St Aidan of Lindisfarne, the Apostle of the North
- Aug 3
- 9 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
"For many in that first century, there was no place more remote than Britain. It was, as G. K. Chesterton says in his Short History of England, "lost in a night of northern seas, and finally lit up by the long search-lights of Rome, more for pride than for possession." In bringing Britain within the orbit of the Roman world, "it was felt that the remotest remnant of things had been touched." Britain was indeed "ultimata Thule-the other end of nowhere," the end of the earth.
The first person whose name we know who lived here on the island was St. Aidan. He was not the first human being to live here or hereabouts: Middle Stone Age Man was here from about 8000BC and New Stone Age Man from 3000BC as we know from pre-historic artifacts. During the Roman Empire Britons probably had a village here. They had a name for the Island: Medcaut - a Celtic word of unknown meaning. But in 635AD, in the other end of nowhere, God decided to leave witness of His love in the persons of His saints. And one of the first and most beloved of these saints was Aidan of Lindisfarne.
St Aidan (Irish: Naomh Aodhán;), the first Bishop of Lindisfarne (Holy Island), known as the Apostle of the North, and by some as the Apostle of England, came as a missionary monk to teach Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria.
The Anglo-Saxons, wild, fierce people, having been converted to Christianity by St Paulinus, had reverted back to paganism at the death of King Edwin.
"Aidan lived in the early days of the Church's missionary expansion into Britain, when pagan kings still fought to exterminate Christianity and the soul of Britain hung in the balance of that struggle. In our day, when people are appreciating fantasy and fairy tales once again, it is interesting to reflect that in those far-off days Christian men were living out fairy tales, in that the Christian Faith looked to many like a dream come true. "
The epic struggle between light and darkness-the subject of so much modern fantasy-was the daily adventure for Christians in that time.
Life and Mission
In the year 633, the pagan King Penda of Mercia invaded the kingdom of Northumbria in northern England, which had become Christian a short time before. In the same year the saintly king Edwin of Northumbria was killed and the three surviving princes of Northumbria had to move to Scotland, settling on the great monastic island of Iona, where Celtic monasticism flourished at that time. Some time passed.
One of these princes returned to his native Northumbria but was killed by the pagans. The next prince to return to his native land was St. Oswald who was filled with religious zeal and intended to make his country Christian again. In 634 St. Oswald defeated the pagan army headed by Penda at Heavenfield near Hadrian’s Wall and thus freed Northumbria from the occupiers. At that time there was only a handful of Christian missionaries there, such as the holy Deacon James of York. But there was no resident bishop. Aware of the lack of brilliant preachers, Oswald sent for a missionary to Iona.
"The first missionary who came from Iona was Corman, but he was very stern with the Angles and could not speak their language, so he soon had to go back. On his return to Iona, Corman told the brethren: “What a hopeless task it is to preach to these savage and stubborn Angles!” One of the monks, named Aidan, answered him gently: “Brother, you were probably too strict with these illiterate people. The pagans must be treated with gentleness, fed with the milk of mild teaching and encouragement before they could be ready for the meat of the Gospel.” "
Aidan, born in Ireland in about the early seventh century, and became a monk in the famous monastic island centre in Hii ("Iona" in Latin), off the west coast of Scotland.
In him the monks recognized a true pastor and evangelist. They appointed Aidan to return to Northumbria in the stead of Corman. As Aidan did not know the language of the Northumbrians, King Oswald travelled with him as his benefactor, translator, and friend. The year was 635.
Aidan received consecration as bishop so that he could better establish churches wherever he went. King Oswald gave him Lindisfarne, an island off the east coast of England (just south of today's Scottish border), as his episcopal headquarters. As the early English historian the Venerable Bede says, "As the tide ebbs and flows, the island of Lindisfarne is surrounded by sea twice a day like an island, and twice a day the sand dries and joins it to the mainland." It was the perfect place to find monastic solitude, being both accessible to the world and inaccessible too. On Lindisfarne, the monk-bishop Aidan could seek God in uninterrupted holy stillness, and then go forth easily on his missionary journeys.
Here Aidan established an Irish-type monastery of wooden buildings: a small church, small, circular dwelling huts, perhaps one larger building for communal purposes and in time, workshops etc as needed. Here the monks lived a life of prayer, study and austerity (although in this Aidan was said to be moderate - by Irish standards!). From here they went out on mission.
First they needed to learn the English language and their English king, Oswald, who had learnt Irish in his boyhood in exile, helped them. Then they went out, using Aidan's only method as a missionary, which was to walk the lanes, talk to all the people he met and interest them in the faith if he could. His monks visited and revisited the villages where he sowed the seeds and in time local Christian communities were formed.
Eventually Aidan established on Lindisfarne a school for monastic missionaries, training young English boys to preach the Gospel to their countrymen in their own language.
"The monastery on the Island was for men and boys only. This was not true everywhere. As the Christian faith spread in England double monasteries became popular; under the rule of an Abbess monks and nuns, girls and boys, lived and worked in the same establishment, though not necessarily in close contact! "
But Lindisfarne was different in that it had been founded specifically to be the centre for mission. It would not have been appropriate to have nuns here, since they could not do the same work: public opinion at the time would not have understood or permitted women to walk the lanes and speak to people they did not know. Yet many of the nuns became very learned and their contribution to the success of the mission was great, for everywhere that Christianity spread books were required and many of these were copied by the nuns in their monasteries. Aidan himself had made sure that it was possible in Northumbria for women to become nuns if they so wished. He had "discovered" the woman who was to become the most famous Abbess of her day, Hild, who was to be in turn the Abbess of Hartlepool and Whitby. Her contribution to the church was great: at least five of her (male) students became bishops.
