St. David and the Celtic and Eastern Churches

8/13/2019 St. David and the Celtic and Eastern Churches

1/18

T. DAVID OF WALE , THE CELTIC CHURCHEAND EA TERN ORTHODOXY

Vladimir Moss

Introduction

The phenomenon of the Celtic Churches, far to the west of the main centres of

Orthodox Christianity in the East, and yet quite clearly of the same spirit as Eastern

Christianity, and comparable to it in the rich abundance of its spiritual fruit, has

fascinated Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike. How could such a rare and beautiful

flower arise in such an isolated and seeminly inhospitable en!ironment" #r. $reory

Telepneff has pro!ided part of the answer to this question in his book The Egyptian

Desert in the Irish Bogs by demonstratin the stron links between Celtic and

Eyptian monasticism. Howe!er, he identifies the Celtic Church with the %rish Church

and its offshoots in &cotland and 'orthern Enland, excludin the Church of (ales

from his re!iew. The reason he i!es for this exclusion is !ery surprisin) *The fifth

and sixth centuries in +ritish ecclesiastical life were a time of decay, both externally

and internally. That such a Church could ha!e been the center of spiritual influence

outside of its borders is hardly probable.1The purpose of this article is twofold) to

show, on the one hand, that #r. $reory is mistaken in his estimate of the +ritish

(elsh Church by reference particularly to theLife of &t. /a!id of (ales, and on the

other, to pro!ide further confirmation for the correctness of his main thesis, that the

Celtic Church as a whole was interally linked with the Orthodox Church of the East.

The Critic

One has to admit that the critics of the Church on the +ritish mainland were

eminently well-qualified. %n his Confession, &t. 0atrick, while mentionin that he was

from a clerical family his father was a deacon and his randfather a priest, has

nothin ood to say about the state of his nati!e Church. 'early a century later, the

(elsh &t. $ildas the (ise, in his On the Ruin of Britainlaid into his nati!e Church

with extraordinary fierceness.

The +ritish were an unruly lot, in his opinion. 1t the end of the 2oman period they

had *unratefully rebelled aainst *2oman kins, and had failed in their *loyalty to

the 2oman Empire.31s for $ildas4 contemporaries) *+ritain has kins, but they aretyrants5 she has 6udes, but they are wicked. They often plunder and terrori7e the

innocent5 they defend and protect the uilty and thie!in5 they ha!e many wi!es,

whores and adulteresses5 they constantly swear false oaths, they make !ows, but

almost at once tell lies5 they wae wars, ci!il and un6ust5 they chase thie!es

eneretically all o!er the country, but lo!e and reward the thie!es who sit with them

at table5 they distribute alms profusely, but pile up an immense mountain of crime for

all to see5 they take their seats as 6udes, but rarely seek out the rules of riht6udement5 they despise the harmless and humble, but exalt to the stars, as far as they

can, their military companions, bloody, proud and murderous men, adulterers and

8

Telepneff, The Egyptian Desert in the Irish Bogs, Etna, Ca.) Center for Traditionalist Orthodox&tudies, 899:, pp. ;-


2/18

enemies of $od> They han around the altars swearin oaths, then shortly

afterwards scorn them as thouh they were filthy stones>;

The clery were hardly better) *+ritain has priests, but they are fools, !ery many

ministers, but they are shameless5 clerics, but they are treacherous rabbers. They are

called shepherds, but they are wol!es ready to slauhter souls. They do not look to theood of their people, but to the fillin of their own bellies. They ha!e church

buildins, but o to them for the sake of base profit. They teach people ? but by

i!in them the worst of examples, !ice and bad character. 2arely do they sacrifice

and ne!er do they stand with pure heart amid the altars. They do not reprimand the

people for their sins5 indeed they do the same thins themsel!es. They make mock of

the precepts of Christ, and all their prayers are directed to the fulfillment of their

lustful desires. They usurp with unclean feet the seat of the 1postle 0eter, yet thanks

to their reed they fall into the pestilential chair of the traitor @udas. They hate truth as

an enemy, and lo!e lies like fa!ourite brothers. They look askance at the 6ust poor as

thouh they were dreadful snakes, and shamelessly respect the wicked rich as thouh

they were anels from hea!en> They can!ass posts in the church more !iorouslythan the Aindom of hea!en> They remain in the same old unhappy slime of

intolerable sin e!en after they ha!e obtained the priestly seat> They ha!e rabbed

merely the name of priest, not the priestly way of life.


3/18

%t is clear, then, that, on the one hand, the +ritish Church had ma6or problems, both

doctrinal and moral, in the century and a half after the 2oman leions left in


4/18

1lexandria" The captain of a ship from 1lexandria laden with twenty thousand

bushels of corn told of his 6ourney to +ritain) 4(e sailed for twenty days and nihts,

and owin to a !iolent wind we were unable to tell in what direction we were oin

either by the stars or by the coast. +ut the only thin we knew was that the steersman

saw the 0atriarch D&t. @ohn by his side holdin the tiller and sayin to him) *#ear notK

Lou are sailin quite riht. Then after the twentieth day we cauht siht of theislands of +ritain, and when we had landed we found a reat famine rain there.

1ccordinly when we told the chief man of the town that we were laden with corn, he

said, *$od has brouht you at the riht moment. Choose as you wish, either one

Mnomisma4 for each bushel or a return freiht of tin. 1nd we chose half of each.4 11

Extensi!e e!idence for a trade in tin with the Eastern Bediterranean, which was

exchaned for the wine and oil essential for the celebration of the Church ser!ices,

has been disco!ered durin archaeoloical exca!ations at Tintael, *Ain 1rthur4s

Castle, on the 'orth Cornish coast. O!er three hundred imported !essels ha!e been

found. &ome of the buildins exca!ated ha!e been interpreted by some authorities as

the remains of an early sixth century monastery founded by &t. @uliot 1/,and by othersas the fortified seat of the rulers of /umnonia south-west Enland, includin Bark

and Tristan. &nyder writes) *E!en if the settlement on the headland turns out to be

thorouhly secular, there is still stron e!idence of early Christianity at Tintael.

