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The story of Irish Orthodoxy is a pretty fascinating one. Your article spurred me to dig a little deeper and I found this article: https://orthochristian.com/52572.html

“ The unprecedented upsurge of Christianity in this part of the world can be witnessed from the fact that in the first 250 years following St Patrick’s arrival, Eire produced around 500 recognized saints. None of them was martyred, except on the Continent, which confirms the existence of a close affinity between the ancient Christian Faith and traditional Irish spirituality.”

Last night I watched a new film produced and directed by members of Holy Theophany Orthodox Church, “Sacred Alaska”—it described a very similar connection between the Yupik and Inuit native Alaskans and the Orthodox faith which they gladly and freely received from Russian missionaries in the 18th century. The documentary details how their nature-centric pre-Christian religion provided fertile soil for their people to joyfully receive the gospel of Christ as loving creator and sustainer of the cosmos, such that even after the Russians left, the Orthodox faith remained fixed firmly in their culture and lives.

Appreciate your work on Two Things!

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That is a really fascinating essay. It’s long but I’m working my way through it.

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