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Celtic Ways - Saxon Ways, Seeking the trail of the Christian mission in Britain

Preface

Introduction

Chronological Map

Iona of my Heart, Pilgrimage on the
coast of the Atlantic Ocean

When Christianity
arrived on the ebb

Extracts from the life of Saint Columba

Extracts from the life of Saint Aidan

Extract from the life of Saint Cuthbert

Conla and the
fairy (fairy-tale)

The priest's meal
(fairy-tale)

Extracts from the life of St. Columba
Introductory educidations

The life of St. Columba was written in Latin at around 688-692 by St. Adomnan, ninth Reverend father of Iona. Researchers of history and theology have marked the importance of this source in order to understand that time and continue to research its particular parameters.

We have translated some extracts from the "life" which we cite further down. They refer to the missionary action of St. Columba on the Picts, British people settled to the north of the country, that is about where today's Scotland is located. In the late 6 th century their king, Brude, accepted the Saint at his headquarters in Invernesse (near the lake of Loch Ness) and embraced Christianity.

The selection of the extracts has been done with the intention of giving the reader a small but characteristic taste of the general climate, the circumstances and the mentalities in which the Celtic Holy Mission was developed and recorded. At the same time, the reader can diagnose some axis of its missionary methodology. The reader is implored to particularly consider the following:

The "Life" is similar to our own familiar legendaries of the saints and venerables of eastern Christianity. Exceptional emphasis has been given to the description of miracles and incidences that are not easy to be traced back historically. However, it will be wrong if the modern day man sees these narrations just as emotional or imaginary compositions. Behind their lively writings, we need to detect so much the uniqueness of a society from which we are 13 centuries away, as the fundamental elements of the Christian experience that are eternal and are incarnated all the time into various forms inside different historical and cultural references. Therefore, in the following extracts of the "Life", we are called to pay attention to the following particular elements:

1) The people of the time (either Christians or Pagans) accepted to a great extent the fact that the truth in every religion could be shown through a kind of public stake or a public juxtaposition of the representatives of the rival religions. As much as this seems strange to us nowadays, this juxtaposition (even when it took violent forms) was some kind of interreligionary conversation over an accepted basis from both sides: that a real god would prove to be the one who would triumph in this juxtaposition [1] .

2) The points in the "Life" where Columba is presented to act through material objects conceal a timely dimension of the conflict between Christianity and Paganism. As far as Christianity is concerned (and contrary to Paganism and witchcraft), material elements do not contain holiness or metaphysical powers by themselves, by nature. The Grace of God, through His followers, grants whatever power they will contain. The whole world is a creation of God, it owes its existence to Him, and therefore the relationship with God caters the world with life, while the breach of this relationship binds the world to decay and evil.

3) At a lot of points in the "Life" we find Columba not just accepting attacks by the forces of evil, but ?much more- seeking the conflict with them. This kind of behavior is based on this view: to Christians, the world (that is, people and every other part of the creation) was under the tyranny of the variegated evil (death, disease, decay, injustice, etc.). The work of the missionaries, then, was not to reject life and matter as if it was evil, but release them from the demonic slavery. This is a characteristic of anachorite monasticism, widely met in the history of the Church. In many texts of the Egyptian and Syrian asceticism we can see the anachorites leaving the cities, not just to avoid the cares of society, but to seek out the devil in the desert and wherever else he is lying hidden, confront and outcast him from everywhere [2] . Correspondingly, the Mission is directed to every dimension of the human existence and to every spam of human life, so as to call them to the freedom of Christ.

The following extracts come from the stereotyped edition of "Adomnan's Life of Columba" (Latin text edition translated into English by A. O. Anderson, M.O. Anderson), Clarendon Press, Oxford 1991, pp.6-7, 108-111,138-147.

Extracts from The "Life"

At the age of 42, Columba sailed from Ireland to Britain, aspiring to be a traveler for the glory of Christ...

