film, The Passion of Christ.

The writer of the book of Hebrews knows all this and is addressing those like him who will grasp its meaning and application to Jesus Christ. He expects them to understand the difference:

The Old Testament sacrifice was to purify a person’s body. Christ cleanses his soul. The ceremonial sacrifice made a person ritually clean. Jesus frees his conscience.

The temple ritual was an annual event. Christ’s crucifixion was done once for all time.

The High Priest was an instrument of the Atonement ritual. Jesus Christ is both High Priest and victim offered as a sacrifice. What He did calls for a transformation of each human heart.

Men selected the animals; they didn’t go to death willingly. Jesus gave His life for the salvation of mankind, as He said laying it down for His friends.

He did so not because it was the Law, but because it was an act of love.

The poor animals had no awareness of what was being done to them or for what purpose. Christ was aware, perhaps alone in His knowledge of what it was that He was achieving by His death.

His death on the cross was not some mechanical formula devised to placate an angry God, but a test of His wills—the conquest of the old Adam’s willfulness by the voluntary surrender of that will to the will of the Father in heaven, making it possible for all humans to do likewise after their own inner battles between the primeval self will and the capitulation of one’s will to God’s.

This is why for us Orthodox Christians there is only one High Priest, Jesus Christ Himself. Those who are blessed with the grace and privilege of standing at the Holy Altar, be he patriarch or parish priest, is but a stand-in for the Unique One who is both “Offerer and Offered, Receiver and Received,” as is put so poignantly in the priest’s prayer of the Divine Liturgy.

Source: https://www.oca.org/reflections/berzonsky/jesus-christ-our-high-priest

05/28/2026

Lectionary for Friday, May 22, 2026
Epistle Reading: Acts 19:1-8
Gospel Reading: John 14:1-11
Saints and Feasts:
Basiliscus the Martyr, Bishop of Comana; Holy New Martyrs Demetrius and Paul of Tripoli; John-Vladimir, Ruler of Serbia

Today's Gospel Reading:

The Lord said to his disciples, "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him."

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father?' Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me."

05/27/2026

Lectionary for Wednesday, May 27,2026
Epistle Reading: Acts 23:1-11
Gospel Reading: John 16:15-23
Saints and Feasts
The Holy Hieromartyr Helladius; John the Russian of Evia; Theodora the Virgin-martyr & Didymos the Martyr; Venerable Bede

Today's Gospel Reading:

The Lord said to his disciples, "All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

"A little while, and you will see me no more; again a little while, and you will see me." Some of his disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'? " They said, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We do not know what he means." Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him; so he said to them, "Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being is born into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day, you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name."

FEASTS AND SAINTS

VENERABLE BEDE, THE CHURCH HISTORIAN

Saint Bede was a church historian who recorded the history of Christianity in England up to his own time. He was probably born around 673 in Northumbria. We do not know exactly where he was born, but it is likely that it was somewhere near Jarrow.

When he was seven, Bede was sent to Saint Benedict Biscop (January 12) at the monastery of Saint Peter at Wearmouth to be educated and raised. Then he was sent to the new monastery of Saint Paul founded at Jarrow in 682, where he remained until his death. There he was guided by the abbot Saint Ceolfrith (September 25), who succeeded Saint Benedict in 690, ruling both Wearmouth and Jarrow.

There is an incident in the anonymous Life of Ceolfrith which may refer to the young Bede. A plague swept through Ceolfrith’s monastery in 686, taking most of the monks who sang in the choir for the church services. Only the abbot and a young boy raised and educated by him remained. This young boy “is now a priest of the same monastery and commends the abbot’s admirable deeds both verbally and in writing to all who desire to learn them.”

Grieved by this catastrophe, Ceolfrith decided that they should sing the Psalms without antiphons, except at Matins and Vespers. After a week of this, he went back to chanting the antiphons in their proper place. With the help of the boy and the surviving monks, the services were performed with difficulty until other monks could be brought in and trained to sing.

