Poetry, Theology, and Worldview among Celtic Christians (3)
Part 1: Colum Cille, Altus Prosator (3)

Altus Prosator is one of the earliest examples of Celtic Christian poetry. It is theological to the core, setting forth an outline of the divine economy and redemptive plan of God. Written in strict Latin meters, with rhymes at every half-line, it would have been easy to learn and a joy to sing. By learning this poem the students of Colum Cille and his disciples would have received a basic framework for truth and an orientation to life and ministry that would have allowed them to make sense of every aspect of life according to the revealed will and purposes of God.

In our last installment we looked at the opening stanza in which Colum declared his faith in the triune God of Scripture. As we saw there, Celtic Christians were orthodox in their view of God, as in virtually every other aspect of doctrine concerning which they wrote.

Stanza II: Creation of the Angels
The second stanza proceeds from God, the Creator and Source of all things, to the created world. Not surprisingly, Colum begins with the creation of angels. There are very good reasons for this, as we shall see. Here is my rendering of stanza II, preserving the original trochaic meter, alphabetical beginning, and internal (albeit slant, like Colum) rhyme scheme:

II
Both the angels and archangels He created; and He made all
Orders of dominion: thrones and pow’rs and virtues by His own hand.
Thus the majesty and goodness of the Trinity would not rest
From exerting and expressing His munificence and blessing.
For the dignities of heaven are for His exalting given;
His Word they keep, resting not, that His great love be not forgotten.

In Colum’s mind the unseen world was the first in order of creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” This seems a reasonable deduction and is typical of what we find in other theological works from this period. The spiritual world played a very significant part in Celtic theology and practice. Celtic Christians engaged relentlessly in spiritual disciplines, seeking the Lord and participation in the “there and then” by all the means available to them. Their writings indicate close familiarity with the unseen realm. Thus we read of encounters with demons and the arch-demon himself, awareness of angels, visitations from departed saints, and visions and voices from beyond the temporal realm. Celtic Christians worked hard to maintain a focus on the unseen realm, for they understood, with Paul, its importance to the life of faith, especially when faced with the trials and rigors of the monastic life of peregrinatio (2 Cor. 4.16-18).

Celtic Christians understood the angels to exist in a hierarchy of nine levels. Colum mentions six here: angels, archangels, orders (or principalities, in the Latin), thrones, powers, and virtues. As one medieval gloss explains, it wasn’t because Colum didn’t know the other three (dominations, cherubim, and seraphim); his poetic form simply would not allow him to include them all. So here we have a kind synecdoche of the unseen realm, in which the entirety of the unseen, created world is signified by the six orders of spirits allowed by Colum’s poetic constraints. The basic message is clear: God made all spiritual beings to serve the purposes of His majesty, munificence, blessing, and love.

Stanza II: The theology
The angels are God’s servants, mediators of His blessing and love to the rest of creation. God, Colum says, could not rest from exerting and expressing His majesty and goodness. He wrought upon the void to bring the creation into being, and He spoke the creatures of the vast cosmos into being by the Word of His power (except, of course, man).

But the angels play some unspecified role in mediating the blessings of God and His providence to His creation, a role that finds them engaged with the Word – or perhaps, decree – of God, as the last line suggests.

In the Book of Revelation we see angels in a variety of roles in relation to the creation: dispatching messages, holding back winds, influencing events, even proclaiming the Gospel. Colum is no more specific than John in explaining the work of angels in relation to the creation; he merely asserts that they have something to do in serving the Lord and accomplishing His good and munificent purposes. Here is a commendable exegetical principle: don’t say any more about the Word of God than the text of Scripture permits. Leave the mystery to stand, and thereby provoke the faithful to wonder.

There is much more to say about the unseen world, but Colum begins here, simply, by stating that it all has its origins in the creative work of God. The unseen world is not eternal; it is part of the creation, and a very important part as well, as we are supposed to understand.

Stanza II: Singing Altus
Without the need of repeating the first line – stanza II has only six lines, as do all the remaining stanzas – we can adopt the melody with which we began the singing of Altus Prosator:

I
Tune: Tryggare Kan Ingen Vara – “Children of the Heavenly Father”

All-high God, Creator ever, Ancient One, begotten never,
Was without beginning, and beneath Him no foundation can be.
He forever lives, and through eternity continues to be.
Christ, the unbegotten Son, together with the Spirit, One, do
Share in equal glory ever with God in the Godhead ever.
Not three gods do we insist on, but one God alone we rest on.
These we tell to all who’ll hear it: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
All-high God, Creator ever, Ancient One, begotten never.

II
Both the angels and archangels He created; and He made all
Orders of dominion: thrones and pow’rs and virtues by His own hand.
Thus the majesty and goodness of the Trinity would not rest
From exerting and expressing His munificence and blessing.
For the dignities of heaven are for His exalting given;
His Word they keep, resting not, that His great love be not forgotten

For reflection: While today believers acknowledge an unseen realm, populated with angels, demons, and departed saints, that world is not treated as one with which we have much converse. We talk about spiritual warfare, of course, and (hopefully) prepare for it. But the unseen realm hardly seems to be of “first importance” – or any importance, really – for most Christians. Why do you think this is so? Talk with some Christian friends about this.

T. M. Moore

Want to learn more about the unseen realm that Colum regarded as so important? T. M.'s workbook, The Landscape of Unseen Things, will take you on a tour de force of that world and help you begin intersecting with it more consistently and meaningfully. Order your copy from our online bookstore today.