A Brief History of the Irish Orthodox Church
by Monk Nicodemus
1. How Did Orthodoxy Reach Ireland?
How did Orthodox Christianity
come to this small green island off the shores of the European continent
in the uttermost West? Unknown to many, Christianity in Ireland does
have an Apostolic foundation, through the Apostles James and John, although
the Apostles themselves never actually visited there.
The Irish people were the westernmost
extension of the vast Celtic civilization—whose people called themselves
the Gauls—which stretched from southern Russia through Europe and
eventually into the British Isles. The vastness of Celtic/Gallic civilization
is evident in the names used to designate countries within its entire
territory: the land of Galatia in Asia Minor, Gaul (France), Galicia
(northwest Spain), and the land of the Gaels (Ireland). The Celtic peoples
(like the Jews) kept in very close contact with their kinfolk across
the Eurasian continent. When Christianity was first being spread by
the Apostles, those Celts who heard their preaching and accepted it
(seeing it as the completion of the best parts of their ancient traditions
and beliefs) immediately told their relatives, traveling by sea and
land along routes their ancestors had followed since before 1000 b.c.
The two Apostles whose teachings
had the greatest influence upon the Celtic peoples were the brothers
James and John, the sons of Zebedee. After Pentecost, James first preached
the Gospel to the dispersed Israelites in Sardinia (an island in the
Mediterranean Sea off the east coast of Spain, which was used as a penal
colony). From there he went on to the Spanish mainland and traveled
throughout the northern part of Spain along the river Ebro, where his
message was eagerly heard by the Celtic/Iberian peoples, especially
those in Galicia. This area continued to be a portal to Ireland for
many centuries, especially for the transmission of the Good News.
John preached throughout the
whole territory of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), and the many peoples
living there accepted Christianity, including the Celtic peoples known
as the Galatians (in Cappadocia). These people also communicated with
their relatives throughout the Greco/Roman world of the time, especially
those in Gaul. By the middle of the 2nd century the Celtic Christians
in Gaul asked that a bishop be sent to them, and the Church sent St.
Irenaeus, who settled at Lyons on the Rhone river. Among the many works
St. Irenaeus accomplished, the most important were his mastery of the
language of the local Celtic people and his preaching to them of the
Christianity he had received from St. Polycarp, the disciple of St.
John the Theologian.
By the 4th century Christianity
had reached all the Celtic peoples, and this "leaven" was preparing
people's hearts to receive the second burst of Christian missionary
outreach to the Celts, through St. Hilary and St. Martin.
The seeds that St. Irenaeus
planted bore abundant fruit in the person of St. Hilary of Poitiers,
who, having lived in Asia Minor, would be the link between East and
West, transmitting Orthodoxy in its fullness to the Celtic peoples.
He was not only a great defender of the Faith, but also a great lover
of monasticism. This Orthodox Faith and love for monasticism was poured
into a fitting vessel—Hilary's disciple, St. Martin of Tours, who
was to become the spiritual forefather of the Irish people. What Saints
Athanasius and Anthony the Great were to Christianity in the East, Saints
Hiliary and Martin were to the West.
By the 4th century an ascetic/monastic
revival was occurring throughout Christendom, and in the West this revival
was being led by St. Martin. The Monastery of Marmoutier which St. Martin
founded near Tours (on the Loire in western France) served as the training
ground for generations of monastic aspirants drawn from the Romano-Celtic
nobility. It was also the spiritual school that bred the first great
missionaries to the British Isles. The way of life led at Marmoutier
harmonized perfectly with the Celtic soul. Martin and his followers
were contemplatives, yet they alternated their times of silence and
prayer with periods of active labor out of love for their neighbor.
Some of the monks who were
formed in St. Martin's "school" brought this pattern back to their
Celtic homelands in Britain, Scotland and Wales. Such missionaries included
Publicius, a son of the Roman emperor Maximus who was converted by St.
Martin, and who went on to found the Llanbeblig Monastery in Wales—among
the first of over 500 Welsh monasteries. Another famous disciple of
St. Martin was St. Ninian, who traveled to Gaul to receive monastic
training at St. Martin's feet, and then returned to Scotland, where
he established Candida Casa at Whithorn, with its church dedicated to
St. Martin. The waterways between Ireland and Britain had been continually
traversed by Celtic merchants, travelers, raiders and slave-traders
for many centuries past, so the Irish immediately heard the Good News
brought to Wales and Scotland by these disciples of Ninian.
