inging From the beginning, the early Christians carried the Gospel to various lands and made it appropriate to the people. Over the first six centuries AD the British Isles was Christianised by the Celtic Church, which flourished outside the Roman-Byzantine Empire, retaining the freshness of the Church of Apostolic times. It was free of all temporal power, poor and extraordinarily dynamic with its many monasteries. From Ireland to Scotland, from Britain to Europe, thousands of Celtic monks brought a spirituality which, following the first fathers made the glory of the first millennium. Patrick, Brigit, Columba, Brendan, Samson, Aidan, Colman, Columban stand out in the history of our church. It is an important part of the heritage of Western Orthodoxy.

The most striking aspect of Celtic Christianity was indeed the role of monasticism which occurred after the rise of desert monasticism and it took deep root among the Celts. Celtic monasticism in the British Isles became a primary force – they were both missionaries and scholars. They have left us a rich heritage of deeply spiritual prayer and a visionary way of finding God in the beauty of His creation.
AD460 Patrick arrives in Ireland as a bishop and missionary. He created the Celtic Cross, which became representative of Celtic Christianity. By introducing the image of the ‘life-giving’ sun he could reach out to Pagans with a symbol that combined Christianity with the Sun. He also used the shamrock (a local plant with a leaf structure of three parts, yet one plant) to illustrate the oneness yet threeness of the Holy Trinity.
AD500 Brigit founds Kildare.
AD557 Columba leaves Ireland for Iona.
AD590 Columbanus begins mission to the Continent.
Later, Latin became the Christian’s language, suppressing other cultures. This ‘change-mission’ to the Celts was initiated by St. Gregory the Great but still with an Orthodox take.
Later again, in AD597 Augustine of Canterbury did flag up that there were different customs and practices in place among the Celtic and Roman Christians. He had been sent by Pope Gregory the Great to evangelise the Saxons, who were driving the Christian Celts into the West.
AD635 St-Aidan begins his mission to the English at Lindisfarne.
AD664 at the Synod of Whitby, many Celtic Christians disagree to abide by Roman traditions. Augustine tried to crush the individuality and autocephaly of the Celtic Church. However, they were tricked into accepting the rule of Rome.

In 1066, the Norman Conquest was, in effect, the first crusade of the “reformed” Papacy against Orthodox Christendom. So terrible was the slaughter, and the destruction of holy churches and relics, that the Norman bishops who took part in the campaign were required to do penance when they returned home. But the Pope who had blessed this unholy slaughter did no penance. Rather, he sent his legates to England, who, at the false council of Winchester in 1070, deposed Archbishop Stigand and most of the English bishops, thereby integrating the “rebellious” land into his religious empire. As Professor Douglas writes: “It is beyond doubt that the latter half of the eleventh century witnessed a turning-point in the history of Western Christendom, and beyond doubt the Normans played a dominant part in assisting the papacy to rise to a new political domination. They contributed also to a radical modification of the relations between Western and Eastern Europe with results that still survive.

Celtic Christianity, still clinging to its Orthodoxy and distinctive customs. was gradually ousted (pushed westwards). The different practices amongst the Celtic, Eastern and Roman Christians remained but by the 13th century almost all trace of Celtic Orthodoxy was lost. 

However, in AD 1866, by the authority of the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Celtic Orthodox Church was re-established and reclaimed its original Celtic heritage.