There was a time when the blessed Columba had been staying at the land of the Picts for a few days and he found out that very famous to the pagan population was a well, which these irrational people worshipped as a god, obviously because the devil had deceived them. Because those of them who drank from the well or washed in it their arms or legs got themselves hurt (by the devil's action upon them, which God permitted) and came back as lepers, half-blind, crippled or with some other kind of disability. Seduced by all these, the pagans worshipped the well as a god.

When the saint learned all these, he himself went to the well. The wizards who usually ran away from him confused and defeated were very happy to see that, because they imagined he would come to the same calamity as soon as he would touch this harmful water. But he raised at first his holy hand, called upon the name of Christ and then washed his arms and legs with the water from the well. Afterwards, along with all those who accompanied him, drank from this water, which he had previously blessed. From that day on, the demons left the well and not only they weren't permitted to hurt anyone ever again, but after the blessing and the washing of the saint, a lot of men from that people were healed with the water of this well.

*********************

When St. Columba was at the land of the Picts for a few days, a man, along with his whole family, listened to the words that the saint was preaching with the help of an interpreter and believed them. And after he had believed, he was baptized along with his wife, his children and his servants. A few days later, one of his sons became very ill and came close to dying. When the wizards saw that he was dying, they started mocking and accusing the parents, to praise their gods and underestimating the God of the Christians as being weaker.

When the blessed Columba was informed about all these, he stood up, full of zeal about God and went, along with his companions, to the father's house, who was also his friend. The parents were preparing the child's funeral, who had passed away just a while before, with great sorrow. When the saint saw that they were in deep mourning, he encouraged and reassured them not to have any doubts on God's omnipotence. Then, he asked them:

-"In which room is the body of the dead boy?"

The heart broken father led the saint to the full of sadness room. Columba let his company outside and entered alone in that grievous space in the house. He immediately fell on his knees and with his face flooded with tears started praying to our Lord, Jesus Christ. When he got up, he turned his eyes onto the dead boy and said:

-"In the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, come back to life and stand on your feet."

With these blessed words of the saint, the soul returned into the body, the dead boy opened his eyes and was revived. The mimic of the Apostles took the hand of the boy into his, lifted him, made him stand on his feet, led him out of the house and delivered him to his parents. Then a cry came out of the crowd that was there, the mourning turned into a celebration and the God of the Christians was praised.

This full of power miracle, the resurrection of a dead boy, our father Columba shares with the prophets Elijah and Elissey. He also enjoys honor along with the Apostles Peter, Paul and John. He is blessed with a glorious eternal place in the heavens, taking his place in the two bodies, the body of the prophets and the body of the Apostles. He is living with Christ, who is ruling with the Father, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever, in the centuries of the centuries to come.

**********************

At that time, the venerable Columba asked the wizard Broitchan for an act of humanity, to set free, that is, an Irish woman, slave of his. But when Broitchan, a man with an unbending and stubborn heart, went on keeping her, the saint said to him:

-"Know this, Broitchan, that if you do not set free for me this pilgrim prisoner [3] , before I leave this area, you will die at once."

These words said the saint to the wizard, at the presence of king Brude. Afterwards, he left the palace and reached the river of Ness. He took a white pebble from the river and said to his companions:

-"Take a look at this pebble. Through this the Lord will heal a lot of sick people of this pagan people." And went on by saying: "Right now, Broitchan has taken a very serious blow. An angel sent from the heaven struck him hard; the glass container, which he was drinking from, was broken into many fragments in his hand and he is now breathing with difficulty, moribund. Let us wait for a while here for two messengers the king will urgently send, to ask for our help for Broitchan dying. Now that Broitchan is seriously hurt, he is ready to set the girl free."

Before the saint had even finished saying these words, two riders sent by the king arrived and narrated everything that had happened to Broitchan in the royal castle, exactly as the saint had foretold: the breaking f the glass, the apoplexy of the wizard and his intention to release the girl. They also said:

-"The king and his family sent us to ask for your help for the moribund Broitchan, who brought up the king as a father."

