AUGUST 2026 SERVICE SCHEDULE FOR SAINT PATRICK’S CHAPEL IN CLIFDEN, IRELAND
Our August 2026 service schedule will observe the fast and feast of the Dormition, or falling asleep, of the Virgin Mary and Theotokos (“God-bearer”) on August 28th. On the 19th, within this two-week fast, we will also celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor. The Dormition fasting cycle of August, which concludes the Church liturgical year (beginning again in September), allows us to reflect on the Orthodox love of the Virgin Mary. As always, we welcome guests if they can please contact Mat. Anastasia to arrange a visit.
For whereas the Word of God was without flesh, He took upon Himself the holy flesh by the Holy Virgin, and prepared a robe which He wove for Himself, like a bridegroom, in the sufferings of the Cross, in order that by uniting His own power with our moral body, and by mixing the incorruptible with the corruptible, and the strong with the weak, He might save perishing man.
Saint Hippolytus of Rome (+ 235 AD), from his thoughts On Christ and the Antichrist.
August 2026 Service Schedule
- Sa 01.08: 7 pm – 9:30 pm All-Night Vigil
- Su 02.08: 10 am – 12:30 pm Hours and Divine Liturgy
- We 05.08: 7 pm – 9:30 pm All-Night Vigil
- Th 06.08: 9 am – 11:30 pm Hours and Divine Liturgy for Saint Christina of Tyre
- Sa 08.08: 7 pm – 9:30 pm All-Night Vigil
- Su 09.08: 10 am – 12:30 pm Hours and Divine Liturgy
- Sa 15.08: 7 pm – 9:30 pm All-Night Vigil
- Su 16.08: 10 am – 12:30 pm Hours and Divine Liturgy
- Tu 18.08: 7 pm – 9:30 pm All-Night Vigil
- We 19.08: 5:30 – 8 am Hours and Divine Liturgy celebrating the Feast of the Transfiguration
- Sa 22.08: 7 pm – 9:30 pm All-Night Vigil
- Su 23.08: 10 am – 12:30 pm Hours and Divine Liturgy
- Th 27.08: 7 pm – 9:30 pm All-Night Vigil
- Fr 28.08: 5:30 – 8 am Hours and Divine Liturgy commemorating the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos
- Sa 29.08: 7 pm – 9:30 pm All-Night Vigil
- Su 30.08: 10 am – 12:30 pm Hours and Divine Liturgy
On the Orthodox Love of the Virgin Mary
In his 5th C. homily, Saint Proclus of Constantinople likens the Virgin Mary to an “awesome loom of the divine economy upon which the robe (Jn. 19.23) of union [of the Incarnate God-man, Jesus Christ] was ineffably woven.” Her voluntary obedience to God’s will during this weaving process–becoming pregnant and giving birth in a manger–redeems the disobedience of Eve, the first woman, in the Garden of Eden. Thus, Mary participates intimately in the process of God’s salvation for mankind. Orthodox Holy Tradition further maintains that her experience of mothering Christ and seeing God’s plan manifest through Him deepened her love for God and for all of mankind. Thus, we view her as a powerful source of love and intercession for us, as revealed at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11).
Interestingly, early Irish Christians shared this image of Mary as the textile loom of God’s salvation. Saint Adomnán (7th C Abbot of Iona), in his Law of the Innocents, refers to the “Mother of Christ…who labours in carrying the distaff [the tool which holds unspun fibres as they feed into the spindle] and clothing everyone.” Moreover, in the liturgy of the 8th C Irish manuscript known as the Stowe Missal, the Priest, as he places a linen cloth (known in Orthodoxy as the Aër) over the bread before consecration, exclaims, “The setting of the Host upon the Altar is His Conception. This is an image of Christ’s Body which has been set in the linen sheet of Mary’s womb.”