www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology To all my German Brothers and Sisters in Christ

I want to wish you all a very happy St. Boniface day!

Joe

And the same to you!

Columcille(10% German)

Dear Joe,

Happy St Boniface Day to you too.

As you know, he was an Englishman from Devon and the German episcopate still meet before his tomb.

Another Englishman who preached in Sweden was St Sigfried who baptized Gytha, the daughter of King Harold of Hastings ("Saint Harold" to the English Orthodox).

Gytha left England after the Battle of Hastings and became the wife of St Volodymyr Monomachos of Kyivan Rus'. Their son received two names at Baptism and became "St Mstislav-Harold, Grand Prince of Kyiv."

The granddaughter of St Vladimir the Great,the Enlightener of Kyivan Rus', was Edigna who married a German Prince.

After being widowed, she retired to a great hollow oak tree where she died and has been venerated ever since as "Blessed Edigna."

Many Orthodox made pilgrimage to her tree in 1988 the anniversary of the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus'.

A number of Germans have become members of the Orthodox Church of Rus' over the centuries and have made their way into its Calendar of Saints.

My favourite is St Procopius of Ustiuh, a German businessman who became a Fool for Christ's Sake at Ustiuh (Ustiug) in Russia.

Dressed in a light robe and barefoot in the harsh winter, even the birds were freezing and falling out of the sky.

People rejected Procopius and would not have him in their homes or barns. He saw a pack of dogs warming themselves and, being on the point of death from cold, ran to them. But even they ran away from him.

He thanked God, at that time, for the grace to experience total rejection, the kind of rejection that Christ Himself experienced.

He then lied down to receive the inevitable death by freezing.

At that moment, a bright Angel appeared before him, and he felt warm all over.

People next saw him in Church praying before the miraculous Icon of the Annunciation of Ustiuh, with Holy Oil dripping from his outstretched hands.

At his canonization, his Psalter was on display. It was in Latin!

Alex

Alles gute fuer Heilige Bonifatius und sein Fest.

Now, enough of the damnable history and pass the Beer and Sauerbraten! Oh yeah, and the Kartoffelsalat too. Anybody got any good black-rye?

Blessings!

Thank you. Me mother's side is 50% German (also Swedish, French, Austrian, ...) A lot of love thru Europe. Her first ancester to come to America was Johann von Ekonroth, who was kidnapped and murdered with his son by Indians as they were trying to find protection at the nearby fort around the mid-1700s.

Dr. John, the beer sounds good. I have some good rye bread at home. We can have it with homemade Raviolis. Secret Italian sauce.


Joe


[This message has been edited by Joe Thur (edited 06-06-2001).]

Dear Dr. John and Joe,

Excuse the history lesson, but that was just a ruse to work up an appetite - and a thirst!

There is also the great current interest in Germany in Byzantine icons . . . Alex, stop it, stop it, Ya?

Alex

When I was living in Wiesbade, Germany there was the most marvelous little Russian Orthodox church on the hill overlooking the city. It was actually built as a "funeral chapel" for a Russian princess who had married into a local "royal" family and died during childbirth.

The locals tend to call is a "Greek Chapel" but it's actually run by the Russians.

Edward, deacon and sinner

JMJ

Columcille:

Don't you just love us German Irish men.

Actually I'm German/Irish/Scotch/English
/French/Spanish/Russian/Hebrew. I get to pray and venerate all sorts of patron Saints.

Dr John:

Where's the wurst?

Joe

My family on both sides (the Protestant Neimiller's and the Catholic Hartle's) thank you. We're not much into wurst these days as both sides of the family have been anglicized since about 1830. However, my mom remembers all her uncles getting together on Sunday evening to play cards, drink home-brew beer, and eat limburgher cheese sandwiches... a scandal to my father's family. But I think that had to do more with the cheese than the beer or cards on Sunday.

Happy St. Boniface's day to you too!

spdundas
75% German, 25% Scottish/Irish with sprinkles and dash of Polish and Ukrainian. (BIG GRIN )

And now, as the methane rises over the continent, let's remember all the good Germans who did so much to help make our country the "fleissiges steinsauber und Lebenswertiges Land" (diligent, clean and life-worthy nation) that we enjoy. OK. Now go wash something with strong soap.

Blessings!

Dear Joe,

The "wurst" is yet to come . . .

Alex

"...let's remember all the good Germans who did so much to help make our country the "fleissiges steinsauber und Lebenswertiges Land" (diligent, clean and life-worthy nation) that we enjoy. OK. Now go wash something with strong soap."

Reminds me of the time my Grandmother asked me to clean the downspouting. I assumed she meant to clear the rain gutters of leaves and other debris... which I did mach schnell (sp?). I was later reprimanded, however. She meant I was to wash down the downspouting, especially clean the crinkles/folds created where the metal spouting was bent. And, yes, she ironed (on Tuesday's 'cause Monday was wash day) bed sheets, underwear, t-shirts, and towels. She could out iron any permanent press garment. God bless her, 'cause I know heaven will be sparkling clean and all the garmets pressed when we get there... (just make sure you take off your shoes before going in!)

Rick,

Yup. Me parents' house needed no table to eat on since we had such a clean, clean, clean floor. But we used the table anyway.

Joe