When the saint heard the words of the messengers, he sent two of his companions to the king, giving them the blessed stone, and saying:

-"If, first of all, Broitchan promises to release the slave, then put this pebble in water, give him to drink from that and he will regain his health at once. But if he denies to set the slave free, he will die immediately."

The two delegates of the saint went to the palace obeying his instructions and repeated to the king the words of the venerable man. When the king and Broitchan heard them, they were very frightened. The girl was liberated at once and handed over to the saint's delegates. They put the pebble in water and, contrary to the physical laws, the stone floated as if it was an apple or a nut. Nothing could overwhelm the saint's blessing. As soon as Broitchan drank from that water, he escaped from death's grip and regained all his health.

The king kept the stone in his treasures. Whenever it was dropped in water, it floated and realized, with the Grace of the Lord, lots of cures to the people. In some curious way, though, when patients whose time to pass away had come, and asked for the stone, the stone couldn't be found at all. Thus, when they sought it the day that king Brude died, it wasn't found at the place where it was usually kept.

******************

Someday, after a long time, Broitchan addressed to the saint and said:

-"Tell me, Columba, when are you planning to sail?"

The saint answered to him:

-"We are thinking, God willing and if we are alright, to begin our journey the day after tomorrow."

But Broitchan objected:

-"You will not be able to; for I have the power to raise a wind blowing against you and summon dark fog to stop you."

Then the saint told him:

-"The omnipotence of God rules all things; all our moves are done in His name and under His guidance."

What more do we need to say? The day that the saint had programmed to sail, he went to the oblong lake of the river Ness followed by a great crowd. Then the wizards started celebrating, because they saw a thick fog rising and a strong wind blowing against the ship.

It is not strange if, with God's concession, with the power of the demons sometimes such things happen, like violent outbreaks of winds and waves. This is what had happened to St. German [4] , the bishop, when amidst the sea, as he was traveling from the coast of France towards Britain for the sake of the people's salvation. They interposed dangers on his way, caused storms and covered the sky and the light of day with dark fog. But faster than the human speech can move, when Saint German prayed all these calmed down and stopped. And the fog dissolved.

Thus, seeing that the elements of nature had risen up against our father Columba, he called upon our Lord, Jesus Christ. He boarded the boat and even though the sailors hesitated, he remained firm and ordered the men to lift the sail against the wind. When this was done, and while the crowd was watching, the boat moved with an exceptional speed against the wind. After a while, to everyone's surprise, the opposing winds changed direction and supported the journey. So it was, on that day that the boat of this blessed man pushed by gentle breezes blowing fairly reached the port of their destination.

Let the reader consider how great and important was this venerable man, in whose face God showed the pagans the glory of His name, through the signs of miraculous power we described above.


[1] More on this subject see at: Thanassis N. Papathanasiou: "Critical interpretation of the destruction of pagan sanctuaries by Christians", magazine "Synaxis", issue 69(1999), pp. 45-65.

[2] For more information, also see: Thanassis N. Papathanassiou, "Anachoreticism. Transformation of the desert to a place of the rule of God", magazine "Synaxis", issue 13(1985), pp. 38-40, and more detailed: Athanassios N. Papathanassiou, "The Flight as a Fight. The Fight into the Desert as a Paradigm for the Mission of the Church in History and Society", magazine "The Greek Orthodox Review", issue 43(1998), pp. 167-184.

[3] Writer's Note: Perhaps it was a Christian captured during her pilgrimage journey.

[4] Writer's Note: Obviously, it is referring to St. German (circa 378-446), bishop of the French city of Aussere, who traveled to Britain at least twice to help the spreading of Christianity and the fight against the sects. Also see: David Hugh Farme, The Oxford dictionary of Saints, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York 1996, pp. 200-201.

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