Iona, the Antioch of Ireland

The following is a research paper I wrote this semester for a church history class I took under Dr. Byron Curtis at Geneva College. 

The early Irish church was unusual from the time of its planting up through the 8^th century. The name “Celtic church” is used in documentation and academia to distinguish it from the Roman standard of the day. Its structure, its tradition, its influence on other European churches, and its evangelism were all distinct and generally successful. This paper will examine the last especially. Around the 5^th through the 8^th centuries, the monastery was the representative and center of the Irish church. Perhaps no monastery better exemplified the ideal structure and evangelistic method of its kind more than St. Columba’s monastery on the little Hebridean islet of Iona. Its geographical position, wealth of knowledge, and organization made it the ideal base for the spread of the Gospel outside of Ireland and the Hebrides into Scotland and England. The Monastery of Iona is the ideal example of the missional Celtic monastery.

            The Irish church, by the time of Iona’s planting in the 7^th century, had largely internalized and turned to native converts for support. The Irish monastery was more like a clerical community than an ascetic society due to the need for more internal ministerial support. This was due to a lack of support from Rome and the pope (Fouracre, 403). The Irish church was left to its own devices. St. Columba himself was not a foreign missionary but rather a native and a member of the renown Ui Neill dynasty in Ulster that gathered his education from the monastery system (Fouracre, 405, Olsen, 105). This will be discussed more later.

That said, Christianity spread slowly but surely in Ireland. The island was not unified and instead broken up into hierarchal mini-kingdoms called tuaths.  The Gospel made its way from tuath to tuath, monastery by monastery (Fouracre, 400). Eventually, the monastery became the center of Christian Irish life. To quote Ted Olsen in his book Christianity and the Celts, “Monks were not permanently removed from society. They were society (Olsen, 120).” But how did this come to be, and how so?

There is much evidence that the Irish church molded itself alongside the preexisting culture instead of forcing Roman ideas of ecclesiology and lifestyle on the people as a part of their outreach (Otway-Ruthven, 22). Part of the hierarchal Celtic culture was the aes dana class, a class of honored artists, doctors, historians, poets, and craftsmen that had special privileges in society. Because the clergy and those in monasteries already had a hierarchal structure and were themselves artists, doctors, historians, poets, and craftsmen, they quickly inherited some of the same benefits and recognition as the aes dana (De Paor, 74). The aes dana were highly respected by the people around them. The poets especially, both among the people and among the monks, had strong influence across Ireland. The poets of Ireland worked as oral historians, as bards, and also as spreaders of propaganda for their kings. They then also became spreaders of the Gospel as local kings were converted and as Christianity was culturally accepted. The resulting poetry was different than any of its kind in that era, blending both the local vernacular with Christian vernacular and eventually affecting the local language in the same way (Fouracre, 398).

Linguistics were not the only thing influenced by the monasteries. Laymen would take on monastic confessors. Confession and penance in Ireland was gentler and more effective than on mainland Europe. Sins as drastic as murder were atonable through contrite and repentant confession as opposed to public penance demanded of smaller sins. Thus, while a European Christian would put off confession and baptism to avoid penance, an Irish Christian would be encouraged to confess, pray, and repent. But confession involved the confessor instructing and therefore shaping the minds and consciences of those that came to him for absolution (Fouracre, 406).

 These examples demonstrate that part of outreach and missions in the Irish church was through everyday interaction with the people and in becoming a part of the culture. And as churchmen gained status within Irish culture, the clergy and monastics were highly respected by the people and equivocated with the aes dana class thanks to their skills, dedication, and moral lives (De Paor, 74).

Lastly, monasteries became centers of education. In exchange for endowments of land from the local tuaths, monasteries would offer Latin schooling to royal youths (Fouracre, 406). This education had a focus on learning Latin by copying scripture, resulting in a win-win situation where the students learned their Bible in addition to their Latin (Fouracre, 405). Education also involved the arts, including poetry and music, which were very important to Celtic society. Columban tradition and education, which was developed in Iona, was rich in the cultural arts. In fact, the famous Book of Kells is said to be Columban based on the style of art and lettering used (Meyvaert, 6). Such monastic education was highly sought out, demonstrating that monasteries were not separate from society, but rather an integral part of it. Some of these young students would join the monasteries themselves, and one of these young men was St. Columba (Olsen, 105).

St. Columba’s personal history is hard to track, despite his successors’ extensive writings on him, as most writings about him are highly hagiographical. What we do know is that he was a prince of the prestigious Ui Neil family and, as aforementioned, educated in the monastery system. He took his education to heart, was ordained as a priest, and helped found the monasteries of Derry and Durrow (Fouracre, 403). It is said that he adored books and studies. It is also said that he received some teaching from a poet. He came to adore the Psalms, and according to his biographer Adomnan, copied down a Psalter without permission, sparking a battle between his family and the high king of Ireland (Seyfried). Whether or not the story is true, there was a conflict involving the Ui Neil family. Shortly afterward, Columba, then in his early forties, left for the Hebrides west of Scotland on a pilgrimage with twelve followers. While the number seems hagiographical, Columba was so dedicated to acting biblically that it is more likely than not that he brought twelve companions (De Paor, 66).  Regardless, Columba intended to start what became the renown monastery of Iona.