Thomas led two seasons of exca!ations at the Tintael parish churchyard, which is on

the mainland not far from the castle. His team unco!ered two slate-lined ra!es, two

rock-co!ered burial mounds, and one memorial pillar5 associated imported pottery

and a cross on one of the slates identify the site as early Christian c. &t. @uliot, to

whom the foundation is ascribed, was the principal e!anelist of the district,> He belons to anumerous clan who are said to ha!e descended from +rychan, a &outh (elsh kin of the fifth

century> There is no reason to doubt the existence of &t. @uliot and of his companions, &t. 'ectan of

Hartland and &t. Aeyne Dwho went to &t. Bichael4s Bount on the south coast of Cornwall with &t.Cadoc Tintagel Castle, ondon, 89;9, p. G.8;&nyder, op. cit., p. 8:G.


5/18

had done so, it would well explain why so many %rish hermits in search of retreat from

the world should ha!e been seekin a Mdesert place4 in the ocean, how !ariant $ospel

readins known to deri!e from the /esert #athers came into %rish usae, how Coptic

textual forms found their way into the se!enth-century Boo of Dimma from

Tipperary, and why the third-century &t. 1ntony of Eypt features so prominently in

the car!ins on the hih crosses at Aells and Bonasterboice Dand the %sle of Ban. 1#

@ust across the +ristol Channel there is the famous monastery of &t. /a!id, first

archbishop of Bene!ia and patron of (ales I=:9. 0rofessor E.$. +owen of the

Nni!ersity Collee of (ales, 1berystwyth, belie!es that the whole of south-western

+ritain was sub6ect to the influence of the Eyptian Church in the fifth and sixth

centuries, and that the eoraphical situation of &t. /a!id4s main monastery would

ha!e made it a central point of diffusion of this influence) *(e know that the early

persecution of Christians in the 2oman 0ro!inces of Eypt and the 'ear East caused

many there to flee to the /esert. 1t first, they li!ed solitary li!es practisin extremes

of hardship. ater, howe!er, some came toether in lare or small roups for work

and worship, and so renounced the (orld. They were !isited in the /esert from timeto time by leadin Christians in the (est and these, on returnin home, set up their

own monasteries in imitation of those of the /esert. erins, near Barseilles, and

iu, and Barmoutier, near Tours, are cases in point. The pattern of these $aulish

monasteries ultimately spread to +ritain. E!en more sinificant it would appear is the

fact that modern archaeoloists ha!e been able to show that the lands around the

Eastern Bediterranean, includin Eypt, 0alestine, 1sia Binor and the 1eean

islands were in post-2oman times in direct trade contact with south-western +ritain.

Certain types of wheel-made pottery clearly non-+ritish in character ha!e been found

in recent years in &outhern %reland, (ales and the &outh-(est 1pproaches. Exactly

similar pottery occurs in such Eastern Bediterranean ports and depots as Tarsus,

1thens, 1ntioch and Constantinople. The pottery concerned is of two types. &ome are

red coloured platters and table wares ? classified as Type 1 and often stamped with

Christian symbols, and secondly, Type + which are portions of amphorae used as

wine containers, transportin wine from such centers as 2hodes and Cyprus and other

1eean islands. The wine was imported by little Celtic monasteries for use in the

Eucharist and some, of course, reached the tables of the aristocrats. %t is important to

note> that the (estern Bediterranean area is not in!ol!ed ? the sea route appears to

ha!e pass throuh the &traits of $ibraltar direct to (estern +ritain with the

coastlands of the +ristol Channel bein particularly in!ol!ed. %f this pottery could

tra!el to the monasteries around the shores of south-western +ritain where many

pieces ha!e been recorded so, too, could pilrims, books, and ideas5 so that there canbe no loner any doubt that it was alon these western sea-routes that full monastic

life found first of all, it would appear, in +ritain at Tintael on the north coast of

Cornwall between


6/18

The first full-lenth Life of &t. /a!id was written by +ishop 2hiyfarch of &t.

/a!id4s towards the end of the 88thcentury, only a few years before the Church of

(ales became sub6ect to 1rchbishop 1nselm of Canterbury and, throuh Canterbury,

to the heretical 2oman papacy. 1s such, it represents a kind of *swan-son of +ritish

Orthodoxy, a last witness to the reatness of the old Celtic tradition by one of the last

independent bearers of that tradition. 2hiyfarch4s account of life in &t. /a!id4smonastery at Bene!ia is fascinatin because of the clear e!idence it pro!ides of the

Eastern influence on Celtic monasticism in its peak period)

*&uch an austerity did the holy father decree in his 7eal for the monastic system,

that e!ery monk toiled at daily labour, and spent his life workin with his hands for

the community. *#or who does not work,4 says the apostle, Mlet him not eat4. Anowin

that carefree rest was the source and mother of !ices he bowed down the shoulders of

the monks with pious labour, for those who bow heads and minds in leisurely repose

de!elop a spirit of instability and apathy with restless promptins to lust.

