The Celtic Church

The Origin of the Celtic Church

The celtic church originated in the 3rd to 5th centuries on the British Isles. It has developed largely independently and developed its own tradition in contact with the old Celtic religion, in which the concrete closeness to God and nature, Celtic art and poetry is expressed.

The celtic church knew little formal hierarchies and the position of the bishops was not as prominent as in the Church of Rome. The contemplative prayer of the Desert Fathers and the theology of the Orthodox Church, especially the Evangelist John, have had a major impact on the Celtic Church. Nevertheless, it has always seen itself as part of the One Church of Jesus Christ and had a strong influence on the entire Church, for example on the development of canon law or certain holidays. It was not until the 12th century that the Celtic Church was finally integrated into the Roman Catholic Church.

Life in the Celtic Church

Christian life in the celtic church grouped in settlements around monasteries. Here the believers looked for their Anam Cara, the soul mate, and tried to be or become an Anam Cara for others themselves. We are pursuing this goal again in the Ancient Celtic Church.

The two main theologians received a lot of attention in their time and today. These are Johannes Scotus Eriugena and St. Morgan of Wales (also called Pelagius). In addition to transcendence, they also emphasized immanence, ie closeness to the divine. These thoughts have been taken up in the present by Matthew Fox in his widely acclaimed work The Great Blessing. Embraced by Creation.



The Celtic Mission of Europe

The celtic church placed great emphasis on the study of the holy scriptures and their scholars were therefore called to the European aristocratic courts. The pilgrimage or leaving the home was practiced as an asectic exercise (peregrinatio). A distinction was made between green, white and red martyrdom. In the green martyrdom one went to lonely places in one's own country. White martyrdom meant making missionary trips to foreign countries. We owe these missionary trips by Celtic monks and clergy to the Christianization in some regions of Germany even before the Roman Church took over and continued it. During the red martyrdom, the pilgrims and missionaries consciously went to areas that were inhabited by belligerent pagans.

The rule of Saint Columban the Younger played an important role in the spread of monasticism in Europe. The oldest monastery in Germany, Weltenburg an der Donau, originally lived according to the Columban Rule before it adopted the Rule of Benedict, which was made binding by the Church of Rome.