Gildas the Sage: Part Three

“The Ruin of Britain” was not written for the masses.  It had only two audiences, one of which was very dangerous, the kings of his day.  The other may have been equally dangerous in its own way, the clergy of his day.  In his work, he condemns them both.

Today, at least in my country, we don’t have kings and our leaders are not sacred, so we don’t have priests as the king’s ministers of government.  We don’t understand a theocracy.  Our perceptions of a theocracy are tainted by what has happened in places like Iran, an Islamic state headed by an Ayatolla.

Anciently, kings were sacred and their governments were run by priests who had the law of God (whichever god they believed in) and administered that law by interpreting sacred texts.  This was still true in 4^th century Britain.  According to Gildas, the God they worshiped was the God of the Old and New Testaments, God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Gildas claims that Christianity came to “…these islands, stiff with cold and frost, and in a distant region of the world,…” during the reign of Tiberius Caesar, who reigned from 14-37 A.D.  So, that’s pretty early.  That means that the Christianity planted in Britain was directly from Jerusalem and the original apostles.

Gildas continues his history describing persecutions and martyrdoms at the hands of the Romans, then wars with the Picts and Scotts wherein they turned to the Roman Legions for help, but finally the Romans leave Britain, never to return.  In this vacuum, the Picts and Scotts attack with a vengeance and the Bretons are in a sore spot.  A famine, made by war, sets in.  (By the way, we’re covering hundreds of years here.  The Romans left Britain in about 410 A.D., after the sacking of Rome by the Germanic Tribes from the north countries.)  We get the history of king Vortigern and the Saxons and the whole mess the Bretons were in.  Their kingdom is on the brink of annihilation.  Picts and Scotts attack from the north and the Saxons attack from the east.   

It is during this vacuum that the history of a king Arthur takes place.  An actual “Arthur” is never mentioned, but remember, “Arthur” may be from an old Irish word, “aite” or “foster-father.”  Solddiers anciently referred to their battle commanders as “father.”   I covered this in my blog from March 12, 2010. But Gildas does mention an Ambrosius Aurelianus and calls him “a modest man.”  High praise indeed, in fact, the only person in all his work whom he does praise, except for God. 

There are many scholars who think this Ambrosius is the historical king Arthur.  But Ambrosius was not a king.  He was a battle commander.  Through his efforts, the Saxons were put to flight, the Picts and Scotts contained, and the kingdom of the Bretons experienced 40 years of peace and prosperity.  It is into this time, about 500 A.D., that Gildas is born, in fact, he says he was born in the same year as the decisive battle at Badon hill against the Saxons, the one that so terrified them they didn’t come to war against the Bretons until Ambrosius was dead, or so I surmise.

So Gildas grows up in this peace and prosperity.  Everything booms, the economy, because the roads are now safe, and the church.  But remember, this is not the Church from Rome, this is a church that still claims some authority from Jerusalem.

And then the pride cycle kicks in.  It doesn’t just happen in the Book of Mormon.  It happens wherever the truth is taught.   The people go from facing destruction and death, to repentance, to righteousness, to prosperity and blessings, to complacency, to indolence and wickedness to ripening toward destruction. 

The kingdoms of the Bretons were no different.

Gildas claims he had received his commission to send out his warning voice in 536 A.D., but he waits ten years to actually publish what he has written.  I can hardly blame him for his procrastination.  It’s a frightening thing to condemn a king, let alone four of them.

Next:  “Britain has kings, but they are tyrants;…”

Gildas the Sage: Part Two

I’ve rediscovered some additional interesting stuff since writing last time.  That little red binder held more than just the writings of Gildas.  It also held some references to other works, especially from “The Celtic Year,” by Shirley Toulson, (Element Books Limited, 1993), and the Oxford Book of Saints (Oxford University Press, 1978).