About the same time that the
missionaries were traveling to and from Candida Casa amidst all this
maritime activity, a young man named Patrick was captured by an Irish
raiding party that sacked the far northwestern coasts of Britain, and
he was carried back to Ireland to be sold as a slave. While suffering
in exile in conditions of slavery for years, this deacon's son awoke
to the Christian faith he had been reared in. His zeal was so strong
that, after God granted him freedom in a miraculous way, his heart was
fired with a deep love for the people he had lived among, and he yearned
to bring them to the light of the Gospel Truth. After spending some
time in the land of Gaul in the Monastery of Lerins, St. Patrick (451),
was consecrated to the episcopacy. He returned to Ireland and preached
with great fervor throughout the land, converting many local chieftains
and forming many monastic communities, especially convents.
It was during the time immediately
following St. Patrick's death, in the latter part of the 5th century,
that God's Providence brought all the separate streams of Christianity
in Ireland into one mighty rushing river.
While St. Patrick's disciples
continued his work of preaching and founding monastic communities—it
was his disciple, St. Mael of Ardagh (481), for example, who tonsured
the great St. Brigid of Kildare (523)—several other saints who
were St. Patrick's younger contemporaries began to labor in the vineyard
of Christ. These included Saints Declan of Ardmore (5th c.), Ailbhe
of Emly (527), and Kieran of Saighir (5th c.).
Then came young Enda from the
far western islands of Aran (off the west coast of Ireland). He studied
with St. Ninian at Whithorn, and thus received the flame of St. Martin's
spiritual lineage with its ascetical training and mystical aspirations.
Having been fully formed in the Faith, St. Enda (530) returned to
the Aran Islands, where he founded a monastery in the ancient tradition.
It was on the Aran Islands that the traditional founder of the Irish
monastic movement, St. Finian, drank deep of the monastic tradition
established by St. Martin. Before Finian's death in a.d. 548, he founded
the monastery of Clonard and was the instructor of a whole generation
of monks who became great founders of monasteries throughout Ireland,
and great missionaries as well. The most famous of his disciples were
named the "Twelve Apostles of Ireland," and included Saints Brendan
the Navigator, Brendan of Birr, Columba of Iona, Columba of Terryglass,
Comgall of Bangor, Finian of Moville, Mobhi of Glasnevin, Molaise of
Devenish, Ninnidh of Inismacsaint, Sinnell of Cleenish, Ruadhan of Lorrha,
and the great monastic father Kieran of Clonmacnois. By the middle of
the 6th century these men and their disciples had founded hundreds of
monasteries throughout the land and had converted all the Irish. And
that was only the beginning...
2. Why was Christianity Received so Quickly in Ireland?
Why were the Celtic peoples
able to receive Christianity so readily and so eagerly? The Church Fathers
state that God prepared all peoples before the Incarnation of Christ
to receive the fullness of Truth, Christianity. To the Jews He gave
the Israelite revelation. Among the pagans, faint foreshadowings of
the coming revelation were present in some of their beliefs and best
qualities. The Celtic peoples were no different—in some ways they
were better off than most pagans.
On a natural level, the Celtic
peoples had a great love of beauty which found overflowing expression
as the Christian Faith, arts and culture developed in Ireland. Their
extreme and fiery nature, which had previously been expressed through
war and bloodshed, now manifested itself in great ascetic labors and
missionary zeal undertaken for love of God and neighbor.
Their great reverence for
knowledge, especially manifested in lore, ancient history and law, made
it easy for them to have great respect for the ancient forms and theology
of the Church, which were based in ancient Israelite tradition. They
had a great love for, and almost religious belief in, the power of the
spoken word—especially in "prophetic utterances" delivered by
their Druid poets and seers.
These perceived manifestations
of "the wisdom of the Other World" were held in great respect and
awe by the Irish, as transmissions of the will of the gods, which could
only be resisted at great peril. When many of their Druid teachers wholeheartedly
accepted Christianity, and as Christians spoke the revealed word of
God from the Scriptures or from the Holy Spirit's direct revelation,
the people listened and obeyed. The Irish possessed an intricate and
detailed religious belief system that was primarily centered in a worship
of the sun, and a tri-theistic numerology—often manifesting itself
in venerating gods in threes, collecting sayings in threes (triads),
etc.—which led to the easy acceptance of the true fulfillment of this
intuition in the worship of the Holy Trinity. They also treasured a
very strong belief in the afterlife, conceived as a paradisal heavenworld
in the "West" to which the souls of the dead passed to a life of
immortal youth, beauty and joy.