Iona, or Hy as it was truly named, lay on the outskirts of the Christian colony of Dal Riada, donated by the Dal Riadan king, Conall (Fouracre, 408). Iona quickly became the center of St. Columba’s ministry. A settlement made of wood on top of an earthen wall and ditch on an isolated, tiny little island, Iona may not sound like much, but it became one of the centers of Irish missions and culture (Welcome to Iona).

The Hebrides were an ideal location, isolated from society but close enough to journey to church councils on Ireland and to attract students and pilgrims. Those a part of Iona were close enough to the Picts, the last Christianized group in Britain (Lambert, 158), to reach them but distant enough to avoid provoking an attack. Because of this relative isolation and because of Columba’s education, Iona was able to grow and develop without outside interruption or influence (Fouracre, 247). People traveled there for guidance, for education, for pilgrimages, or simply to see Columba and his men. There is evidence that Columba also developed connections with poets both in the area and on mainland Ireland thanks to his childhood education under one of their own, helping spread Iona’s fame even further (Olsen, 105, Fouracre, 401). All of this, between location, influence, and integration with the culture, is why Iona is a straightforward example of the Irish church-monastery-community.

Not only is Iona a straightforward example of the Irish church-monastery-community, it was the ideal institution of its kind. Ionan monastics strove to live as citizens of Heaven on Earth (Fouracre, 405). Under their dedicated hands, agriculture, the arts, education, biblical studies, and documentation flourished in the institution. Variety rather than asceticism defined Iona (Fouracre, 408). It was a well-established center of life, worship, and knowledge. Monks farmed the five hundred acres, studied astronomy, music, and scripture, and wrote poetry, folklore, and copied important manuscripts. Adomnan described leatherwork, glass work, orchards, and kilns, some of which has been discovered in excavations (Iona History).

What does all of this have to do with Iona’s evangelism? In short, Iona was an ideal base for missions. It was strongly established and respected monastery community that was a light in word and deed to those around it. It was blessed with resources in knowledge and materials, but especially in learned men steeped both in the Word and in the local culture. These men were Iona’s greatest asset. While one can talk of geography and resources, Iona’s men were learned, faithful, prayerful, and determined. They helped build Iona up as the Antioch of Ireland. In fact, not long after Iona became established, other monasteries and churches sprung up in the Hebrides and on the islands of Tiree, Lismore, and Eigg. The monastery of Applecross on the island of Skye also had Ionan founders. Some of these churches and monasteries were independent, but many answered to Iona. So strong was Iona’s influence and centrality that the abbot of Iona, whether Columba or his successors, held more authoritative power than did the local bishops (Fouracre 456-457).

Columba himself practiced what he preached and set the example for his followers in his own work in learning and in evangelism. According to Adomnan, Columba converted the Pictish king Brude in 564 (Fouracre, 564). While it cannot be certain that Columba actually converted the king (the same tale continues to show the saint standing off with the Loch Ness monster), he did in fact travel to the land of the Picts and minister to them (Seyfried). He also traveled to Ireland to attend church council and political meetings, where he had much influence (Fouracre, 454). But he always returned to Iona, his home base. And there, one of Iona’s most famous students, Aidan, became equipped to go forth and start the most renown mission that came out of Iona.

While there had been other missionaries to the Angles before Aidan, none were as successful as he until the pope sent Augustine of Canterbury a few decades later. While Aidan was still at Iona, a request came to the monastery from Northumbria. The new Northumbrian king, Oswald, had just emerged victorious as the region’s ruler. As a Christian, Oswald was concerned for the salvation of his new kingdom and wanted evangelists to reach out to his people. An unnamed missionary had apparently attempted to help Oswald but broke down and quit, calling the Northumbrians uncivilized and impossible. Still determined to see his subjects ministered to, Oswald turned to Iona, where he had been a refugee at one point. Both his time there and Iona’s reputation as a producer of missionaries were reason enough for him to ask the monastery for help (Lambert, 204).