*Thus they work with feet and hands with more eaer fer!our. They place the yokeupon their shoulders5 they di the round unweariedly with mattocks and spades5 they

carry in their holy hands hoes and saws for cuttin, and pro!ide with their own efforts

for all the necessities of the community. 0ossessions they scorn, the ifts of the

wicked they re6ect, and riches they abhor. There is no brinin in of oxen to ha!e the

plouhin done, rather is e!ery one both riches and ox unto himself and the brethren.

The work completed, no complaint was heard) no con!ersation was held beyond that

which was necessary, but each performed the task en6oined with prayer and

appropriate meditation.

*abour in the fields once ended they would return to the cloisters of the

monastery, and they spent the whole of the day until e!enin in readin, writin, or

prayin. (hen e!enin was come, and the stroke of the bell sounded in the ear of any

one, when only the tip of a letter or e!en half the form of the same letter was written,

they would rise quickly and lea!e what they were doin5 and so, in silence, without

any empty talk or chatter they repair to the church. (hen they had finished chantin

the psalms, durin which the !oice and heart were in complete accord, they humble

themsel!es on bended knees until the appearance of the stars in the hea!ens should

brin the day to a close. 1fter all had one out, the father remained alone to pour forth

his prayer to $od in secret for the condition of the Church.

*1t lenth they assemble at table. E!eryone restores and refreshes his weary limbsby partakin of supper, not, howe!er, to excess, for too much, thouh it be of bread

alone, enenders self-indulence) but at that meal, all take supper accordin to the

!aryin condition of their bodies or ae. They do not ser!e courses of different

sa!ours, not richer kinds of food) their food is, in fact, bread and herbs seasoned with

salt, whlest they quench a burnin thirst with a temperate kind of drink.1&Boreo!er,

for either the sick, or likewise those wearied by a lon 6ourney, they pro!ide some

dishes of tastier food, since it is not proper to apportion to all in equal measure.

8

&t. /a!id himself drank only water) *he re6ected wine, fermented liquor and e!erythin intoxicatin,and led a blessed life for $od on bread and water only5 whence he had been styled M/a!id who li!es onwater4 D!8uatius ch. 3.


7/18

*(hen thanks has been returned to $od, they o to the church in accordance with

canonical rule, and there they i!e themsel!es up to watchins, prayers, and

enuflexions for about three hours. (hilst they were prayin in the church, no one

unrestrainedly dared to yawn, no one to snee7e, no one to spit.

*This done they compose their limbs for sleep. (akin up at cock-crow, theyapply themsel!es to prayer on bended knees, and spend the remainder of the niht till

mornin without sleep. %n like manner they ser!e throuhout other nihts.

*#rom &aturday e!enin until daybreak at the first hour of &unday, they i!e

themsel!es to watchins, prayers, and enuflexions, except for one hour after matins

on &aturday.

*They re!eal their thouhts to the father, and obtain his permission e!en for the

requirements of nature. 1ll thins are in common5 there is no Mmine4 or Mthine4, for

whosoe!er should say Mmy book4 or Mmy anythin else4 would be straihtway

sub6ected to a se!ere penance. They wore clothes of mean quality, mainly skins.There was unfailin obedience to the father4s command) reat was their perse!erance

in the performance of duties, reat was their uprihtness in all thins.

*#or he who would lon for this manner of saintly life, and should ask to enter the

company of the brethren, had first to remain for ten days at the door of the monastery,

as one re6ected, and also silenced by words of abuse. %f he put his patience to ood

use, and should stand there until the tenth day, he was first admitted and was put to

ser!e under the elder who had chare of the ate. (hen he had for a lon time toiled

there, and many oppositions within his soul had been broken down, he was at lenth

thouht fit to enter the brethren4s society.

*There was no superfluity) !oluntary po!erty was lo!ed) for whosoe!er desired

their manner of life, nothin of his property, which he had forsaken in the world when

he renounced it, would the holy father accept for the use of the monastery, not e!en

one penny, so to speak) but naked, as thouh escapin from a shipwreck, was he

recei!ed, so that he should not by any means extol himself, or esteem himself abo!e

the brethren, or, on rounds of his wealth, refuse his equal share of toil with the

brethren5 nor, if he should throw off his monk4s robes, miht he by force extort what

he had left to the monastery, and dri!e the patience of the brethren into aner.

*+ut the father himself, o!erflowin with daily fountains of tears, and frarantwith sweet-smellin offerins of prayers, and radiant with a twofold flame of charity,

consecrated with pure hands the due oblation of the ord4s +ody. 1fter matins, he

proceeded alone to hold con!erse with the anels. %mmediately afterwards, he souht

cold water, remainin in it sufficiently lon to subdue all the ardours of the flesh. The

whole of the day he spent, inflexibly and unweariedly, in teachin, prayin,

enuflectin, and in care for the brethren5 also in feein a multitude of orphans,

wards, widows, needy, sick, feeble, and pilrims) so he bean5 so he continued5 so he

ended. 1s for the other aspects of the se!erity of his discipline, althouh a necessary

ideal for imitation, this brief abbre!iation forbids us to enlare upon it. +ut he

imitated the monks of Eypt, and li!ed a life like theirs.19

8G@.(. @ames,Rhigyrarh.s Life of -t" Da3id, Cardiff) Nni!ersity of (ales 0ress, 89G, chapters 38-;85pp. ;=-;:.