Even the societal structure
of the Celts in Ireland prepared its peoples for Christianity. In contrast
to the urban-centered and highly organized mindset which prevailed in
the lands under Roman rule, Ireland (which was never conquered) preserved
the ancient family- and communal-based patterns of rural societies.
They did not build cities or towns, but settled in small villages or
individual family farm holdings. The only recognized "unit" was
the tribe and its various family clans, centered around their king's
royal hill fort. The economy remained wholly pastoral, in no way resembling
the Roman urban and civil systems. There were no city centers. The original
apostolic family-based model of an ascetic community, and its later
monastery-based form, manifested themselves in Ireland as a natural
completion of what was already present. Finally, the leadership and
teaching roles previously held by the Druids, poets, lawyers and their
schools were naturally assumed by the monks and bishops of the Church
and their monasteries.
3. How Christianity Manifested Itself in Ireland
It was precisely because the
monastic communities were like loving families that they had such a
long-lasting and complete influence on the Irish people as a whole.
These schools were the seedbeds of saints and scholars: literally thousands
of young men and women received their formation in these communities.
Some of them would stay and enter fully into monastic life, while others
would return to their homes, marry, and raise their children in accordance
with the profound Christian way of life that they had assimilated in
the monastery. Some of the monks, either inspired by a desire for greater
solitude, or by zeal to give what they had received to others, would
leave the shores of their beloved homeland and set out "on pilgrimage
for Christ" to other countries. Once again they would travel along
paths previously trodden by their ancestors—both the pagans of long
ago, and Christian pilgrims of more recent times.
Because these monastic communities
were centers of spiritual transformation and intense ascetic practice,
they generated a dynamic environment which catalyzed the intellectual
and artistic gifts of the Irish people, and laid them before the feet
of Christ. In these monasteries, learning as well as sanctity was encouraged.
The Irish avidly learned to
write in Latin script, memorized long portions of the Scriptures (especially
the Psalms), and even developed a written form for their exceedingly
ancient oral traditions. When the Germanic peoples invaded the Continent
(a.d. 400550), the Gallic and Spanish scholars fled to Ireland with
their books and traditions of the Greco-Roman Classical Age. In Ireland
these books were zealously absorbed, treasured and passed on for centuries
to come. Many Irish monks dedicated their whole lives to copying the
Scriptures—the Old and New Testaments, as well as related writings—and
often illuminated the manuscript pages with an intricate and beautiful
art that is one of the wonders of the world.
4. The Significance of the Orthodox Church in Ireland for Today
Much has been written about
Ireland's wandering missionary scholars (see Thomas Cahill's bestselling
book, How the Irish Saved Civilization). The vibrant, community-centered
way of life and the deep, broad, ascetic-based scholarship of the Irish
monks revitalized the faith of Western European peoples, who were both
devastated by wave after wave of barbarian invasions and threatened
by Arianism. More than this, the Irish monks evangelized both the pagan
conquerors and those Northern and Eastern European lands where the Gospel
had never taken root.
For Orthodox Christians, however,
there are further lessons to be gained from the examples of the Irish
saints. These saints were formed in a monastic Christian culture almost
solely based on the "one thing needful" and the otherworldly essence
of Christian life. They represented Christ's Empire, and no other.
They were Christ's warriors, motivated solely by love of God and neighbor,
acting in accordance with a clear and firmly envisioned set of values
and the goal of Heaven. Such selfless embodiments of Christian virtues
are all the more important to us today, who live in an age characterized
by the absence of such qualities. The unwavering dedication of the Irish
monks drew the Holy Spirit to them. And when He came, He not only deepened
and established their already-present resolution, but also filled them
with the energy and grace to carry it out. This is what is needed and
yearned for today.
The task of the Orthodox Christian
convert in the West today is to bridge the gap between our time and
the neglected and forgotten saints of Western Europe, who were our spiritual
forebears. As St. Arsenios of Cappadocia (1924) said: "Britain
will only become Orthodox when she once again begins to venerate her
saints." In this task we are very fortunate to have had a living example
of one who did this: St. John Maximovitch. During his years as a hierarch
he was appointed to many different lands, including France and Holland.
One of the first things he set out to do upon reaching a new country
was to tirelessly seek
out, venerate and promote the Orthodox saints of that land, that he might enter into spiritual
relationship with those who did the work before him, and enlist their
help in his attempts to continue their task. He considered the glorification
and promotion of local Orthodox saints as one of the most important
works that a hierarch could do for his flock.
