Rejoice, ye hills and groves of the Irish land!
Leap up, ye lakes and rivers.

For lo, through the grace of God blessing and strengthening have come upon you from on high, for your enlightener and spiritual father comes unto you: Patrick, glorious among hierarchs, zealot of the Orthodox Faith, chosen by God for the apostolate.

Using the nature of your own island, he teaches you the mystery of the Trinity by means of the simplest Shamrock.

To the newly-enlightened Christians, the holy Patrick, Equal-to-the Apostles, cries out:

Attend, my spiritual children:
I have begotten you, as says the Gospel!
I have betrothed you as a bride to Christ God.

Stand fast, therefore, in the Faith, and confess fearlessly, binding the Faith of the Holy Trinity upon yourselves as a Breastplate.

Be not afraid of the opposition of oppressors, that God may manifest Himself unto you as a great Helper and Protector!

Great is your faith, O holy hierarch Patrick: for lo! Having left your homeland and lands enlightened by Christ, you journeyed to a land thirsty for the message of the Spirit.

Bearing the Gospel of Christ unto the people, you lit the holy fire of Pascha upon the mount of Slane, and taught by it those who worshiped the fire to adore the True Light.

You did not depart therefrom until you had converted the whole land to the Orthodox Faith.

Wherefore, we praise you O Father of the Irish Church. Loving the heavenly homeland and desiring to attain thereunto, O father Patrick, you forsook your native land on earth; and in a foreign land you did beget a new people in the Spirit, showing yourself to be a true father to them.

And crying aloud unto the Lord: "Here am I, and the children whom Thou hast given me," as you gaze upon the Divine Truth which will never depart from the land you ransomed from Death.

Dear John Patrick,

Happy Namesday to you, sir!

For the record, although I've no Irish blood in me whatever, when I worked for the Ontario Legislature, I developed a private member's bill that is now law and that enacts St Patrick's Day as "Irish Heritage Day in Ontario" to celebrate the many historic and oncoming contributions of our Irish community.

It took someone like me to do this for you Irish . . .

God bless the Irish!

ps. Did you know the Irish Celi De monks visited St Olha in Kyiv having arrived there in their "birinns?"

The Cross on the grave of the Ukrainian bard, Taras Shevchenko is, in fact, a Celtic Cross - and the Celtic Cross is certainly popular in Ukraine.

Erin go Bragh!

Alex

Very interesting.