J2A Pilgrimage 2008
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Christ Church, Middletown, NJ J2A Pilgrimage 2010 Northumbria, UK nd th July 2 to July 14 1 Christ Church, Middletown, NJ Goals of the Pilgrimage Discovering God in new and different ways, and in unexpected places. Developing an understanding of the church’s Celtic roots. Expand the pilgrim’s horizons by visiting a different country. (We are two countries separated by a common language). Having fun and realizing that church things can be fun. 2 Christ Church, Middletown, NJ Christianity in the British Isles and the Celtic or Old English Church The Celts are an ancient people whose origins are shrouded in obscurity. They may have first emerged as a distinct linguistic group in the area of the Black Sea about 1,000 BC. They spread westward and northward to cover most of Europe. It is not known when they arrived in Britain but were well established by 100 BC, when Rome began expanding into Western Europe. The first important contact between Rome and the British Celts was Julius Caesar’s Where The Celtics Lived visits in 55 and 54 BC. The Romans invaded in AD 43 and eventually occupied all of England except Cornwall, the lowlands of Scotland up to where Glasgow and Edinburgh now are, and most of Wales. (Note: England, Scotland, Wales and Cornwall did not exist then). Eventually, in the North, they pulled back to Hadrian’s Wall. The Celts lived in small rural communities and worshipped a variety of Gods closely associated with their daily life. They were pagans and virtually nothing is known about their religious practices. There was a caste of priests called Druids who appear to have maintained the histories and lore of the tribes, as well as having important religious A Celtic Hut functions. What is known about them comes from Roman sources, which are very biased against them. They used them as one of the reasons for attacking the Celts and taking over their lands. Christianity came to Britain through the Romans. When is not known, but the first British martyr was St. Alban was killed in 209. Christianity appears to have been fairly widely spread as St Patrick was a Romano-Britain whose father and grandfather were deacons in the Christian church. St Patrick went to Ireland in 433. It is unlikely that he was the first missionary, but he is the one remembered as 3 Christ Church, Middletown, NJ Christianizing the country. Ireland had not been Romanized (it had never been invaded) and so he was working in a traditional Celtic land. In 410 the Emperor told the Britain that no troops were available to send to help them defend the Island from the Picts, Angles and Saxons. The troops were all needed on the continent to defend the empire from Germanic invaders. The result was the Roman-British state disintegrated under the attacks and was steadily replaced. It was not a centralized invasion (like the Romans), but a series of attacks by relatively small groups that came to stay and flourish. By the end of the sixth century most of England was under Anglo-Saxon control. Wales, Scotland and Cornwall remained Celtic. The Anglo-Saxons fought amongst themselves to create larger kingdoms and by around 600 or so there were about seven major kingdoms. In this maelstrom the Roman-British culture was completely replaced by a Germanic one. Paganism returned and Christianity disappeared. This had started to change in 563 when St Columba left Ireland and founded a monastery on Iona, a small island of the west coast of Scotland. The next step was St Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, landing in Kent in 597. As far as Northumbria was concerned the two key people were St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert. Both Early English and the Roman Churches preached and taught the same main tenets (as far as we can tell) of Christianity, but there were some interesting differences. These influence the English Church to this day. The differences between the two St. Aidan approaches flow directly from the peoples and civilizations that they established. The Roman Church took on the attributes of the Roman Empire when it became its official religion. The Emperor dominated the Roman Empire, and the laws (and tax demands) flowed to the regions via an efficient (for the time) administration based on urban life; i.e. on cities. The Roman Christian Church was very similar. The Dioceses were based on cities and towns. Bishops, who carried out the wishes of the Cardinals and Pope, ran them. Ireland was the only western European Christian country not invaded by the Romans. It was still an agricultural, rural Celtic Society that was ruled by a myriad of squabbling small (petty?) kings. There were few if any towns and no cities. The Christian leaders were abbots who ran monasteries