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Celtic Legacy

Ruled for Love

Celtic Christians understood the value of a common rule.

Living by Rule (2)

Here begins the Monk’s Rule of St. Columban the Abbot. First of all things we are taught to love God with the whole heart and the whole mind and all our strength, and our neighbor as ourselves; next, our works.

-        Columbanus, Monks’ Rule

I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever to the end.  

-        Psalm 119.112

Spiritual forts
In its earliest manifestation, Christianity during the period of the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-800 AD) was organized around monastic centers. Beginning in the 6th century, in the generation following Patrick’s expansive mission in Ireland, monastic communities began to appear across the Irish landscape as the focal points of Christian activity.

These early communities were modeled on, and even sometimes established on the foundations of, ancient Celtic ring forts, or raths. Pre-Christian Celtic Ireland was organized around these clan fortresses, which served as centers of community, culture, and political life for the pagan tribes of the island.

When the Irish began to be converted to Christianity it was only natural that they should do so on the foundations of their familiar culture, beginning with their lives in community. These communities were constructed as spiritual forts and Kingdom outposts, within which the members of the community would be nurtured and from which members would be sent for the progress of the Kingdom.

In a typical Irish monastic community, the hub of the community was enclosed behind a low wall, which demarcated those who dwelled within wall as the leaders of the spiritual life of the community. Within that wall would have been a church, a scriptorium (for copying manuscripts), a refectory (for common meals), and the cells of individual monks. These would have been made of wattle, rather than stone, and thus humble and easy to maintain.

Beyond the wall of the monastic center were the fields, farms, shops, and homesteads of the people who were served by the monks and clerics of the community and who, in turn, shared with them the fruit of their labors. Thus a fruitful symbiosis of spiritual and material life was maintained. Crucial to the proper functioning of each monastic community was its rule.

The purpose of the rule
At their best, the monastic rules of Celtic Ireland were designed to promote love for God and neighbor, as we see in the forward to Columbanus’ Monks’ Rule (above). Every community needs to have rules if such love is to flourish, because, as Celtic Christians well knew, every person’s natural tendency is to look out for his own concerns first, and to leave others to fend for themselves. The monks, at the heart of the community, were expected to submit to the rule in all details. They would bring the spirit of the rule, and, to a certain extent, many of its specifics, into the lives of the people who made up the surrounding community.

Unless people living in close community could be disciplined – that is, taught – to love God and obey Him, they would not be able to love their neighbors as they should. Such discipline can be difficult and even painful, as Columbanus explained in Sermon IV. The discipline in which the monks were to be trained, and which they would inculcate throughout the rest of the community, “is in fact the training of all training, and at the price of present sorrow it prepares the pleasure of an unending time and the delight of unending joy.”

Thus the monastic rules of Celtic Ireland insisted on a strict regimen of obedience, focused on the Abbot and other senior monks of the community. The first paragraph of Columbanus’ Rule reads: “At the first word of a senior, all on hearing should rise to obey, since their obedience is shown to God, as our Lord Jesus Christ says: ‘He who hears you hears Me.’”

Obedience was to be explicit and thorough, from the heart, “since if obedience is not of this nature, it will not be pleasing to the Lord” (Section I). By such obedience, even when its purpose was not completely understood, or the conditions of it not to one’s liking, trust was nurtured, and the righteousness that comes from submitting one’s will to another.

Similarly, silence was enforced at certain times within the monastic community, since righteousness – love for God and neighbor – had its provenance there: “But the nurture of righteousness is silence and peace” (Section II). By practicing silence members of the community learned to bridle their tongues, so as to guard against unwise or hurtful speech, to the detriment of their neighbors and offense to God, and to listen for God, reflecting on His Word and seeking the company of His presence.

Food and drink, as well as material possessions, were to be kept to a minimum, for these can obstruct communion with God and His grace: “For few things are true necessities without which life cannot be fed, or even one thing, like food according to the letter. But we require purity of feeling by the grace of God, that we may understand spiritually what are those few gifts of love which are offered to Martha by the Lord” (Section IV).

Monks were also expected to be on guard against vanity and lust, as these were indications of true love gone awry (Sections V, VI). They were to help one another in this, both by example and admonition.

Thus it is clear that these monastic rules were designed not simply to create mindless conformity but to nurture love, and righteousness, which is the expression of love to God and neighbors.

Spiritual discipline
To help monks and members of the community to make progress in love, monastic rules prescribed common activities, beginning with prayer. Prayer often took the form of singing, together and individually, and singing through the psalms (Section VII). It’s interesting to note that Columbanus adopted this practice because it was the example of previous generations of Christian leaders: “…our predecessors have appointed three psalms at each of the day-time hours…” Prayers were to be offered for all members of the community as well as for kings and even enemies. This practice seemed to have stood previous generations of Christians in good stead, so Columbanus and other monastic leaders adopted it as well.

By praying according to a common schedule, and praying together at certain times, the members of the community trained their hearts to submit to God’s Word and to follow His lead in praise, thanksgiving, and intercession for others. By singing the psalms they learned melodies which could accompany them throughout the day, during their work, or as they went on journeys (mission) together.

Next in the area of disciplines was discretion, which was learned through the reading and study of the Word of God: “How necessary discretion is for monks is shown by the mistake of many, and indicated by the downfall of some, who beginning without discretion and passing their time without a sobering knowledge, have been unable to complete a praiseworthy life…” (Section VII). Members of the community need the Light of God’s Word to help them navigate the darkness of an unbelieving world. The monks were thus expected to be diligent in attending to the Word and careful in teaching it to the rest of the community, so that all might learn discretion and be no longer children, tossed about and carried about by wrong teachings or their own lust-filled hearts. Copying Scriptures was a common practice, as well as teaching the Word to the members of the community.

Any sin discovered in the soul or the life was to be ruthlessly suppressed and eradicated (Section IX). God hates sin, and if we love God we will hate it, too. Moreover, if we fear God as we should, we will not despise the discipline He brings to bear on us whenever a corrective is needed. The practice of penance was thus integral to spiritual growth and nurturing love for God and neighbors.

Finally, the members of the community – especially the monks – were expect to contribute whole-heartedly to the growth and fellowship of the community, to give what they had to give and to receive from other members the benefits of God’s grace through them (Section X). This concluding section is worth quoting in its entirety, as it gives us a glimpse of the ideal of community which the Celtic monasteries sought to achieve:

Let the monk live in a community under the discipline of one father and in company with many, so that from one he may learn lowliness, from another patience. For one may teach hi silence and another meekness. Let him not do as he wishes, let him eat what he is bidden, keep as much as he has received, complete the tale of his work, be subject to whom he does not like. Let him come weary to his bed and sleep walking, and let him be forced to rise while his sleep is not yet finished. Let him keep silence when he has suffered wrong, let him fear the superior of his community as a lord, love him as a father. Believe that whatever he commands is healthful for himself, and let him not pass judgment on the opinion of an elder, to whose duty it belongs to obey and fulfill what he is bidden, as Moses says, Hear, O Israel, and rest.

Living according to a common rule helped Irish monastic communities to become strong centers of spiritual vitality, social and cultural renewal, and missionary expansion. And the key to their success during the 6th and 7th centuries was the discipline of the common rule.

T. M. Moore

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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