8

ST. DAVID OF WALES, THE CELTIC CHURCHES AND EASTERN 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 seemin ly inhospitable en!ironment" #r. $re ory 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 E yptian monasticism. Howe!er, he identifies the Celtic Church with the %rish Church and its offshoots in &cotland and 'orthern En land, 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,.1 The purpose of this article is twofold) to show, on the one hand, that #r. $re ory is mistaken in his estimate of the +ritish -(elsh. Church by reference particularly to the Life 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 inte rally 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 Britain laid 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 *un ratefully rebelled, a ainst *2oman kin s,, and had failed in their *loyalty to the 2oman Empire,.3 1s for $ildas4 contemporaries) *+ritain has kin s, but they are tyrants5 she has 6ud es, but they are wicked. They often plunder and terrori7e the innocent5 they defend and protect the uilty and thie!in 5 they ha!e many wi!es, whores and adulteresses5 they constantly swear false oaths, they make !ows, but almost at once tell lies5 they wa e wars, ci!il and un6ust5 they chase thie!es ener etically 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 6ud es, but rarely seek out the rules of ri ht 6ud ement5 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. ;-<. 3 &t. $ildas, On the Ruin of Britain, <.8, =.8, 8=.8.

3 enemies of $od> They han around the altars swearin afterwards scorn them as thou h they were filthy stones>,; oaths, then shortly

The cler y 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 slau hter souls. They do not look to the ood of their people, but to the fillin of their own bellies. They ha!e church buildin s, 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 thin s 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 thou h they were dreadful snakes, and shamelessly respect the wicked rich as thou h they were an els from hea!en> They can!ass posts in the church more !i orously than the Ain dom 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.,< $ildas spoke kindly only of the monks) they were *the true sons, who led *worthy li!es,. He mentioned *the habit of a holy abbot,, *the ca!es of the saints,, and how Ain Ba locunus, ponderin *the odly life and rule of the monks,, had !owed *to be a monk fore!er,.= 1nd this leads us to belie!e that there was probably a sharp di!ide between the corrupt life of the secular rulers and married cler y, on the one hand, and the monks, on the other. Boreo!er, this di!ide may ha!e reflected, in part, a do trinal di!ide, between, on the one hand, the Orthodox Christians, and on the other, the 0ela ians, who, in their debates with &t. $ermanus of 1uxerre are described as *men of ob!ious wealth,.C 0ela ianism was a heresy that denied ori inal sin and o!er-emphasi7ed the role of free will in sal!ation. &nyder writes) *(hat D0ela ius4E reli ious upbrin in in latefourth-century +ritain was like we do not know, only that he was undoubtedly Christian and well educated before he left for 2ome at the be innin of the fifth century. 0ela ius4s story is that of the Bediterranean world c.<8F, but the spread of his heresy after his disappearance in <8: directly in!ol!es +ritain. 0ela ian bishops were sufficiently influential in the +ritish %sles to worry the pope and warrant the missions of $ermanus to +ritain and 0alladius to %reland. Claims that 0ela ianism played a political role in +ritain4s separation from 2ome and subsequently split the island into factions ha!e ne!er been adequately demonstrated.>,G

!on" tici #
; <

&t. $ildas On The Ruin of Britain, 3G. &t. $ildas, On the Ruin of Britain, CC. = Christopher &nyder, !n !ge of Tyrants" Britain and the Britons !"D" #$$%&$$, &troud) 0enn &tate 0ress, 899:, p. 83=. C Constantius of Hyons, Life of 'ermanus, ;.8<5 &nyder, op. cit., p. 88;. G &nyder, op. cit., p. 3<F.