One of the outstanding features of Celtic Christianity was the monastic movement. Thousands of people learned about the earliest monks from the deserts of Egypt and Palestine, and copied their way of life. Tiny hermitages were built on cliffs, and rocky outcrops became monastic sites.
In Western Europe the culture of the Roman Christian world was largely lost in the Fifth and Sixth Century as the Anglo-Saxons settled. Levels of education, literacy, scholarship and culture declined. This was the period often called the Dark Ages.
It was during this dark period that monasticism reached Britain and Ireland. The model of monasticism used in the Celtic lands was largely Egyptian or Eastern, with the same monastic enclosure surrounding a collection of individual monastic cells. Monks and nuns took up a fierce struggle against temptation, using exactly the same methods as the earlier monastics of the desert. They even called their monastic centres the “desert”, and this word is common in Wales and Ireland. Monastic leaders such as St-David or St-Columba or St-Columbanus established groups of monasteries, and wrote monastic rules for them – setting out the prayer services, penances and the fasting rules for the monks. They were very traditional Christians who maintained the customs of the early Church, believing in the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, and Salvation, though they expressed these in their own unique way.

 The Communion of Western Orthodox Churches, also known as the Western Orthodox Church, is a communion of Christian churches of Orthodox tradition, standing alongside the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox communions. The Western Orthodox communion is distinguished by its adherence to the liturgical and spiritual customs of western Christianity.
The communion currently comprises three member churches:
• The Celtic Orthodox Church
• The French Orthodox Church
• The Orthodox Church of the Gauls

The CWOC was established on 25 December 2007 with the signing of its charter and the concelebration of the liturgy for the Nativity of the Lord by Bishop Maël de Brescia and Bishop Mark of the Celtic Orthodox Church, Bishop Vigile and Bishop Martin Laplaud of the French Orthodox Church, and Bishop Gregory Mendez of the Orthodox Church of the Gauls.

Parishes, monasteries, and missions of the CWOC are currently located in France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Cameroon, Australia, the United States of America, Brazil, and Martinique.

Beliefs
The Communion of Western Orthodox Churches maintains traditional Orthodox beliefs and practice, accepting and affirming the first three Ecumenical Councils. While also affirming all of the theological and doctrinal statements of the latter four great councils, the CWOC rejects the application to the Oriental Orthodox Churches of those councils’ condemnations of monophysitism. Therefore, the Communion recognises both Oriental Orthodox Churches and Eastern Orthodox Churches as sister churches.

Relations with other churches
Written into the directives of the CWOC are provisions for accepting other Orthodox churches which also subscribe to its charter and principles. The acceptance of other Christian churches which adhere to the principles set forth in the Charter and to the uses, advice and directives of the Communion is subject to the unanimous agreement of the signatory churches. This agreement will be informed by comprehensive information about the history, life, spirit and authenticity of the candidate church. Consultations between our churches will be necessary to discern the merits of this candidature.

The Celtic Church lost its sovereignty in the 13th century, but was re-constituted in the 19th century by the Syrian Orthodox Church with a mandate to develop a Western Orthodox Church in the Celtic tradition without recourse to its Oriental roots, so was canonically re-established with the consecration of Mar Julius (Jules Ferrette) in 1866 by Patriarch Mar Ignatius Peter IV of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch. [The Syriac Orthodox Church, Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, is an Oriental Orthodox church with autocephalous patriarchate established by Severus of Antioch, tracing its history to St-Peter and St-Paul, the co-founders of the Patriarchate of Antioch in AD 37 – the same year as St-Joseph of Arimathea founded the Celtic church. They are the most ancient Christian churches in the world.]

In 1955 St-Tugdual founded the Celtic Monastery of the Holy Presence in Brittany, restoring Celtic monasticism and reclaiming its History, its Traditions, its Rites and its Spirit. 

In 1977 His Beatitude Metropolitan Mael became Primate of the Celtic Orthodox Church, residing at the Holy Presence Monastery.  Since 2014, the new primate is Mgr Marc

The Monastery of the Holy Presence is now the heart of the Celtic Orthodox Church. It continues to grow, retaining the historic Celtic traditions, her Rite and her Spirit. New communities have been born and ecumenical relations formed with other Churches.  The Celtic Orthodox Church is an important part of the heritage of Western (Celtic) Christian Orthodoxy.

We carry the torch of the Celtic Fathers’ specific Heritage and that of the Desert Fathers, restoring the Spirituality and example of the Celtic Church.