The Great Rood Screen
The Great Rood Screen
The Insular Saints and Stories of the British Isles
The Great Rood Screen is a podcast hosted by Deacon Seraphim Richard Rohlin about the Orthodox Catholic Saints and Faith of Britain and Ireland, told as those early faithful Christians told it, with piety and reverence. Join us for a year, along with other Orthodox scholars and clergy, as we walk through the calendar of the Insular Saints day by day, story by story, and discover the great cloud of witnesses who still adorn the rood screen of history and hagiography.
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Thursday, May 14, 2026 40 mins
The Apostle to the North - St. Aidan of Lindisfarne
The Venerable Bede knew Aidan's disciples personally — and he wrote about Aidan with a warmth he showed almost no one else, even though they disagreed on the Easter question. In this episode, Dcn. Seraphim tells the story of the monk from Iona who became the Apostle of Northumbria, not through force or spectacle, but through a gentle, walking, giving-everything-away kind of holiness. Link to The Orthodox Pilgrim: https://www.youtube.com/@TheOrthodoxPilgrim
Thursday, May 7, 2026 22 mins
The Psalter of the Quatrains, Canto III - The Angels
Dcn. Seraphim reads us the third Canto of the Saltair na Rann, which describes the heavenly orders -- the nine ranks of the angels and the tenth rank as redeemed humanity takes their place in the cosmic dance. Watch the first episode on the Psalter to learn the history of these psalms and why they are important to ancient Celtic Christianity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRR4m9Zh4cY&t=32s Music used: "Across The Fields Of Gold" Yagull Music - Sasha Branislav Markovic, Mayu Saeki
Thursday, April 23, 2026 45 mins
The White House - St. Ninian of Whithorn
Dcn. Seraphim tells us the story of St. Ninian, Apostle to the Picts, Scotland's first recorded saint and a great healer and wonderworker. In doing so, he draws on an epic poem written about the saint's life and miracles which has never before been translated into English. Walk with Dcn. Seraphim to Ninian's "wondrous cave of darkness," where he sought solitude amid his episcopal labors, and experience the wonders of his many miracles, especially to lepers and those struggling with mysterious skin conditions. After all, St. Ninian's suppliants include none other than Robert the Bruce himself! Music used: "Across The Fields Of Gold" Yagull Music - Sasha Branislav Markovic, Mayu Saeki Licensed through Envato
Thursday, April 16, 2026 59 mins
St. Columba, the Dove of the Church
Dcn. Seraphim tells us the story of Saint Columba of Iona — the aristocrat-monk whose name means "dove" but whose life was shaped as much by penance as by prayer. Born of royal blood in Donegal, foretold by saints from the age of Patrick onward, Columba trains under Finnian at Clonard before a catastrophic quarrel over a copied psalter leads to the Battle of Cooldrevny and his exile from Ireland. Drawing on Adomnán's Vita Columbae, Dcn. Seraphim follows Columba from the green shores of Ireland across the sea to the windswept island of Iona, where the Dove of the Church founds the monastery that will become the spiritual heart of Scotland, faces down the beast of Loch Ness, and spends thirty-four years in unceasing prayer. The Life of St. Oran, and Poem Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0o3O4Kgylk Music Used: Across the Fields of Gold - Yagull Music Licensed through Storyblocks
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 29 mins
The Psalter of the Quatrains, Canto II
Dcn. Seraphim reads us the second Canto of the Saltair na Rann, which describes the glories of heaven, melding Celtic otherworld traditions with a vision of Paradise straight out of the Apocalypse of St. John.
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English Talk
Toolkit II Promo v5