Saint Bede was ordained as a deacon when he was nineteen, and to the holy priesthood at the age of thirty by Saint John of Beverley (May 7), the holy Bishop of Hexham (687), and later (705) of York. Bede had a great love for the church services, and believed that since the angels were present with the monks during the services, that he should also be there. “What if they do not find me among the brethren when they assemble? Will they not say, ‘Where is Bede?’

Bede began as a pupil of Saint Benedict Biscop, who had been a monk of the famous monastery at Lerins, and had founded monasteries himself. Saint Benedict had brought many books with him to England from Lerins and from other European monasteries. This library enabled Bede to write his own books, which include biblical commentary, ecclesiastical history, and hagiography.

Bede was not an objective historian. He is squarely on the Roman side in the debate with Celtic Christianity, for example. He was, however, fair and thorough. His books, derived from “ancient documents, from the traditions of our ancestors, and from my own personal knowledge” (Book V, 24) give us great insight into the religious and secular life of early Britain. To read Saint Bede is to enter a world shaped by spiritual traditions very similar to those cherished by Orthodox Christians. These saints engage in the same heroic asceticism shown by saints in the East, and their holiness fills us with love and admiration. Christians were expected to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, and there was a forty day Nativity Fast (Book IV, 30).

Saint Bede became ill in 735. For about two weeks before Pascha, he was weak and had trouble breathing, but experienced little pain. He remained cheerful and gave daily lessons to his students, then spent the rest of the day singing Psalms and giving thanks to God. He would often quote the words of Saint Ambrose, “I have not lived in such a way that I am ashamed to live among you, and I do not fear to die, for God is gracious” (Paulinus, Life of Saint Ambrose, Ch. 45).

In addition to giving daily lessons and chanting the Psalms, Saint Bede was also working on an Anglo-Saxon translation of the Gospel of Saint John, and also a book of extracts from the writings of Saint Isidore of Seville (April 4). On the Tuesday before the Feast of the Lord’s Ascension, the saint’s breathing became more labored, and his feet began to swell. “Learn quickly,” he told those who were taking dictation from him, “for I do not know how long I can continue. The Lord may call me in a short while.”

After a sleepless night, Saint Bede continued his dictation on Wednesday morning. At the Third Hour, there was a procession with the relics of the saints in the monastery, and the brethren went to attend this service, leaving a monk named Wilbert with Bede. The monk reminded him that there remained one more chapter to be written in the book which he was dictating. Wilbert was reluctant to disturb the dying Bede, however. Saint Bede said, “It is no trouble. Take your pen and write quickly.”

At the Ninth Hour, Bede paused and told Wilbert that he had some items in his chest, such as pepper, incense, and linen. He asked the monk to bring the priests of the monastery so that he could distribute these items to them. When they arrived, he spoke to each of them in turn, requesting them to pray for him and to remember him in the services. Then he said, “The time of my departure is at hand, and my soul longs to see Christ my King in His beauty.”

That evening, Wilbert said to him, “Dear Master, there is one sentence left unfinished.”

Bede said, “Very well, write it down.”

Then the young monk said, “It is finished now.”

Saint Bede replied, “You have spoken truly, it is well finished.” Then he asked Wilbert to raise his head so that he could see the church where he used to pray. After chanting, “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” to its ending, Saint Bede fell asleep in the Lord Whom he had loved.

Although Saint Bede reposed on May 25, the eve of the Ascension, he is commemorated on the 27th, since the Feast of Saint Augustine of Canterbury is appointed for the 26th. His body was first buried in the south porch of the monastery church, then later transferred to a place near the altar. Today his holy relics lie in Durham Cathedral, in the Galilee chapel. Saint Bede is the only Englishman mentioned by Dante in the DIVINE COMEDY (Paradiso).

Source: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/05/27/103796-venerable-bede-the-church-historian