%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 le ions left in <8F, but on the other, that there was a powerful new mo!ement in the shape of monasticism which would both take the lead in the stru le a ainst 0ela ianism and demonstrate an extraordinary stri!in for moral perfection rarely seen before or since. The ori ins of Celtic monasticism are often ascribed to $aul, not only because $aul was the nearest place where monasteries are known to ha!e existed in the fifth century, but also because the saints who made the bi est impact on the life of the early Celtic Church all had close links with $aul. Thus &t. 'inian of (hithorn -I;9G. built the first stone church in +ritain in honour of his teacher, &t. Bartin of Tours. 1 ain, the scour e of +ritish 0ela ianism, &t. $ermanus of 1uxerre, was himself a $allic bishop. 1nd &t. 0atrick of %reland, the first founder of monasteries in the Celtic lands, was trained in $aul and recei!ed Episcopal consecration there. Boreo!er, it is temptin to ascribe the ori in of the Eastern influences found in Celtic monasticism to the $allic Church insofar as the latter had stron links with the Church in the East. Thus &t. @ohn Cassian, a 2oman and a former spiritual son of &t. @ohn Chrysostom who tra!elled extensi!ely throu hout the East, e!entually settled near Barseilles. Cassian4s works, to ether with those of &aints 1thanasius and 0achomius the $reat -both Coptic monks., were well known both to &t. 0atrick and to the later monastic founders of +ritain and %reland. Howe!er, #r. $re ory has ar ued persuasi!ely that while Eastern influence was exerted indire tly on the %rish Church throu h $aul, there was also extensi!e dire t influence from the Coptic Church of E ypt. Only such direct influence could account for a number of peculiarities of Celtic monasticism and litur ical life which distin uish it from $allic monasticism but link it with Coptic monasticism. %n addition to the e!idence #r. $re ory produces to support this thesis, we may cite the stron e!idence for direct trade routes by sea from the Eastern Bediterranean to &outh-(est +ritain. Thus in about ;3F +C a $reek called 0ytheas published his work On the O ean, which described his 6ourney throu h the &traits of $ibralter to &outh(est +ritain and on as far north as the Orkneys, ultima Thule. %n the first century +C, /iodorus &iculus describes the inhabitants of +ritain who *are especially friendly to stran ers and ha!e adopted a ci!ili7ed way of life because of their interaction with traders and other people,, their main trade bein in tin. He describes an island off the coast of +ritain called %ctis, which most authorities identify with &t. Bichael4s Bount in Cornwall.( &t. Bichael4s Bount was so-called because a fisherman had a !ision of the 1rchan el there in <93. %t was !isited by two of the early +ritish monastic founders, &t. Cadoc and &t. Aeyne.) @.(. Taylor cites e!idence that these tin-traders of &outh-(est +ritain were in fact of Eastern, probably @ewish ori in5 so that when @oseph of 1rimathea came to this part of +ritain after the crucifixion, he was followin a well-worn trade route established by his own countrymen.1$ 1n interestin later -se!enth-century. confirmation of the tin trade with the Eastern Bediterranean comes from the Life of &t. @ohn the 1lms i!er, 0atriarch of
: 9

+arry Cunliffe, The E*traordinary Voyage of +ytheas the 'ree,, Hondon) 0en uin, 3FF3, p. G:. @ohn &t. 1ubyn, -t" Mi hael.s Mount, 'orwich) @arrold, 89G<. 8F Taylor, The Coming of the -aints, Hondon) Co!enant 0ublishin , 89C9, chapter J%%%.

< 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 ni hts, 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. @ohnE by his side holdin the tiller and sayin to him) *#ear notK Lou are sailin quite ri ht., Then after the twentieth day we cau ht si ht of the islands of +ritain, and when we had landed we found a reat famine ra in there. 1ccordin ly when we told the chief man of the town that we were laden with corn, he said, *$od has brou ht you at the ri ht moment. Choose as you wish, either one Mnomisma4 for each bushel or a return frei ht of tin,. 1nd we chose half of each.411 Extensi!e e!idence for a trade in tin with the Eastern Bediterranean, which was exchan ed for the wine and oil essential for the celebration of the Church ser!ices, has been disco!ered durin archaeolo ical exca!ations at Tinta el, *Ain 1rthur4s Castle,, on the 'orth Cornish coast. O!er three hundred imported !essels ha!e been found. &ome of the buildin s 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 others as the fortified seat of the rulers of /umnonia -south-west En land., includin Bark and Tristan. &nyder writes) *E!en if the settlement on the headland turns out to be thorou hly secular, there is still stron e!idence of early Christianity at Tinta el. Thomas led two seasons of exca!ations at the Tinta el 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.<FF-CFF..,10 1 ain, @ohn Barsden writes) *The ei hth-century %rish Litany of +ilgrim -aints includes an in!ocation of the M&e!en monks of E ypt in /iseart Nilia 4 ? a site tentati!ely identified as /undesert near Crumlin in 1ntrim ? and raises the remarkable prospect of E yptian monks findin their way to %reland alon seaways which had e!en then been known to Bediterranean na!i ators for three thousand years. $lass fra ments of E yptian ori in and with no 2oman connection ha!e been exca!ated at Tinta el in Cornwall. They ha!e been dated to the third century 1/ ? which would make them almost precisely contemporary with the emer ence of monasticism in E ypt ? and must ha!e been brou ht to Cornwall alon the same searoad which had been in re ular use by 0hoenician tin traders plyin the Cornish coast as early as the sixth century +C. *%f E yptian lassware could reach Cornwall in the third century after Christ, there is no reason why holy men out of the E yptian desert should not ha!e continued further alon the same prehistoric seaway to make landfall in %reland. %f, indeed, they
88 83

