Bangor Abbey lit up a Celtic Christianity that differed from today’s Catholicism
However, the monastery cited as being in Bangor, Co Antrim, is actually in Bangor, Co Down, from where I am writing this letter.
Having grown up in the shadow of Bangor Abbey, I can tell readers that the abbey was known as ‘Bangor, Light of the World’.
St Patrick is said to have seen a valley of angels just outside Bangor and it is from this link to the monastery at Bangor that Ireland got the name, Isle of Saints and Scholars.
The format of Celtic Christianity being espoused across Ireland and Britain at that time differed greatly from the later Roman version, in that their monks were allowed to marry, their practices were based more on those set in place by St John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and the last apostle to die on the isle of Patmos at age 110.
These practices included resting and worshipping on the Sabbath on the seventh day in accordance with the Ten Commandments, as opposed to the later practice of venerating ‘Sun’ day, the first day of the week, which at that time was still connected to the pagan practice of sun worship.
Also the Jewish Passover on Nisan 14 in the Hebrew calendar was observed as the time of Jesus’ or Yeshua’s death, not the later observation around ‘Easter,’ ironically named after a pagan deity, which highlighted the Resurrection.
This as well as biblical dietary laws concerning ‘unclean’ animals such as pork and shellfish differentiated the Celts from the Romans, as the Judaic link to original practices of the early New Testament church gave way to the popular form of Christianity as we know it today.
I wonder what Columban or even Yeshua (Jesus) would make of the adaptations?
Bangor could yet be ‘Light of the World’ if she sticks to her original mandate of espousing biblical truth, tradition, and ultimately mission.
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