by Leslie Hardinge (1972)
THE CELTIC CHURCH AND THE SEAT OF ROME
Frequently the remark is encountered that Celtic Christianity had
no fundamental differences with Roman Christianity. This view
should be set against the ancient records of the contacts between
Celtic Christians and the representatives of the bishop of Rome.
Wherever and whenever these initially took place there was
conflict. By creed and temperament the Celts were seemingly
unable to adapt themselves easily to the suggestions of others.
Used to interpreting the Scriptures in their own way and
following their traditional manners, they were not immediately
ready to change.
Without consultation with them Augustine was granted jurisdiction
over the Celtic Christians by Pope Gregory. The Roman pontiff
ruled: "All the bishops of Britain, however, we commit to your
charge. Use your authority to instruct the unlearned, to
encourage
......
*Writing of Wilfrid and his training under the influence of
Lindisfarne, Margaret Deanesly said of the attitude of the Celtic
Church towards Rome: "There was no hostility, no suspicion, of
the see of Peter; ... Rome was a place of pilgrimage, very holy,
very distant" (The Pre-Conquest Church in England, 8;).
In contrast with this view Nora Chadwick stated the basic issues
thus: "The fundamental and far-reaching nature of this great
spiritual and intellectual contest between the Celtic Church and
the adherents of Roman usage can hardly be overestimated"
(Studies in the Early British Church, 14).
......
the weak, and correct the obstinate." In 601 Gregory sent
Augustine the pallium and a letter in which he declared: "You, my
brother, are to exercise authority in the name of our Lord and
God Jesus Christ both over those bishops whom you shall
consecrate, and any who shall be consecrated by the Bishop of
York, and also over all the British bishops." Two categories of
bishops are here noted, those to be consecrated under Roman
jurisdiction, and "the British bishops" of Celtic tradition.
Augustine was arbitrarily placed over the latter, but his
authority was not accepted by them. Gregory went as far as to
deny that episcopal authority existed among Celtic Christians.
"You", he assured Augustine, "are the only bishop"' of the Church
in England.
In opening his discussion with the leaders of the Celtic
Christians, the emissary of the bishop of Rome learnt to his
surprise that, besides a difference in the date for celebrating
Easter and the mode of tonsure, there were "certain other of
their customs ... at variance with the universal practice of the
church" A century later Bede noted that the Celtic Christians
differed from the Roman "in many other observances". These
consisted not merely of ritual, they included also "doctrine!?"
("disciplines ac moribus, rendered so by L. Sherley-Price).
At their second meeting the rift between the two parties widened.
The Celtic leaders consulted "a wise and prudent hermit", who
told them that Augustine must meet his Celtic brethren as equals
by rising to greet them. Should he fail to do this, the hermit
warned, "do not comply with his demands" It turned out that the
Italian remained seated and submitted four demands. The Celtic
"bishops refused these things, nor would they recognize Augustine
as their archbishop". The last sentence is vital. The Celtic
Christians were unwilling to submit to the authority of
Augustine, as the representative of the Roman Church, and by
their subsequent actions showed their determination to maintain
their independence.
Laurentius, who succeeded Augustine as archbishop of Canterbury,
also worked for unity with the Celtic Church. He "sought also to
extend his pastoral care to the original inhabitants of Britain,
and to the Scots of Ireland adjacent to this island of Britain.
For having learned that in their own country the life and customs
of the Scots and of the Britons were unorthodox ... he wrote a
letter jointly with his fellow bishops ..."This statement is
very important as it indicates two items: first, that early in
the seventh century the Celtic Christians in Ireland did not
differ in "life and customs" from their brethren in England and
Wales with whom Laurentius had closer contacts, and also that
Roman Christians regarded Celtic Christianity as "unorthodox". A
copy of the pastoral epistle has been preserved in which
Laurentius confessed:
Until we realized the true situation, we had a high regard
for the devotion of the Britons and Scots, believing that
they followed the customs of the universal Church; but on
further acquaintance with the Britons, we imagined that the
Scots must be better. We have now, however, learned through
Bishop Dagan on his visit to this island, and through Abbot
Columbanus in Gaul, that the Scots are no different to the
Britons in their behaviour. For when Bishop Dagan visited
us, he not only refused to eat with us, but even to take his
meal in the same house as ourselves.
