Judging Latin Book by "Coptic" Cover

JUDGING LATIN BOOK BY ‘COPTIC’ COVER
by PEADAR LAIGHLÉIS

Ex Aegypto vocavi filium meum (Matt 2, 15, cf Num 23, 22)

Treasure from the Bog: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Fadden More Psalter. RTÉ/National Museum of Ireland. 52 Minutes

ONE OF THE most remarkable discoveries of the past decade was the Psalter uncovered in the bogin Fadden More, North Tipperary in July 2006. The Psalter is dated from approximately 800 and is one of the very few books of its age preserved with its original binding intact. The conservation of the manuscript is largely down to the painstaking labour over a few years of John Gillis of Trinity College, Dublin. The television film under review was very interesting and showed the identification and the preservation of the psalter in an entertaining manner. From this point of view, it is well worth a viewing. The contributions of the various scholars are enlightening, though I wonder why Thomas Cahill, author of the feel-good book How the Irish Saved Civilisation was chosen as an interviewee.

It was necessary for the programme to contextualise the discovery in the Irish Church of the day. Though I would have differences in emphases with some of the scholars who spoke, there was nothing misleading presented in the course of the show by any of the academics or Museum archaeologists interviewed. I would have more problems with the type of conclusion drawn by the producer voiced by the narrator.
The first papyrus
To come to the point, the attention focussed on one very important feature. When the bulk of the work was done, it was discovered that the inside of the binding was the first discovery in Ireland of papyrus. This was not to be expected given the climate in Ireland. Egypt’s dry climate is ideal for papyrus; this is found less commonly and in poor condition on the continent; and in Ireland, it was never found at all until this one case. In the course of his conservation work, Mr Gillis visited San Gallen to view similar manuscripts. Following the confirmation that the cover of the psalter did indeed contain papyrus, he went to the Coptic museum in Egypt to examine their book-binding practices, which were remarkably similar. Which prompted the deduction that definite proof connected the early Irish Church with the Coptic Church of Egypt.
 

First we need to be careful about the noun Copt.  It is derived from the Arabic qubt, which is based on the Greek word for Egyptian, Αἰγύτιοι. The Copts are ethnic Egyptians where as most Egyptian Moslems are Arabs in origin. In time this came to have a particular denominational meaning. The Coptic Church is monophysite: it holds that Christ has one nature. There is some diversion as to whether this means that Christ was solely divine or whether by nature was a fusion between the divine and the human, but essentially it believes Christ has no separate human nature. It is noteworthy that the Director of the National Museum, Dr Patrick Wallace was much more nuanced in his approach and spoke of the “monastic church of Egypt”. Though the monophysite position was defined by the Council of Chalcedon in 450 and debated long before that, it took centuries to take shape and it was some time before it was a unanimous position among Egyptian Christians. Likewise, RTÉ uses the term “Roman Catholicism” to refer to a denomination which has never described itself as Roman Catholic. Initially the Church used the designation “Great Church” and after the Great Schism, the western Church referred to itself as Latin Christendom. The term Roman Catholic seems to have been invented by Anglican theologians to designate the Catholic Church as it became after the reformation.  So the application of either term in the context of either Ireland or Egypt in the early ninth century can be misleading.
Desert Fathers
Even without the trace of the papyrus in the manuscript, we can say that there was an Egyptian influence on the early Irish church. The early Church in Egypt left a mark on all Christianity, or at least on any Christian denomination with a role for monasticism. This would exclude most of the Protestant world, but from the High Church wings of the Anglican and Lutheran communions through to the Assyrian Church of the East, there is a plethora of churches in which monasticism has a central importance.  This has been the case since St Anthony of Egypt became the first monk in the third century, following the example of St Paul of Thebes, who was the first acknowledged hermit. Both men were venerated in Ireland, appearing in literature, on high crosses and in many other contexts which marks their special significance. There is no doubt that the spirituality of the Desert Fathers made a deep impression on the Irish Church, which developed as a strongly monastic church to an extent that it took until the 12th century to set up an universally accepted diocesan structure, paving the way for the episcopal church we are acustomed to now. In this way, one appreciates the claims of Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox (i.e. Churches which reject the Council of Chalcedon on various grounds, and who are not in communion with Constantinople nor Moscow; nor necessarily with each other) that the early Irish church was one of them more than similar assertions from Anglicans or Presbyterians.

