SC - OT - Celtic Church

[Decker, Terry D.]

According to Gildas, Christianity came to the Isles with Joseph of Aramithea
in the last year of Tiberius' reign (approx. 37 CE), although the Celtic
Church doesn't appear to come into existence until the 2nd Century.  It is
very possible that the Celtic Church is an off-shoot of Orthodoxy via the
Galatians, the Eastern-most of the Celtic peoples in 1st Century CE.

Patrick may have been sent to Ravenna, because he was already of the
Orthodox branch of Christianity and at the time the schism between the
Eastern and Western Churches was just beginning.  The formal split is in
1054 when Pope Leo IX excommunicates the patriarch of Constantinople,
Michael Cerularius.

If we want to continue this discussion, we should probably take it off list,
as it is moving far afield from cooking.

Bear

> An interesting bit of ecclesiastical trivia pertaining to Patrick and
> Irish/Celtic Christianity!
> Patrick in his own biography tells us that his father was a deacon and
> his grandfather, a priest. This was not at all uncommon among 
> the rural
> and even sub urban clergy in the centuries before the pontificate of
> Innocent the III.
> 
> However, when Patrick returns to Europe and home, he goes to Rome to
> seek direction, and is sent to study, NOT in Rome with Roman 
> monks, but
> with Greek monks living in Ravenna!! It is from Ravenna that Patrick
> goes forth, via Rome for permission and funds, but it is Greek monks
> that he takes with him!
> Hence the first brand of Christianity which the Irish recieved was not
> Roman or Latin, but Greek!!
> This can give us a great deal in the way of clues as to how 
> early Irish
> adapted to Christianity and vice verse!
> The fasting customs of the Greek church are reflected in the great
> ascetic traditions of the Celtic Church. As is many of the prayers and
> reverence given Creation and humans Responsability towards the earth!
> This also explains why the great gospel books were usually written in
> Greek with Latin letters!!
> Yes, Patrick was a Briton/Breton by birth and a Roman by 
> family status,
> but by ecclesiastical rite, I'd say he was probably a Greek/Byzantine!
> Many of the extant Celtic rituals seem descendant right from 
> the Liturgy
> of St.John Crysostom and even earlier, of St. James of 
> Jerusalem, two of
> the oldest liturgies found in Christianity!
> 
> 
> Marcus Loidolt
> M.A Church History, Social Anthropology