We too must actively labor
to venerate our ancestral saints, and must enter into spiritual relationship
with them as St. John did. While we should not merely "appreciate"
their lives and their example as an intellectual or aesthetic exercise,
neither should we selectively reinterpret their examples and way of
life in the light of modern fashions and "spiritualities." We should,
through our efforts, strive to bring these saints into as clear a focus
as possible before our mind's eye, reminding ourselves of the fact
that they are alive and are our friends and spiritual mentors. The saints
are, according to St. Justin Popovich of Serbia (1979), the continuation
of the life of Christ on earth, as He comes and dwells within the "lively
stones" (cf. I Peter 2:5) that constitute His Body, the Church (cf.
Eph. 1:2223). Therefore, honor given to the saints is honor given
to Christ; and it is by giving honor to Christ that we prepare ourselves
to receive the Holy Spirit.
May the saints of Ireland come close to us and bring us to the Heavenly Kingdom together with them. Amen.
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Short Lives of Irish Saints Found in the 2003 St. Herman Calendar
ST. KIERAN OF CLONMACNOIS
September 9 (545)
The great St. Columba of Iona (June 9, 597) described St. Kieran as a
lamp, blazing with the light of knowledge, whose monastery brought wisdom
to all the churches of Ireland. This earthly angel and otherworldly man was
born in 512, the son of a carpenter who built war chariots. He was spiritually raised by St. Finian in Clonard (December 12, 549) and was counted
among his "twelve apostles to Ireland." After spending some time in Clonard,
the childlike, pure, innocent, humble and loving Kieran set off to dwell in the
wilderness with his God. After three years, when more and more disciples began to
come to him, he finally established a monastery in obedience to a divine decree
shortly before he reposed. He was taken by his Lord to dwell with
Him eternally at the age of 33. "Having lived a short time, he fulfilled a long
time, for his soul pleased the Lord" (Wisdom 4:13).
ST. KENNETH OF KILKENNY
October 11 (600)
St. Kenneth was the son of a scholar-poet from Ulster. By race he was an Irish
Pict and spoke the Pictish language. He was a disciple of the great monastic
Saints Finian of Clonard (December 12, 549), Comgall of Bangor (May
11, 603), Kieran of Clonmacnois (September 9, 545) and Mobhi of
Glasnevin (October 12, 544). After the death of St. Mobhi he took counsel
from St. Finian. As a result (says the Martyrology of Oengus), St. Kenneth
sailed off to Scotland. There he lived for a while on the isle of Texa, according
to The Life of St. Columba by St. Adamnan of Iona (September 23, 704).
While there he often visited his old friend St. Columba (who had lived with
him in Glasnevin before departing for Iona) and helped him in his missionary
labors to the Picts. Later, he traveled back to Ireland, where he founded the
Monasteries of Aghaboe and Kilkenny before his death in the year 600.
ST. FINIAN OF CLONARD
December 12 (549)
St. Finian, known as the "Tutor of the Saints of Ireland," stands with St.
Enda of Aran at the head of the patriarchs of Irish monasticism. He showed
great zeal and piety for God from his youth. He had already founded three
churches before he set off for Wales to study at the feet of St. Cadoc at
Llancarfan (September 25, 577). In Llancarfan he became close friends
with St. Gildas (January 29, ca. 570), another of St. Cadoc's disciples.
Upon his return to Ireland, he founded the great Monastery of Clonard
during the very same year the great St. Enda (March 21, 530 ) reposed in
Aran. A multitude of illustrious and holy men studied under St. Finian,
including the famous "Twelve Apostles of Ireland." St. Finian founded
many other monasteries during his lifetime, including the famous island
monastery of Skellig Michael off the southwest coast of Ireland.
ST. ITA OF KILEEDY
January 15 (570)
The gentle and motherly St. Ita was descended from the high kings of Tara.
From her youth she loved God ardently and shone with the radiance of a soul
that loves virtue. Because of her purity of heart she was able to hear the voice of
God and communicate it to others. Despite her father's opposition she embraced
the monastic life in her youth. In obedience to the revelation of an angel she
went to the people of Ui Conaill in the southwestern part of Ireland. While
there, the foundation of a convent was laid. It soon grew into a monastic school
for the education of boys, quickly becoming known for its high level of learning
and moral purity. The most famous of her many students was St. Brendan of
Clonfert (May 16, 577). She went to the other world in great holiness to dwell
forever with the risen Lord in the year 570.