Rome and its representatives were apparently unaware of the
actual beliefs and practices of Celtic Christians. It would seem
natural, therefore, that the Celts were also ignorant of the
peculiar beliefs and practices of the Roman Church. This fact is
fundamental to all study of life and works of the Celtic
Christians. They had lived for so long cut off from the Western
Church that they were unaware of the changes which had taken
place in theology and ritual. Commenting on the outcome of the
appeal made by Laurentius, a century and a quarter later, Bede
sighed that "the present state of affairs shows how little he
succeeded" Neither party would give way.
Even as late as the seventeenth century Cardinal Caesare
Baronius, Librarian of the Vatican (+ 1607) echoed the Roman
viewpoint. Laurentius, he said, laboured "with might and main for
the purpose of extricating the Britons and Scots from their
schism, and reconciling them to the Catholic Churchä." That this
difference was recognized as an actual schism at the time was
noted by Bede. He lamented that "even in our own days the Britons
pay no respect to the faith and religion of the English, and have
no more dealings with them than with the heathen".
With the enthronement of Theodore of Tarsus in 668 as the seventh
archbishop of Canterbury the cause of Roman Christianity received
its most successful champion. He was commissioned by the Pope "to
draw together a new people in Christ, and establish them in the
Catholic and Apostolical faith". Theodore's attitude towards the
Celtic Christians was shown both by his legislation and by his
actions. In the first canon of his famous penitential he
recommended that, "If one has been ordained by heretics, if it
was without blame (in the matter) he ought to be re-ordained".
That Theodore lived up to his own rules is witnessed by his
dealings with Bishop Chad who had been ordained with the help of
Celtic bishops and became an adherent of Roman usages:
During his visitation, Theodore consecrated bishops in
suitable places, and with their assistance he corrected
abuses wherever he found them. When he informed Bishop Chad
that his consecration was irregular, the latter replied with
the greatest humility: "If you consider my consecration as
bishop to have been irregular. I willingly resign the
office, for I have never thought myself worthy of it.
Although unworthy, I accepted it solely under obedience." At
this humble reply, Theodore assured him that he had no wish
to deprive him of his office, and completed his consecration
according to Catholic rites.
At the time of Chad's consecration, "Wini was the only bishop in
all Britain who had been canonically consecrated". His
consecration had been carried out in Gaul, evidently because in
665 the Roman party in Britain was still very small. Wini had
actually been assisted by two bishops in the consecration of
Chad. But Theodore regarded this consecration of Chad as
"heretical". Eddius, who denounced the Celtic Christians as
schismatici Britanniae et Hiberniae, sneered at Chad as having
been consecrated by Quartodecimans. He added a most revealing
detail, that Theodore "fully ordained Chad through every
ecclesiastical grade" to demonstrate the Roman feelings.
Theodore also ruled that baptism performed by Celtic clerics
should be regarded as invalid: "A person from among these
nations, or anyone who doubts his own baptism, shall be
baptized." Communion was restricted. "If any one gives the
communion to a heretic, or receives it from his hand ... he shall
do penance for an entire year"," Theodore further legislated. The
"heretics" with whom he had to deal were, in the main, Celtic
Christians.
About the middle of the seventh century, Ronan, a champion of the
Roman Easter, sought to bring Finan, a successor of Aidan of
Lindisfarne, into line with Rome. But Finan became a "more deter-
mined and open adversary of the truth", Bede regretted. When
Wilfrid, a student of Lindisfarne, returned from a visit to the
Imperial City, he was an ardent convert to Roman usage, convinced
that what he had learned in Italy "ought to be preferred above
all the traditions of the Scots". His biographer noted that
Wilfrid had discovered the correct computation of Easter "which
the schismatics of Britain and Hibernia did not know, and many
other rules of ecclesiastical discipline". About this time Eata,
Cuthbert, and other Celtic brethren were actually expelled from
their residence, and their settlement given to others. This
eviction took place from Ripon, which was then handed over to
Wilfrid (c. 661-2).
The story of the Council of Whitby (664) has often been told.
