Lights From the East: Pray for Us

"Holy” expresses the impossibility of attaining or grasping the Light that none can approach. In other words, it expresses the impossibility of comprehending or knowing that Light as fully as it is comprehended by God’s Word and Spirit alone, but which all the same is so close and attainable that all of our blessedness lies in seeing God face to face.

—Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky

“Read Sheptytsky’s words again. And this time, replace 'holy' with ‘saint.’ How illuminating!....English is among the few languages that distinguish ‘saint’ and ‘holy.’ In Greek, Latin, Slavonic—and a host of modern tongues—the two are the same word.” 

—From the Foreword by Fr. Peter Galadza, PhD 

Catholics worldwide are increasingly heeding the call of the late Pope John Paul II to breathe spiritually “with both lungs”—to be inspired by both Western and Eastern Christianity. Yet many Catholics are unaware that the Roman Catholic Church is in communion with twenty-two other Churches, which together comprise the Eastern Catholic Churches. Focused on Eastern holy ones Lights From the East presents incredible riches to English speakers worldwide, including icons, biographies, Scripture, reflections, translated quotations from the service that honors the saint, prayers, and original hymns set to Rusyn or Galician melodies.

Each entry in Lights from the East features:

* An icon of the saint(s)

* A brief biography or biographies

* A Scripture passage

* A spiritual reflection

* A quotation from the service that honors the saint

* A prayer

* A hymn to the saint, set to a Rusyn or Galician melody

Saints included:

Saints of the Old and New Testaments

The Holy Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths

The Holy First-Martyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles Thecla

Period of the Fathers and Martyrs

The Holy Great-Martyr Barbara

Our Venerable Mother Macrina the Younger

Our Venerable Father Sabbas the Sanctified

VI. Venerable Xenophon and Mary, and their sons, Arcadius and John

Holy Monastics

Our Holy Fathers Cyril and Methodius, Teachers of the Slavs and Equals-to-the-Apostles

Our Venerable Father Theodosius of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev

Our Venerable Father David of Thessalonica

Our Venerable Father Maximus the Confessor

Saints on Both Eastern and Western Calendars

Our Holy Father John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople

Our Venerable Father John of Damascus

Martyrs of the Twentieth Century

Our Blessed Father, Martyr-Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky

Our Blessed Father Theodore Romzha, Martyr-Bishop of Mukachevo

Our Blessed Venerable Confessor M