Foundations
The roots of Celtic Christianity are to be found in both the community that grew up around the apostle John and in the lives of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.
The issues for John’s community, centred around Ephesus in modern day Turkey, focused on the need to embrace Jesus and the Gospel within their own culture, without the need to embrace elements from the Jewish culture of the very first Christians.
Thus, they developed an authentic but culturally different form of Christianity to other developing Christian communities, including the church in Rome, which had significance for future developments in the history of the church.
The issues for John’s community, centred around Ephesus in modern day Turkey, focused on the need to embrace Jesus and the Gospel within their own culture, without the need to embrace elements from the Jewish culture of the very first Christians.
Thus, they developed an authentic but culturally different form of Christianity to other developing Christian communities, including the church in Rome, which had significance for future developments in the history of the church.
Persecution and trade...
It is likely that Christians from John’s area founded the second century Christian community in Lyon, Gaul. Many Christians escaped persecution by moving to the western fringes of Roman Britain; Christianity had arrived. The early “missionaries” were true to their roots, and allowed the new, local Christians to adapt the faith to their own, Celtic culture. Trade with the East brought Britain into contact with the desert monasticism of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, with their emphasis on the life of contemplative prayer. Ninian, who preached the Gospel in what is now south west Scotland, was influenced by the adapted monasticism of Martin of Tours. It also seems that whole libraries of books from these early monasteries were copied and carried to Britain.
A distinctive spirituality...
Thus these two strands wove together to create a distinctive Celtic spirituality, more akin to the Orthodox tradition of the East than the Roman tradition of the West.
The stage was set for future, needless conflict!
The stage was set for future, needless conflict!