Against the arguments submitted by the representative of the
Celtic party, which Bede reported in a most fragmentary fashion,
while he devoted much space to those of the Romanizer Wilfrid,
the latter rudely replied to Colman: "The only people who are
stupid enough to disagree with the whole world are these Scots
and their obstinate adherents the Picts and Britons, who inhabit
only a portion of these two islands in the remote ocean."
In his summing up, Wilfrid was reported as having spoken patronizingly
of Columba and his pious successors. He declared that, were they
living, they would immediately accept Roman usages. He then
accused Colman and his friends of obstinate sin, adding:
For although your Fathers were holy men, do not imagine that
they, a few in a corner of a remote island, are to be
preferred before the universal Church of Christ throughout
the world. And even if your Columba-or, may I say, ours also
if he was the servant of Christ-was a saint of potent
virtues, can he take precedence before the most blessed
Prince of Apostles, to whom our Lord said: "Thou art Peter
..."
As a result of "Wilfrid's farago of fictitious tradition and
fabricated testimony", King Oswy was won over to the Roman side.
But the Celtic ecclesiastics, loyal to their faith, wereNOTprepared
to relinquish lands, homes, and positions, for what they regarded
as their faith. "Colman, seeing his teachings rejected and his
following discounted, took away with him all who still dissented
from the Catholic Easter and tonsure--for there was no small
argument about this as well - and returned to Ireland in order to
consult his compatriots on their future course of action."
There is something very moving about Colman and his faithful
companions, vanquished yet unconquered, leaving everything behind
them and setting out for an unknown place in which they might
worship as their consciences dictated. On the lonely island of
Inishbofin, "The Isle of the White Calf", off the coast of Mayo,
they established their new settlement. Fifty years after the
event Bede characterized the accomplishment of the Synod of
Whitby as "the exposure and banishment of the Scottish sect".
There was apparently no doubt in the historian's mind of the
schismatical nature of the Celtic Church.
Following the council of Whitby the cause of the Roman mission
prospered. Bede noted Wilfrid's achievement thus: "He introduced
into the English churches many Catholic customs, with the result
that the Catholic Rite daily gained support, and all the Scots
remaining in England either conformed to it or returned to their
own land." But while the initial victory had been gained at
Whitby and the Roman tradition accepted by King Oswy, it was not
without centuries of struggle that the Celtic party was finally
absorbed.
Aldhehn, abbot of Malmesbury, (+ 709) like Wilfrid a convert to
the Roman party, was also an ardent advocate of his newly found
faith. He complained in a letter to Geraint, king of Devon and
Cornwall, that:
beyond the mouth of the Severn the priests of Cambria, proud
of the purity of their morals, have such a horror of
communication with us that they refuse to pray with us in
their churches, or to seat themselves at the same table.
More than this, what is left from our meals is thrown to
dogs and swine; the dishes and bottles we have used have to
be rubbed with sand or purified by fire before they will
condescend to touch them. The Britons give us neither the
salutation nor the kiss of peace, ... and if one of us went
to live in their country, the natives would hold no
communications with him till after he had been made to
endure a penance for forty days.
He added his estimate that the teachings of these heretics were
not in accord with the Catholic faith.
Sometime about 768 the Celtic Christians of South Wales, that is,
Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, appear to have accepted the Roman
usages. Elbodus, bishop of Bangor, finally persuaded the people
of North Wales, that is modern Wales, to receive Roman traditions
(c. 777). Long ago Ussher published a poem of Taliessyn, "chief
of the bards" of the ancient Cymri, in which this conflict
between Roman and Celtic Christians is poignantly put:
Wo be to that priest ybom
That will not cleanly weed his corn,
And preach his charge among:
Wo be to that shepherd (I say)
That will not watch his fold alway,
As to his office doth belong:
Wo be to him that doth not keep
From Romish wolves his sheep
With staff and weapon strong.
But scattered remnants of stubborn Celtic Christians persisted in
their own ways until the eleventh century, when they were finally
absorbed by the Roman party.
Having considered the relationship of the Celtic Christians in
England and Wales with the See of Rome, it is necessary also to
study the case of Ireland. Cardinal Baronius entitled one section
of his Annals for the year 566: "The Bishops of Ireland,
Schismatics". He noted how the Irish Church, which had been
apparently thriving well "made shipwreck in consequence of not
following the bark of Peter which takes the lead of all".