Gildas was born in the north of the Isle of Britain, near Hadrian’s Wall, sometime between 498 and 500 A.D.  and that he died, according the Welsh Annals, around 570 A.D.  Keep that in mind.  It will be important later on.

He wrote his work, “De Excidio Britanniae,” or “The Ruin of Britain,” in 546 A.D.  The Oxford Dictionary of Saints says this work shows rhetorical power (he was a really good writer) as well as considerable knowledge of the scriptures and other works (he was well educated).  He apparently had access to works and letters from his contemporaries and wrote letters himself, of which we have only fragments.  But the fragments are telling.  From one fragment we read, “Abstinence from bodily food is useless without charity.”  That sounds familiar.  We in the LDS faith are encouraged to fast one day a month, not to go hungry, but to specifically ask a blessing for our own lives or the life of another, and to donate the cost of the meals we miss to the poor – a fast offering.  As Gildas taught, so our Church leaders today teach, that fasting without a purpose is useless. 

Apparently people of Gildas day had begun to practice asceticism, and he recognized it for what it was, “…death has entered through the windows of their pride.”  A clean heart is ultimately what your salvation depends on, not how many meals you do or do not eat.  Pride, not only found in asceticism, but in wealth, was as much a problem then as it is now.  So far, the teachings of Gildas are ringing true to me. 

Next time we’ll dive into his greatest work, “The Ruin of Britain.”

Gildas the Sage, Part One

My home office is a total shambles this morning.  Carpet layers are coming to install new carpeting in the spare room.  Waking up I realized the binder with information on Gildas was probably buried behind the stacks of stuff I’ve stored here.  Still, I went looking for it and to my delight, there was the bright red binder within stretching reach.

 So here we are.

When I was doing my research about king Arthur, the name of Gildas kept cropping up.  There are few records from this time period we are talking about, 450 – 600 A.D.  Most records alluding to the legend of king Arthur, like the history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, were written centuries later.  Even the ancient historian Nennias writes in the 700’s A.D.  But Gildas work is dated 546 A.D.  We couldn’t get an original source any closer. 

Trying to find Gildas work, however, was difficult.  The public libraries were woefully inadequate, so I took myself up to the library at the University of Utah and set about to see what I could find.  Gildas was listed there.  Writing down the reference number and location I set out to find, “Six Old English Chronicles,” a collection of works translated from the Latin and published by George Bell and Sons, London, 1900.

I found myself in a quiet part of the library, hardly another soul in sight.  Pulling the book off the shelf, I found a study desk, sat down, opened the book – and there it was, “The works of Gildas, surnamed ‘Sapiens,’ or the Wise.”  I began to read.

“1. Whatever in this my epistle I may write in my humble but well-meaning manner, rather by way of lamentation than for display, let no one suppose that it springs from contempt of others, or that I foolishly esteem myself as better than they:--for, alas! The subject of my complaint is the general destruction of everything that is good, and the general growth of evil throughout the land:…”

My pulse began to quicken.  This was language I understood.  The Bible is full of this kind of language.  Was my belief that a remnant of Israel was to be found in the British Isles about to be validated?  I kept reading.  That this man was a Christian, there is no doubt, for he started quoting both the Old and New Testament, as if appealing to these scriptures for support of the condemnation he would begin to heap upon the people.  A couple of pages later I read:

“If God’s peculiar people, chosen from all the people of the world, the royal seed, and holy nation, to whom he had said, ‘My first-begotten Israel,’ its priests, prophets, and kings, throughout so many ages, his servant and apostle, and the members of his primitive church, were not spared when they deviated from the right path, what will he do to the darkness of this our age, in which, besides all the huge and heinous sins which it has in common with all the wicked of the world committed, is found an innate, indelible, and irremediable load of folly and inconsistency.”

Simply put, Gildas laments, if God had so punished the Children of Israel for their crimes, what is He going to do to us for our crimes?

I was dancing in the aisles.  I kid you not.  I wanted to yelp with excitement, but I was in a library, so I got up and did a little jig.  This was a prophetic voice of warning in the best Old Testament tradition.