Three By1antine -aints, Oxford) Bowbray, 89GG, p. 38G. &t. @uliot was probably (elsh. Thus the official /epartment of the En!ironment $uidebook to Tinta el writes) *&t. @uliot, the Celtic missionary who arri!ed about 1/ =FF, found the headland deserted. Here he built his cell, and probably a simple church, the remains of which ha!e been subsequently destroyed. #rom these modest be innin s arose a flourishin community> &t. @uliot, to whom the foundation is ascribed, was the principal e!an elist of the district,> He belon s to a numerous 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. CadocE, -Tintagel Castle, Hondon, 89;9, p. G.. 8; &nyder, op. cit., p. 8:G.

= 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 $ospel readin s known to deri!e from the /esert #athers came into %rish usa e, how Coptic textual forms found their way into the se!enth-century Boo, of Dimma from Tipperary, and why the third-century &t. 1ntony of E ypt features so prominently in the car!in s on the hi h crosses at Aells and Bonasterboice Dand the %sle of BanE.,1# @ust across the +ristol Channel there is the famous monastery of &t. /a!id, first archbishop of Bene!ia and patron of (ales -I=:9.. 0rofessor E.$. +owen of the Nni!ersity Colle e of (ales, 1berystwyth, belie!es that the whole of south-western +ritain was sub6ect to the influence of the E yptian Church in the fifth and sixth centuries, and that the eo raphical 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 E ypt and the 'ear East caused many there to flee to the /esert. 1t first, they li!ed solitary li!es practisin extremes of hardship. Hater, howe!er, some came to ether in lar e or small roups for work and worship, and so renounced the (orld. They were !isited in the /esert from time to time by leadin Christians in the (est and these, on returnin home, set up their own monasteries in imitation of those of the /esert. Herins, near Barseilles, and Hi u O, and Barmoutier, near Tours, are cases in point. The pattern of these $aulish monasteries ultimately spread to +ritain. E!en more si nificant it would appear is the fact that modern archaeolo ists ha!e been able to show that the lands around the Eastern Bediterranean, includin E ypt, 0alestine, 1sia Binor and the 1e ean 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 1e ean 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 passO throu h 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 pil rims, books, and ideas5 so that there can be no lon er any doubt that it was alon these western sea-routes that full monastic life -found first of all, it would appear, in +ritain at Tinta el on the north coast of Cornwall between <GF and =FF 1./.., arri!ed. The monastic pattern spread rapidly afterwards to such sites as Hlanilltyd #awr, 'antcarban, Hlandaff, Caldey, $lastonbury, &t. /a!id4s and Hlanbadarn #awr and other places in (ales before passin o!er to central and southern %reland> 1cti!ity at &t. /a!id4s must, therefore, ha!e been intense at this time. Here the ma6or land and sea routes met. %t must ha!e been a !eritable M0iccadilly Circus4 in Early Christian times>,12
8< 8=

Barsden, -ea%Road of the -aints, Edinbur h) #loris +ooks, 899=, p. 8C. +owen, The -t" Da3id of 4istory" De5i -ant6 Our 7ounder -aint, 1ddress i!en to the #riends of &t. /a!id4s Cathedral on 8Cth @uly, 89:8, 1berystwyth, 89:3, pp. 39-;8.

C The first full-len th Life of &t. /a!id was written by +ishop 2hi yfarch of &t. /a!id4s towards the end of the 88th century, only a few years before the Church of (ales became sub6ect to 1rchbishop 1nselm of Canterbury and, throu h 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. 2hi yfarch4s account of life in &t. /a!id4s monastery 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 promptin s to lust. *Thus they work with feet and hands with more ea er fer!our. They place the yoke upon 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 brin in in of oxen to ha!e the plou hin 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. *Habour 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 doin 5 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 len th they assemble at table. E!eryone restores and refreshes his weary limbs by partakin of supper, not, howe!er, to excess, for too much, thou h it be of bread alone, en enders self-indul ence) but at that meal, all take supper accordin to the !aryin condition of their bodies or a e. 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.

