Today the church remembers a little unconventional family of saints: Saint Mary, Saint Martha, and Saint Lazarus of Bethany, Siblings, Hosts, and Friends of Jesus.

Now, new scholarship is suggesting that perhaps Mary and Martha are actually the same person, which is intriguing and amazing and a huge possible find (the ancient texts we have were altered by a redactor, possibly to make John and Luke better match), but because this is all so new, and Martha does appear in Luke, we continue on until we know more…

Appearing in the Gospels of Luke and (maybe?) John in various places, this little family from a little-known town in the ancient world finds themselves on the scene with Jesus in important moments.

St. Mary of Bethany (not to be confused with any of the other Mary’s in the scriptures) is often thought of us a quiet, contemplative soul. It is she who kneels at the foot of Jesus to listen to him when he entered their home. Some say it is she who anoints his feet in the Gospel of John, consecrating him as the paschal lamb. In some places in scriptures the house that this little family lived in was the home of “Simon the Leper,” perhaps indicating that Mary is Simon’s widow. Regardless, Saint Mary of Bethany is remembered as a contemplative, perhaps even a mystic.

St. Martha of Bethany is often unfairly categorized as a busy-body, which is certainly not the truth. In fact, you could argue that out of this little family it is Martha, not Mary, who knows Jesus is Divine. “If you would have been here,” she says in John’s 11th Chapter, “my brother Lazarus would not have died!” While this is not a profession of faith, it is certainly a profession of power. Martha is eminently practical, however, and in some places in scripture it is noted that the house they gather in is hers. Perhaps she was an early donor of the cause, providing money and shelter for this wandering Rabbi?

St. Lazarus of Bethany appears in a few different roles in the scriptures. His name means “God has helped,” and perhaps there are a few characters in the canon who assume that title as kind of a moniker for how Jesus will heal them. When he appears with his sisters in Bethany, however, it is as a dead man brought back to life. Jesus weeps over his dead body, a sign that he was beloved by the Christ. His resurrection story is a prelude to the Easter morning, a little foreshadowing in the Gospel of John.

Devotion for this little family of siblings sprang up in the church, and lore about their life after the Jesus event is legion. Some say they were wanted disciples after the resurrection, and stuck in a leaky boat and set out to sea. From that little dingy the legend says they landed in Cyprus, where Lazarus was made a Bishop of the early church. Some stories say that Lazarus was made Bishop of Marseilles, and martyred under Emperor Domitian (though this might be a situation of mistaken identity as the name Lazarus became popular, and a fifth-century Bishop Lazarus is known to have been head over the church in Aix).

In the Western and Eastern Churches the saint days of this little family have been set in various places. Lazarus is sometimes remembered close to Christmas as one of the “Companions of Christ” on December 17th. Martha was sometimes commemorated alone on this day, keeping Mary to be honored with Mary the wife of Cleopas and Mary the Mother of James on May 25th.

But, in my mind (and Pfatteicher’s who is proposing this new calendar of commemorations) it makes the most sense to keep this little unconventional family together. They are an example of the reality that families come in all shapes and configurations. They are a nod to the idea that women funded and housed the early church. They are testaments of faithfulness in the midst of tragedy and heartache.

It should also not be lost on us that this little family from a no-name town is not dissimilar from most all of our little families who exist with little fanfare. And yet, Jesus loved them dearly…perhaps that might be true of all our families, large or small, yes?

Saint Mary, Saint Martha, and Saint Lazarus of Bethany are a reminder for me, and should be for the whole church, that families of all shapes, sizes, and configurations made up the early church, and that whether we’re mystics like Mary, practical like Martha, or just someone lots of people love like Lazarus, there is a place for us.

-historical notes gleaned from Pfatteicher’s New Book of Festivals & Commemorations

-although I’ve searched high and low for the writer of the icon, I cannot find the artist (though I can see it was written in 1985). Should you find it, let me know! Despite not knowing who wrote it, I decided to keep it because I love the depiction and the simple style that depicts this simple family from Bethany

Today the church remembers a quintessential Lutheran theologian who took seriously Luther’s quip that “singing is praying twice,”: Saint Johann Sebastian Bach, Theologian, Composer, and Musician.

Saint Johann was born in Thuringia in the late 17th Century to a family of musicians. By the age of eighteen he was already a valued composer excelling on many instruments. He started his formal musical career as the organist of New Church at Arnstadt and the parish of St. Blasius in Muhlhausen where he married his wife Maria.

