October Feasts & Commemorations
This post comes from an email in the "Walk Through the Church Year" series which goes out to folks who sign up to receive two emails per month about major feasts and selected commemorations in the liturgical calendar. To receive these emails in your inbox, sign up here.
The original email was sent out in September of 2024.
by Brendan Byrd
Remembering Those Who Remember Us In Prayer
Faithfulness in the small things is the first step on the road, it is the necessary condition for faithfulness in the great things. If I am not capable of great things, I shall at least try to do the small things. If I have squandered the talents that were entrusted to me, I shall begin again humbly, patiently, to be faithful in the very small things: to be honest, pure and willing in every day life… (1)
The Great Cloud of Witnesses
Unlike September and November, October does not have any Great Feasts. It is a month of remembering the “great cloud of witnesses,” the apostles, saints, martyrs, virgins, and confessors that have gone before us. These men and women are saints (“set-apart ones”) not by virtue of their own efforts but by being willing to be transformed into becoming Christ-like. Their path toward perfection started in this life and now they are living out our hope.
These October commemorations remind us that we are not forgotten or alone. Those saints who have been faithful and who have received Christ’s faithfulness lay out the pattern of what it means to live as witnesses who have “run the race before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Arguably, the saints’ most important work begins with their repose, or death. They become our intercessors. As we pray for one another in this life, glorified saints continue that intercession in the very presence of God.
Considering Intercession
This whole idea of intercession might be new for you, particularly considering the intercession of those who have ‘died’ for those who are still ‘living.’ I find that this has been one of the primary ways that Orthodoxy has flipped my previous view of reality on its head.
What if the ‘dead’ are more alive than the ‘living’?
What if the prayers of the faithful are critical to my own faithful perseverance?
What if I don’t have to wait until I get to heaven to be like Christ?
What if I have been called to be a saint, too?
The idea that there are people who have lived, are living, and will be living who are already being made perfect in this life – and continue to be made like Christ in the next – is a critical one. It has the power to change so much of what we do each day.
As the novelist Leon Bloy once wrote, “The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint." October is a month for remembering the challenge of what it means to “take up one’s cross and to follow Christ” each day. Each of these saints’ days remind us that a walk with Christ, even sainthood, starts with little acts of faithfulness. Each saint’s story reminds us that it is today that we are called to begin, to pick up, to get up, and to keep walking. They have shown us the way and they are supporting us through their prayers.
(1) The Year of Grace of the Lord, By a Monk of the Eastern Church (Crestwood, NY:St. Vladimir’s Press, 1971) 13
A Bright Cloud Beyond All Understanding
The feast we call Protection of the Theotokos (Oct. 1) originated in 10th century Constantinople in the Blachernae church during an all-night vigil. The Fool-for-Christ St. Andrew and his disciple Epiphanius (who would later be his biographer) received a glimpse of eternal realities. They saw the Most-holy Theotokos appearing holding her omophorion (vestment cloak or veil) outstretched over the people. The two men heard the Theotokos asking her Son to accept the prayers of all the people calling on Him, and to respond speedily to her intercession.
“O Heavenly King, accept all those who pray to You and call on my name for help. Do not let them go away from my icon unheard.”
This event was commemorated in icons and remembrances in various Orthodox countries in subsequent centuries. The Theotokos’ love for the Church and her constant intercession for its faithfulness and salvation, particularly in times of need, was the common theme.
What a glorious picture of Our Lady remembering those loved by her Son! How comforting it is to be reminded of this eternal reality. This knowledge, like the original vision itself, reminds us that we are not alone and that we are walking each step of our life in the light of many who are watching, interceding, and protecting us.
From the words of the Apolytikion of theHoly Protection of the Theotokos:
O Virgin, we extol the great grace of thy Protection, which thou didst spread out like a bright cloud beyond all understanding; for thou dost invisibly protect thy people from the foe’s every assault.
From Doubt to Knowledge
We commemorate the Apostle Thomas on Oct. 6.
Church tradition records that Thomas was born in Judea to a poor but faithful family. His love of Scripture and earnestness in following his forefathers’ God prepared him to follow the Messiah. Like his companions, he spent three years living, traveling, and experiencing life with Christ. When Jesus decided to return to Judea upon Lazarus’ death, it is Thomas’ zealous voice which said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16).
Thomas was not present when Christ reveals himself to the gathered disciples on the evening of Pascha. His reaction to his colleagues’ wonder at seeing our Lord was disbelief and with those classic words, “Unless I touch his wounds…” In his great love for Thomas, Christ returned to allow him the opportunity to touch, see, and believe.
Thomas the disciple becomes Thomas the Apostle at Pentecost when he receives the Holy Spirit. Like the other apostles, he goes out into the world, baptizing all who will hear in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He receives the gift of traveling perhaps the farthest of any of the Twelve, completing this life in India.
You were a disciple of Christ, and a member of the divine college of Apostles. Having been weak in faith you doubted the Resurrection of Christ, but by feeling the wounds you believed in His all-pure Passion: pray now to Him, O all-praised Thomas, to grant us peace and great mercy.
– from the Troparion for the Apostle Thomas
A Faithful Life
St. Simeon the New Theologian is commemorated by many on Oct. 12 because the date of his repose, March 12, 1021, falls during Lent.
Born in the 10th century, St. Simeon studied and lived in Constantinople. He was mentored by his Elder Simeon the Pious and the monastic St. Mark the Ascetic, whose writings would eventually be compiled with others to the Philokalia. After being tonsured, he grew in his love for people and for God, caring for the needs of people during the day and consistently staying devoted to God in his prayers in the evening. Even as he grew in faithful devotion, he was attacked by fellow monastics. He remained humble and patient, awaiting his vindication from God. After he was physically attacked and nearly killed, he interceded to the emperor for leniency for his attackers.
Saint Simeon the New Theologian
After a strenuous life of serving in prayer and service in public, he retired to a life of contemplation and writing in his latter years. His works focus on the power of hidden spiritual perfection and the struggle against the passions and sin. Portions of his writings eventually were collected into The Philokalia, and he also composed dozens of poems filled with meditations on eternal realities.
Since you received divine enlightenment within your soul, O Venerable Father Simeon, you were shown to the world as a most radiant light, driving away its darkness, and persuading all to seek the grace of the Spirit which they had lost. Earnestly intercede with Him to grant us great mercy.
– from Troparion for St. Simeon the New Theologian
Taking Courage in Prayer
In each of the ‘little’ feasts, we see the feats of men and women made great by their faithful love and service. May we take the courage to “try the small things” and to walk in the footsteps of these saints as we intercede for each other and wait for the fulfillment of their prayers for us.
Peace of Christ,
Brendan
Brendan Byrd came into the Orthodox Church with his family in 2018. An educator, husband, and father of five, he lives in the west Michigan woods with his family and precocious cat, surrounded by mountains of books and icons.