Fr Ben Garren

Dear Siblings in Christ,

Some saints are inconvenient. Not in that they did anything particularly inconvenient but because they get in the way of all the big names.

Polycarp is a big name saint. While only one of his letters still exist most of the other big theologians of his day and the generation after speak of him often. He came from, and was martyred, in Smyrna and there is testament by many that he was ordained bishop of Smyrna by John the Evangelist himself.

Then there is today’s saint, Bucolos. If Bucolos wrote anything we have not heard about it. He was not martyred but went about a life of preaching and serving his small community of Christians.

While most saints of his era have expanded stories of their lives with numerous fantastical ideals his is simple. He was ordained to the Episcopate by John the Evangelist, served the Church of Smyrna well, then ordained Polycarp as his successor. A story rather inconvenient for the fans of Polycarp and relatively forgettable.

Today, on this Bucolos’ feast I want to give a moment for us to commemorate him well.

When we look at the ranks of rectors a parish has had, the lineage of bishops a diocese maintains, there are all the big names…. What we need to find space for are the Bucolos of our communities—solid simple leaders who do their work well and efficiently to the point of being forgotten.

My thought is that Bucolos would shrug and be glad the work that needed to be done was completed. May we pray for a bit of that temperament in our lives today.

Pax,

— Ben