October 2026 Service Schedule

OCTOBER 2026 SERVICE SCHEDULE FOR SAINT PATRICK’S CHAPEL IN CLIFDEN, IRELAND

Our service schedule for October 2026 will include a visit to Belfast where we will celebrate the Divine Liturgy with His Grace, our Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe. We will also observe the falling darkness that heralds Irish winter. Situated along the same latitude as Alberta, Canada, Ireland loses nearly two hours of daylight in the month of October, as the sun plunges into the recesses of the southern horizon. Thus, by Christmas, it will peek out and crest the ridges above the Shanakeever valley–sweeping across rather than up and down–for fewer than 8 hours a day.

While sometimes distressing, darkness can also be a time of quiet renewal. Echoing the cycle of life and death, seasonal change also echoes the death and Resurrection of Christ. He teaches us by His example to approach darkness with confidence that Life in its truest sense will thereby bear fruit. Referencing this very aspect of nature, he says, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). As always, we welcome guests if they can please contact Mat. Anastasia to arrange a visit.

The Divine gloom is the unapproachable light in which God is said to dwell.

_{Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, whose feast is celebrated on Friday October 16 (October 3), in his Letter V.}