Of course the development of the Irish Church, and the Egyptian influence on it, was a lot more complex. Firstly, geographical and political factors played a part. In the absence of towns, Ireland was more suited to the development monasteries associated with the tribal federations who ruled Ireland. The Desert Fathers provided a tremendous inspiration in the absence of a cult of martyrs. But the most important source of this influence was not directly from Egypt, but through the Church in Gaul. Gaul was a centre of Greek and Alexandrian influence up to and after the evangelisation of Ireland and figures such as St Martin of Tours bowed to the example of Ss Paul and Anthony. The life of St Martin by Sulpicius Severus was as widely read as the life of St Anthony by St Athanasius. St Patrick was considered the nephew of St Martin, as he was also believed to be St Mel’s uncle. To understand this, we have to understand the importance of the nephew in Irish ideology, specifically the “sister’s son”. Cú Chulainn was the son of Conchobair MacNessa’s sister, as many of the heroes had this relationship with the kings they served, so the poetry of Bláthmac, an eighth century monk, explains the incarnation in terms of Christ being the “sister’s son” of all mankind, the nephew of Man.  The early Irish monks did not literally believe St Martin was St Patrick’s uncle, but rather used the relationship to stress the spiritual descent of the first patron. In other words, that Irish Christianity was derived from Gaul.
Egyptian influence in perspective
This is not to deny the Egyptian influence, but rather to put it in perspective. As Gaul suffered the barbarian assaults (already evident in St Patrick’s lifetime), Gaul became less important and the Irish Church developed a life of its own which would gradually spread through the whole of Europe. It continued to take inspiration from Egypt and elsewhere, Syria and Armenia included. But this appeal was not unique to Ireland. St Anthony was venerated across Europe at the time. St Augustine, mentions both Ss Paul and Anthony in his Confessions and very much imitates them in his monastic legacy. Many centuries after the decline of the Coptic Church, the Russian monastic pioneers imitated the desert spirituality in Russia’s vast wilderness. Though Ireland had no desert, the old Irish dísert came to mean a retreat away from population. But we would get a wrong impression to think this was unique to Ireland, even n the Latin West.

The Egyptian church found other ways of expanding its influence. First of all, Egyptians who accepted the hypostatic union had to go elsewhere. Secondly, Egypt’s monasteries became the prey of multiple attacks from pre-Islamic Arab raiders from the fourth century on. Finally, the Islamicised Arabs supplanted Egyptian autonomy and very soon, the Copts were a minority in their own country. All this meant that there was a steady stream of refugees from Egypt and some of these found there way to Ireland.
Oriental influences
The appearance of a Coptic cover on an Irish psalter is nothing which should cause surprise. The blue pigmentation in other manuscripts is lapis lazuli, which is imported from the Middle East. No one suggests a strong Persian influence in Irish Christianity though. The more important point is that the Fadden More Psalter, like the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow, is written in Latin, as are all texts of the canonical scripture or liturgical importance, together with a great deal of sacred and secular literature in contemporary Ireland. One could argue about the knowledge of Greek in Ireland of the time. There is no doubt that it was known and that it was probably more widely known here than elsewhere in the West, but it never assumed anything near like the importance that Latin had. In this context, it is harder to make a strong case for a particularly close link between Ireland and the Churches of the East, exclusive of any relationship with our sister Churches in the West.

Nevertheless, the programme made one important point. Christianity was established in the Middle East and in its early centuries was divided over three continents. As such it was far from a uniform body, which meant that a church in the far West such as Ireland could absorb oriental influences in addition to the Latin and Gallican stamp that was left on the church. But the programme makers were unable to bring the consequences of this home. In the first place, building so much around the fall of Rome in 476, when the eastern Christian world would say that the Roman Empire continued to exist until 1453, was very much in keeping with the western view of history.  It is interesting nonetheless that everyone accepts the decline of Rome in secular terms from the late fifth century and few correlate this to the increasing importance of the Roman Church through the same period. Secondly, though the programme stated the Coptic Church is thriving, it did not acknowledge the difficulties faced by Copts in their home country right up to the recent martyrdoms in Libya nor the even worse situation of Christians of ancient churches in other Islamic countries. A Christianity which flourished while our own ancestors worshipped idols was to disintegrate due to internal dissension and external persecution over many centuries. It is certain that these churches, particularly that of Egypt, left a mark on the Irish Church among other churches. But it would be a mistake to assume that this was a pre-eminent influence above all others. That is what the programme tries to do.