“Six Old English Chronicles” could not be checked out of the library, so I went to the Public Library and requested in inter-library loan.  Some weeks later, a tattered copy from the University of Dayton Roesch Library arrived.  Since the book was published in 1900, I figured it was now in the public domain.  I put a photocopy machine to good use.

I was on my way to the greatest discovery I had yet found, linking Ancient Israel with king Arthur, Merlin and the legends of the British Isles.

Next:  Gildas the Sage, Part Two.

St. Patrick and the Four Sons of Mosiah: Part Three

Where there is no true religion, all that is left is superstition. 

I’d like now to turn to the Book of Mormon and the fours sons of Mosiah.  One of the more popular stories in the Book of Mormon, is of Ammon.  Taking selected companions with them, the four boys arrive in the land, offer a prayer, receive comfort and promises from the Lord, then go their separate ways to different tribes and kings.

The Lamanites of that time are described as follows.

 … for they had undertaken to preach the word of God to a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people; a people who delighted in murdering the Nephites, and robbing and plundering them; and their hearts were set upon riches, or upon gold and silver, and precious stones; yet they sought to obtain these things by murdering and plundering, that they might not labor for them with their own hands.  Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, … (Alma 17: 14-15)

Ammon and his companions eventually come to a tribe governed by one King Lamoni, a son of the high king over all the Lamanites.  There, he willingly enters into the king’s service and is sent to do a dangerous and terrifying task.  He is to keep the king’s flocks.

While Ammon is doing his job with other servants of the king, we come face to face with a typical raid.  Other Lamanites, hoping to add to their flocks, scatter the king’s flocks.  The king’s servants are terrified because they know they’ll be killed by the king for losing his flocks.  Ammon seizes the opportunity and steps forward with sling and sword to defend the flocks and the servants.

Being the son of a king, I’m sure Ammon was well trained on the use of weapons.  He puts that to good use, and defeats all the foes, cutting off the arm of any who came against him.  The kings servants are astounded and overjoyed, to the extent they gather up all the arms and take them to the king to tell the tale of a mighty hero.  And honestly, this is just like the hero stories of the Norsemen, except that, instead of showing up and boasting of his strength and demanding the hero portion at the feast that would follow, Ammon finishes with the flocks and moves on to his next task, feeding the king’s horses and getting them ready for a journey.

The kings is stunned, and rightly so!  Who behaves like this?  He’s terrified that Ammon is the Great Spirit, sent to punish him for being so petty as to put his own servants to death for losing some livestock to raiders.  He wants to talk to Ammon, but doesn’t dare.

When Ammon finishes his chores, he returns to the king for further instructions.  Again, is this how a hero of the old myths behaves?  Surely not!  Lamoni has no idea what to do with this man, but just stares at him for about an hour until the Spirit of the Lord impresses on Ammon what the issues are and the door is opened for Ammon to preach the gospel of Christ.

I find the similarities between these two cultures, the Ancient Irish and the Book of Mormon Lamanites, astounding.  Perhaps there are similarities with other cultures as well.

They both are raiders, taking slaves, boasting of their might and prowess.  They both are in terror of their deities.  The Irish have very frightening deities that have to be appeased somehow.  They both are in terror of death.

Through the preaching of Ammon, king Lamoni and all his people become converted to the Lord, insomuch that they lay down their weapons, even burying them in the earth.  They have a complete change of heart.

Through the preaching of St. Patrick, the land of Ireland is turned from chaos to peace.  These mighty warriors turn from their raiding, warrior ways and instead, turn their energies to studying the gospel of Christ and becoming great scholars.  They have a complete change of heart.

According to the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites and the Nephites, are remnants of scattered Israel, of the House of Joseph of Egypt, of the tribe of Mannessah.

