The Celtic Church

One final note: The Celts, Norse and Teutons are from the same racial stock, and many of their pagan rites and customs were identical. These volk originally dwelled in the steppes of Russia, which is why there are so many Celtic-looking stone circles and monuments there.

The Top 10 Lies About the Celtic Church

10. It was founded by Eastern Orthodox missionary monks from Greece.

The evidence (some of which we'll be presenting on this site) overwhelmingly reveals that the Celtic Church was in existence for centuries before this invasion. Of course, this fact and some of the attending practices of the Celtic Christians are as embarassing to the later Roman and Greek sees as those surrounding the Coptic Church!

9. We don't know what Celtic Church chant was like, as no manuscripts survived.

The tireless researcher John Purser has written extensively on the subject of the survival of ancient (even Pagan!) musical motifs in later Christian chant. Thus we can actually learn much from such as the Inchcolm Psalter.

8. St. Brendan's voyage was all in his head, a "vision quest" of sorts.

Utterly preposterous! This theory is advanced by people who either ignore the lengthy details of the precise method of constructing and treating the boat (hardly necessary for a mental exercise!), refuse to believe the journey possible (even though in our day it has been recreated!), or forget that some of the scenes described had never been seen before by the reporters, which makes them seem somewhat fanciful at first glance. The fact, evidenced by history, anthropology, archaeology, et al. is that Celtic churchmen made their way to the Americas, and this is an important plank in the platform of the Avalonian Catholic Church. For more info on the Celtic missionaries in America, see our Mayan Connections page.

7. The Celtic rite and the Celtic clergy disappeared after the Synod of Whidby, absorbed into the Roman see.

While there are certainly some strange mysteries surrounding the usual report of the proceedings of this Synod, the report is also clear that after his "defeat", the Celtic debater left with his monks for northern regions to continue to practice. Indeed, many centuries later we have a royal lady complaining about the strange practices of the Celtic liturgy! It would in any event, be hard to fathom the Celts giving up the rites which they had practiced for so many centuries and had received from the hands of the original apostles!

6. The Celtic Church was only active in the British Isles.

Once again, history clearly shows otherwise. Actually, the Roman Catholics on the continent begged the Celtic churchmen for aid, as they were surrounded by wild and vicious pagans. (Presumably, the first Celts to be thus approached were just passing through on their way to pilgrimage sites in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Of course, the Celts could not refuse to help those in need, and their own pagan influences must certainly have helped them in their work. The ironic result was that the Celts continued over the centuries to invade the environs that the Romans thought were their exclusive territory, giving rise to many complaints by them against their delivering heroes, most noticeably the Irish clergy.

5. It was "conservative" in doctrine.

The existence of the crane clerics calls this notion into serious doubt. Furthermore, the charge of Augustine that the Celtic clergy did not preach the Gospel raises the doubt to an even higher level. Did they not deliver homilies at Mass?

4. It destroyed all the old Pagan religious practices.

"In his preface to The Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Mr. Stuart quotes Dr. Wise's assertion that there is a striking similarity between the stone monuments of the East and those of Britain, and Mr. Chalmers' assertion that there are figures on some of the stones of Scotland identical with those on Gnostic gems." -- The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church by F.E. Warren, from an online version of chapters of the book (Is this reference to Chalmers' The Ancient Sculptured Stones of the County of Angus of 1848?)

3. The Celtic Church enthusiastically supported the lineal blood descendants of Jesus.

An exceedingly pernicious and strange idea has surfaced in relatively modern times that Jesus not only had children, but their descendents have special authority to rule. The Avalonian Catholic Church rejects such silliness for several very good reasons:
A. While Jesus may (and probably did) have children, the adherents of "the bloodline theory" believe Jesus was not divine. Therefore, it is truly very hard to fathom why his descendents should have any more claim to any throne than any other righteous, intelligent person.
B. If one reads the histories of the actions of kings supposedly descended from Jesus, one sees that they were frequently just as tyrannical, evil, self-serving, and uncaring of their people as any in history.
C. The Avalonian Catholic Church believes the time for "divine kings" has long passed. We'll be adding more info about this to the site soon.

2. It was founded by St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury in Somerset.

The history of the legends themselves show this to be untrue. As with so many of the areas we research, some of the commonly-believed notions are true, while others are patently false.

Archaeological work at Glaston reveals that it did indeed have an ancient founding. However, when the original tales (widely believed by the scholars of the field to have been written by the monks at Glaston themselves) clearly showed Philip the apostle as the leader, not Joseph. When some writers on the continent insterted him, the story was later changed. Of course, this has interesting implications.

1. There was an incredibly homogonous nature to the Celtic communities, so we can even speak of a "Celtic Church."

There were often some differences of practice, even in the same country. Allison Carroll has written a thesis, The Case for the Celtic Church on this subject.

Read The Ancient Celtic Church by R. W. Morgan.

Read F. E. Warren's The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church.

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