and evangelized 4 Christ Church, Middletown, NJ the surrounding countryside. It was a decentralized approach that fed off the personalities of the abbots, a very different approach. The interaction of the Celtic viewpoint and the way of life with Christian teachings was interesting. Celtic life and lore was riddled with triads (three closely related things or sayings), which made acceptance of a triune God simple. It was just another triad, but more important. Their approach was more down-to- earth or “earthier”, as befits a people deeply involved with nature. The Celtic soul and stories of the saints attest to this. The monks had a strong “calling” and would go anywhere they felt God was telling them to go, no matter how dangerous, difficult or uncomfortable. That was (as the book says) “How the Irish Saved Civilization”. One major point, a lot of the monks were Anglo-Saxon. That is why the Celtic Church is also referred to as the Old English Church. In both cases later historians provided these names. The abbots and monks would walk about the countryside preaching, blessing and converting anyone; ordinary people, kings and queens. It was not a very tidy process, and definitely not A Celtic High Cross “administratively sound”. This led to a confrontation between the two branches of the church. The king of Northumberland followed the traditions of Lindisfarne, and his Queen came from the south, which followed the Roman calendar. They both celebrated Easter, but on different dates a week apart: untidy and difficult. St. Hilda of Whitby organized a meeting to straighten things out and the better-organized Roman church carried the day. After this the influence of Iona and Lindisfarne and the Celtic/Old English church waned. However it never totally disappeared and many its characteristics of tolerance, humanity and warmth appear in the Anglican Church. 5 Christ Church, Middletown, NJ A Brief History of St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert St. Aidan Oswald, a member of the Northumbrian royal family, spent several years on Iona after his family had been chased out of Northumbria. When he returned and became King he asked for a monk to come and be Bishop of Northumbria and Christianize it. St. Aidan talked himself into the job when he pointed out the shortcomings of the selected candidate. He left Iona and founded a monastery on Lindisfarne (now known as the Holy Isle) a promontory on the east coast of Northumbria. It can only be reached during low tide as the sea sweeps the over the road during high tide. St. Aidan spent most of his time evangelizing the Northumbrians. He established Christianity so successfully that no matter what happened, and a lot did, the faith always remained. St. Cuthbert Mythology has it that one night when he was a Shepherd (or protecting the sheep from raiders) in the border hills Cuthbert saw a star ascend from Lindisfarne into heaven. He was sure that it was the soul of St. Aidan who had just died. The next morning Cuthbert rode to the monastery at Old Melrose and became a novice. He rose through the ranks there and at Ripon until he became abbot. He was then persuaded to go to Lindisfarne as prior and later became bishop. He was much loved and continued St. Aidan’s work in building up the church. Like many monks at that time he was at heart a hermit; so he resigned and went to live as a hermit on Farne Island, which is just south of Lindisfarne. After a number of years and several attempts the King of Northumbria persuaded him to return to Lindisfarne, where a few years later he died. He was buried on the island. Then in 749 AD the Vikings raided Lindisfarne and kept returning to devastate the area. The monks took their most treasured possession, Cuthbert’s body, and fled. They had no plan or idea where to go so for several years they wandered around. Finally a church was built for them at, what is now, Durham. The spectacular Cathedral (a UNESCO World Heritage site) was built by Normans in the 12th century. Because it was St. Cuthbert’s burial place it quickly became an important pilgrimage site. 6 Christ Church, Middletown, NJ Where are we going? Northumbria in the North East of England. But, where is that compared to Middletown? B A A is New York and B is Seahouses In terms of Latitude: Place Latitude On same latitude New York 40 47 N Madrid, Naples London 51 32 N Labrador, Moose Jaw Seahouses 55 25 N Moscow Seahouses is about 1,200 miles north of New York. 7 Christ Church, Middletown, NJ Where are we going? Land in Edinburgh Stay in Seahouses here Stay in Durham here Stay in York Leave from Manchester 8 Christ Church, Middletown, NJ J2A Pilgrimage 2010 Basic Itinerary Date & Place Activity Day 6/27 Sun Christ Pilgrim commissioning service Church 7/2 Fri Travel Leave Christ Church at 6:30 PM.