8C

&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 on water4 D!8uati usE, -ch. 3..

G *(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 watchin s, 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, they apply themsel!es to prayer on bended knees, and spend the remainder of the ni ht till mornin without sleep. %n like manner they ser!e throu hout other ni hts. *#rom &aturday e!enin until daybreak at the first hour of &unday, they i!e themsel!es to watchin s, prayers, and enuflexions, except for one hour after matins on &aturday. *They re!eal their thou hts to the father, and obtain his permission e!en for the requirements of nature. 1ll thin s are in common5 there is no Mmine4 or Mthine4, for whosoe!er should say Mmy book4 or Mmy anythin else4 would be strai htway 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 upri htness in all thin s. *#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 char e 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 len th thou ht 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 thou h 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, mi ht he by force extort what he had left to the monastery, and dri!e the patience of the brethren into an er. *+ut the father himself, o!erflowin with daily fountains of tears, and fra rant with sweet-smellin offerin s of prayers, and radiant with a twofold flame of charity, consecrated with pure hands the due oblation of the Hord4s +ody. 1fter matins, he proceeded alone to hold con!erse with the an els. %mmediately afterwards, he sou ht 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 pil rims) so he be an5 so he continued5 so he ended. 1s for the other aspects of the se!erity of his discipline, althou h a necessary ideal for imitation, this brief abbre!iation forbids us to enlar e upon it. +ut he imitated the monks of E ypt, and li!ed a life like theirs.,19
8G

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

The last sentence says it all) *he imitated the monks of E ypt, and li!ed a life like theirs., Celtic monasticism, not only in %reland, as #r. $re ory asserts, but also in (ales and Cornwall, and therefore also in +rittany, was an offshoot and imitation the life of the Coptic monks of E ypt. Of course, /a!idic monasticism was of the coenobitic type associated with &t. 0achomius of E ypt rather than the heremitical, anachoretic type associated with &t. 1nthony of E ypt, which #r. $re ory 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 E yptian saints) *it came into his mind to imitate 1ntony, the reatest of the hermits, and the other E yptian fathers of odly li!in , by embracin the obser!ances of the heremitical life,.1) (e may also suppose that some of the Coptic litur ical elements that #r. $re ory finds in the litur y of 1ncient %reland came to %reland not only throu h the E yptian monks who are recorded as ha!in died there, but also throu h the monks of (ales. Thus in =C=, write +arin -$ould and #isher, *1inmire mounted the throne as Hi h Ain of %reland. He was desirous of restorin reli ion in the island, as pa anism was a ain 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 fla in Christianity of the people. $ildas certainly went in response, but whether /a!id did more than send a form of the Bass and some of his best pupils to en a e in the work, we are unable to say. The Church of 'aas, in Aildare, howe!er, re ards him as its patron, and presumably its founder. 'ear it are the remains of an ancient structure called by the people the Castle of &. /a!id.,/$

E$der hi%
%f 2hi yfarch4s Life of Da3id represents 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/ CFF. 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 1lmi hty $od came near. #or 1nna often a!e alms and fasted to ether 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 Hibrarius, a learned elder who li!ed in the far north and who was sou ht 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 ea erly 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: 89

&. +arin -$ould and @. #isher, The Li3es of the British -aints, Hondon, 89FG-898;, p. 3:G. Life of -t" :e tan, in $.H. /oble, The -aints of Corn5all, part J, Oxford) Holywell 0ress, 89GF, p. CC. 3F +arin -$ould and #isher, op. cit., pp. ;F<-;F=.

