Gladsome Light bathes St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Monemvasia, Greece 2026
~ Shared by r. Theodore & Irena
Crossing the threshold of an Orthodox Church – into an ancient Divine Liturgy service, fills the heart with awe and wonder… For we are stepping outside Earth’s linear time and are swathed in the numinous, Gladsome Light of Heaven’s Eternal Presence.
We have come home!
Orthodoxy is what Christ taught, the Apostles preached, and the Fathers kept. ~ St. Athanasios the Great, 297 – 373 AD
Featured Image shared by Anastasia
Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope? ~ Job 4:6
“A visible thought for today these many years later… from a beautiful card, celebrating my friend’s high school graduation in 1963. The sentiment on the back of the card reads, My God, my Confidence. The girl whose graduation this card announced attended a program sponsored by the saintly Little Sisters of the Poor in Los Angeles, for high school girls interested in joining their Community. Her name was Cecilia and her elder sister was and still is a Little Sister of the Poor. Cecilia died a few years ago. Eternal Memory to her who introduced me to the Little Sisters at their Home For the Aged where we volunteered in high school. Now, I’m the “Aged” referenced in the title!” ~ Anastasia
Memory Eternal Julia and family on the day of Julia’s interment. Julia was a wonderful Sister in Christ, and an amazing alto singer in the church choir, whose warm, rich voice reminded me of a heavenly bird’s. In the past, she raised finches, and I can remember them singing joyfully in her home as they flitted about in their large cages by the bright window. Julia was an accomplished, professional artist and art teacher, who loved to draw and paint many things, including all kinds of birds. Anastasia’s card with the sparrow being held in God’s Hands reminded me of Julia, her love for birds, and that right now, God has Julia’s gentle soul in His Loving Hands.
Even the sparrow has found a home… ~ Psalm 84:3
Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. ~ St. Matthew 10:31
Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. ~ St. Luke 12:6-7
The feature image of the 1963 Graduation Card, reminds me of hope. I pray that some day after completing this School of Life, we may all take flight and Graduate in Heaven! Amen!
Garden bouquet, picked for a friend this week: Heather, Viburnum, Pieris Japonica, Sword Fern
Light was first
Through the Lord’s
word Named day:
Beauteous, bright creation! ~ St. Caedmon
Greetings on St. Caedmon’s Day!
This 7th century British Saint heard angels sing, and recorded their heavenly hymn which became the earliest English poem in existence!
Previous Blisswood post shows the ruins of the ancient Whitby monastery where St. Caedmon lived.
After reading St. Caedmon’s Hymn from these Latin, Moore/Leningrad Northumbrian Dialects/Bodleian West Saxon sources and translations – this poem achingly called to me, asking to be adapted further.
I translated it into a more contemporary old English and put my adaptation to the ancient melody of the 13th century Byzantine Hymn: Defte Lai.
My version of St. Caedmon’s Hymn with Sheet music here.
Below is my version of St. Caedmon’s Creation Hymn, rusticly sung and recorded, accompanied by my faux-lyre (ukulele) using the chords: Fm; Cm; and B♭m.
Come magnify Him,
Creator of the firmament,
Author of each and all,
And glorify His purpose;
Love, Invincible.
Come and honour Him,
Protector of Fair Paradise,
Holy, Mighty, Immortal,
Architect, Omnipotent;
Father of Glory.
Blessed, Timeless, Lord,
Thou hast established Thy wonders,
Before middle earth* was formed,
Or adorned with Thought of Mind;
Lord, God Almighty!
For the sons of men;
Thou formed the Roof of Heaven!
* Middle earth (not just a Tolkien invention)- it means the world, the middle enclosure – which exists between heaven and hell. From Middle English middel-erde, and Old English middangeard.
I’m grateful for the heavenly hymn St. Caedmon has bequeathed to us, and his role in the early English Orthodox church… From his beginnings as a humble shepherd – to his subsequent life as a meek monk in a great, historic, monastery.
When the song of the lips becomes the song of the soul, we’re able to – bit by bit, acquire a small, uplifting, repertoire of prayerful Psalmody from the heart – by singing anytime praises to the Glory of God!
Parish Mosaic in Progress: The Dormition of the Theotokos
Prayer is one wing, faith the other, that lifts us heavenward. With only one wing no one can fly: prayer without faith is as meaningless as faith without prayer. But if your faith is very weak, you can profitably cry: Lord, give me faith! Such a prayer seldom goes unheard. The grain of mustard seed, says the Lord, grows into a great tree. ~ Tito Colliander (Way of the Ascetics)
This Morning’s Sonshine Broke Through Storm Clouds
Today we commemorate the heavenly birthday of sainted Good King Wenceslas! Many westerners have been introduced to him through an ancient Christmas Carol, retelling one of his miracles.
In this carol, St. Wenceslas helps distribute alms to the needy on the Eve of the Feast of St. Stephen the Apostle, Deacon, and Protomartyr (celebrated on the third day of Christmas); when the churches were opened and yearly collections from the Poor Alms Boxes were dispersed among the needy of the community. This was the original purpose and meaning of Boxing Day!
St. Wenceslas was martyred on today’s date (September 28/October 11) in the year 935. He is buried in Prague.
A beautiful hymn was penned in the 9th century by St. Joseph the Hymnographer – a Greek monk, and one of the many liturgical poets and hymnographers of the Orthodox Church. The hymn was later translated into English, and woven into the ancient 13th century carol melody used for Good King Wenceslas.