The Brandsma Review, Issue 136, January-February 2015

Theology in Stone - Irish High Crosses

THEOLOGY IN STONE–IRISH HIGH CROSSES
by PEADAR LAIGHLÉIS

Et ego si exaltatus fuero a terra omnia traham ad me ipsum (John 12,32)

Christ mocked by Pilate’s Soldiers - Muireadach’s Cross, Monasterboice, Co Louth

THE MONASTERBOICE INN in Co Louth would not make a list of world-renowned academic centres, but when I saw Dr Peter Harbison was speaking there on the topic of Irish high crosses, I booked my place. Dr Harbison is an archaeologist working in the Royal Irish Academy with several publications on art and artifacts of early Christian Ireland. This was the Golden Age, a term that Dr Harbison is one of the few scholars to use these days.

Monasterboice is an appropriate venue for such a talk as two of the finest high crosses in Ireland are found at the monastic site there. However, there are several interesting high crosses in counties Louth and Meath alone which Dr Harbison picked for his presentation. Before he began, he dealt with the reasons behind the ring in the Celtic Cross. There are two principal reasons. The first is practical and shows the engineering skills of the Irish monks: the ring supports the arms of the cross. The second is theological.  The circle is a cosmic symbol representing the world, with Christ and His cross in the centre. Ninth century cosmology is an important consideration of the motifs on the crosses, but the model itself is based on the philosophy of history outlined in St Augustine’s De Civitate Dei.

The first local cross Dr Harbison brought us to was in Duleek. This cross is about four feet tall and is easy to miss. It is in the grounds of the former Anglican church in Duleek, which is now a restaurant. The cross itself contains scenes from the apocryphal Early Life of the Virgin which is taken from the non-canonical Gospel of James. Though we don’t take any of these as gospel, the apocrypha does leave its impact on us. It is from this that we have the names of Our Lady’s parents.

Not far from Duleek is the Co Meath village of Colpe on the outskirts of Drogheda. A Celtic cross was discovered there in 1981 and was photographed by Dr Harbison. The cross was detached and as the former Anglican church in Colpe has changed hands on a number of occasions since then, the current status of the cross is unknown. The Crucifixion is depicted on this cross.

The next venue on the tour was the former Anglican church in Termonfeckin, Co Louth. The repetition of former Anglican churches in this talk struck me. Most of these are the oldest centres of worship in Ireland and in recent decades, many have passed into profane hands. This is a tragedy. The Termonfeckin cross is unusual in that the Crucifixion is on the east face of the cross. Normally, this appears on the west face, but it seems that the cross was placed the wrong way round. The Last Judgement, another favourite motif, appears on the west face.
Noah’s Ark
One of the best known features on any high cross is the Noah’s Ark from the cross in Killary, near Kells in Co Meath. This is the trade mark of the Allied Irish Bank, trading as First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland. At this point, Dr Harbison came to the crosses at Monasterboice. There is little doubt that few crosses in Ireland rival Monasterboice, in particular Muireadach’s Cross. The monks responsible for the crosses sourced the finest sandstone available to them which was from a quarry near Kells. The crosses have been standing in the open air since the early ninth century and exposed to all the elements. The most sheltered part of the cross is the underarm, which is somehow protected from the weather and looking at this gives a better appreciation of what the cross was originally like.

Muireadach’s Cross: the west face

 

Cross underarm

One of the striking features of the crosses is the fact that the bottom panels are the clearest. The reason for this is that they were constructed to be devotional and worshipers would kneel in front of them, with their fullest attention directed at the lowest panels. The first cross one meets in Monasterboice is Muireadach’s Cross, which is almost certainly named after second Abbot Muireadach, whose term was between 887 and 924. The general rule to these crosses is to have scenes from the Old Testament on the east face and from the New on the west face. Very often, the selection was deliberately paired; the sculptors followed the Patristic approach of seeing stories from the Old Testament as prefiguration of the New. Thus the crosses had both a devotional and an instructive function. At this point, it is worth reminding readers that mass literacy is only a recent historic phenomenon. In ninth and tenth centuries Ireland few outside the monasteries could read and the purpose of the stone crosses was for preaching and teaching. As a result, a lot of thought and prayer went into the content of the panels on any of the high crosses we might admire.