In 1708 he was offered the post as court organist and chamber musician to the Duke of Weimar, and this is where he would gain international fame and began composing chiefly for the organ. In 1714 he became in concertmaster, and held a number of other prominent positions in subsequent years, growing in fame, stature, and ability.

In 1720 his wife Maria died, and in 1721 he would marry Anna Magdalena Wulcken, a famous singer who served as his muse for a number of his most famous pieces.

From 1723 until his death he was the cantor of St. Thomas School and director of music at both St. Thomas and St. Nicholas in Leipzig while also lecturing a the University there. Were you to wander into St. Thomas or St. Nicholas in these days you would have heard most of his inspired compositions for the first time; his music was primarily meant to be played within the local congregation and the worshiping assembly.

Saint Johann saw his calling not primarily to music, but to the Divine inspirer of all sound. He was deeply spiritual, devoutly religious, and his faithfulness produced nearly two hundred cantatas for every Sunday and multiple offerings for High Holy Days.

B Minor Mass, the St. Matthew Passion (first performed at St. Thomas Church on Good Friday in 1729), and Concerto for Two Violins (my favorite) still ring throughout churches, concert halls, and iPhones around the world today.

Bach was the parent of twenty (yes…twenty) children between his two marriages. At his death he was given the title, “The Fifth Evangelist” by Archbishop Nathan Soderblom (see July 12th for his saint day). On the 200th anniversary of his death (1950), his body was moved from the churchyard of St. John’s to the site where he did most of his work, St. Thomas in Leipzig. Many flock to see the site still today.

St. Johann is a reminder for me, and should be for the whole church, that the arts have long been the primary medium of the faith. We must encourage young artists to take up the craft of music, composition, poetry, and choral direction, and we must pay them well for their wonderful work.

They are, after all, primary ministers in this world.

-historical bits gleaned from Pfatteicher’s New Book of Festivals & Commemorations

-icon written by Br. Robert Lentz

Today the church remembers one of the very early Christians of the faith: Saint Pantaleon, Physician, Martyr, and Emancipator.

Saint Pantaleon was supposedly born to a wealthy well-connected father, and was instructed in the faith by his mother Eubula. She died early in his life, however, and he went off to medical school letting his faith practices fall by the wayside.

A familiar story if there ever was one, right?! How many go off to university and seek out other distractions? Every parent is totally resonating with this story now…

So, Pantaleon is in medical school studying under the renowned early physician Euphrosinos. His acumen in the healing arts got him the enviable position as personal physician to Emperor Galerius.

It was Saint Hermolaus who came back alongside Saint Pantaleon and further taught him in the faith, telling him of the healing stories of Jesus which tantalized this physician’s imagination. He began to practice the faith again.

When his father died (who also became a Christian) the vast wealth of the family was given to St. Pantaleon who promptly freed all of the slaves, distributed the money to the poor, and became known as a wonderful humanitarian in the city.

All of this doing good, and his high position, caused his colleagues to become envious. When Emperor Diocletian came to power, Saint Pantaleon was exposed as a Christian and was beheaded (many a lore arose around his martyrdom, including the idea that the wild beasts were turned on him but only gave him cuddles because he was such a nice guy!).

He died in the year 305 AD.

Saint Pantaleon is a reminder for me, and should be for the whole church, that just saying “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior” without doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly is weak sauce indeed.

And much of popular Christianity is totally weak sauce.

-historical bits taken from common source materials
-opinions my own
-icon is traditional Greek Orthodox depiction

Today the church remembers two saints who we aren’t even sure existed, yet nevertheless hold an important (if figurative) place in the canon of Christianity: Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, Parents of Mary, the Mother of Our Lord.

Mirroring Abram and Sarai, Hannah, and Elizabeth and Zechariah, the lore on Anne and Joachim is that they reached an old age childless. Miraculously one day, Saint Anne was with child, and following in their faith ancestor’s footsteps, they raised the young girl (named Mary) in the temple to be taught by the priests.

Spoiler alert: this Mary would miraculously conceive Jesus and, well, you know the story.

We learn much of this from a second century apocryphal gospel of dubious authorship known as the Protoevangelium of James.

Nevertheless, the ancient world loved a good story, and this one fit the bill. The cult of Saint Anne grew and spread and really rooted itself in the mid 6th Century when Justinian I in Constantinople built the first church dedicated to her. When the details of these two saints became fleshed out and the immaculate conception of Mary (December 8th) was formalized, there was no looking back: Saint Anne would be assumed real, and would be really loved by many Christians.