ST. BRIGID OF KILDARE
February 1 (523)
The well-known founder and abbess of the Monastery of Kildare has been
revered and loved throughout Europe for almost fifteen hundred years.
While she was still a young woman, her unbounded compassion for the poor,
the sick and the suffering grew to such proportions as to shelter all of Ireland.
St. Brigid's tonsure at the hands of St. Mael of Ardagh (February 6, 488)
inaugurated the beginning of women's coenobitic monasticism in Ireland.
St. Brigid soon expanded it by founding many other convents throughout
Ireland. The gifts of the Holy Spirit shine brightly upon all through
her—both men and beasts—to this day. After receiving Holy Communion
at Kildare from St. Ninnidh of Inismacsaint (January 18, 6th c.) she gave
her soul into the hands of her Lord in 523.
ST. GOBNAIT OF BALLYVOURNEY
February 11 (7th c.)
The future abbess and founder of the Ballyvourney Convent was born in
the 6th century in the southern lands of Ireland. To escape a feud within
their family, her household fled west to the Aran Islands and dwelt there
for some time. It is possible that her family accepted Christianity while living
in the islands. Gobnait began to zealously manifest her faith through
her deeds, founding a church on the Inisheer Island. When she returned
east with her family, she encountered St. Abban of Kilabban (March 16,
650), who became her spiritual mentor. Her family, greatly moved by
their daughter's faith, gave her the land on which she and St. Abban
founded the Monastery of Ballyvourney. In Ballyvourney her sanctity
quickly revealed itself, especially through the abundant healings God
worked through her prayers. Even the many bees that she kept paid her
obedience, driving off brigands and other unwelcome visitors.
ST. OENGUS THE CULDEE
March 11 (824)
While still a youth St. Oengus entered the Monastery of Cluain-Edneach, which was renowned
for its strict ascetic life and was directed by St. Malathgeny (October 21, 767). He
had an especially great love for the Lives of the Saints. After his ordination to the priesthood,
he withdrew to a life of solitude. For his holy way of life many called him the "Cile D"
(Culdee) or "the friend of God." After many people disturbed his solitude, he slipped away secretly
and entered the Monastery of Tallaght, which was then directed by St. Maelruin (July
7, 792). He entered the monastery as a lay worker, laboring at the most menial tasks for
seven years until God revealed his identity to St. Maelruin. There he mortified his flesh with
such ascetic feats as standing in icy water. St. Oengus wrote the Martyrology of Tallaght
with St. Maelruin. After Maelruin's death in 792, St. Oengus returned to Cluain-Edneach
and wrote many more works in praise of the saints, including his well-known Martyrology
and the Book of Litanies. He reposed in 824 and became the first hagiographer of Ireland.
ST. PATRICK OF IRELAND
March 17 (451)
The most famous of all the saints of the Emerald Isle is undoubtedly her
illustrious patron St. Patrick. Reared in Britain and the son of a deacon, St.
Patrick was captured and enslaved by Irish raiders while still a youth. Thus,
he was carried off to the land he would later enlighten with the Gospel: Ireland.
During his captivity, the faith of his youth was aroused in him, and
shortly thereafter he miraculously escaped his servitude. Some years later, he
received a divine call to bring his new-found faith back to the Irish. For this
task, he prepared as best he could in Gaul, learning from St. Germanus of
Auxerre (July 31, 448) and the fathers of the Monastery of Lerins. While in
Ireland he ceaselessly traveled and preached the Christian Faith to his beloved
Irish people for almost twenty years until his blessed repose in 451.
ST. ENDA OF ARAN
March 21 (530)
St. Enda is described as the "patriarch of Irish monasticism." After many
years living as a warrior-king of Conall Derg in Oriel, St. Enda embraced
the monastic life. His interest in monasticism originally grew as a result of the
death of a young prospective bride staying in the community of his elder sister,
St. Fanchea (January 1, ca. 520). St. Fanchea suggested that he enter the
Whithorn Monastery in southwestern Scotland. After some years in
Whithorn he returned to Ireland and settled on the fallow, lonely Aran Islands
off her western shores. During the forty years of his severe ascetic life
there, he fathered many spiritual disciples—including Sts. Jarlath of Cluain
Fois (June 6, 560) and Finian of Clonard (December 12, 545)—and
laid the foundation for monasticism in Ireland. St Enda reposed in the year
530 in his beloved hermitage on Aran.
ST. DYMPHNA, WONDER-WORKER AND MARTYR OF GHEEL
May 15 ( early 7th c.)