G


8/18

The last sentence says it all) *he imitated the monks of Eypt, and li!ed a life like

theirs. Celtic monasticism, not only in %reland, as #r. $reory asserts, but also in

(ales and Cornwall, and therefore also in +rittany, was an offshoot and imitation the

life of the Coptic monks of Eypt. Of course, /a!idic monasticism was of the

coenobitic type associated with &t. 0achomius of Eypt rather than the heremitical,anachoretic type associated with &t. 1nthony of Eypt, which #r. $reory says was

particularly popular in %reland. Howe!er, the heremitical type of monasticism is also

found in (ales. Thus &t. 'ectan of Hartland, whose sister Beleri was the paternal

randmother of &t. /a!id1(, set off to li!e the heremitical life in /e!on, inspired by

the example of the Eyptian saints) *it came into his mind to imitate 1ntony, the

reatest of the hermits, and the other Eyptian fathers of odly li!in, by embracin

the obser!ances of the heremitical life.1)

(e may also suppose that some of the Coptic liturical elements that #r. $reory

finds in the litury of 1ncient %reland came to %reland not only throuh the Eyptian

monks who are recorded as ha!in died there, but also throuh the monks of (ales.Thus in ==, write +arin-$ould and #isher, *1inmire mounted the throne as Hih

Ain of %reland. He was desirous of restorin reliion in the island, as paanism was

aain raisin its head, and there was a slackenin of the #aith. He in!ited $ildas,

/a!id, and Cadoc to come to him and re!i!e the flain Christianity of the people.

$ildas certainly went in response, but whether /a!id did more than send a form of the

Bass and some of his best pupils to enae in the work, we are unable to say. The

Church of 'aas, in Aildare, howe!er, reards him as its patron, and presumably its

founder. 'ear it are the remains of an ancient structure called by the people the Castle

of &. /a!id./$

E$derhi%

%f 2hiyfarch4s Life of Da3idrepresents the last literary flowerin of Celtic

Orthodox +ritain, the Life of -amson by a monk of /ol, his Episcopal see in

+rittany, represents one of the earliest, datin to about 1/ FF. Here we find another

characteristic of Orthodox Christianity ? eldership. Thus we read that the parents of

&t. &amson, 1mon and 1nna, were rie!in because they did not ha!e any children.

+ut *the comfort of 1lmihty $od came near. #or 1nna often a!e alms and fasted

toether with her husband.

*'ow it came to pass that on a feast-day they went to church, and there> heard a

discussion about a certain ibrarius, a learned elder who li!ed in the far north and

who was souht out by many pro!inces, for people belie!ed that what he told them

would undoubtedly turn out as he said. 1t that moment many people in the church

were eaerly makin up their minds to o and seek his ad!ice. (hen 1mon heard this

he 6oyfully resol!ed with 1nna to make the same 6ourney to the elder.

8:&. +arin-$ould and @. #isher, The Li3es of the British -aints, ondon, 89FG-898;, p. 3:G.89

Life of -t" :etan, in $.H. /oble, The -aints of Corn5all,part J, Oxford) Holywell 0ress, 89GF, p..3F+arin-$ould and #isher, op. cit., pp. ;F


9/18

*1t lenth, at the end of the third day of their tirin 6ourney, they reached the place

where the elder ibrarius li!ed, and found him sittin with many people and

discoursin at lenth on se!eral particular cases. Then 1mon and his wife came with

ifts and fell down on their knees before the elder, bein him to i!e careful

consideration to their case. He imposed silence with reard to the other cases which

were causin a stir around him, and then, smilin all the time, closely questionedthem as ood people who had come a lon way. MO my children, tell me why you

ha!e expended such labour in comin so far.4 1mon opened his mouth but shut it

aain 6oyfully when the elder said to him) M% know the reason for your !isit5 it is

because your wife has been barren up to now. % belie!e that the /i!ine

Compassion will come to her aid. +ut you make a sil!er rod equal in lenth to your

wife and donate it on her behalf. Then 1lmihty $od will raise up seed for you in

accordance with His (ill and in fulfillment of your desire.4 1t these words 1mon

6oyfully said) M% will i!e you three sil!er rods of her lenth4.

*The elder, seein the prudence and discernment of 1mon, made them stay with

him in his uest-room until they had i!en their poor bodies a niht4s sleep after thefatiue of the 6ourney. 1nd so it came to pass that as 1nna lay there $od deined to

speak to her in a !ision) MO troubled woman, stron in faith, steadfast in the lo!e of

$od and instant in prayer, blessed art thou, blessed is thy womb, and more blessed the

fruit of thy womb. oK They firstborn son has been found worthy of the priestly

office5 for thy womb shall concei!e and become fruitful and brin forth a son, and its

offerin will be se!en times brihter than the sil!er which thy husband has i!en on

thy behalf to $od.4 The woman re6oiced at the reatness of the !ision and the lory of

the anel of $od who stood by her and spoke to her, and also at the prospect of the

hoped-for child. 'e!ertheless, she was shy and, as is the way with ood women,

could not reply for modesty) M#ear not, O woman,4 said the anel, Mnor ha!e doubts5

for $od will dein to comfort thee in thy rief, and thy tears shall be turned into 6oy

for thee. oK Thou shalt ha!e a child, and thou shalt call him, thy firstborn son,

&amson. He shall be holy and a hih priest before 1lmihty $od. 1nd thou shalt ha!e

proof of this in the mornin, throuh that elder to whom thou hast come.4

*1wakenin, the woman told e!erythin she had seen and heard to her husband in

order. 1s they re6oiced and discussed these thins toether, the sun rose5 and as they

had a lon 6ourney ahead of them, they rose early and she bean to et ready and put

on her clothes. @ust then the elder appeared, shoutin for 6oy) M+lessed art thou, O

woman,4 he said, Mand blessed is thy womb and more blessed is the fruit of thy womb,

for this last niht the ord has deined to re!eal thins concernin thee and thyoffsprin. #or thy firstborn son is ordained by $od to be a hih priest, and, when thou

shalt i!e birth to him thou shalt name him &amson. Then, at the appropriate time,

thou shalt hand him o!er to be educated. Of the +ritish race there ne!er has been, nor

e!er shall be, anyone like him, a priest who will help many people.4 (hen they had

recei!ed the elder4s blessin, the parents returned home happy and contented./1

The pattern of monastic saints actin as elders to married people that is so familiar

to us from the Eastern Orthodox Church was also common in the (est. 1nother

example comes from theLifeof &t. Columba, 1postle of &cotland I=9G) *1nother

time, when the saint was li!in on the 2echrena island, a certain man of humble birth

came to him and complained of his wife, who, as he said, so hated him, that she38T. Taylor, The Life of -t" -amson of Dol, 893=.