According to the traditions of the British Isles, one of the daughters of king Zedekiah was brought by the prophet Jeremiah to Ireland, where she married a local chieftan.  The tribe of Ephraim/Judah was introduced into Ireland. 

According to Isaiah, the children of Israel, once scattered, shall hear the doctrine of the Messiah, and be restored, converted, healed, changed to bear up the kingdom of God and establish Zion.

This is what Patrick did.  He was a great man, whom I honor and revere.  He had a perfect understanding of the Salvation of Christ. “The difference between Patrick’s magic and the magic of the druids is that in Patrick’s world all beings and events come from the hand of a good God, who loves human beings and wishes them success.”  He was  “completely at peace over whatever may come” because he put his absolute trust in the “hands of God Almighty.” 

Next, Gildas the Sage.

(All quotations are taken either from the Book of Mormon, Alma 17-18, or from “How the Irish Saved Civilization” by Thomas Cahill, Anchor Books.  I highly recommend you read these books for further comparison and enlightenment about St. Patrick and Israel in the British Isles.)

St. Patrick and the Four Sons of Mosiah: Part Two

The great debate in my mind is whether St. Patrick really was a missionary of the Church in Rome or not. I’ve read too many books and articles that mention the Celtic Church of the British Isles, whose leaders absolutely denied having anything to do with the Roman Church, that I’m not entirely convinced Patrick belongs to Rome. By what records there are, the Roman Church doesn’t really take over the British Isles until the 7th century A.D. This is well after Patrick. There were some Roman Church missionary attempts earlier on, after Rome made Christianity the state religion, but upon arriving among the Bretons, they already found a people “conquered by Christ.”

It’s difficult to really know the truth, because in the end, the conquerors re-write history to prove their rights and validity to be in charge. The Romans were really good at propaganda. They’d been around a long time and knew how to put a spin on things so people would fall in line and be obedient to their way of doing things.

In these centuries, 1st to 5th A.D., the world was splitting and decaying, and so was the Church founded by Jesus and His Apostles. By the second and third centuries, splinter groups of Christians are cropping up all over the place, all claiming they have direct mandate from Peter or Thomas or some other original apostle. The church in Rome and the church in Constantinople were no different.

So what makes Patrick so special? What makes him stand out? What makes me think he’s actually preaching the true doctrine of Christ? It’s in what Patrick does, and how it compares to the missionary work of the Four Sons of Mosiah from the Book of Mormon.

When Patrick does go back to Ireland, he goes as a missionary for Christ. He’s in his late forties, and spends the next thirty years of his life preaching the gospel to a stubborn and prideful people.

We know he’s wildly successful, he becomes the patron saint of Ireland, after all, but why does he succeed? I believe it’s because he was teaching truth, not dogma. Only truth and the power of the testimony of the Holy Ghost can do what Patrick did and we have a parallel story from the Book of Mormon to show us how he did it.

From the Book of Alma we learn about Alma and Younger and the four sons of king Mosiah. I’m not going to go into all the history of these young men. You can read the Book of Mormon for yourself and learn all about it. Suffice it to say, these boys had started out as a rather rebellious lot, going among the people in secret and undermining the work of their fathers. Alma’s father, Alma the Elder, was the leader (president, should I say) of the Church. The four sons of Mosiah; Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni, were the sons of the king. Through the prayers and fasting of family and members of the Church, these five young men undergo a miraculous conversion to the gospel and doctrine of Christ. So much so, they completely turn their lives around.

When it’s time for king Mosiah to select the heir apparent, none of his sons want to take on the kingship. They want to go on a mission for Christ – to the Lamanites. Describe the Irish before Patrick, and you will have exactly described the Lamanites: a bloodthirsty, looting band of thugs, stubborn, prideful and bent on exacting revenge for centuries old slights.

When I look at these two groups, the Irish and the Lamanites, and the men who brought them the gospel, the similarities, to me, are remarkable. What happens is a fantastic transformation that I find utterly fascinating.

To be continued…