In fact, our own Blessed Martin Luther loved Saint Anne so much, it was to her that he prayed when he felt his life was in trouble, promising her that, should he live, he’d become a monk.

In other words: the Reformation may never had happened had Saint Anne not been on Luther’s mind (though, perhaps he would have prayed to some other saint…who knows?).

Saint Joachim, like his son-in-law Joseph, takes the back seat in the lore. In fact, nothing else is really said about him other than he and Anne were together, he was old, and he had no children before Mary.

Saint Anne and Saint Joachim are important, though, because it just hammers home how much we love and adore lineage and tradition and long for meaning beyond meaning.

I mean, what are humans but meaning-making mortals?

-info gleaned from Pfatteicher’s New Book of Festivals & Commemorations

Today the church remembers one of the first called to follow Jesus: St. James the Great, Son of Thunder and Martyr.

Saint James the Great (he was called that because he was older than his brother John) was born in Galilee and worked as a fisherman. Jesus nicknamed James and his brother John as “Boanerges” or “Sons of Thunder,” probably as a nod to their quick tempers and flashpoint spirits.

Saint James was reportedly in the inner circle that Jesus had, C-suite if you will (though I bet Mary Magdalene was also in there, just conveniently left off the record). He witnessed Jesus raising people from the dead, curing the sick, and being transfigured on the mountain.

He also fell asleep at the Garden of Gethsemane while Jesus was praying and fled when the soldiers came.

Saint James played an active part in the early church post-resurrection, and has the sad distinction of being the only Apostle to have his martyrdom recorded in the Biblical Canon (Acts 12:2) as he was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I in the year 43 (or maybe 44).

Though most all strains of Christianity honor Saint James the Great, no one can agree on a date. The Orthodox Churches give him a nod on April 30th, and the Coptic Churches venerate him on April 12th. The Western Church decided on July 25th probably because his relics were officially buried on this day in 816 AD at the Church of Saintiago de Compostella.

Saint James the Great is a patron saint of travelers, and you can walk his famous “pilgrim way,” the Camino de Santiago. A winding trail of pilgrim roads through Spain, Portugal, and France, the Camino ends with the relics of this beloved and revered Apostle, but best to warm up the hiking boots before you tackle it…it’s not easy.

Saint James the Great is often symbolized by a shell, a nod to his fishing background. Legend has it that eating an oyster on this day will keep you from being poor (though it’s not really oyster season, so be careful!).

Saint James the Great is a reminder for me, and should be for the whole church, that sometimes we get remembered for things that really don’t have much to do with us, and that’s ok. There is no good reason for Saint James the Great to be the patron saint of pilgrimages, and yet, here we are remembering him for it.

I mean, I guess in many ways it’s totally fine, right? He was a pilgrim in this weary world, like all of us, making his way.

-historical bits from Pfatteicher’s New Book of Festivals & Commemorations

-icon is “The Daisy Hill Saint James the Greater, ” written by Glenys Latham specifically for The Church of Saint James Daisy Hill in Bolton, United Kingdom

Today the church honors another saint who doesn’t get a lot of attention, but deserves it, St. Birgitta of Sweden.

Birgitta was born into a family of status. Her father was the chief judge in the province of Upland, Sweden in the 14th Century. As a child she began having dreams and visions of Jesus and Mary, which started her mystical journey.

Due to her proximity to the powerful in Sweden, she was appointed the lady-in-waiting to the queen of Sweden, Blanche of Namur. There she became known for having fantastical visions, and for being a staunch opponent of underhanded behavior from the nobles of the land.

She was not known for keeping her opinion to herself.

After her son died too young, she went on a pilgrimage, walking the Santiago de Compostella in Spain, accompanied by her husband. On the trip back, her husband (his name was Ulf…a great name) became seriously ill, and he died just a few years later, never fully recovering.

After the death of both her young son and her husband, Birgitta’s life became more akin to the prophets as her visions and dreams intensified. She devoted her time to helping the poor and oppressed, the underclass in Sweden, and later also in Rome.

She openly criticized the kings and popes and tried to make peace between warring factions of the church and the world.

Acting on one of her visions, in 1351 she founded the Order of the Holy Savior, also known as the Birgittines, centered on a monestary in Vadstena, Sweden.

The order was mixed-gender, comprised of both monks and nuns, but governed by an abbess.