Left: Adam & Eve; Right: Cain & Abel

Beginning from the bottom of the east face on Muireadach’s cross is a panel depicting Adam and Eve (Gen 2,5–3,24), with Cain and Abel (Gen 4,1-16) alongside it. Above this is the story of David and Goliath (1 Sam 17, 32-55). The third panel up shows Moses striking the rock at Horeb (Ex 17,6), allowing the Israelites drink. The fourth jumps to the New Testament and shows the Adoration of the Magi (Matt 2, 1-12), except that there are four Magi rather than the three we are accustomed to seeing. St Matthew is not specific as to how many there were; he only tells us they left gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. On the east face, the head of the cross begins with St Michael the Archangel holding a weighing scales with the devil trying to upset the balance–the archangel is commonly depicted with a balance. Above him, Christ sits in judgement, with the souls of the blessed on His right and those of the damned on His left, being driven into Hell with Satan wielding his trident (Matt 25, 31-46; Apoc 20, 11-15). King David plays the lyre, flanked by the Holy Ghost as an angel notes the judgement and one of David’s musicians plays the flute. Above this, Christ is depicted in majesty. The top of the cross is shaped like a small chapel, reminiscent of the Gallerus oratory in Dingle. The figures here seem to be the Egyptian hermits Ss Paul and Anthony who were very influential in the development of monasticism.
Crowning of the Thorns
The south face has abstract features and animals.  The only human figure is on the arm where Pilate is shown to wash his hands, a scene which clearly marks out the Passion (Matt 27,24) The horseman above may represent the Apocalypse (6, 1-8). On the west face, the most striking panel is probably the bottom panel usually described as the Taking of Chris (seen above). Here Professor Harbison had two interesting observations. Firstly, Christ is carrying a staff. This is not described in the narratives of His arrest. Indeed, given Our Lord’s upbraiding of St Peter for cutting off Malchus’ ear with a sword, the impression is that He is unarmed (John 18,11). On the other hand, when Pilate’s soldiers crowned Him with thorns, they place a staff in His hand (Matt 27, 29) and clothed Him with a military cloak, described as scarlet by St Matthew (27,28) and purple by the other evangelists (Mark 15,17; John 19,2; Luke attributes the cloak to Herod: 23,11). The cloak on the cross is very elaborate and fastened with a brooch in a style one would expect of an early Irish king (the Tara brooch was reputedly found in nearby Bettystown). Further to this, Professor Harbinson believes that the cross was originally brightly coloured, which is hard to imagine right now. The dyes used were unlikely to stand a millennium of Irish weather. Above the Mocking of Christ is the Transfiguration (Matt 17, 1- 13; Mark 9, 2-13; Luke 9, 28-36) which prefigures the Crucifixion and Resurrection and above this, Christ gives the key to St Peter (Matt 16,19) and the Testament to St Paul. Above this in the head is the Crucifixion, with Longinus holding the lance (John 19,34) and Stephaton holding the sponge with the vinegar (Matt 27,48). Figures representing the ocean and the earth are seen in homage behind the cross. On the left is St Peter’s denial and on the right is the Resurrection with the Ascension above. The north face again has abstract figures, but the nature of interlacing which is difficult to appreciate in light grey, reinforces the thesis that the cross was originally brightly coloured. The arm of the cross has the Mocking of Christ by the Sanhedrin (Matt 26, 67-68), often seen as the scourging. Again Ss Paul and Anthony are seen in at the top of the north face.