9


10/18

would on no account allow him to come near her for marriae rihts. The saint on

hearin this, sent for the wife, and, so far as he could, bean to repro!e her on that

account, sayin) M(hy, O woman, dost thou endea!our to withdraw thy flesh from

thyself, while the ord says, MThey shall be two in one flesh4" (herefore the flesh of

thy husband is they flesh.4 &he answered and said, M(hate!er thou shalt require of me

% am ready to do, howe!er hard it may be, with this sinle exception, that thou dostnot ure me in any way to sleep in one bed with une. % do not refuse to perform

e!ery duty at home, or, if thou dost command me, e!en to pass o!er the seas, or to

li!e in some monastery for women.4 The saint then said, M(hat thou dost propose

cannot lawfully be done, for thou art bound by the law of the husband as lon as thy

husband li!eth, for it would be impious to separate those whom $od has lawfully

6oined toether.4 %mmediately after these words he added) MThis day let us three,

namely, the husband and his wife and myself, 6oin in prayer to the ord and in

fastin.4 +ut the woman replied) M% know it is not impossible for thee to obtain from

$od, when thou askest them, those thins that seem to us either difficult, or e!en

impossible.4 %t is unnecessary to say more. The husband and wife areed to fast with

the saint that day, and the followin niht the saint spent sleepless in prayer for them.'ext day he thus addressed the wife in presence of her husband, and said to her) MO

woman, art thou still ready today, as thou saidst yesterday, to o away to a con!ent of

women"4 M% know now,4 she answered, Mthat thy prayer to $od for me hath been

heard5 for that man whom % hated yesterday, % lo!e today5 for my heart hath been

chaned last niht in some unknown way ? from hatred to lo!e.4 (hy need we liner

o!er it" #rom that day to the hour of death, the soul of the wife was firmly cemented

in affection to her husband, so that she no loner refused those mutual matrimonial

rihts which she was formerly unwillin to allow.33

The continuin !itality of the +ritish Celtic tradition of eldership is witnessed by

the story of the con!ersion, in about 99=, of the famous 'orweian Ain Olaf

Try!ason throuh a Celtic hermit possibly &t. ide. 1s we read in theEpitome of

the -agas of the ;ings of :or5ay, this hermit li!ed in the &cilly isles off the coast of

Cornwall, *famed for his excellent learnin and !arious knowlede. Olaf was eaer to

test this, and dressed one of his retainers like a kin, so that under the name of a kin

he miht seek the hermit4s ad!ice. 'ow this was the answer he recei!ed) MLou are

no kin, and my counsel to you is that you should be loyal to your kin.4 (hen Olaf

heard this answer, he was yet more eaer to see him, because he no loner doubted

that he was a true prophet, and in the course of his talk with him> the hermit

addressed him thus with words of holy wisdom and foreknowlede) MLou will be,4 he

said, Ma famous kin, and do famous deeds. Lou will brin many people to faith andbaptism, thereby profitin yourself and many others. 1nd, so that you may ha!e no

doubts concernin this answer of mine, you shall ha!e this for a sin. On the way to

your ship you will fall into an ambush, and a battle will take place, and you will lose

part of your company and you yourself will recei!e a wound, and throuh this wound

you will be at the point of death, and be borne to the ship on a shield. Let within

se!en days you will be whole from this wound, and soon you will recei!e baptism.4/0

The thirteenth-century %celandic historian &norri &rurlason describes the sequel)

*Olaf went down to his ships and there he met foes who tried to slay him and his men.

33

&t. 1damnan,Life of -t" Colum


11/18

+ut the meetin ended as the hermit had told him, so that Olaf was borne wounded

out to his ship and likewise was he well after se!en nihts. Then it seemed clear to

Olaf that this man had told him the truth and that he was a true prophet from whom he

had this foretellin. Olaf then went aain to find the man, spoke much with him and

asked carefully whence he had this wisdom by which he foretold the future. The

hermit said that the $od of Christian men let him know all he wished, and then he toldOlaf of many reat works of $od and after all these words Olaf areed to be bapti7ed,

and so it came about that Olaf and all his followers were bapti7ed. /#

1ccordin to theEpitome, Olaf disappeared durin a sea battle and ended his days

in a monastery in 0alestine/2, demonstratin thereby the essential unity of the

Christian world at that time, from the Celts in the west to the &candina!ians and &la!s

in the north to the $reeks, &yrians and Copts in the east and south.

&in'hi%

The %rish kin4s in!itation to the (elsh saints to re!i!e the flain Christianity of

his people is an example of the characteristically Orthodox conception of the

relationship between Church and &tate) not complete separation, but cooperation in

the common task of the sal!ation of souls.

