In the ancient Western Rite of the Church, today is All Hallows’ Eve, the vigil of the Western Rite feast of All Saints; as is well known, it is this liturgical celebration that underlies the popular holiday of Halloween. According to our sacred and holy Byzantine Rite, we celebrate the liturgical feast of All Saints in late spring or early summer; nonetheless, it is salutary at this time of year, when the leaves fall and the vegetation withers, to remind ourselves that the saints have departed this life of change and corruption and now delight in the unfading light and life and warmth of the endless summertime of the Trinity. In that “perfect Land of Morn,” with its “never nighted skies,” the trees grow green forever, bearing fruit every month without fail, and there is healing in their leaves (Lionel Johnson, “Saint Columba”; Rev. 22:2). Through the prayers of all the saints, may we receive this everlasting medicine for our sinful souls and attain unto the divinely-planted gardens of heaven.
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