Chapel on Mull
Time Team descend on the Isle of Mull at the invitation of two local amateur archaeologists to investigate a mysterious set of earthworks in a forest near Tobermory. Could they be the remains of a chapel from the time of St Columba?
Princely Saxon tomb in Prittlewell
Time Team turn their attention to an important Royal Saxon tomb in Prittlewell, near Southend in Essex. During a routine road widening in late 2003, an impressive array of Saxon objects were uncovered, leading to an excavation by MOLA. Further excitement centred around the discovery of an intact wood-lined burial chamber, and its precious high-status contents were comparable to similar regional discoveries in Broomfield, Taplow, and Sutton Hoo.
Vikings, Ogham and Christianity on the Isle of Man
The team battles the tail end of a hurricane to investigate the last keeill standing, preserved beneath a golf course on the Isle of Man. A thousand years ago the island was dotted with these keeills, or small stone chapels, most of which have completely disappeared. Mick, an avowed enthusiast for early Christian buildings, is in his element. Sensational finds keep coming, including perfectly preserved plaited human hair, and a specimen of Ogham script. The team are joined by local archaeologist Andy Johnson, keeill expert Nick Johnson, and Viking specialist Dawn Hadley.
Very interesting site with finds older than 1000 years ago!
Saint Eanswythe
Time Team turn their attention to a battered lead reliquary containing fragile head bones believed to be the relics of Saint Eanswythe.
Saint Eanswythe was born around 614, the only daughter of King Eadbald of Kent and his wife Emma, who was a Frankish princess. At the time of Eanswythe’s birth, her father was probably a pagan, while her mother was almost certainly a Christian. Therefore, it is highly likely that Eanswythe was baptized and raised as a Christian.
An investigation into the nature, beliefs, and practices of the Celtic Church
The purpose of this dissertation is to prove that the Ancient Church in Ireland, Scotland and Western Britain (generically the ‘Celtic Church’, despite its arguably disparate languages and local practices), before the Great Schism of 1054, held an equal place in the one family of Apostolic Catholic Orthodox Churches existing from the early centuries of Christianity. It aims to clarify some aspects of the nature, beliefs, and practices of the Celtic Church. In so doing, it hopes to contribute to dispelling the myths surrounding this period of Church history prevalent in the Celtic Spirituality movements of today. To verify this thesis the liturgical material, theology and practice, and the art of the Celtic Church are specifically compared to those of the Coptic and Orthodox Churches. To put this comparison into context, it is necessary to set the scene historically and include archaeological corroboration. The Synod of Whitby, the Filioque, and the Pelagian controversy are not referred to in detail. Discussion of the attempted recreation of the "Orthodox Celtic Church‟ and similar organisations is excluded from this work.
Early British Saints recognised in Greece
In the chapel of the Celtic saints with strange names
Translated and adapted from an article in TA NEA by Mary Adamopoulou written 20/02/2021.
An old storeroom of a few square meters in the small church of Osias Xenis, next to the Kato Patissia station (at Promitheos 74, Athina 104 46, Greece) filled the period of the first quarantine with saints who have strange names and are surrounded by animals and birds!
A makeshift sign at the entrance welcomes one to the chapel of Osia Xeni on Acharnon Street, next to the Kato Patissia station. Part of Agios Nikolaos Syros, it is Brick red, with a triple bell tower and a small courtyard full of flowers that would be more suited to an island environment than the grey and concrete urban fabric surrounded by dozens of barbershops, small and larger grocery stores with delicacies from the Arab world and countries of the former Eastern bloc and restaurants with dishes from Iran to Russia.
Inside the small church is the chapel of Celtic saints, which is only a few months old. Its iconography was completed during the first period of the COVID lockdown.
At first glance nothing seems strange in the little church. Believers worship and light a candle. Well-known saints adorn the walls. Until the eye falls on an opening in the middle of the temple, on the right. "Guardians" of the entrance on either side are Saints Panteleimon and Charalambos. Among them, the inscription "Chapel of Celtic saints".
Saints-Gobnait-and-Brendan
Just three square meters, overwhelmingly filled with 21 saints, whose names to most Greeks remind them more of movie actors and in no case (probably) saints, and even of the orthodox doctrine.
St. Kevin, St. Alban, St. Bridget, St. Hilda, St. Brendan... All of them gentle, stern in appearance, most with a compassionate look and several of them surrounded by animals: dolphins, hares, blackbirds.