9 *1t len th, at the end of the third day of their tirin 6ourney, they reached the place where the elder Hibrarius li!ed, and found him sittin with many people and discoursin at len th on se!eral particular cases. Then 1mon and his wife came with ifts and fell down on their knees before the elder, be in him to i!e careful consideration to their case. He imposed silence with re ard to the other cases which were causin a stir around him, and then, smilin all the time, closely questioned them 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 a ain 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 len th to your wife and donate it on her behalf. Then 1lmi hty $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 len th4. *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 ni ht4s sleep after the fati ue of the 6ourney. 1nd so it came to pass that as 1nna lay there $od dei ned 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. HoK 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 bri hter 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 an el 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 an el, Mnor ha!e doubts5 for $od will dei n to comfort thee in thy rief, and thy tears shall be turned into 6oy for thee. HoK Thou shalt ha!e a child, and thou shalt call him, thy firstborn son, &amson. He shall be holy and a hi h priest before 1lmi hty $od. 1nd thou shalt ha!e proof of this in the mornin , throu h 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 thin s to ether, the sun rose5 and as they had a lon 6ourney ahead of them, they rose early and she be an 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 ni ht the Hord has dei ned to re!eal thin s concernin thee and thy offsprin . #or thy firstborn son is ordained by $od to be a hi h 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 the Life of &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 she
38

T. Taylor, The Life of -t" -amson of Dol, 893=.

8F would on no account allow him to come near her for marria e ri hts. The saint on hearin this, sent for the wife, and, so far as he could, be an to repro!e her on that account, sayin ) M(hy, O woman, dost thou endea!our to withdraw thy flesh from thyself, while the Hord 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 sin le exception, that thou dost not ur e me in any way to sleep in one bed with Hu ne. % 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 to ether.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 Hord 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 thin s that seem to us either difficult, or e!en impossible.4 %t is unnecessary to say more. The husband and wife a reed to fast with the saint that day, and the followin ni ht 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 chan ed last ni ht in some unknown way ? from hatred to lo!e.4 (hy need we lin er 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 lon er refused those mutual matrimonial ri hts 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 'orwe ian Ain Olaf Try !ason throu h a Celtic hermit -possibly &t. Hide.. 1s we read in the Epitome 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 knowled e. Olaf was ea er to test this, and dressed one of his retainers like a kin , so that under the name of a kin he mi ht 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 ea er to see him, because he no lon er 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 foreknowled e) MLou will be,4 he said, Ma famous kin , and do famous deeds. Lou will brin many people to faith and baptism, 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 si n. 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 throu h 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<a, %%, <35 translated by (illiam 2ee!es, Hampeter) Hlanerch Enterprises, 8:G<, 89::, pp. 8F;-8F<. 3; Translated by B. 1shdown, English and :orse Do uments, Cambrid e, 89;F.

88 +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 ni hts. 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 a ain 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 told Olaf of many reat works of $od and after all these words Olaf a reed to be bapti7ed, and so it came about that Olaf and all his followers were bapti7ed.,/# 1ccordin to the Epitome, 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 kin 4s in!itation to the (elsh saints to re!i!e the fla in 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 Hucius in!ited 0ope Eleutherius to send missionaries to En land to re!i!e the fla in faith of the +ritons. Bodern scholars tend to follow Harnack in dismissin this story as confusin the mythical Hucius of +ritain with the real-life Hucius of Edessa. Howe!er, stron traditions about Hucius can be found in (ales/&, in $lastonbury -particularly./9, and in Hondon/(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< 3=

4eims,ringla, J%%, ;8. On the basis of this account, the 2ussian Church historian E.E. $olubinsky - 4istory of the Russian Chur h, 8::F. maintained that Olaf had been bapti7ed in +y7antium and then persuaded &t. Jladimir of Aie! to accept Christianity. &ee J.P. *O tom, de i ko da krestilsia s!iato6 knia74 Jladimir % o !remeni kreschenia 2usi,, Vestni, Russ,ogo ;hristians,ogo D3i1henia, 89::, %, ' 8=3, p. 8; -in 2ussian... 3C The Triads of Britain -;=. declare that Hucius founded the bishopric of Hlandaff and was the first to i!e *lands and the pri!ile e of the country to those who first dedicated themsel!es to the faith in Christ,. 3G The scrupulous historian (illiam of Balmesbury, in his De !nti8uitate 'lastonie E lesie -3., writes in some detail about the successful work of the missionaries 0ope Eleutherius sent to En land, who were called 0ha an and /eru!ian. 3: Carsten Thiede writes) *The le end says that the church of &t. 0eter4s upon Cornhill was founded by Ain Hucius in 1/8G9. 1s a matter of fact the present church stands abo!e the northern part of a public buildin of the first century, the so-called M+asilica4 which enclosed the forum and a temple. &o the 2omans did build there, but the fact that it was such a public buildin and situated in the town centre rules out the possibility that it could ha!e been a church, -The 4eritage of the 7irst Christians, Oxford) Hion 0ublishin , 8993, pp. G<-G=.. 39 0orter, The Celti Chur h in -omerset, +ath) Bor an +ooks, 89G8, p. 83=.