In 1371 Birgitta embarked on one final journey, this time to see the Holy Land. The trip was cut short by a shipwreck and the death of one of her other children who went with her. She died in Rome, and her body was returned to Vadstena, where it is still buried.

Today her legacy lives on in the Society of St. Birgitta, a community of both clergy and laity within the Church of Sweden who follow a modified Rule of life inspired by her memory. Her dreams and visions are recorded in the book “Revelations” which is still read by mystics today.

Birgitta is a reminder for me of the power that putting our dreams into action can have, and that we are called to speak with conviction when the powers of the world conspire against the weak.

-historical notes gleaned from Pfatteicher’s “New Book of Festivals & Commemorations”

Today the church honors the “apostle to the Apostles,” St. Mary of Magdala, more commonly called Mary Magdalene.

Mary’s role in the stories of Jesus varies, depending on the account being referenced. In Luke she was one of those healed by Jesus during his ministry (apparently 7 demons plagued her). Some traditions have identified her with the “woman of the city” who anointed Jesus’ feet when he reclined in the Pharisees’s home, though there is no scriptural basis for this.

In the Gnostic Gospel of Philip, Mary is the one whom Jesus “loved more than the other disciples,” causing 2000 years of speculation over whether or not they were intimate or just in the “friend zone.”

It’s worth noting that the ancient church was known to type-cast in order to provide biased analysis, especially when it came to marginalized communities. The ever-virginal Mary, Mother of Jesus needed a yang to her yin, and so the perpetually penitent prostitute label was assigned to Mary Magdalene. These two mirrored Mary’s would stand for different paths in life for many a young Christian, and unfortunately these typologies have caused terrible, perhaps irreparable, harm to many of the faith.

This unfair, and unfounded moniker of prostitute doesn’t describe Mary Magdalene, but does describe us: we love such labels, especially ones that accuse and belittle.

I think Mary Magdalene should rather be thought of as “ever-faithful” instead of perpetually penitent. It was she who stuck by Jesus on his hardest day when everyone else fled. And it is she who, in the shadows of the early morning, rose to anoint his body, faithful to the end.

Or maybe we should call her “the first pastor,” because it is she who first told the disciples that Jesus had risen, originally proclaiming that good news formally, with the authority of one who had been visited uniquely by Jesus with the message.

Mary Magdalene is a reminder for me, and should be for the church, of two things.

First: histories written by men will feature men and end up denigrating women in some way, either by omission or by commission. This has been true, is presently true, and without a real “come to Jesus” around re-imagining masculinity and the intentional introduction of female voices in the mix, will unfortunately be true in an unchecked future.

Second: a woman was the first pastor. Every pastoral call committee should be reminded of this before looking at any paperwork.

-biographical notes taken from Pfatteicher’s “New Book of Festivals & Commemorations,” opinion portions are solely mine and don’t represent Pfatteicher

-icon written by Ulla Karttunen

Today the church remembers the Biblical prophet-in-exile: Saint Ezekiel, Critic, Visionary, and Giver of Questionable Advice.

Saint Ezekiel was (probably) born sometime in the early 600’s BCE while King Josiah was instituting the reforms that Judah had hoped would keep them in Divine favor and keep warring armies from continually conquering them.

Spoiler alert: the reforms didn’t work.

He was born into the priestly cast of Israel, and was supposedly a descendant of Joshua himself. Ezekiel, prophet and priest, was married and, because of his high standing in Jewish society, was exiled to Babylon when the Babylonians crushed Jerusalem. The Babylonians were no fools. To prevent an insurrection in their captured lands they would exile the best and the brightest (and those who held the most political sway) to work in Babylon for the king there, benefiting from their wisdom and preventing any influential characters from gathering power around themselves.

Ezekiel was married, and reportedly lived in Tel Abib on the banks of the Chebar river.

In the book of Ezekiel we get a glimpse into his prophecies and encounters with God. Ezekiel was a person who lived off of the visions he had of the Divine, much like Saint Julian of Norwich and Saint John of the Cross, and his mystical visions vacillated between beautiful and horrific. He warned of the coming destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and, for five years, acted out this destruction in a kind of pantomime for all to see.

Other notable illustrations in his visions were the graphic depictions of the angels surrounding the Divine throne (human face, ox, eagle, and lion), and the cryptic fiery “wheels in wheels” which always reminds me of the Johnny Cash song, “Ring of Fire.”