(e find similar stories both earlier and later in +ritish Orthodox history. Thus as

early as the second half of the second century, accordin to the Jenerable +ede, a

local +ritish kin called ucius in!ited 0ope Eleutherius to send missionaries to

Enland to re!i!e the flain faith of the +ritons. Bodern scholars tend to follow

Harnack in dismissin this story as confusin the mythical ucius of +ritain with thereal-life ucius of Edessa. Howe!er, stron traditions about ucius can be found in

(ales/&, in $lastonbury particularly/9, and in ondon/(5 and it seems unlikely, as

H.B. 0orter points out, that a &yrian kin should ha!e turned for missionaries to

2ome, 8=FF miles away, when he could ha!e much more easily referred to the reat

0atriarchate of 1ntioch only 8GF miles away./)

3


12/18

1ain, in the early se!enth century, we find a touchin example of Church-&tate

symphony in the relations between the holy Ain Oswald of 'orthumbria, who had

been brouht up in the Celtic traditions of the &cottish monastery of %ona, and the

holy +ishop 1idan, who was also from %ona. 1s the tenth-century 1bbot 1elfric

writes, on the basis of +ede4s 4istory) *Ain Oswald became !ery charitable and

humble in his way of life, and was bountiful in all thins. (ith reat 7eal he erectedchurches and monastic foundations throuhout his kindom. %t happened on one

occasion that Oswald and 1idan were sittin toether on the holy day of 0ascha, and

they brouht the royal meats to the kin on a sil!er dish. Then one of the kin4s

nobles who was in chare of his almsi!in came in and said that many poor people

from all o!er had come for the kin4s almsi!in, and were sittin in the streets. Then

the kin immediately sent the sil!er dish, meats and all, to the poor, orderin it to be

cut in pieces and distributed to each his portion. This was done, whereupon the noble

+ishop 1idan with reat 6oy took hold of the kin4s riht hand and cried out with

faith) MBay this blessed riht hand ne!er rot in corruption4. %t turned out 6ust as 1idan

prayed ? his riht hand is incorrupt to this day>0$

The close cooperation that we see between Church and &tate in the Celtic lands

may ha!e been partly due to the fact that the chief men in Church and &tate were

often related. Thus both &t. /a!id and &t. Columba were of royal blood, and most of

the first monastic missionaries of Cornwall were children of the (elsh 0rince

+rychan. 1nother factor may ha!e been the !ery early introduction of the rite of

anointin to the kindom in +ritain ? earlier than in any other country with the

possible exception if we exclude the doubtful case of Ain Clo!is of the #ranks of

the anointin of the first Christian Ain of the &outh 1rabian kindom of Omir,

1braham, in the presence of &t. Elesbaan, kin of Ethiopia.01

This raises the possibility that, 6ust as Celtic monasticism appears to be, to a

sinificant deree, an offshoot of Coptic monasticism, so the Celtic sacrament of

anointin to the kindom came from the same part of the world. This remains no more

than an intriuin idea because of the paucity of e!idence. Howe!er, we can be sure

that the sacrament could not ha!e come from 2ome or +y7antium, because the

2oman emperors were not anointed until, at the latest, the eihth century in the (est

and the tenth century in the East.

Nnfortunately, the sacrament of anointin does not appear to ha!e elicited reat

re!erence for the kin in the immediate aftermath of the 2oman withdrawal from

+ritain. Thus in his On the Destrution of Britain&t. $ildas refers to e!ents takinplace in the fifth century as follows) *Ains were anointed DNnebantur rees not in

$od4s name, but as bein crueller than the rest5 before lon, they would be killed,

with no enquiry into the truth, by those who had anointed them, and other still crueller

chosen to replace them.0/

+ut thins impro!ed later in the century with the appearance of 1mbrosius

1urelianus, *a modest man, who alone of the 2oman nation had been left ali!e in the

confusion of this troubled period> He pro!oked the cruel conquerors Dthe 1nlo-

;F1bbot 1elfric,Life of -t" Os5ald";8

*The ife of the Holy Hierarch $reory, +ishop of Homer,Li3ing Orthodo*y, !ol. QJ%%, no. ,'o!ember-/ecember, 899, pp. =-. This life was published in 2ussian by Bonastery 0ress, Bontreal.;3&t. $ildas, On the Ruin of Britain, 38.


13/18

&axons to battle, and by the oodness of our ord ot the !ictory. His parents,

accordin to $ildas, e!en *wore the purple.00

1nd then, towards the end of the fifth century, there appeared the famous Ain

1rthur, who, accordin to the (elsh monk 'ennius in his 4istory of the Britons, in

one battle, at #ort $uinnion, *carried the imae of &t. Bary, e!er !irin, on hisshoulders and that day the paans were turned to fliht and a reat slauhter was upon

them throuh the !irtue of our ord @esus Christ and throuh the !irtue of &t. Bary

the Jirin, his Bother. %n a later battle, at Bount +adon, accordin to the ninth-

century !nnals of =ales, *1rthur carried the cross of our ord @esus Christ on his

shoulder for three days and three nihts, and the +ritons were !ictorious.0#

'ot lon after this, in =G


14/18

new dynasty in a new Christian land was bein created, which required both the

blessin of the former rulers and a special act of the Church ? somethin not

dissimilar to the creation of a new autocephalous Church. Of course, this is 6ust

speculation. +ut it is by no means impossible that the land which brouht the first

Christian emperor to the throne ? and the first rebels aainst the Christian empire -

should ha!e been the first to introduce the rite of anointin to the kinship as a race-filled means of consolidatin and strenthenin Christian power.

