christianity in early britain

7/31/2019 Christianity in Early Britain

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CHRISTIANITY IN EARLY BRITAIN

•Anglo-saxon tribes was considered patriarchal. Early matriarchal tribes beileved incontinuity of life. On the other hand, patriarch tribes had heroic world-view based

on belief in the individual and his free will. Creativity of individual opposed tocreativity of nature and soon nature began to be experienced and treated astyrant. Man turned his back to Nature as Mother of All Living and replaced her byfather-like God and then by himself.

• In the beginning man was lover of Goddess Nature. He was her lover, son andvictim. For him death was part of the life cycle which included: birth, death andrebirth. Vegatation rituals were repeated year in year out with the strong beliefthat this willing sacrifice was necessary as part of continuity of life. However, manbecame dissatisfy with his role as slave to nature. Male procreative power wasequally necessary as innate female fertility. The spirit of vegetation, the formerlover of Goddess Nature became a male God who was equally important as theGoddess. Nature became a tyrant, not loved any more but only feared and hated.Man’s dependance on matriarch and woman replaced his dependance on patriarch, asthe father of family, leader of the tribe and the king of the nation.



MYTHS OF DISSOCIATION:

1. Marduk killed Tiamat in Babylon myths

2. Theseus killed Minotaur and Perseus killed Medusa in Greek myths

3. Beowulf killed Grendel in Anglo-Saxon myths

4. Jehova killed Levianthan in the Old Testament

The Anglo-Saxon word for destiny was wyrd meaning - to become, happened, grow. It envolved into a weird meaning – frightening, unnatural, mysterious.

Nature which used to be a man’s mother once, now is considered a monstereven by the Anglo-Saxon man who was still capable of accepting his weirdfate. Nature was deified and then demonised.



There were two waves of Christianity:

First one was Celts/Romans

Second one was Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.

The first Christian advocates were Paul and Peter. They believed that theirteacher (Christ) had risen and began to teach Christianity. They were killedby Roman authorities in 67AD and soon became saints.

Christ teaching was founded on love, equality, humbleness, charity, purity…

The goal of life was to reach spiritual kingdom through patience andpurification of the heart.

Christianity differences with paganism: tends are to the soul and not thebody of man.

Welsh Christianity was based on combination of love for music and poetry

with the glorification of God instead the local heroes. Celts were pushed byAnglo-Saxons into the Welsh wilderness and Irish and Scotland mountainsand they developed Christianity there, in isolation. That’s why their ownsaint were unknown to the rest of the Christian world.

Death was feared and desired at the same time because it was the only way

of returning to the Father Jesus Christ.



Heretic PELAGIUS came from Rome to Britain and he relied on man’s moral sense and

on his will. He believed that life was made better on Earth because God is holy andrighteous (pravedan) and man is good by nature and innocent. Opposing this viewpoint,

St. Augustine was saying that all depended on God’s grace. Man’s duty was to obey

the God’s will in humility.

Christianity was made official religion in Rome in 325 and was destroyed in 409 inRoman Britain.

St. Patrick was fighting to establish the Christianity in Ireland. He is now celebrated asthe patron saint of Ireland. People often wear green on March 17th. Irish monks weremissionaries spreading the word of Christ and the knowledge of art, Latin literature, ideaof love, free will…

Irish Christianity was based in Iona – a tiny island of Scotland. St. Columba founded a

monastery there in 563 and this island became a true centre of spirituality.

Pope Gregory must have sensed the threat of the Irish Christianity to the RomanCatholic Church because he sent a monk Augustine in 597 to the north, thirty years orso after the founding of St. Columba monastery. His mission was to re-establishedChristianity there, especially Roman version of it.

christianity in early britain

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