83 1 ain, 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 brou ht 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 thin s. (ith reat 7eal he erected churches and monastic foundations throu hout his kin dom. %t happened on one occasion that Oswald and 1idan were sittin to ether on the holy day of 0ascha, and they brou ht the royal meats to the kin on a sil!er dish. Then one of the kin 4s nobles who was in char e of his alms i!in came in and said that many poor people from all o!er had come for the kin 4s alms i!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 kin 4s ri ht hand and cried out with faith) MBay this blessed ri ht hand ne!er rot in corruption4. %t turned out 6ust as 1idan prayed ? his ri ht 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 kin dom 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 kin dom 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 si nificant de ree, an offshoot of Coptic monasticism, so the Celtic sacrament of anointin to the kin dom came from the same part of the world. This remains no more than an intri uin 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 ei hth 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 Destru tion of Britain &t. $ildas refers to e!ents takin place in the fifth century as follows) *Ain s were anointed DNn ebantur re esE 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 thin s 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 1n lo;F ;8

1bbot 1elfric, Life of -t" Os5ald" *The Hife of the Holy Hierarch $re ory, +ishop of Homer,, Li3ing Orthodo*y, !ol. QJ%%, no. C, 'o!ember-/ecember, 899C, pp. =-C. This life was published in 2ussian by Bonastery 0ress, Bontreal. ;3 &t. $ildas, On the Ruin of Britain, 38.<.

8; &axonsE to battle, and by the oodness of our Hord 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 ima e of &t. Bary, e!er !ir in, on his shoulders and that day the pa ans were turned to fli ht and a reat slau hter was upon them throu h the !irtue of our Hord @esus Christ and throu h the !irtue of &t. Bary the Jir in, his Bother., %n a later battle, at Bount +adon, accordin to the ninthcentury !nnals of =ales, *1rthur carried the cross of our Hord @esus Christ on his shoulder for three days and three ni hts, and the +ritons were !ictorious.,0# 'ot lon after this, in =G<, the %rish apostle of &cotland, &t. Columba, consecrated -by layin on of hands rather than anointin . the first Orthodox Ain of &cotland, 1idan Bor. The se!enth-century 1bbots of %ona Cummineus 1lbus and 1domnan both relate the story, accordin to which, when the saint was stayin *in the island of Hymba DEileann-na-'aoimh, in the &cottish HebridesE, he was in an ecstasy of mind one ni ht and saw an 1n el of the Hord who had been sent to him, and who held in his hand a lass book of the Ordination of Ain s. The !enerable man recei!ed it from the 1n el4s hand, and at his command be an to read it. 1nd when he refused to ordain 1idan as kin accordin to the direction i!en to him in the book, because he lo!ed his brother %o enan more, the 1n el, suddenly stretchin out his hand, struck the saint with a scour e, of which the li!id mark remained on his side all the days of his life, and he added these words, sayin ) MAnow thou for certain that % am sent to thee by $od with this lass book, that accordin to the words which thou hast read in it, thou mayest ordain 1idan to the kin ship ? and if thou art not willin to obey this command, % shall strike thee a ain.4 (hen, then, this 1n el of the Hord had appeared on three successi!e ni hts, ha!in in his hand that same lass book, and had pressed the same commands of the Hord concernin the ordination of that kin , the saint obeyed the (ord of the Hord, and sailed across to the isle of %ona where, as he had been commanded, he ordained 1idan as kin , 1idan ha!in arri!ed there at the same time.,;= The next year, &t. Columba went with Ain 1idan to the &ynod of /rumceatt in %reland, where the independence of /alriada -that part of (estern &cotland colonised by the %rish, of which %ona was the spiritual capital. was a reed upon in exchan e for a pled e of assistance to the mother country in the e!ent of in!asion from abroad. %t is perhaps si nificant that the earliest examples of sacramental Christian kin makin come from parts of the world that were remote from the centres of %mperial power. 'either &outhern 1rabia nor %reland had e!er been part of the 2oman Empire0&5 while +ritain had fallen away from the Empire. 0erhaps it was precisely here, where 2omanity was weakest or non-existent, that the Church had to step in to supply political le itimacy throu h the sacrament, especially since in these cases a
;; ;<

