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The island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland has an important place in the history of Christianity in Great Britain. The conversion of pagan England was brought about by two distinct missions; one from Rome that landed in Kent in 597 - St Augustine, and the other brought from Ireland to Iona and later to Northumbria by St Columba.
Above pics courtesy of Michael J. Steciuk. |
St Columba (Columcille) journeyed across the Irish sea to Iona in 563AD and established a monastery there. During the century following the establishment of the monastery of Iona, the Columban church played a leading role in the expansion of Christianity in northern Britain. Converting at least some of the picts and introducing the faith to Anglo-Saxon Northumbria by St Aidan.
This mission also had an important effect on the development of learning and art producing much literature, manuscript illumination and sculpture. Iona was an important part of this - infact the Book of Kells may well have been written and illuminated on Iona during the middle or second half of the 8th century. This period was brought to an end by the onset of Viking raids shortly before 800AD, although religious life continued on the island, the influence of the monastery was much diminished. In Northumbria, Aidan established a monastery on Holy Island or Lindisfarne as it is also known. This was to become the cradle of Christianity in north-east England through succeeding generations, a place where nature, work and prayer interwove. On hearing of Aidan's death, Cuthbert vowed to continue his work in spreading the gospel throughout Northumbria. Cuthbert led a life of solitude but was called to preach widely by his monasteries. In 661AD he became Prior of Holy Island.
The church at that time was united (no denominations) in a goal to see the light of the gospel shine brightly over the whole of these islands, with a zeal that has rarely been seen since. The importance of prayer and seeing GodŐs involvement in every aspect of life was clearly understood. There was a love and thirst for scripture, for living a holy and simple lifestyle, a deep respect for nature and for people. Their way of evangelising was by getting alongside folk, understanding them and preaching by the example of their lives. This important time in our history is an inspiration to the members of Iona both in their music and in their own lives. OUR GRATEFUL THANKS TO ALAN LEACH FOR KINDLY ALLOWING US TO USE THE ABOVE PICTURES. |
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Our
grateful thanks to Seumas for the kind permission to use the above
beautiful
pictures of Iona. |
RECOMMENDED
BOOKS RELATING TO CELTIC CHRISTIANITY The band are mentioned in an excellent recently published book by author and academic Ian Bradley, titled 'Colonies of Heaven: Celtic Models for Today's Church' - published in the UK by Darton, Longman and Todd. The mention (on page 144) comes in a very interesting section about the recent proliferation of 'Celtic Christian' music and it's relevance to contemporary society. The book is also published in the USA by Northstone Publishing, under the title 'Colonies of Heaven - Celtic Christian Communities - Live the Tradition'. RESTORING
THE WOVEN CORD by MICHAEL MITTON This
book has been re-titled for the USA "The Soul of Celtic Spirituality" and
is available from: CELTIC
FIRE by ROBERT VAN DER WEYER EXPLORING
CELTIC SPIRITUALITY by RAY SIMPSON DAVID ADAM has written several books including .. THE EYE OF THE EAGLE (which was used for many of the ideas behind Journey into the Morn). It is published by Triangle, SPCK, Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone Road, London NW1 4DU, UK and distributed in America by: Abingdon, 201 8th Ave South, PO Box 801, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Tel: 001 615 749 6301 Relevant Sites: http://www.seumas.mull.com/alphaindex.html (the
one with the excellent piccies) |