Aidan lived a life rooted in the Scriptures, and he encouraged those travelling with him to spend their time reading the Scriptures and committing the Psalter to memory. He found his delight in God and would often slip away quickly after a meal to spend time in solitude, reading the Scriptures and praying. God prospered Aidan, and he had great success, making converts to Christ and establishing monastic centres throughout northern England.
"One secret of Aidan's success was the humble love and compassion he had for all people. He refused to acquire wealth, but gave away all that he could. Though travelling with the bounty of the king, Aidan humbly went on foot on his many long journeys in the north of England. He would not come in royal splendour, riding on his high horse (either metaphorically or literally). Rather, he met the people where they lived, both geographically and spiritually, and would walk the weary miles to meet them in their homes as an equal, a friend bringing Good News from afar. "
So he was never on horseback, unless compelled by some urgent necessity; and wherever in his way he saw any, either rich or poor, he invited them, if infidels, to embrace the mystery of the faith or if they were believers, to strengthen them in the faith, and to stir them up by words and actions to alms and good works. [...] This [the reading of scriptures and psalms, and meditation upon holy truths] was the daily employment of himself and all that were with him, wheresoever they went; and if it happened, which was but seldom, that he was invited to eat with the king, he went with one or two clerks, and having taken a small repast, made haste to be gone with them, either to read or write. At that time, many religious men and women, stirred up by his example, adopted the custom of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, till the ninth hour, throughout the year, except during the fifty days after Easter. He never gave money to the powerful men of the world, but only meat, if he happened to entertain them; and, on the contrary, whatsoever gifts of money he received from the rich, he either distributed them, as has been said, to the use of the poor, or bestowed them in ransoming such as had been wrongfully sold for slaves. Moreover, he afterwards made many of those he had ransomed his disciples, and after having taught and instructed them, advanced them to the order of priesthood."
— Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (Book III: Chapter V); Butler, 406–407.
In 642, Aidan's friend King Oswald died in battle in his thirty-eighth year. Aidan grieved greatly at the loss of his friend. However, King Oswin succeeded Oswald, and Aidan came to love him just as dearly.
"Bede tells the story of how King Oswin gave Aidan a fine horse to ride whenever he had to cross a river or travel quickly on an urgent errand. Not long after receiving this bountiful royal gift, as Aidan was riding somewhere on the king's horse, he met a poor man asking for alms. Bishop Aidan immediately sprang from the horse and ordered that it be sold with all its rich trappings, and the money given to the beggar."
When news of this reached the king, he was shocked and perhaps a little irritated. When next he and Aidan went in to dine together, King St Oswin asked Aidan about it: "My lord bishop, why did you give away the royal horse which was necessary for your own use? Have we not many less valuable horses which would have been good enough for beggars without giving away the one which I had especially selected for your personal use?"
Aidan at once replied, "What are you saying, Your Majesty? Is this child of a mare more valuable to you than this child of God?"
The king, a man of piety himself, humbly received the gentle rebuke, turning it over in his mind as he stood warming himself by the fire. Pricked in his conscience, he impulsively went over and knelt at Aidan's feet, saying, "I will not refer to this matter again, nor will I ask how much of our bounty you give away to God's children." Aidan, deeply moved, raised him to his feet, assuring him of his love and begging him to sit down to his food without regrets. Later on, during the meal, Aidan grew sad and began to cry quietly. Speaking in his own language, which the king did not understand, Aidan's chaplain asked his bishop why he wept. Aidan replied, "I know that the king will not live long. He will soon be taken from us, because this nation is not worthy of such a king."
His Repose
Aidan's words proved to be prophetic. King Oswin was soon afterwards murdered by his rival and successor. Aidan departed this world a mere eleven days later, dying, some said, from grief over his beloved royal friend, on August 31, 651. He was buried in the cemetery at Lindisfarne.
"Aidan was, even in his earthly life, a wonderworker. The faithful told stories of how he predicted a storm at sea, and gave the sailors who would be caught in it some holy oil to pour on the water and calm the storm. Others told the story of how his prayers shifted the winds, diverting the flames that threatened to burn down a city and so saving its inhabitants."
But the real wonders of Aidan were his loving simplicity of spirit and his ability to touch men's hearts with the love of God. In little over sixteen years of missionary work, Aidan left as a legacy a northern England well on the way to becoming Christian. As the historian Bede said, "He cultivated peace and love, purity and humility. He took pains never to neglect anything that he had learned from the writing of the evangelists, apostles, and prophets, and set himself to carry them out with all his powers. I greatly admire and love all these things about Aidan, because I have no doubt that they are pleasing to God." Working in a time of great upheaval, violence, and uncertainty (a time rather like our own), Aidan spread God's peace by word and deed. Truly, even in a land at the other end of nowhere, God is wonderful in His saints."
Commemorated August 31/September 13
Troparion
Troparion — Tone 4
The truth of things revealed you to your flock as a rule of faith, / a model of meekness, and a teacher of temperance. / Therefore, through humility, you attained the heights; / and through poverty, riches. / O Hierarch Aidan, our Father, entreat Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion — Tone 2
(Podoben: “You sought the heights...”)O Hierarch Aidan, divine thunder, spiritual trumpet, / planter of faith, and pruner of heresies, / great favorite of the Trinity, as you stand before God with the Angels, / pray unceasingly for all of us.
Sources: aidanorthodox.com , lindisfarne.org.uk , parish.rcdow.org.uk , Wikipedia , pravoslavie.ru , oca.org
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