For the year 604 Baronius added the opinion which was evidently
current in Rome:
It is quite plain that the Scots were also just in like
manner tinged with the same dark dye of schism as the
Britons, and guilty like them of separating from the Church
of Rome. And for this reason they were visited by God with
the same vengeance as came upon the Britons in being given
up for a prey to those inhuman savages, the Angles and the
Saxons.
There seems to be no reasonable doubt but that the cleavage
between Roman and Celtic Christians was very wide, and could not
be bridged without one party's giving way to the other.
The way southern Ireland was induced to conform with Rome came
about something like this. About 629 a synod was held at Campus
Lene (Magh Lene), near Tullamore, with Cummian the major advocate
of conformity. He tells the story in a letter to his superior at
Iona, listing the reasons why he left the Celtic traditions. He
related how he had consulted "our ancient fathers, Bishop Ailbe,
Kieran of Clonmacnoise, Brendan, Nessan, and Lugidus, what they
thought of our excommunication decreed by the Apostolic Sees". *
This sentence is clear. Rome had evidently anathematized the
Celtic Christians in Ireland sometime early in the seventh
century, possibly following their rejection of the appeal to
conform made by Laurentius. This would confirm the statement of
Baronius that the Celtic Christians "were separate from the
Church". Cummian sought to heal this hostility. The result of the
Synod of Campus Lene was that the majority agreement "that the
more worthy and approved practice, recommended to us from the
source of our baptism and wisdom, and by the successors of the
Apostles of the Lord", should be adopted. But Cummian and the
Roman party did not enjoy the success for thich they hoped. He
complained bitterly that "a certain whited wall" arose who caused
a revulsion of feeling, "who did not make both one, but caused a
separation and partly rendered void what had been agreed to; whom
the Lord, as I hope, will smite as seemeth him good".
To mend this further rift, Cummian persuaded some Celtic
representatives to journey to Rome to study the matter further.
The delegates returned about three years later when there was
another
great Council of the people of Ireland in the White Field
(near Carlow), among whom there was contention about the
order of Pasch. For Laserian, abbot of the monastery of
Leighlin, to whom were subject one thousand and fifty monks,
defended the new order which came recently from Rome, but
others defended the old.
Fintan Manu, the venerable representative of the Celtic party,
urged the assembly to stay by the old order. "The people
therefore decided according to the opinion of the holy man and
returned home with joy." But even this decision was short-lived.
Pilgrimages to Rome had become common, and more and more Celtic
......
*Note Cummian's reference to "Apostolic Sees", sedibus
apostolicis. Later in his letter he mentions "the fourfold
Apostolic See, namely of Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, and
Alexandria, in which there exists a perfect unanimity on the
subject of Easter". He was evidently unaware of any dominance on
the part of the Roman See.
......
Christians were influenced by Roman usages. That the union party
under Cummian achieved its aims is suggested by Bede, who wrote
of the year 635: "The Scots in the south of Ireland had already
conformed to the injunctions of the Bishop of the apostolic see,
and observed Easter at the canonical time."
The swing to Rome was precipitated by arguments similar to the
well-known one made by Cummian: "What more harmful ideas can be
held concerning our Mother the Church than if we are to say Rome
errs, Jerusalem errs, Alexandria errs, Antioch errs, the whole
word errs, but the Britons and the Scots are the only people who
think right?" A letter from the Bishop of Rome himself also
probably helped. Bede has preserved the information that
Pope Honorius also wrote to the Scots whom he learned to be
in error about the observance of Easter, as I mentioned
earlier. He earnestly warned them not to imagine that their
little company, isolated at the uttermost ends of the earth,
had a monopoly of wisdom over all the ancient and new
churches throughout the world, and he asked them not to keep
a different Easter, contrary to the paschal calculations and
synodical decrees of all the bishops of the world.
John, who had just been elected pope, followed this up with an
earnest appeal:
[We] learned that certain persons in your province are attempting
to revive a new heresy from an old one, contrary to the orthodox
faith, and that they ignorantly refuse to observe our Easter on
which Christ was sacrificed, arguing that it should be observed
with the Hebrew Passover on the fourteenth of the moon".
