Community of Saint Ita and Saint Fillan - A Brief History of the Celtic Tradition

A Brief History of the Celtic Church

Please Note: the name "Celtic Church" is, in actual fact, a very modern title given to the early British churches. Most of the population of Britain during the early days of the British churches were Celts and it has become popular and fashionable to refer to the early British Church as the "Celtic Church".

Before His Ascension, Jesus commanded His disciples to go to every nation and to preach the good news to all people (Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:15). The disciples scattered and took the news of Jesus’ death and resurrection throughout the Roman Empire and beyond as reported in Acts. Eusebius wrote they went to all points of the compass spreading the Good News. Within a short time churches were established in North Africa, Asia Minor and the European continent. But did Christianity reach the British Isles before the Roman mission of 600 A.D.? According to the official line of the Roman Catholic Church the answer is no, but according to several credible historical sources, including Roman Catholic historians, Christianity reached the British Isles within a decade of Christ’s death. The Eastern Orthodox Church says Christianity reached the isles by 42 A.D from missionaries from the Church in Ephesus. The early Celtic church was close to the Church in Ephesus and kept Easter at Passover as taught by St. John the Beloved of Ephesus.

St. Gildas the Wise of Wales wrote in his De Exidio Brittanniae that Christianity came to Britain in the last year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius Caesar, which would be in the year 37 A.D. The Eastern Orthodox Church credits Aristobulus, the brother of Barnabas who was mentioned in Romans 16:10, with introducing the faith there in 42 A.D. Eusebius and Hippolytus both name Aristobulus as being one of the Seventy (or Seventy Two) mentioned in Luke 10 as does Strong's Concordance. Hippolytus in AD 160 writing in the Martyrologies of the Greek Church stated that Aristobulus preached the gospel in Britain. The Eastern Orthodox Church regards him as the first bishop of Britain and honours him as the Saint of the British Isles. His feast day is on March 16 in some churches and on October 31st in others. St. Dorotheus of Tyre wrote in 303 A.D. that Aristobulus preached in Britain and that the apostle Simon Zelotes was martyred there and buried in Caistor in Lincolnshire.

The Greek Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches maintain that Simon Zelotes, one of the apostles, made his first missionary journey to Britain in 44 A.D. and returned again in 60 A.D. St. Simon’s mission to Britain was confirmed by Origen, Bishop of Alexandria who wrote he made at least two trips to Britain. He was martyred on his second mission and put to death on May 10, 61 AD. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople writing in 758 A.D. confirmed his martyrdom in Britain as well.

Sir Henry Spelman in his Concilia along with strong oral tradition, also placed Joseph of Arimathea in Britain. He was a merchant who traded tin, acquired in present day Cornwall, to the Romans for use in making bronze for swords. After Pentecost and fleeing persecution Joseph left Jerusalem with a team of missionaries led by St. Phillip. The team reached Gaul in Western Europe in what is now France. Phillip and others in the group stayed in the vicinity of Marseilles where they founded a church. The other group crossed the channel and landed on the Somerset coast. In nearby Glastonbury they established a Christian mission.

The Roman Catholic Church also has evidence in the archives of its great library at the Vatican which supports the existence of the early Celtic Church. Cardinal Baronius, (1538 – 1607) who became Curator of the Vatican Library in 1597, wrote the following in his Ecclesiatical Annals. “In that year, [i.e. A.D. 36] the party of Joseph of Arimathea and those who went with him into exile, was put out to sea in a vessel without sails of oars. This vessel drifted, and finally reached Massilia [i.e. Marseilles] where they were saved. From Massilia Joseph and his company passed into Britain and after preaching the Gospel there, died.”

Many other ancient historians and Church Fathers wrote of the existence of the Celtic Church. Tertullian (A.D. 155 – 222) of the Church in North Africa wrote as follows: “the extremities of Spain, the various parts of Gaul, the regions of Britain which have never been penetrated by Roman arms, have received the religion of Christ.”

Origen of Alexandria, wrote in A.D. 230, “The divine goodness of our Lord and Saviour is equally diffused among the Britons, the Africans, and other nations of the world.”

The Anglican Archbishop James Ussher wrote in the 17th century: “The British National Church was founded A.D. 36, 160 years before heathen Rome confessed Christianity. The Mother Church of the British Isles is the Church in Insula Avallonia, called by the Saxons, Glaston”.

Theodore Martin (Lovar), in A.D. 1517 states; “It is not too much to say that the site of St. Mary’s church in the abbey grounds at Glastonbury is the site of the first known above-ground church in the world”.

Cressy, the Benedictine Monk and historian, tells us that St Joseph of Arimathea died at Glastonbury on July 27th, A.D. 82, and on his tombstone was written, in Latin, "After I had buried the Christ, I came to the Isles of the West; I taught; I entered into my rest."

St. Jerome, writing from Bethlehem in A.D. 378, said, “From India to Britain, all nations resound with the death and resurrection of Christ.”

Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople, wrote in A.D. 402, “The British Isles, which are beyond the sea, and which lie in the ocean, have received the virtue of the word. Churches are there founded and altars erected. Though you should go to the ocean, to the British Isles, there you will hear all men everywhere discoursing matters out of the Scriptures, with a different voice indeed, but not another faith, with a different tongue but the same judgment.”

Eusebius, the Church Historian (A.D. 260 – 340) wrote, “The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the Isles called the Britannic Isles.”

And Arnobius, the Christian apologist, writing about 300 A.D. declared, "so swiftly runs the word of God that though in several thousand years God was not known except among the Jews, now within the space of a few years, His word is concealed neither from the Indians in the East nor from the Britains in the West."

“Polydore Vergil in the reign of Henry VII and after him Cardinal Pole (A.D. 1555) both rigid Roman Catholics, affirmed in Parliament, the latter in his address to Phillip and Mary, that “Britain was the first of all countries to receive the Christian faith”. “The glory of Britain”, remarks Genebrard, “consists not only in this, that she was the first country which in a national capacity publicly professed herself Christian but that she made this confession when the Roman Empire itself was pagan and a real persecutor of Christianity”.

It is interesting to note that the antiquity of British Church, has been unequivocally affirmed by five Papal councils during the Middle Ages: At the Council of Pisa, A.D. 1409, the Council confirmed that the British Church took precedence of all others since it was founded out of Jerusalem shortly after the crucifixion of Christ. The Council of Constance in 1419 AD and the Council of Siena in 1423 made similar proclamations. At the Council of Basle in 1431 it was stated that the Celtic Church took precedence of all others because it was founded by Joseph of Arimathaea immediately after the passion of Christ.

Archaeological evidence supports the existence of the Christian church in Britain during the first century with one of the earliest known church structures identified from approximately 140 A.D. This proves the Celtic Church is much older than the Roman Catholic Church, which was began in 326 A.D. by the Emperor Constantine.

Emperor Constantine, who legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, had grown up in York. His mother, Helen, was a native Britain and a Christian. She was an influence in his conversion to Christianity. According to an account given in Lives of Saints, Published by John J. Crawley & Co, which is based on the writings of Eusebius, when Constantine was defending his empire from an attack by Maxentius with vastly superior forces, he suddenly remembered the crucified Christ his mother worshipped. It was then he knelt down and for the first time in his life prayed to God and received his now famous vision. However, notwithstanding this Divine intervention, Constantine remained a pagan all his life and only converted to Christianity on his deathbed.

Historians traditionally credit St. Ninian with spreading Christianity throughout Scotland in the latter part of the 4th century. However, Christianity had arrived in Scotland long before Ninian began building his monasteries and churches. With the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD. Christians in Jerusalem migrated to Antioch and Ephesus and it was from those cities missionaries continued to migrate from. Sometime around 75 or 80 AD the first missionaries from John’s church in Ephesus came into the northern Brittanic Isles and began building churches. The Church in Ephesus became an important influence to the established churches in northern Britain and Scotland. They accepted John’s teaching that Easter should be celebrated at Passover, which became a trademark distinction of the Celtic Church.

Historians record that the Celtic Church played an important role in the early ecumenical councils. The first great council was held In 300 A.D. at the Council of Elvira in Spain. This was a council of all the existing Gallican Churches. The Celtic Church on the European continent was known as the Gallican Church and covered what is present day Spain, France, Switzerland and northern Italy. In Britain the Church was known simply as the Celtic Church. Again, In 314 A.D. three bishops from the Celtic Church in Britain attended the Council of Arles. And at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. the Celtic Church was again well represented, whereas the Roman church did not have a single bishop in attendance. In 359 A.D. when over 400 bishops met at the Council of Rimini to deal with the issue of Arianism bishops from the Celtic Church were present. In 600 A.D. when Augustine came to Britain to establish a mission from Rome he was greeted by Christians from St. Martin’s Celtic Church (named for St. Martin of Tours), in Canterbury. It was said that he worshipped there until his church could be built.

The Celtic Church was known to the Reformers and much of the liturgy in the Anglican Church was modeled after the Celtic Liturgy. The Orthodox Church recognizes the validity of Anglican Orders in part because several post reformation Anglican bishops were assisted in their ordination by Celtic bishops (Christopher Hampton, Archbishop of Armagh assisted the Archbishop of Canterbury in at least three Episcopal ordinations in the 17th century). Up to the 12th century it was very common for Roman Catholic bishops to be assisted in their ordination by Celtic bishops.

After the attacks on the monasteries during the reformation the church retreated entirely into the Scottish Highlands, the islands, some of the Welsh valleys and in parts of Brittany where worship continued in small communities in oratories and in people’s homes. In the early 1800’s the church came under attack again when the Highland Clearances began. This forced the church to go underground where it remained until the 20th century.

