July
July is the eleventh month of the liturgical year in the Byzantine Rite. This article covers the most important liturgical aspects of the month of July. See the online menaion and the Lectionary for the hymns and readings of each day.
The prophet Elijah
On July 20, we celebrate the feast of the holy prophet Elijah the Tishbite, whose exploits are described in the Old Testament books of Kings. In the Byzantine Rite, we commemorate a number of Old Testament saints: the prophets, Moses, King David, the three young men of Babylon, and the seven Maccabees and their mother (as forerunners of the holy martyrs). But among all of these, the prophet Elijah takes the foremost place; not only was he zealous for the law of God, but he had a direct experience of God (in the quiet breeze on the mountain), and his life in the desert served as a model for generations of Christian monastic men and women.
His commemoration is a great feast (
), and the hymns for his feast can be found on pages 343-344 of our Divine Liturgies book. Like the feast of Saint George on April 23, this is one of the days for which the hymns are not recorded on the CD set for the Divine Liturgies book, but the melodies are fairly easy, and there is no magnification or irmos.
At the end of his earthly life, Elijah was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, and it was this that led the Jews to expect his return, as a herald of the Messiah. (Remember that some thought that John the Baptist, or even Christ himself, might be Elijah.) The image of the fiery chariot led to the custom of blessing automobiles and other vehicles on this feast day.
Several of the hymns for Elijah also mention his disciple and successor, Elisha; these two names are sometimes given under the Latin versions as Elias and Eliseus, respectively.
The Sunday of the Council Fathers
On the Sunday that falls between July 13 and July 19, we honor the fathers of the first six Ecumenical Councils:
- Nicea I (325 AD), which established the teaching of the divinity of Christ against various heretical positions, and also set down basic church laws and traditon, as well as the first common version of the Creed.
- Constantinople I (381 AD), which added the doctrine of the divinity of the Holy Spirit to the Creed, and dealt with several other heresies concerning the Holy Trinity.
- Ephesus I (431 AD), which addressed a number of heresies concerning Jesus Christ, and established Theotokos (she who gave birth to God) as an acceptable title for the Virgin Mary.
- Chalcedon (451 AD), which settled the Church's teaching on the nature of Christ.
- Constantinople II (553 AD), which addressed several previously-condemned heresies.
- Constantinople III (681-681), which taught that Jesus Christ had both a divine will and a human will.
The hymns of the Divine Liturgy for this Sunday are found on pages 341-342 of our Divine Liturgies book:
These are essentially the same hymns that are also sung at the commemoration of the First Ecumenical Council (on the Sunday between the feast of the Ascension and Pentecost) and the commemoration of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (in October). The first of these commemorations combines the hymns for the Council Fathers with those of the Ascension; the commemoration of the Seventh Council has a special kontakion explaining the teaching of that council on the holy icons. Here, at the Sunday of the Council Fathers in October we sing the "common hymns" honoring those men (mostly bishops) who clarified and passed on the Church's teachings and rule of life.
An optional feast: the great prince Vladimir
There is a second vigil-rank feast in July: the commemoration on July 15 of the "holy great prince Vladimir, equal to the apostles." A prince in what is now Russia and the grandson of a Byzantine Christian princess, he accepted holy baptism, and had his people baptized en masse in the year 988. It is on account of this "Baptism of the Rus" that he is called an equal to the apostles.
His feast is given as a vigil rank commemoration () in the official service books of the Ruthenian recension of the Byzantine liturgy, prepared in Rome in the 1940's, but this has sometimes been perceived as a denial or minimization of the role of Saints Cyril and Methodius as the "apostles to the Slavs." As a result, some parishes observe the feast of Saint Vladimir on this day, and some do not.
Other feasts in July
Like the month of May, the month of July includes polyeleos feasts (
) that span a range of subjects:
- the deposition of the venerable robe of the Theotokos at Blachernae (July 2)
- our venerable father Athanasius of Mount Athos (July 5)
- our venerable father Anthony of the Monastery of the Caves (July 10)
- our holy father and confessor Paul Gojdič, Bishop of Prešov (July 17)
- the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb (July 24)
- the dormition of the holy Anna, mother of the Theotokos (July 25)
- the holy great-martyr and healer Pantaleimon (July 27)
Each of these is a major feast, honored with the celebration of Great Vespers, festal Matins, and the Divine Liturgy. Let's examine them one by one.
- According to tradition, two brothers journeying from Constantinople to Palestine during the reign of the Emperor Leo (457-474) chanced upon a Jewish household in which was kept the robe of the Theotokos as a precious heirloom. It was taken to Constantinople, and placed in the Church of Saint Mary of Blachernae in Constantinople. Many miracles were attributed to its presence, which was said to have saved the city from calamity on several occasions.
- Saint Athanasis of Mount Athos was a monastic leader who brought the cenobitic (common) monastic life to the monastic enclave of Mount Athos, in northern Greece, around the year 980. His teachings had great influence among Slavic Christians.
- Saint Anthony of the Monastery of the Caves (in Kiev) was a hermit of Mount Athos who settled in what became the famed Monastery of the Caves in Ukraine. He is sometimes called the founder of Russian monasticism.
- Blessed Paul Paul Gojdič is a modern saint, the Greek Catholic bishop of the city of Prešov in Slovakia, who suffered under Communism for his faith in Christ. He died in 1960, and is honored as confessor (that is, one who did not suffer literal martyrdom, but who underwent torture, violence or great hardship for the faith). He was also noted for protecting Jews during the Nazi occupation, and is honored in Israel as one "righteous among the Gentiles."
- Boris and Gleb are two famous Russian saints, both princes and sons of Saint Vladimir (see above), who accepted death rather than oppose their brother Svyatopolk by violence. They are the models of a kind of saint particular to Slavic Christianity: the "passion bearer", who meekly suffered violence out of love for God and neighbor, after the example of Christ.
- On July 25, we commemorate the death of Saint Anna, the grandmother of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Saint Pantaleimon, a great-martyr who died in 304 AD, was also famous as an "unmercenary healer", who healed the sick without expecting a fee. Many miracles of healing are attributed to him, and he remains a greatly popular saint to this day.
Of all the months on the Byzantine calendar, July has the broadest range of such feasts and commemorations.
Recommended Reading
- Father Basil Shereghy. The Liturgical Year of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite.
(Pittsburgh, PA: Byzantine Seminary Press, 1968.)
A good book-length introduction to the liturgical year as celebrated in the Byzantine Catholic Church.
- A Monk of the Eastern Church (Father Lev Gilet). The Year of Grace of the Lord.
(Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001.)
An beautiful explanation and commentary on the liturgical year; an Orthodox standard.