The Pope concluded: "We therefore beg you not to rake up the
ashes of controversies long since burned out." And so the Celtic
Christians of southern Ireland capitulated and joined in
communion with Rome.
But for more than half a century northern Ireland continued to
hold out. Adamnan of Iona was the apostle of union. Recommended
by his brethren to study abroad, Adamnan left his island retreat
and travelled to England. At the court of his friend Alfred he
learned the Roman way of "keeping Easter and many other
observances". On his return to Iona, "seeing that his own
following was very small", Adamnan
tried to lead his own people in Iona and those who were
under the jurisdiction of that monastery into the correct
ways that he had himself learned and whole-heartedly
accepted, but in this field he failed. Then he sailed over
to preach in Ireland, and by his simple teaching showed its
people the proper time of Easter. He corrected their ancient
error and restored nearly all who were not under the
jurisdiction of Iona to Catholic unity, teaching them to
observe Easter at the proper time. Having observed the
canonical Easter in Ireland, he returned to his own island,
where he vigorously pressed his own monastery to conform to
the Catholic observance of Easter, but had no success in his
attempts, and before the close of the next year he departed
this life.
It was probably at the Synod of Tars (697) that northern Ireland
capitulated. But a further meeting was held in 704 to confirm the
decision. The ancient annalist recorded that:
In this year the men of Erin consented to receive one
jurisdiction and one rule from Adamnan, respecting the
celebration of Easter, on Sunday, the fourteenth of the moon
of April, and respecting the tonsuring of all the clerks of
Erin after the manner of St Peter, for there had been great
dissension in Erin up to that time; i.e. some of the clergy
of Erin celebrated Easter on the Sunday [next after] the
fourteenth of the moon of April, and had the tonsure of
Peter the Apostle, after the example of Patrick; but others,
following the example of Columbkille, celebrated Easter on
the fourteenth of the moon of April, on whatever day of the
week the fourteenth should happen to fall, and had the
tonsure of Simon Magus.
A third party did not agree with the
followers of Patrick, or with the followers of Columbkille;
so that the clergy of Erin used to hold many synods, and
these clergy used to come to the synods accompanied by the
laity, so that battles and deaths occurred between them; and
many evils resulted in Erin in consequence of this, viz., a
great murrain of cows, and a very great famine, and many
diseases, and the devastation of Erin by foreign hordes.
They were thus for a long time, i.e. to the time of Adamnan,
who was the ninth abbot that took [the government of] Ia
after Columbkille.
But while the majority of Irish Celtic Christians accepted the
Roman traditions, there was apparently a sizeable minority that
continued to exercise independence. Even four centuries later, in
the time of Malachy O'Morgair, the Bishop of Rome had grave
misgivings about the way things were being carried on in Ireland.
In 1142 Malachy became abbot of Bangor and coarb of Comgal. His
great biographer, Bernard of Clairvaux, called him
an axe or a mattock casting down evil plantings. He
extirpated barbaric rites, he planted those of the church.
All outworn superstitions (for not a few of them were
discovered) he abolished, and wheresoever he found it, every
sort of malign influences sent by evil angels ... Moreover
in all Churches he ordained the apostolic sanctions and the
decrees of the holy fathers, and especially the customs of
the holy Roman Church.
This reform entered into all phases of the surviving practices of
the Celtic Christians. Malachy introduced the "canonical hours
after the fashion of the whole world ... For there was not such
thing before, not even in the city" of Armagh.
Some Celtic usages had evidently persisted long after outward
conformity to Rome had been achieved at the end of the seventh
century.
But the monks of Iona, and the other Christian settlements owing
allegiance to it, remained firm to their ancient traditions in
spite of Adamnan's persuasion. It was left to Egbert to bring
about the union of Iona with Rome. Egbert was an Englishman who
had been educated in Ireland. He vowed to become a pilgrim away
from his homeland, and resolved on a missionary journey into what
would today be called Germany. He was persuaded to change his
plans because of a vision granted to Boisil, to whom an angel
gave this directive: "Now go and tell him that, whether he wishes
it or not, he is to visit the monastery of Columba, because their
ploughs do not run straight, and it is his duty to recall them to
the right way." Egbert's mission was a success, for not long
afterwards the Scottish brethren who lived in the Isle of Iona,
and also the monastic settlements under their jurisdiction, were
induced to adopt Roman usages.