Contrary to much that has been written by some well meaning historians - and those people with vested interests - the Celtic Church was not destroyed or driven away. It managed to survive the ages, albeit in much smaller form and is gradually emerging once more to bring again to light the Tradition of Saint John the Beloved.

Interesting snippets (courtesy of Rt. Rvd. John Dillard of Saint Andrews Church)

1) The practice of Lent originated in the Gallican Church in the 4th century and was later adopted by Rome. It was a 40 day period of fasting that can be traced to the writings of St. Irenaeus, a student of Polycarp who in turn had been a student of St. John. The idea was to prepare candidates for baptism by fasting as Jesus had fasted in the wilderness in preparation of His ministry. In the Gallican and Celtic churches Lent begins on Monday and not Ash Wednesday. The Ash Wednesday practice began in the Gallican Church later and was copied by Rome. It was not a practice of the Celtic Church.

2) Bishops could be consecrated with only one bishop present, instead of the three required in the Roman Church. In most ordinations it was not uncommon for more than one bishop to be present. Hereditary abbots passed their succession on one on one to their son or grandson.

3) The Celtic Church was organized around monasteries and not parishes like the Roman church. The parish system was modeled after the Roman government’s territorial system which was given to that church by the Roman Emperor Constantine. No single bishop was the head of the Celtic Church, rather the church leadership was made up of bishops and abbots with equal authority as stated in the early church councils, ie, Ephesus. Their bishops were viewed as successors to the apostles and keepers of the apostolic faith. The practice of no single authority continues today within the Celtic Apostolic Church.

4) The Celtic Churches had two altars (Gildas’ writings describe this as do St. Adamnan’s), one in the far east end of the church and one in the front of the church. The one in the east was a larger alter and known as the Heavenly altar (representing worship in heaven). The other one was known as the Jerusalem or worship altar (representing Jesus’ life on earth). Early Christians were Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah, so they adopted Jewish liturgical forms of worship and modeled the early churches after synagogues. Hence the two altars are representative of the Tabernacle and the Ark in Old Testament worship. The liturgy begins with the priest facing the rear altar with his back to the congregation. This recalls worship in the temple with the priest before the tabernacle. “David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon” (1 Chronicles 16:39).

5) The Celtic Church was strongly Trinitarian. It was the only church that prayed to the Father, the Son and to the Holy Spirit. There were also some liturgical prayers to Michael the Archangel. Our Prayers for the People are Trinitarian as are some of the absolutions.

6) The Celtic Church was using a rudimentary creed as a statement of faith before the Nicene Creed.

7) The Celtic Church was the first church to use communion bread stamped with the symbol of the cross. The Book of Kells depicts that circular bread stamped with a cross was in use in Celtic Churches by the 7th century. Communion was given and received in both kinds (unlike Roman Church). It was received while standing (This was consistent with the early church. The Apostolic Constitution forbade kneeling on Sunday because that was the day Christ rose and was a time of joy) and communicants drank from a common cup. Some Celtic Churches, ie Mozabarec and Brittish, took bread from pan and intincted and placed it in the mouth. Broken bread on a pan in the shape of a cross which was the origin of the Celtic Cross.

8) Since the Celtic Church's roots were from Judaic-Essene traditions they looked to Leviticus 21:10 for their definition of the priestly functions and anointed the heads and hands of their priests (Gildas wrote about this practice). This was true in all the Celtic nations of Britain, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Gaul and the Basque lands. The Roman Church would not begin anointing as a part of ordination until the 9th century.

9) The Celtic Church maintained a reverence for nature. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople wrote that the church was our mother, but the Celtic Church felt that the earth was our mother and God our father. They looked to the passage in Genesis where God created Adam from the earth. The church developed the blessing of animal rites which are used in other churches liturgies today. It is believed the rite is attributed to St. Columcille that is based on a story recorded by St. Adamnan. St. Adamnan describes how, in the month of May in the year 597, Columcille, then 77 years old, was taken in a cart to visit the monks who were at work. He told them that his end was drawing near, and blessed them. On the Saturday after that, he and his personal attendant Diarmait went out for a short walk, but Columcille's age and state of health prevented him going further. He told the sorrowing Diarmait that he expected to die that night. On the way back to the monastery he sat down to rest. While he was resting, he was approached by one of the monastery's horses, a loyal work-horse that carried the milk-pails from the booley (cow-pen) to the monastery. The horse placed its head in the saint's bosom and seemed to weep, as if it knew that its master would soon be taken from it. Diarmait came over and wanted to lead the animal away, but Columcille would not allow this. Columcille felt that the horse sensed that he was going to die, and wanted to comfort him, or perhaps say good-bye. Columcille allowed the horse to nuzzle against him and then he blessed the horse.

10) The Celtic and Gallican Churches developed the first complete prayer books in their vernacular language and also the first lectionary for readings.