&t. $ildas On The Ruin of Britain, 3=. +ede interprets this to mean that they were *of royal race,. 2eferences in $raham 0hillips and Bartin Aeatman, ;ing !rthur6 The True -tory, Hondon) 1rrow, 899;. ;= &t. 1domnan of %ona, Life of Colum<a ;C 'or had %ndia, which pro!ides another early example of sacramental kin makin in the consecration of Ain +arachias by &t. %oasaph. &ee &t. @ohn of /amascus, Barlaam and Ioasaph, Cambrid e, Bass.) Har!ard Nni!ersity 0ress, 89CG, pp. ==3-==;.

8< 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 brou ht the first Christian emperor to the throne ? and the first rebels a ainst the Christian empire should ha!e been the first to introduce the rite of anointin to the kin ship as a racefilled means of consolidatin and stren thenin 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 0ela ianism. %n the early fifth century, &t. $ermanus of 1uxerre made two trips to +ritain to help suppress the heresy5 but it lin ered on.09 #inally, in the late sixth century the +ritish Church itself con!ened a Council to refute the heretics, as told by 2hi yfarch) *&ince e!en after &t. $ermanus4s second !isit of help the 0ela ian heresy was reco!erin its !i our and obstinacy, implantin the poison of a deadly serpent in the innermost re ions 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, cler y of other ranks, kin s, princes, lay men and women, so that the !ery reat host co!ered all the places round about. The bishops confer amon st 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 arran ed to preach to the people in the followin 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 mi ht. +ut their words scarcely reach those that are nearest, it is as thou h their throats seem constricted5 the people await the (ord, but the lar est 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, named 0aulinus, with whom aforetime, holy /ewi the bishop had studied5 MThere is one,4 said he, Mwho has been made a bishop by the patriarch 0(, who has not attended our synod5 a man of eloquence, full of race, experienced in reli ion, an associate of an els, a man to be lo!ed, attracti!e in countenance, ma nificent in appearance, six feet in stature. Him % ad!ise you to summon here.4
;G

%t has been su ested that &t. 0atrick, enli htener of %reland and founder of %rish monasticism, may ha!e accompanied &t. $ermanus of 1uxerre on his missionary trips to +ritain to extirpate the 0ela ian heresy -*&!yatitel4 0atriki6, 0ros!etitel4 %rlandii,, +ra3osla3naia >hi1n., /ecember, 8999, p. = -in 2ussian... ;: The 0atriarch of @erusalem -probably Elias., who had consecrated /a!id and his companions Teilo and 0aternus on a pil rima e 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 lar e icon of the 0rophet Elias.

8=

*Bessen ers are immediately dispatched, who come to the holy bishop, and announce the reason for their comin . +ut the holy bishop declined, sayin ) MHet no man tempt me. (ho am % to succeed where those ha!e failed" % know my own insi nificance. $o in peace.4 1 second and a third time messen ers are sent, but not e!en then did he consent. #inally, the holiest and the most upri ht men are sent, the brethren, /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, exchan e mutual reetin s and con!erse about holy thin s. #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 to ether to the synod. +ut then, % am unable to preach there) % will i!e you some help, little thou h it be, with my prayers.4 *&o settin forth, they reach the nei hbourhood of the synod, and lo, they heard a wailin 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 mournin 5 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 len thy name. He comforted and raised the mother, consolin and encoura in her5 but she, ha!in heard of his fame, flun herself forward at his feet, be in 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 len th, 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 $ospelbook 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 si ht 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 those who were nearest and those who were furthest, the round beneath him rew hi her, risin to a hill5 and, stationed on its summit, !isible to all as thou h 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. 1u ustine of Canterbury to the pa an &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,
;9

Rhigyfar h.s Life of -t" Da3id, chapters <9-=3.

