Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
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Preaching the Gospel in the Other End of Nowhere
"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.
Even here, in the other end of nowhere, God would 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.
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.
Aidan, born in Ireland in about the early seventh century, became a monk
on the famous monastic island center in Hii (“Iona” in Latin), off the
west coast of Scotland. Monks from Iona went out to bring the Gospel to
the pagans of Northumbria (in northern England) at the invitation of
Oswald, the king of Northumbria, himself newly converted to Christ.
One such monk made an attempt, but returned to Iona unsuccessful. He
complained that the pagans of Northumbria were too resistant to the
Gospel, too hard-hearted. As the monks were deliberating what to do
next, Aidan spoke up. He said, to their surprise, that the fault was not
with the pagans, but with the preacher sent to them, and that his
methods were too rough and inflexible. 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.
The monks there recognized a true pastor and evangelist when they saw
one. They appointed Aidan to return to Northumbria in the stead of the
other monk. As Aidan did not know the language of the Northumbrians,
King Oswald traveled 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. 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.
Though traveling 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.
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 centers
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. If someone gave money to him or his monks, they used only what
they needed for their necessities, and gave away the rest to the poor or
used it to free slaves. St. Aidan’s heart belonged to the poor and
suffering of the earth.
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 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.”
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."
Archpriest Lawrence R. Farley is pastor of St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox
Mission (OCA) in Surrey, B.C., Canada. He received his B.A. from Trinity
College, Toronto, and his M.Div. from Wycliffe College, Toronto. A
former Anglican priest, he converted to Orthodoxy in 1985 and studied
for two years at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Seminary in Pennsylvania. He is
the author of the Orthodox Bible Study Companion series, published by
Conciliar Press.
This article originally appeared in
AGAIN Magazine Vol. 27 No. 4, Winter 2005.