St. Dymphna was the daughter of a pagan king and a Christian mother in
Ireland. When her mother died, her father desired to take his own daughter
to wife. Dymphna fled with her mother's instructor, the priest Gerberen, to
the continent. Her father followed and eventually found them. When
Dymphna refused to submit to his unholy desire, he had them both beheaded
at Gheel in what is today Belgium. Throughout the centuries she has shown
special care and concern from the other world for those suffering from mental
illnesses and is greatly venerated throughout Europe and America.
ST. KEVIN OF GLENDALOUGH
June 3 (618)
The path of St. Kevin's early life was well laid. When St. Kevin was between
the ages of seven and twelve, he was tutored by the desert-loving St. Petroc of
Cornwall (June 4, 594), who was then studying in Ireland. After St.
Petroc left for Wales, the twelve-year-old St. Kevin entered the Monastery of
Kilnamanagh. There his humility and the holiness of his life amazed all.
After his ordination to the priesthood he followed his tutor's desert-loving example
and set out to establish his own hermitage. He settled in an ancient
pagan cave-tomb on a crag above the upper lake of Glendalough. For many
years he lived in this beautiful desert wilderness like another St. John the
Baptist. All the animals behaved toward him as with Adam before the Fall.
Disciples soon gathered around him and St. Kevin was constrained to become the founder
and Abbot of the famous Glendalough Monastery. He died at the great old age of 120
in 618 and went to his Lord.
ST. COLUMBA OF IONA
June 9 (597)
St. Columba (or Columcille) is one of the greatest of all the saints of
Ireland. Born into an exceedingly prominent noble family, the
Ui-Niall clan, he forsook his wealth and all earthly privileges and laid
his ample natural gifts at the feet of the Lord, becoming a monk at a
young age. He studied under some of the holiest men of his day, including Saints
Finian of Clonard (December 12, 549) and Mobhi of Glasnevin (October 12, 545).
After St. Mobhi's death, St.Columba went on to found the monasteries of Derry and Durrow. He traveled
as a missionary throughout his beloved Ireland for almost 20 years. In
565 he settled on the island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland,
where he remained for 32 years and brought about the conversion of
many. He reposed on Iona in great holiness on June 9, 597.
ST. COWEY OF PORTAFERRY, ABBOT OF MOVILLE
November __ (8th c.)
St. Cowey is a little-known monastic saint who lived near the tip of the Ards
Peninsula in the late 7th and early 8th centuries. For many years he labored
there as a hermit, sending up his prayers to God during his long nightly vigils
in the depths of the forest. Three holy wells are still to be found where he labored,
as well as an ancient church built amidst them, which looks eastward
over the Irish Sea. Beside the church, an ancient cemetery completes the view
that greets the pilgrim's eye. St. Cowey's holiness attracted many to his quiet,
little hermitage. Tradition holds that he was made abbot of the great Moville
Monastery further north on the peninsula in 731, possibly shortly before he
reposed around the middle of the 8th century. His memory has been kept and
treasured by the local inhabitants of the nearby town of Portaferry for over
twelve hundred years.
ST. SUIBHNE OF DAL-ARAIDHE
( late 7th century)
Both the early Church of Syria and the early Church of Ireland were famous for their extraordinary ascetics—men
and women who were so affected by the touch of Divinity that they fled from all
that might interfere with their struggle, even renouncing their reason. Syria gave the Church the
stylites, and also the "grazers": severe ascetics who lived almost like animals, having no dwellings and
eating whatever vegetation grew in their vicinity. The Irish manifested a similar form of sanctity in the
geilt, who were a cross between fools-for-Christ and the Syrian grazers. The most famous of all the geilt
was St. Suibhne of Dal-Araidhe, formerly a violent Irish chieftain whose murdeous ways brought the
curse of God upon him. In his profound repentance, he took upon himself the extreme ascetic way of
life of the geilt, living in the open-air wilderness. Before St. Suibhne died he gave a life confession to his
spiritual father, St. Moling (722). St. Moling preserved this account in the form of a long poem. This
poem has come down to us today, having been only slightly altered over the years (in very obvious
places). It is not only very beautiful poetry but also a spiritually instructive autobiographical document.
The Saint foresaw that since he had previously lived by the sword, he would die by violent
means. He was murdered at the end of the 7th century in St. Moling's monastery and buried nearby.
From 2003 edition of The Saint Herman Calendar.
Copyright 2001 by the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood,
Platina, California. Used with permission. Posted July 4, 2006.
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