When the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem proved true, he became a would-be advisor for those also in exile in Babylon. Notably it was he who told Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to refuse to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol, creating the fun Easter Vigil story popularly known as “Three Men in a Fiery Furnace” because when you don’t do what the King wants, you get thrown in the oven.

You know, that old chestnut…

Surely that was questionable advice, but everything turned out alright.

Ezekiel is held as a model of faith in all three of the Abrahamic traditions, the “People of the Book.” The Eastern Orthodox Church honors him on this day, as do many other communities (including Lutherans).

Ezekiel is a reminder for me, and should be for the whole church, that even when you find yourself as an exile from your home, stay true to your convictions and you’ll find your home is never far away.

-first icon is a typical Russian writing of Ezekiel and can be purchased at orthodoxchristiansupply.com

-second icon is a writing of Ezekiel’s vision of “wheels within wheels” and, though I’ve tried hard for a while to find the writer of the icon, I’ve been unable to locate them. Note that I’m not the writer of either.

Today the church remembers a firebrand of a saint who threw off the shackles of patriarchy every chance she got: Saint Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Speaker, Feminist, and Woman’s Rights Advocate.

Saint Elizabeth was born in Johnstown, New York to strict Presbyterian parents in the first part of the 19th Century. Early into adulthood she married abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton, and together they had seven children. She organized women across the country to fight for the right to vote, coming alongside other advocates like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Amelia Bloomer.

Together they organized the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.

She was extremely witty, a brilliant scholar, and a staunch abolitionist. She created the “Declaration of Sentiments,” an expansion of the Declaration of Independence that inserted the word “woman” and “women” throughout the document. Along with advocating for woman’s suffrage and against slavery, she also moved the needle on the right for women to own property and divorce their husbands.

She was a regular church attender, but a sharp critic of Christianity (and religion in general) which makes me think we would probably have been friends.

She died in 1902, never witnessing the 19th Amendment or realizing the right to vote. Nevertheless, she paved the way for that legislation to happen.

Saint Stanton is a reminder for me, and should be for everyone, that sometimes we don’t see the results we labor for, but we must labor on.

-historical bits from Pfatteicher’s New Book of Festivals & Commemorations

-icon written by Fr. Robert Lentz and can be purchased at trinitystores.com

Today the church remembers a 4th Century saint who was often overshadowed by her more famous brothers Greg and Bas (you know them Gregory of Nyssa and Basil the Great, two of the three “Cappadocian Fathers” of the faith): Saint Macrina the Younger, Scholar and Universalist.

Saint Macrina was born in a family already well-steeped in. The early Christian movement. She was named after her grandmother, Macrina the Elder, and though her brothers would gain notoriety for their scholarly treatises, they themselves mentioned Macrina as a teacher of faith in their home.

Having been betrothed in an arranged marriage by her father, Macrina never tasted wedded life as her fiancé died before the wedding. She came to see her vows as belonging to Christ alone, and lived an aesthetic and austere life with her mother and a group of women who pledged themselves to communal living. In this community, everyone was equal, whether you were formally a servant or wealthy enough not to owe anyone anything.

It’s one of the early egalitarian communities of the faith, and St. Macrina grew in responsibility as the community grew, taking on what we would call an Abbess role in time.

St. Macrina was also the tutor of her younger brother, Peter of Sebaste who would become a Bishop in the early church. She taught him not only the great philosophical ideas of the time, but also about The Way which was spreading like wildfire in the West and the Near East. In this way, and because she had such a strong influence on Greg and Bas (as I call them), means she was a shaper of the early church, an unseen hand on the needle of the faith.

Known for being a deep thinker, St. Macrina was supposedly a Universalist, and is lifted up by the Universalist Unitarian Church as a great scholar. Her brother, Gregory of Nyssa, composed Dialogue on the Soul and Resurrection in which he records a conversation with Macrina on her death bed (actually, her aestheticism was so great she refused to die in a bed, and chose to die lying on the ground). In that conversation she notes her deep conviction that everyone would be reconciled to God in the end, faithful and pagan alike.

St. Macrina died on this day in 379 AD in Pontus, modern day Turkey.

Saint Macrina is a reminder for me, and should be for the whole church, that the early Christian movement comprised a multiplicity of thought and theology…and still does, despite what the zealots in all corners might want you to think.

-historical bits from open source publications

-icon a classic Byzantine style by unidentified writer where St. Macrina holds an icon of her brothers