Attitude to Here( "nd Schi#

1s we ha!e seen, the +ritish Church had its own home-rown heresy in the form

of 0elaianism. %n the early fifth century, &t. $ermanus of 1uxerre made two trips to

+ritain to help suppress the heresy5 but it linered on. 09#inally, in the late sixth

century the +ritish Church itself con!ened a Council to refute the heretics, as told by

2hiyfarch)

*&ince e!en after &t. $ermanus4s second !isit of help the 0elaian heresy was

reco!erin its !iour and obstinacy, implantin the poison of a deadly serpent in the

innermost reions of our country, a eneral synod is assembled of all the bishops of

+ritain. %n addition to a atherin of 88: bishops, there was present an innumerable

multitude of priests, abbots, clery of other ranks, kins, princes, lay men and women,

so that the !ery reat host co!ered all the places round about. The bishops confer

amonst themsel!es, sayin) MThe multitude present is too reat to enable, not only a

!oice, but e!en the sound of a trumpet to reach the ears of them all. 1lmost the entire

thron will be untouched by our preachin, and will return home, takin with them

the infection of the heresy.4 Consequently, it is arraned to preach to the people in thefollowin manner. 1 mound of arments was to be erected on some risin round,

and one at a time was to preach, standin upon it. (hoe!er should be endowed with

such a ift of preachin that his discourse reached the ears of all that were furthest, he,

by common consent, should be made metropolitan and archbishop. Thereupon, a

place called +re!i is selected, a lofty mound of arments is erected, and they preach

with all their miht. +ut their words scarcely reach those that are nearest, it is as

thouh their throats seem constricted5 the people await the (ord, but the larest

portion does not hear it. One after another endea!ours to expound, but they fail

utterly. 1 reat crisis arises5 and they fear that the people will return home with the

heresy uncrushed. M(e ha!e preached,4 said they, Mbut we do not con!ince5

consequently our labour is rendered useless.4 Then arose one of the bishops, named0aulinus, with whom aforetime, holy /ewi the bishop had studied5 MThere is one,4

said he, Mwho has been made a bishop by the patriarch0(,who has not attended our

synod5 a man of eloquence, full of race, experienced in reliion, an associate of

anels, a man to be lo!ed, attracti!e in countenance, manificent in appearance, six

feet in stature. Him % ad!ise you to summon here.4

;G%t has been suested that &t. 0atrick, enlihtener of %reland and founder of %rish monasticism, may

ha!e accompanied &t. $ermanus of 1uxerre on his missionary trips to +ritain to extirpate the 0elaian

heresy *&!yatitel4 0atriki6, 0ros!etitel4 %rlandii,+ra3osla3naia >hin., /ecember, 8999, p. = in2ussian.;:The 0atriarch of @erusalem probably Elias, who had consecrated /a!id and his companions Teilo

and 0aternus on a pilrimae to @erusalem. The patriarch a!e /a!id a portable altar as a ift. Today, a!ery ancient square stone ob6ect inscribed with crosses, which could perhaps ha!e ser!ed as an altar,can be found today in &t. /a!id4s cathedral under a lare icon of the 0rophet Elias.

8


15/18

*Besseners are immediately dispatched, who come to the holy bishop, and

announce the reason for their comin. +ut the holy bishop declined, sayin) Met no

man tempt me. (ho am % to succeed where those ha!e failed" % know my own

insinificance. $o in peace.4 1 second and a third time messeners are sent, but not

e!en then did he consent. #inally, the holiest and the most upriht men are sent, thebrethren, /aniel and /ubricius. +ut the holy bishop /ewi, foreseein it with

prophetic spirit, said to the brethren) MThis day, my brethren, !ery holy men are

!isitin us. (elcome them 6oyfully, and for their meal procure fish in addition to

bread and water.4 The brethren arri!e, exchane mutual reetins and con!erse about

holy thins. #ood is placed on the table, but they insist that they will ne!er eat a meal

in his monastery unless he returns to the synod alon with them. To this the saint

replied) M% cannot refuse you5 proceed with your meal, we will o toether to the

synod. +ut then, % am unable to preach there) % will i!e you some help, little thouh it

be, with my prayers.4

*&o settin forth, they reach the neihbourhood of the synod, and lo, they heard awailin and lamentation. &aid the saint to his companions5 M% will o to the scene of

this reat lamentation.4 +ut his companions said in reply5 M+ut let us o to the

assembly, lest our delayin rie!e those who await us.4 The man of $od approached

the place of the mournin5 and lo, there a berea!ed mother was keepin watch o!er

the body of a youth, to whom, with barbaric uncouthness, she had i!en a lenthy

name. He comforted and raised the mother, consolin and encourain her5 but she,

ha!in heard of his fame, flun herself forward at his feet, bein him with cries of

entreaty to take pity on her. #illed with compassion for human weakness, he

approached the body of the dead boy, whose face he watered with his tears. 1t lenth,

the limbs rew warm, the soul returned, and the body qui!ered. He took hold of the

boy4s hand and restored him to his mother. +ut she, her sorrowful weepin turned into

tears of 6oy, then said5 M% belie!ed that my son was dead5 let him henceforth li!e to

$od and to you.4 The holy man accepted the boy, laid on his shoulder the $ospel-

book which he always carried in his bosom, and made him o with him to the synod.

That boy, afterwards, while life lasted, li!ed a holy life.

