|
© Copyright - material in this site may not be reproduced in any media without the express permission of the Web Master. Care has been taken by this site to ensure that all necessary copyright permissions have been obtained. If this is not the case in any instance, this is an inadvertent error. Please contact the Web Master and this will be rectified. |
SAINT AIDAN AND HIS COMPANIONS The Mission of Orthodoxy and British Orthodox Saints There are two very different ways of regarding St. Aidan. We can first see him as an individual in his own right, unknown until he was selected from his community on Iona to go to Lindisfarne and from there begin what was his life’s work in evangelising Northumbria. We note with approval his commitment to Christ. My dictionary of Saints says of him: "Bede himself wrote more warmly of St. Aidan than of any other saint. Even though he could not approve St. Aidan's acceptance and propagation of the Irish (i.e. Orthodox-ed.) method of calculating Easter, he praised him eloquently for his love of prayer, study, peace, purity and humility as well as his care for the sick and the poor."* There seems to be little doubt that in his life, St. Aidan was a shining example of faith and zeal and the Troparion we sing of him is not exaggerated. There is, however, another side of St. Aidan's life which has its importance for us. He was in himself a true light of the Celtic Church: he was also a link in a famous line of missionaries and saints which stretched over 250 years and which, against all odd, succeeded in establishing the Christian Church in Northern Britain. Just how many helped to maintain this, what I call "round-Britain-relay-race" God alone knows. What is important for us is that we have some idea of the outline of the race and some of its leading missionaries. There are, of course, plenty to choose from but I always think of these as the forceful four, the Saints:- Patrick, Columba, Aidan, Chad, though, of course, they were all ably supported by many more in the work of evangelisation --the King, St. Oswald; the Bishop, St. Cuthbert and the Abbess, St. Hilda to mention just three from very different stations in life. But in order to have a useful summary which can be remembered I suggest Patrick, Columba, Aidan, Chad for this reason. Those four leading lights of the relay race spearheaded the movement from one place to another and each one important. St. Patrick took the faith from these shores to Ireland; St. Columba took it from Ireland to Iona in Scotland; from there St. Aidan took it to Lindisfarne in Northern Britain and eventually St. Chad brought it back to where the movement had begun 200 years earlier. That last move was needed because in the intervening time, the north of England had lost the faith to successive invaders of the Northmen. Sceptics would say --, well, that's a nice yarn, but nothing more: what use is it for us today? It has, I believe, an important truth for us in our situation because once more, the north of England has lost the faith it had. Once more, the north Britons need to be re-evangelised for Christ and His Church. The modern agents of mass evangelism -- Billy Graham and the like -- do not seem all that successful in the long term. True, Billy Graham always claimed that his campaigns depended upon "God and the local churches" which seemed odd coming from one who did not really support the idea of The Church. Parish priests are not, nor ever were, expected to be the agents of mass evangelism: their task is to look after the local community. Who then was? If you examine the records of the days we are talking about -- days when mass evangelism was a success story -- you will notice that the agents of the mission were, in fact, all monastics, monks and some nuns too. They had given their lives wholeheartedly to God to do just this type of work and no other. My belief is that a similar breed of men and women is needed today if we are to succeed in any large scale re-evangelisation of our country. One other point is obvious but it is also important. Those whom we have named were not alone -- they were the leaders of a team and the whole team had one object in view -- God and the glory of His Kingdom. And it was always to God that they all looked for leadership and guidance. Their lives, their Church, was God-centred. We claim to do the same. We all agree that mission is a must and we discuss ways and means endlessly. Sure, it is important to keep the issue in the forefront of our agenda. But far more important is it for each one of us to spend time imploring God our Father that He will raise up men and women who will give themselves to the religious life to effect once again the conversion of the Britons. We can link this with our prayer to Saint Aidan, the Apostle of the North and loving Missionary:-- "Saint Aidan we pray you, intercede for us sinners, that Christ our God may have mercy on our souls by raising up among us, men and women who will give their lives to your service in proclaiming Your Glory and Your Kingdom in our land". *from D.H.Farmer: The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 1978 page 6. Fr John-Mark |