"It is the first place in Athens that is dedicated to the Celtic Orthodox saints (note: another chapel dedicated to the specific saints exists in the hermitage of Saint Porphyrios in Milesi, Attica), and a better hostess than Osia Xeni could not be found to embrace "foreign" saints" says Father Georgios Ganotis, who works not only in a church with "foreign" saints, but also in a neighbourhood full of immigrants from every corner of the planet.
The chapel of the Celtic saints was nothing but a storeroom until about a year ago, as he describes it, when it was in a miserable condition, no one willing or daring to draw the curtain that covered its entrance. “Today, it is a gem that combines beauty with knowledge," he tells us proudly.
But who are these Celtic saints? They were saints who lived in the first centuries when Christianity arrived in Britain, Wales, and Ireland. They were lost after the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism prevailed in these areas, and many monasteries were destroyed. The remains of the saints were even used to make pens.
Saint Kevin
Saints-Kevin-and-Melangell
Saint Kevin, one of the most important saints of Ireland, for example, lived in the 6th century. he came from a family of royal lineage, as we read in the booklet "The Celtic Saints in the Chapel of Osias Xeni", available only from the temple. He lived as a hermit in the Valley of the Two Lakes, near Dublin; he ate nettles and was particularly resilient. An otter was once said to have brought him the manuscript of the psalms that fell into the lake; they became friends and it fished on his behalf. He is depicted holding in his right hand a nest of blackbird chicks, as he is said to have held their nest in his hand for days, motionless, until the blackbird hatched her eggs and fed the young until they fledged.
Saint-Patrick
Among them is a well-known saint to everyone, even today: Saint Patrick, the missionary who taught Christianity in Ireland. Prodigal in his youth and captured by pirates, he managed to escape and subsequently became a missionary, teaching the mystery of the Holy Trinity using as an example the clover, which, although it consists of three parts, is a plant.
Saint Bridget asked Christ to make her ugly so that no one would want to marry her so that she could be single. Her wish was granted, but she regained her natural beauty in time and is said to have performed many miracles by only making the sign of the cross. The cane crosses – also popular in Greece – for protection from evil are also due to her. Saint Brendan, although known to some as a fictional character in the play "Brendan's Voyage", was born in the late 5th century. in Ireland, and besides the fact that he founded many monasteries in his native Wales, Scotland, and France, he may have made a great sea exploration which brought him to the shores of North America, whence he is depicted in a ship in the company of dolphins and other living creatures of the sea. Saint Hilda, who lived in the 7th century, was consulted by kings, princes, and bishops of England, who considered her the spiritual mother of the country.
Saint-Brigid
One of the questions that arise is that, since the specific saints are largely unknown, how did the abbess of the Holy Hermitage of Panagia Vryoulon of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens, Gerontissa Philothei, manage to create the 21 icons that adorn the chapel? "It wasn't easy. I relied on information from the hagiographies and also used my imagination. Iconography is not copy and paste. Often, out of ignorance and fear, we proceed with sterile copies to not render elements that do not match the Orthodox spirit. But if we observe the Byzantine iconographers, we will find that they were daring", explains the abbess, who has been working with iconography for the last 22 years; her teacher was priest Stamatis Skliris.
From creating the plans to completing the work, Mother Philothei took about a year and a half, working with iconography powders and glue. The difficulties were not lacking, as she tells us, when moisture problems in the ceiling caused the little angels she had painted to fall and have to be repositioned.
The idea for the chapel's iconography belongs to the philologist Konstantinos Ganotis (father of the priest), who learned about the Celtic saints through his spiritual father, Osios Porphyrios. The latter even said that "when the Greeks discover the Celtic saints, the English will become Orthodox.”
But why did Celtic saints, unknown even in ecclesiastical circles, occupy a place in a temple in the heart of Athens? "We are not only interested in making specific saints known to the world, but in showing the universal character of Orthodoxy. We often have a localised approach; we think our religion is about the Mediterranean basin and don't realise we are part of a bigger puzzle. When you discover the foreign saints, you discover that the Church is a global affair. Universal. And you understand that the saints are not manipulatively ours and that the Church is not in our pocket", explains Father Georgios Ganotis, who admits that the reception of the specific saints was initially restrained by the faithful. "However, as time passes, they worship and are interested in learning about the saints who lived so far from our place. Children come who want to see the animals as well, as almost all of these saints had a special relationship with animals, they were nature lovers. They buy the book we have published to get more information. They approach the chapel as a part of the temple they already love," he concludes.