This ancient hymn was also later sung on St. Stephen’s feast day and many other special days of the martyrs. Some churches add on St. Joseph the Hymnographer’s hymn to carol of Good King Wenceslas, as an extra and final verse:
Christian friends, your voices raise.
Wake the day with gladness.
God Himself to joy and praise
turns our human sadness:
Joy that martyrs won their crown,
opened heav’ns bright portal,
when they laid the mortal down
for the life immortal.
Whatever we do, let us always try to do our very best to please God our Creator… that we may wake each day with gladness, and rejoice to see heaven’s bright portal break through the clouds… to illumine the way ahead!
Sunrise on the Reef ~ Kauai 2023
Thank you God, for giving me this morning!
Sing unto the Lord a new song and His praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea and all that is therein… ~ Isaiah 42:10
Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever… ~ Psalm 146:6
Every morning open a new page and put your signature on the blank. Whatever God wants, let Him write. ~ Gerontissa Gavrilia
May we grant Jesus – the Author of Life, to direct our day.
Let us Focus Forward!
The Breaking Dawn ~ Kauai
If I ride the morning winds to the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, your strength will support me. ~ Psalm 139:9-10
Praise the Lord, O heavens! Praise him from the skies! Praise him, all his angels, all the armies of heaven. Praise him, sun and moon and all you twinkling stars. Praise him, skies above. Praise him, vapours high above the clouds. ~ Psalm 148: 1-4
Praise him from sunrise to sunset! ~ Psalm 113:3
Praise him, all heaven and earth! Praise him, all the seas and everything in them! ~ Psalm 69:34
Christ is Risen!
Today is Radonitsa, or Day of Rejoicing!
Peaceful sunset in the ancient city of Mtskheta, Georgia. ~ Shared by friends of the parish: Garret and Anastasia.
The Orthodox Church of Georgia traces its ancient origins in tradition to the missionary efforts of the Holy Apostle Andrew in the first century.
A Shining Hymn of Pascha-tide!
Shine O New Jerusalem
The Angel cried unto the Lady full of grace:
Rejoice, O Pure Virgin!
Again I say: Rejoice!
Thy Son is risen from His three days in the tomb.
With Himself He hath raised all the dead.
Rejoice, all ye people!
Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem,
The glory of the Lord has shone on you.
Exult now and be glad, O Zion,
Be radiant, O Pure Theotokos,
In the Resurrection of thy Son!
~ Ninth Ode, Paschal Canon
… What shines through us
Comes from inside out…
Our light we must find
To better know ourselves… ~ Garret L.
Hell is a fall, not a place.
Heaven is flight, not a cloud!
May our souls soar up to Heaven
with the grace of love
and rest comfortably there. ~ Garret L.
Truly He is Risen!
Thank you Fr. Serafim Mull Monastery for kind permission to use St. Caedmon’s Icon.
O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth. ~ Psalm 96:1
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; ~ Ephesians 5:19
…a psalm is the work of angels, a heavenly institution, the spiritual incense. ~ St. Basil the Great
Today is St. Caedmon’s Day! This 7th British Saint heard angels sing and wrote the earliest English poem in existence.
It’s heart-piercingly beautiful, and after wading through these Latin, Northumbrian, West Saxon translations and sources of his work… I knew this poem was just aching to be adapted into a simpler, modern English read.
Sadly, no original music remains of St. Caedmon’s hymn, and alas and alack, I never found any olden West Saxon melodies to work with… They’re scarcer than hen’s teeth!
You can imagine how thrilling it was to encounter the ancient 13th century Byzantine Greek Chant, Defte Lai– and know how the majestic melody would also suit the adaptation of St. Caedmon’s poem. It’s pure joy to reclaim Defte Lai’s ageless air for another venerable Orthodox Hymn.
One of St. Caedmon’s contemporaries was the Greek monastic – St. Theodore of Tarsus, who became the 8th Archbishop of Canterbury England, so my Byzantine nod isn’t too far removed.
Here’s the pdf sheet music for my 2022 adaptation and recording below of St. Caedmon’s Hymn.
3 chords used in this recording – while strumming on my ukulele crutch are: Fm; Cm; and B♭m
St. Caedmon’s Creation Hymn:
Come magnify Him,
Creator of the firmament,
Author of each and all,
And glorify His purpose;
Love, Invincible.
Come and honour Him,
Protector of Fair Paradise,
Holy, Mighty, Immortal,
Architect, Omnipotent;
Father of Glory.
Blessed, Timeless, Lord,
Thou hast established Thy wonders,
Before middle earth* was formed,
Or adorned with Thought of Mind;
Lord, God Almighty!
For the sons of men;
Thou formed the Roof of Heaven!
* Middle earth (not just a Tolkien invention)- it means the world, the middle enclosure – which exists between heaven and hell. From Middle English middel-erde, and Old English middangeard.
Through the Holy Prayers of St. Caedmon, may we – through the Wonderful Mystery of Creation, magnify our Blessed and Timeless Lord!
Beautiful Dome Painting on round canvas, by Marie Proe ~ Niagara Falls, New York
January 19/6
Greetings on Holy Theophany!
Christ is Baptised! In the Jordan!
Today’s Great Feast commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist. Today the Heavens are opened. Today the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove. Today God the Father’s Voice from heaven declares Jesus Christ is His beloved Son. Today the Illuminating Light and Mystery of the Holy Trinity appears to the inhabited earth!
May blessings abound
With God’s gracious Love,
So let our hearts soar
On wings like a dove!
Good Day and Good Feast to you!
Epiphany Carol from Patmos, Greece.