If Muireadach’s Cross emphasises the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, the Kingship of Christ is also stressed. The crucified Christ is worshiped by sun, moon, ocean and earth; the infant Christ by four Magi representing the four corners of the Earth (just as the three were once seen to symbolise the three known continents; often highlighted by showing a European Melchior on a horse; an Asian Balthaser on a camel; and an African Caspar on an elephant). The Transfiguration shows the elevation of Christ over the earth and the granting of the key to St Peter shows His sovereignty. That He should sit in Judgement over panels representing the sin of our first parents and the slaying of the innocent Abel, while the victory of David over Goliath shows the strength of good over evil and Moses striking the rock represents Divine Providence. All this is woven into the centrality of the Cross in human history.
Ubi Petrus...
The Tall Cross in Monasterboice, at over seven metres high, is the tallest in the country. This allows for more panels, which I will describe briefly. At the bottom of the East Face, which is predominantly Old Testament, the boy David slaying the lion in defence of his flock. Above him, Abraham sacrifices Isaac (Gen 22, 1-19). Once again, Moses is shown to strike the rock at Horeb–this is popular in Irish high crosses. Over Moses, David displays the head of Goliath, with Samuel annointing him as king on the other side (1 Sam 16, 1-13). Over these, Samson pulls down the Philistine Temple (Judges 16, 3) and then Elijah is shown. At the base of the head, we see the three children in the fiery furnace (Dan 3, 1-23), beneath the main picture of Joshua crossing the Jordan (Joshua 3). To the left, St Anthony is tempted in the desert; and on the right, we see the condemnation of Simon Magus by Ss Peter and Paul (Acts 8, 9-25); above, we see Christ saving St Peter from the waves (Matt 14, 23-33), while at the top, a curious figure from the Old Testament, king Mannaseh (2 Kings 21, 1-17) offering a bull, where he has just destroyed a pagan site.  There is an apocryphal work which suggests Mannaseh converted at the end of his life, held to be canonical by the Orthodox churches. The south face shows scenes from the childhood of St John the Baptist. The west face begins with the body of Christ in the tomb. Over this, we see the Baptism of Christ. Above, we see the women at the tomb. Over this, Christ is seen again with Ss Peter and Paul. The panel above is unclear, but over this, we see the soldiers cast lots for Christ’s seemless garment (John 19, 24). In the head, we see Christ flanked by Longinus and Stephaton and the figures of the sun and the moon.  The Denial of St Peter is split in two; on Christ’s left, we see St Peter warming himself at the fire; on the right, we see the cock and the maidservant questioning him (John 18, 16-27). On the right, we see the Scourging at the Pillar (John 19, 1); on the left we see the Arrest of Christ, specifically the kiss of Judas (Mark 14, 45). Above, we see St Peter wielding the sword in Getsemani and above him, what appears to be Pilate washing his hands again. On the north face, we see Daniel in the lions’ den (Dan 6, 2-29) and David as king. There are many legendary creatures on the crosses, including centaurs, but the griffin is taken to represent Christ, being half eagle and half lion–the eagle being the king of the skies and the lion being the king of beasts.

Monasterboice Tall Cross: Crucifixion

It is clear from the foregoing that St Peter features in several of these panels on the Tall Cross. This iconography is that of the Roman Church, seen here in Ireland in the ninth and tenth centuries. This means that the Tall Cross in Monasterboice is a standing refutation of the argument that the Irish Church was independent of Rome before the twelfth century. Yet, few places are symbolic of the distinctiveness of the Irish Church before the Hildebrandine reform reached Ireland–Monasterboice decayed as the new foundation at Mellifont flourished. Aside from this, if Muireadach’s Cross emphasises the Eucharist, the Tall Cross emphasises Baptism. If the High Crosses are unique to Ireland (aside from a few in Scotland or the Isle of Man, which were very much part of the Gaelic world at the time and for long after), many of the features are common in contemporary Carolignian art on the continent. The ideology and theology are the same. In the words of Professor Harbison, the stone crosses, of which only a small number are described above, represent Ireland’s greatest contribution to European sculpture and stonework in the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries.

There followed a discussion on the preservation of these monuments, which need not concern us here. At present, all are vulnerable to the elements and also, unfortunately, to vandalism. Professor Harbison rightly said that there was never going to be a satisfactory answer to this. However, I cannot state firmly enough how important the high crosses are to Irish and Christian heritage alike. This article, like the lecture, only touched on a few, but thworking in the Royal Irish Academy with severale hope is that any awareness of these great treasures might stimulate further investigation.

The Brandsma Review, Issue 134, September-October 2014