A particular joy of the LSB is the restoration of a richer sanctoral calendar. We now have 81 commemorations and 35 Feasts and Festivals, not counting the Sundays of the year, the Nativity, Holy Week or Easter. That means that on 116 days of the year, our Church's Order has set aside remembrances of various saints and important events in the life of Christ's Church. To some modern Lutherans this will seem quite a novelty, but it is really not at all.
A feature that some have decried and others have welcomed, is the inclusion of numerous Old Testament commemorations. Among the OT saints we commemorate: Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Esther, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ruth, Elijah, Ezekiel, Isaac, Samuel, Joshua, Hannah, Moses, Jonah, Abraham, Noah, Daniel and the three young men, Adam and Eve, and David. Many of these days are assigned to correspond to the Eastern Orthodox Menaion, which has long observed OT saints, often highlighting their typological relation to various events in our Lord's life. Some were taken from the historic calendar of the Lutheran Church. Some, however, are assigned new dates. I for one am glad again to see the saints of the Old Testament commemorated in our churches.
The list of NT saints has also been expanded: in addition to the Apostles and the Feasts associated with the Holy Virgin (Annunciation, Visitation, Dormition), these days are now also observed: Silas, Aquila, Pricilla, Apollos, Philemon, Onesimus, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Joseph of Arimathea, Joanna, Mary, Salome (Myrrhbearers), Zacharias and Elizabeth, Philip the Deacon, Dorcas, Lydia, and Phoebe. Some of the dates assigned to these saints correspond to the current Roman calendar, many to the Menaion of the Orthodox and some are new. But what a wealth of Biblical stories come to mind with these commemorations! What joy it will be to remember and thank God for the multitude of ways that their stories connected with THE story!
The first millennium of the Church's history since the Resurrection is commemorated with a vast array of saints and events such as Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, Valentine the Martyr, Polycarp of Smyrna, Perpetua and Felicitas, Martyrs, Patrick, Athanasius, Cyril and Methodius, Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena, Bede the Venerable, Justin Martyr, Boniface of Mainz, The Ecumenical Council of Nicea, Cyril of Alexandria, Irenaeus of Lyons, Lawrence the Deacon and Martyr, Monica and her son, Augustine of Hippo, Gregory the Great, Cyprian of Carthage, Jerome, Ignatius of Antioch, Martin of Tours, Emperor Justinian, Clement of Rome, John of Damascus, Nicholas of Myra, Ambrose of Milan, and Lucia. If anyone knows Church history and the writings of the Fathers, you realize what richness these commemorations open up to the parish! What wealth of gifts the Lord has given His Church through these blessed saints and martyrs!
The second millenium of the Church's history since the Resurrection is commemorated with the following saints and events: J. K. Wilhelm Loehe, Philipp Melanchthon, Martin Luther, Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Duerer, Johannes Bugenhagen, Anselm of Canterbury, Johann Walter, Friedrich Wyneken, C.F.W. Walther, Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Barnes, Bernard of Clairvaux, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Philipp Nicholai, Johann Hermann, and Paul Gerhard, Johannes Staupitz, Martin Chemnitz, Elizabeth of Hungary, Katherina von Bora Luther. Obviously that set is weighted quite heavily toward the events surrounding and aftermath of the Lutheran Reformation, but there are some noticeable and surprising exceptions.
All in all, LSB offers a veritable course in Bible and Church History simply by observing the commemorations provided in the calendar. "Our churches teach that the remembrance of the saints is to be commended in order that we may imitate their faith and good works according to our calling." AC 21
Apostles, prophets, martyrs,
And all the noble throng
Who wear the spotless raiment
And raise the ceaseless song -
For these, passed on before us,
We offer praises due
And, walking in their footsteps,
Would live our lives for You! LSB 517, st. 4
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