And so Aidan traveled to Northumbria much the same way that Columba first traveled to Iona, bringing with him twelve companions and a sense of devotion to the work to which God had called him (Lambert, 204). It is said he traveled Northumbria on foot, very much looking the part as a shepherd, but in this case he was a dedicated shepherd of souls. Oswald seemed just as eager and dedicated as his new minister. He often acted as a translator for Aidan, who did not speak the local language at first, this being an early form of English. Aidan’s ministry eventually influenced a young noblewoman named Hild, who went on to establish many convents and nunneries in England. He encouraged Hild in her work and to continue in it, even when she considered returning to her family (Lambert, 204). Overall, Aidan followed the Irish and Ionan pattern of establishing local churches and monasteries that reached the people instead of forcing them to conform and that preached the Gospel instead of Roman culture. And he is documented as doing so with a spirit of humility, reaching both kings and slavewomen alike . While Aidan’s efforts to evangelize the Angles is overshadowed by the work of Augustine of Canterbury, one cannot discount the fruit that Aidan’s ministry produced (Fouracre, 456, Lambert, 204).

There is evidence that other Ionan men reached out to the Picts and to the Britons, but there is little documentation on this, and what does exist is either full of hagiography or only brief sentences in hagiographical texts (Fouracre, 457). However, by the time of Columba’s most well-known successor, Adomnan, Iona had influence over the Picts, and not just the Picts, but over most of Ireland as well.

Iona reached its peak under Adomnan, the eighth or ninth abbot to succeed Columba. He surpassed Columba in scholarly capabilities and political influence (Olsen, 118). At this time, Adomnan and therefore Iona were not as concerned with evangelism as they were with the established church across Ireland and the Hebrides. Adomnan worked hard to align Iona alongside the Roman church, the influence of which had finally conquered Celtic Christianity. The entire purpose of his extensive writings on Columba were to put the saint in line with Rome’s standards, which was ironic as Columba was a full proponent of Celtic Christianity (Lambert, 153). Putting that aside, Adomnan was highly respected and had a lot of political influence. He implemented one of the most historic and effective landmarks in the history of law. He convinced over forty churchmen and clerics as well as nearly fifty kings, including some Pictish kings, to sign the “Law of the Innocents” that protected women, children, churchmen, and clerics from having to participate in war (Fouracre, 460, Clancy, 27). With Adomnan, we see a respectful but firm interaction between church and state, where he did not take charge but nevertheless used his influence to protect the sheep without using his influence to his own advantage, unlike some of his contemporaries on mainland Europe. If Columba, Aidan, and Adomnan’s other predecessors were concerned with respectfully evangelizing to the locals while acting as salt and light, Adomnan was concerned with preserving the flock his predecessors had gathered, while acting as salt and light in the same respectful manner.

In conclusion, God blessed Columba’s mission on the tiny northern island and used it to spread the Gospel throughout the British Isles. Iona’s wealth of knowledge and its strong, biblically-minded leadership allowed it to develop into a school for missionaries and monastic ministers with a focus on community, culture, dedication, and respect. With extensive training in academia and practical matters such as agriculture, library resources, and a focus on Scripture and Psalters, Iona’s students were well-equipped ministers. With Columba’s appreciation and emphasis on local culture and respecting it, in addition to most Ionans being native Celts, Iona’s students were also well equipped to become evangelists in the region. And with Iona’s geographical position, isolated enough to remain a syndicate but still in a vicinity within the reach of Ireland and Britain, it was an ideal location from which to send and support missionaries.

In addition, Iona was far away enough from mainland Ireland to be disturbed by political unrest. This allowed the monastery and its satellites to blossom into the ideal Irish Christian community, producing important and beautiful manuscripts, art, music, poetry, and exegesis, and committed, godly missionaries. As we saw with Aidan, these missionaries would follow the Ionan structure and succeed in their outreach. Therefore, Iona was not just an example of an ideal missional Celtic monastery, but rather, it represents what was the ideal missional Celtic monastery. As central and evangelistic as Iona was, a home base for missionaries much like Antioch in the book of Acts, it is fair to say it was indeed the Antioch of Ireland.

Bibliography

Clancy, Thomas Owen. "Iona's Tough Dove." Christian History 17.4 (1998): 27. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.

Davies, Oliver, Celtic Spirituality, Paulist Press, 1999.

De Paor, Maire and Liam. Early Christian Ireland. Fredrick A. Praeger. 1958.

Fouracre, Paul. The New Cambridge Medieval History Volume I. Cambridge University Press. 2005.

Iona History. Historic Scotland. http://www.ionahistory.org.uk/iona/ionahome/ionaabout/abbey/columbamonastery.htm. Accessed December 2nd, 2016.

Lambert, Macolm. Christians and Pagans: The Conversion of Britain from Alban to Bede. Yale Press. 2010.

Meyvaert, Paul. "The Book Of Kells And Iona." Art Bulletin 71.1 (1989): 6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.

Olsen, Ted. Christianity and the Celts. Intervarsity Press. 2003.

Otway-Ruthven, A.J. A History of Medieval Ireland. Ernest Benn Limited. 1968.

Seyfried, Seth. Life of St. Columba. Fordham University. 1998. http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/columba-e.asp. Accessed December 2nd, 2016.

Welcome to Iona. Isle of Iona. 2014. http://www.welcometoiona.com/index.php?id=42 Accessed December 2^nd, 2016.