SLOWLY ROME CONQUERS BRITAIN WIGTH HER FALSE TRADITIONS
But while this might be the decision of the majority at Iona, the
matter was by no means settled. Rival abbots ruled side by side
for some time in the island. King Nectan was disturbed by these
divisons, and, having received a reply to a letter he had written
(c. 710) to Ceolfrid, abbot of Jarrow, explaining the Roman
traditions, he resolved to act. And so in 717 "the family of Iona
were expelled across the mountains of Britain by Nectan". To
those who had refused to comply exile beyond the Grampians was
decreed. Having brought about a clean sweep of the schismatical
element, the Roman cleric Egbert "consecrated the island anew to
Christ". But as in Ireland, so in Scotland, remnants of Celtic
Christians persisted until the coming of Margaret, the bride of
Malcolm, king of Scotland. This energetic queen soon set about
eradicating "wholly the illegalities that had sprung up in (the
church). For when she saw that many things were done in that
nation contrary to the rule of the true faith and the holy custom
of the universal church", she worked with the Celtic church
leaders to reform them. The queen finally offered the remnants of
these Christians, in Ninian Hill's terse phrase, "conformity or
Canossa". They prudently accepted the former, and eventually
disappeared from the British scene. By the Council of Windsor
(1072), Scotland was placed under the Archbishop of York; and
Lanfranc was as triumphant in Scotland as he had been in Ireland.
The weight of the arguments from the sources irrefutably show
that there existed fundamental and far-reaching differences
between the Celtic Christians and the Roman Church, which held
them as schismatics and heretics. Rome was ignorant of these
differences until the opening decade of the seventh century. It
seems reasonable that the Celts were also ignorant of the usages
and beliefs of Roman Christians. The rights and wrongs of the
situation are no concern of the historian. His purpose is to
discover what these differences were. These divergencies will aid
in shedding light on the actual beliefs and practices of the
Celtic Christians.
..........
NOTE:
DID YOU CATCH ALL THIS? CHRISTIANITY IN BRITAIN WAS WAY DIFFERENT
FROM THE CHRISTIANITY OF ROME. YES, IT WOULD BE, FOR CHRISTIANITY
HAD ARRIVED IN BRITAIN BEFORE THE DEATH OF THE APOSTLES, AS
PROVED IN OTHER STUDIES ON MY WEBSITE.
HERE WE HAVE SEEN THE GREAT DIFFERENCE IN THE OBSERVATION OF THE
DEATH OF CHRIST - ROME'S EASTER OR THE TRUE PASSOVER ON THE 14TH
OF THE FIRST MONTH. THE CELTS HAD BEEN TAUGHT THE CORRECT WAY BY
THOSE COMING INTO BRITAIN TO BRING CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIRST
CENTURY AD. IT WAS NOW IN BRITAIN THE SAME OLD BATTLE AS IT HAD
BEEN BY POLYCARP AND POLYCRATES OF THE CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR,
WITH THE BISHOP OF ROME, WHO HAD IN THE SECOND CENTURY ACCEPTED
AND ADOPTED THE PAGAN EASTER.
THIS IS A VERY GOOD ILLUSTRATION AS TO THE SLOW BUT GRANDULE
DOMINATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OVER THE WORLD AS
CENTURIES LATER INTO OUR 21ST CENTURY, WE HAVE THE WORLD ADOPTING
THE PAGAN CHRIST-MASS IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER, AND ALSO THE PAGAN
JANUARY 1ST AS THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR.
THE BOOK OF REVELATION MAKES IT CLEAR THAT ROME HAS MADE ALL
NATIONS DRUNK ON HER SPIRITUAL FORNICATION.
AS JESUS AND THE FATHER CALL OUT IN REVELATION "COME OUT OF HER,
MY PEOPLE, PARTAKE NOT OF HER SINS SO YOU WILL NOT PARTAKE OF HER
PLAGUES" AND AS SHOWN IN REVELATION, HER FINAL FALL AND SMASH TO
DESTRUCTION.
Keith Hunt
To be continued
|
No comments:
Post a Comment