Video for March 12th, 2026
Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s video.
I’m on a bit of a pilgrimage this week enjoying some fine late winter Northumbrian weather on Lindisfarne, Holy Island. The original monastery was founded here in 634. This place was the cradle of Christianity in the northeast of England. From this base St. Aidan shared the Gospel with the Anglo-Saxons. The original abbey was destroyed by the vikings and remained a ruin until being re-built as a priory after the norman conquest. Aiden passed the baton to Cuthbert who was Bishop of Lindisfarne at the end of his life from 684-686, contemporaneous with Putta’s ministry as the first Bishop of Hereford. The anonymous life of Cuthbert is the oldest extant piece of English historical writing.
The accounts of the lives of these saints are somewhat unreliable. Historical fact is mixed in with myth and story. Places with their relics were major pilgrimage centres throughout the medieval period. Those sites had a vested commercial interest in ‘bigging up’ their founders. Contemporary or modern accounts are prone to home in on an aspect of their lives with contemporary resonance and make those defining characteristics of the saint’s ministry. They often say more about us than they do about them. Much of the contemporary mythology of these early saints is constructed on shaky foundations.
However, there are significant things one can learn and which continue to inspire. Like the desert fathers, these early Celtic saints practiced a challenging form of monastic discipline. Their disciplines, whilst having similarities with contemporary practice, had a very different purpose. I sometimes worry that the spiritual disciplines as practiced today are more akin to mindfulness and well-being activities than they are to Christian spirituality. The disciplines these saints practiced in their monastic life were primarily about the pursuit of holiness rather than feeling better. Hair-raising accounts of immersion up to the neck in the waters of the North Sea to conquer lusts of the flesh may seem extreme to us, but these early Christians took sin extremely seriously. They were passionate about drawing close to God and almost any sacrifice or asceticism was welcomed if it aided that pursuit. They thought of their spiritual training in the same way Paul writes of it in 1 Corinthians 9: 25, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last (rather like the first batch of medals in this years Winter Olympics), but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” One of the seven deadly sins originally described by St. Cassian (he had eight) and subsequently codified by Gregory the Great was acedia. This is not mere boredom as some have described it. It is more a lethargy towards spiritual things. Acedia is when the pursuit of holiness and the presence of God is deemed not especially important and other concerns preoccupy us. For these early saints it was a foundational vice. They would probably be as mystified by our lack of concern for it as we are by some of the ascetic practices they adopted to keep their passion fresh.
What you see in the Celtic saints like Aidan and Cuthbert is a combination of the contemplative and the active. They didn’t withdraw to the monastery to pursue holiness and communion with God as an end in itself. It was import, indeed fundamental, but it was also about equipping them for the missionary task. Aidan was renowned for his winsome evangelistic ministry. He walked the tracks of the mainland over the causeway engaging with all, both the aristocracy and the powerful and the socially disenfranchised. The very early Christianity of the area had been largely displaced by Anglo- Saxon paganism. Aidan was asked to do the ministry by the Christian King Oswald who had been himself converted whilst in exile before taking the Northumbrian throne. Aiden replaced another missionary Bishop from Iona who shall we say had limited social skills. This Bishop Corman is said to have alienated many by his harshness and returned to Iona blaming the Northumbrians for their stubbornness. Aiden adopted the novel technique of politeness and meeting people where they were. His patience and genuine interest in people’s lives warmed them to the message he brought. He was generous and socially engaged. As the years went by this slow, patient, loving and socially aware mission drew many to living faith.
There is much to learn from him. We are in the business of reintroducing Christian faith to a culture that has largely forgotten it. This is a challenging task for which we need the power and insight of the Holy Spirit. The place of prayer is the place where the Spirit is allowed freer reign in our lives. Aidan was a pioneer but now the task falls to all of us clergy and lay. By the grace of God Aidan’s ministry transformed a culture and brought it back to God. May the Holy Spirit inspire and empower us to such fruitfulness in our diocese.
+Richard