This page has a slowly increasing selection of links giving an overview of one of the earliest centres of Christianity in Albion. More pages will follow, with sites which are significant in the continuing story of the Kingdom of Heaven transforming the Kingdoms of earth. Perhaps in today's terms, rather than using terms like kingdom, you could think about it more as an exploration of the evolution of human being as revealed through the histories, geography and archaeology of late iron age and early medieval Britain...
Whithorn - Initial links
An Article from 1997 when I helped with a celebration in St Andrews Cathedral
A Gateway to St Ninian, the Whithorn trust. Keeping "the shining white house" sparking online
A discussion on who came first, Patrick or Ninian ? We need to remember that later politics obscures much of the historical record of who people were and what or why they did things.
And you could always check out wikipedia and then think about the accuracy of what's recorded there.
If you explore the Story of St Ninian you will discover that there are several important influences in his life one of these is St Martin of Tours . If you want to understand St Martin then stories about the Desert Fathers will be important. One also has to remember that in the 4th century the divisions and debates within Christianity are very different to those you might be used to today. This is an opportunity to explore many traditions which exist within the christian tradition, for example, what perspectives do the Orthodox church have?
Want a flavour of what a day on the tour might look like (intellectually)
This is a link to page from South Africa with a dsicussion about the life of St Ninian and Patrick. It draws heavily on secondary evidence and populour books about Celtic Sprituality, but refers to some selected texts from primary sources.
Iona
I'll write more about this Island later, but there is a lot about it's continuing influence to be found here at the Iona community
Govan - Mungo, Merlin and a dear green place.
Want to take a walk through the history of Govan. Not the first place most Glasweigans think of when they are contemplating spirituality, but then - Jesus was a carpenter and there is a cetain former riviter who tells a great story of Easter, if you dont mind the language.
A sacred place standing proud looking over the clyde towards the new museum of transport, Govan Old.
Oh and stories of Merlin (yes the advisor of King Arthur) and St Mungo are frequent like this mention here or throughout the heartland of Britain (now the border lands of Scotland and England) ask the BBC
Lindisfarne
For some people this island is the start of their interest in the Celtic contribution to Christianity. For others it is asscociated with the first record of a viking raid on England. My interpretation is that the island is a gateway to exploring the influence of a movement in the Church. At the time the vikings raided Lindesfarne and a few years later Iona they were committing an attack, I suspect conciously, of a similar type to that which Islamist fundamentalists stung the united states with when they destroyed the world trade centre. Then the spiritual heart of capitalism was targeted, perhaps this was a concious attack on the spiritual heart of Christendom as a reponse to the threat of Frankish expansion northwards into Denmark? With hindsight we can identify a continuing tradition passed on through people like Martin, Ninian, Bridgit, Patrick, Columba, Cuthbert, Adoman and approach to incarnating the Gospel which has survived many such attacks. We can start with Martin, a warrior who used his sword to share his cloak with someone who needed it and continue throughout European history sharing in the witness of resiliant monks who reached the ends of the earth in curraghs. And even if Adomans Law of innocents written to moderate violence commited by Christina warriors didn't protect against the viking onslaught, it is interesting to note how many Scandanavians kingdoms have a cross as part of their flag.
Anyway, thats enough of my random thoughts. If you want to find out more about Lindesfarne why not check out these community and artists websites and see what people from the area have to say about it?
The Community of Aiden and Hilda
And while I was travelling I met the wonderful artist, so she gets a special mention ... Lindisfarne Scriptorium