8C and to e!ery sincere and odly Christian, so far as to lo!e e!eryone accordin to his de ree, 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 $od our ruler to keep us ri ht in the way of sal!ation.,#$ 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. $re ory the $reat, e!en declared that anyone who accepted to be called *+ishop of bishops, was *a forerunner of the 1ntichrist,K The truth is rather that from CC<, when the (elsh re6ected the &ynod of (hitby, they entered into a proto-nationalist schism for nearly a century before bein brou ht back into Orthodox Catholic unity by +ishop Elbod of +an or in GC:. #1 /urin this period they recei!ed as schismatics by the 1n lo-&axon and %rish Churches. 1s an %rish canon put it, *the +ritons Dof (alesE are> contrary to all men, separatin themsel!es both from the 2oman way of life and the unity of the Church,.#/ 1nd as &t. 1ldhelm of &herborne wrote) *$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 fla ons Di.e. those used in common with cler y of the 2oman ChurchE to be purified and pur ed 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 dei n 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 CC<-GC: was an uncharacteristic interlude in the otherwise lorious history of the (elsh Church and of the Celtic Church in eneral. Buch more characteristic of their attitude to the Orthodox #aith was the bold and uncompromisin , but by no means self-willed or schismatic beha!iour of the %rish &aint Columbanus of Huxeuil -IC8=. in writin to 0ope Ji ilius. The 0ope was !acillatin with re ard to the heretical Three Chapters condemned by the #ifth Ecumenical Council, and &t. Columbanus, after discussin the possibility that he may ha!e fallen into heresy, continued that if he had, then those *who ha!e always kept the Orthodox #aith, whoe!er these may ha!e been, e!en if they seem to be your subordinates,> shall be your 6ud es> 1nd thus, e!en as your honour is reat in proportion to the di nity of your see, so reat care is mindful for you, lest you lose your di nity throu h 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 Ain dom of

<F

&pelman, Con ilia? 8uoted in 1.(. Haddan R (. &tubbs, Coun ils and E lesiasti al Do uments relating to 'reat Britain and Ireland, Oxford) Clarendon, 8:C9, 89C<, !olume %, p. 833. <8 The southern (elsh followed a few years later, in GGG. <3 Suoted in 1.(. Haddan R (. &tubbs, Coun ils and E lesiasti al Do uments relating to 'reat Britain and Ireland, Oxford) Clarendon, 8:C9, 89C<, !olume %, p. 83C. <; 1ldhelm) The +rose =or,s, translated by Bichael Hapid e and Bichael Herren, %pswich) +rewer, 89G9, p. 8=:. The Hatin text is in Haddan R &tubbs, op. cit., pp. 3F3-3F;"

8G Hea!en, who opens by true knowled e 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 ed e, 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!an elical and apostolic teachin 5 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 %relandE, who are the successors of the holy apostles, is maintained unbroken.,#2

Conc$u ion
%n @uly, 893F the 0atriarchs of 1lexandria, 1ntioch and @erusalem, to ether with the 2ussian Betropolitans 1nthony of Aie! and E!lo y 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 re6oicin 5 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!id -not recorded by 2hi yfarch4s Life because it belon s to the tradition of another Church, that of $lastonbury. which witnesses to the fact that the Orthodox Church in the +ritish %sles was closely linked with the Church in the East not only durin the time of the flourishin of the Celtic Church from the fifth century, but much earlier, from the time when the #ounder of our #aith Himself set foot *on En land4s reen and pleasant land,) *How hi hly &t. /a!id, the reat archbishop of Bene!ia, esteemed that place D$lastonburyE 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 indul in himself in sleep on what he thou ht would be the ni ht precedin the ceremony. He has submer ed all his senses in slumber when he beheld the Hord @esus standin beside him, ently askin him why he had come. Npon his instantly disclosin the reason the Hord restrained him from his purpose by sayin that He Himself had lon a o 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 fin er and added that he should take it as a si n that he ou ht not to repeat what the Hord had done beforehand5 but because he had been moti!ated by de!otion, not impudence, his punishment would not be prolon ed, so that, when he was about to say the words Mthrou h Him and with Him
<<

$.&.B. (alker, -an ti Colum<ani Opera, /ublin) %nstitute for 1d!anced &tudies, 89GF, pp. <G, <9, =8. <= -an ti Colum<ani Opera, p. ;9.

8: and in Him4 in the litur y on the followin mornin , the full !i our of his health would be restored to him. The priest was shaken out of his sleep by these terrors and, 6ust at the time he rew pale at the ulcerous sore, so later he applauded the truth of the prophecy. +ut so that he mi ht not seem to ha!e done nothin he quickly built another church and dedicated it as his own work.,#& @uly /$ A !ugust /, /$$0" 4oly +rophet EliBah"

<C

(illiam of $lastonbury, De !nti8uitate 'lastonie E lesie, 8=5 'esta Regum !nglorum, 3=.