*He then enters the synod5 the company of bishops is lad, the multitude is 6oyful,

the whole assembly exults. He is asked to preach, and does not decline the synod4s

decision. They bid him ascend the mound piled up with arments5 and, in the siht of

all, a snow white do!e from hea!en settled on his shoulder, and remained there as

lon as he preached. (hilst he preached, with a loud !oice, heard equally by thosewho were nearest and those who were furthest, the round beneath him rew hiher,

risin to a hill5 and, stationed on its summit, !isible to all as thouh standin on a

lofty mountain, he raised his !oice until it ran like a trumpet) on the summit of that

hill a church is situated. The heresy is expelled, the faith is confirmed in sound hearts,

all are of one accord, and thanks are rendered to $od and &t. /a!id.0)

&adly, only a few years later the (elsh bishops refused to cooperate with the

mission of &t. 1uustine of Canterbury to the paan &axons. &ome ha!e seen in this a

!irtue, an early re6ection of the papist heresy, and cite the followin document of the

(elsh Church) *+e it known and declared that we all, indi!idually and collecti!ely,

are in all humility prepared to defer to the Church of $od, and to the +ishop of 2ome,;9Rhigyfarh.s Life of -t" Da3id,chapters


16/18

and to e!ery sincere and odly Christian, so far as to lo!e e!eryone accordin to his

deree, in perfect charity, and to assist them all by word and deed in becomin

children of $od. +ut as for any other obedience, we know of none that he, whom you

term the 0ope, or +ishop of bishops, can demand. The deference we ha!e mentioned

we are ready to pay to him as to e!ery other Christian, but in all other respects our

obedience is due to the 6urisdiction of the +ishop of Caerleon, who is alone under $odour ruler to keep us riht in the way of sal!ation.#$

Howe!er, to accuse the 2omans of papism in the se!enth century is an

anachronism) 2ome, far from bein papist then, was the most Orthodox of

patriarchates. 1nd the 0ope of the time, &t. $reory the $reat, e!en declared that

anyone who accepted to be called *+ishop of bishops was *a forerunner of the

1ntichristK The truth is rather that from contrary to all men,separatin themsel!es both from the 2oman way of life and the unity of the

Church.#/1nd as &t. 1ldhelm of &herborne wrote) *$lorifyin in the pri!ate purity

of their own way of life, they detest our communion to such a reat extent that they

disdain equally to celebrate the /i!ine offices in church with us and to take course of

food at table for the sake of charity. 2ather,> they order the !essels and flaons Di.e.

those used in common with clery of the 2oman Church to be purified and pured

with rains of sandy ra!el, or with the dusky cinders of ash.. &hould any of us, %

mean Catholics, o to them for the purpose of habitation, they do not dein to admit

us to the company of their brotherhood until we ha!e been compelled to spend the

space of forty days in penance> 1s Christ truly said) M(oe to you, scribes and

0harisees5 because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish4. #0

Howe!er, the period shall be your 6udes> 1nd thus, e!en as your honour is reat in

proportion to the dinity of your see, so reat care is mindful for you, lest you lose

your dinity throuh some mistake. #or power will be in your hands 6ust so lon as

your principles remain sound5 for he is the appointed keybearer of the Aindom of


17/18

Hea!en, who opens by true knowlede to the worthy and shuts to the unworthy5

otherwise if he does the opposite, he shall be able neither to open nor to shut. ##

*#or all we %rish, as he said to another 0ope, *inhabitants of the world4s ede, are

disciples of &aints 0eter and 0aul and of all the disciples who wrote the sacred canon

by the Holy &pirit, and we accept nothin outside the e!anelical and apostolicteachin5 none has been a heretic, none a @udai7er, none a schismatic5 but the Catholic

#aith, as it was deli!ered by you first D&t. Celestine the 0ope sent the first

unsuccessful mission to %reland, who are the successors of the holy apostles, is

maintained unbroken.#2

Conc$uion

%n @uly, 893F the 0atriarchs of 1lexandria, 1ntioch and @erusalem, toether with

the 2ussian Betropolitans 1nthony of Aie! and E!loy of 0aris, came to &t. /a!id4s

in (ales to celebrate the /issestablishment of the Church of (ales. %f the Church of

(ales had truly been disestablished from heresy and thereby returned to its roots in

the Celtic Church of the early centuries, there would indeed ha!e been ood cause of

re6oicin5 but sadly, that was not the case. Howe!er, the e!ent did ser!e a most

salutary purpose in proclaimin the oneness of faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church

of the twentieth century with the Celtic Church of the sixth century, to which &t.

/a!id, with his astonishin life so redolent of the feats of the Eastern monastic saints

and stron links with the Eastern Church of his day, was perhaps the most !i!id

witness.

%t is therefore worth concludin by recallin an incident from the life of &t. /a!idnot recorded by 2hiyfarch4s Lifebecause it belons to the tradition of another

Church, that of $lastonbury which witnesses to the fact that the Orthodox Church in

the +ritish %sles was closely linked with the Church in the East not only durin the

time of the flourishin of the Celtic Church from the fifth century, but much earlier,

from the time when the #ounder of our #aith Himself set foot *on Enland4s reen

and pleasant land) *How hihly &t. /a!id, the reat archbishop of Bene!ia,

esteemed that place D$lastonbury is too well-known to need illustration by our

account. He !erified the antiquity and sanctity of the church by a di!ine oracle5 for he

came thither with his se!en bishops, of whom he was the chief, in order to dedicate it.

+ut after e!erythin that the ser!ice customarily required had been prepared he was

indulin himself in sleep on what he thouht would be the niht precedin theceremony. He has submered all his senses in slumber when he beheld the ord @esus

standin beside him, ently askin him why he had come. Npon his instantly

disclosin the reason the ord restrained him from his purpose by sayin that He

Himself had lon ao dedicated the church in honour of His Bother, and that it would

not be seemly to profane the sacrament with a human repetition. 1s He was speakin

He seemed to pierce the saint4s palm with His finer and added that he should take it

as a sin that he ouht not to repeat what the ord had done beforehand5 but because

he had been moti!ated by de!otion, not impudence, his punishment would not be

proloned, so that, when he was about to say the words Mthrouh Him and with Him


18/18

Documents

St. David and the Celtic and Eastern Churches