Celtic christians

As the letter ‘j’ was not in use in the ancient Hebrew/Aramaic language, then we know that Joseph of Arimathea was recorded as Yoseph. In St. Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible[1], Yoseph of Arimathea’s official title is given as “Nobilis Decurio”[2]. “Decurio” was the common term employed by the Romans to designate an official in charge of metal mines and “Nobilis” would indicate that he held a prominent position in the Roman administration as a minister of mines. For a Jew to hold such high rank in the Roman State is rather surprising. So important was this office considered within the Roman Empire that the famous Roman writer, Cicero, remarked ironically that it was easier to become a Senator of Rome than a Decurio in Pompeii. (Yoseph opf Arimathea was also the head of the Royal House of David and the uncle of Mary/Mariam, the mother of Yahushua/Jesus.

At the time of Our Lord a minister of the metal mines would have regularly visited the island of Britain since that island had held a monopoly on tin production for several centuries. In fact the island was more commonly referred to by its industry than by its British name – it was known as the “Cassiterides”, meaning “Tin Island”[3] . It was for many centuries the only country in the world where tin was mined and refined. Armies – such as that of the Roman Empire – were dependent on tin for armour.

Historical evidence indicates that as early as 1500 B.C. Phoenician and Hebrew merchants sailed their ships to Britain to barter for tin and other metals[4]. In the fifth century B.C. the famous Greek historian, Herodotus wrote of the metal trade with Britain, referring to it as the “Tin Island”[5]. The great Greek philosopher, Aristotle, used the same name around a century later[6]. Other famous writers who wrote of British superiority in the tin industry and its affluent worldwide trade include Pytheas[7], Polybius[8], Diodorus Siculus[9], Posidonius[10] and even the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar[11]. They deal at length with the British tin industry in the south-west of Britain[12], explaining the paths of transportation from Britain, overland and by sea to the various ports on the Mediterranean and elsewhere in the known world of that time.

The association of Yoseph of Arimathea with the tin industry in Cornwall is also in evidence in that region. Fragments of poems and miners’ songs, handed down through the centuries, make frequent reference to him. It has long been customary for the miners to shout when they worked, “Joseph was a tin man”, “Joseph was in the tin trade”.

We know from the Gospels that Yoseph of Arimathea was also an influential member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious body that ruled Roman Jewry. In fact up to the time of his banishment from Judea around 36 A.D. (due to his connections and support of his nephew Yashua), he continued to retain his official status as a legislative member of the Sanhedrin, a Provincial Roman Senator and Nobilis Decurio.

The Scriptures tell us very little about Yeshua until he was about 30. In fact, apart from the Infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke, they only recount one incident that occurred when he was 12 and his parents lost track of Him in Jerusalem[13]. Tradition has held down through the ages that soon after this incident Yeshua’s foster-father, Yoseph, passed away. And this is when Yoseph of Arimathea would have begun to play a major role in Yeshua’s life.

According to the Jewish Talmud, Yoseph of Arimathea was the younger brother of Mary’s father, Joachim. He was therefore Mary’s uncle and the great-uncle of Yeshua, as has always been taught in the traditions of the Eastern Churches[14]. With the death of Yeshua’s foster-father, under Jewish law the next male kin of the family automatically became guardian of the family. Thus Yoseph of Arimathea became legal guardian of Mariam/Mary and Yeshua.

Further evidence of this is the fact that Yoseph (as head of the family), after Yeshua’s death on Golgotha, requested Yeshua’s dead body from Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor[15]. In the Hebrew tradition only the next male kin has the right to bury the dead person. If Yoseph of Arimathea did not possess this right, undoubtedly the Hebrew leaders would have attempted to block his request to Pilate. The fact that Yoseph buried Yeshua in his own family tomb is clear evidence that he was the next male kin and guardian of Yeshua’s family.[16]

This relationship between Yahushua/Yeshua/Jesus and Yoseph helps explain the longstanding tradition that Yeshua made voyages to Britain with his uncle Yoseph in his tin cargo ships during his youth. Cornish traditions abound with this testimony and numerous ancient landmarks bear Hebrew names recording these visits.[17] This explains the missing information in scripture of the year of 12-30 in the life of Yahushua/Yeshua/Jesus.

Some people may object saying that Yeshua never left Judea until he was 30 but there is no evidence to support this. In fact there are indications to the contrary. Take, for example, the fact that John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to ask Yeshua “Are you He who is to come or should we look for another?” If Yeshua had been in Palestine in the years prior to His public ministry, He and John the Baptist would have met up at least three times each year in Jerusalem since it was obligatory for Israelites to attend the three great feasts there annually. In that case, as cousins, they would surely have discussed their respective destinies and John would not have needed to later send two disciples to Yeshua to ask if He was the Messiah.

Then if we look at the tax incident that occurred during Yeshua’s public ministry[18], we have a further indication that Yeshua had been absent from Judea for quite a long time. We see a tax collector accost Yeshua and Peter on their arrival at Capernaum and ask Peter if his Master has paid His tax - this indicated that Yeshua must have been a stranger. Otherwise Yeshua would not need to pay the tax. But Yeshua put up no argument, advising Peter to pay the ‘stranger’ tax, thereby implying He had been absent for so long that He could be regarded as a stranger. By this act Yeshua admits an absence of many years from His homeland.

St Luke’s Gospel account of the finding of Yeshua in the Temple at the age of twelve, concludes with the words:

“And Yeshua grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men”[19]

And during His public ministry the Jews were amazed at Yeshua’s learning: “The Jewish authorities were greatly surprised and said: ‘How does this man know so much when he has never been to school?’” (John.7:15)

As part of His growth in knowledge and wisdom, it would not be at all surprising that Yeshua would have spent time with the British Druids/Celts. They were the best astronomers and probably the most highly educated people in the world at that time. Both Greek and Roman writers testify that they surpassed the Greeks and the Romans in scientific research[20]. In fact some of the finest universities in the world were in Britain at that time[21] and it took 18-20 years to master the complete circle of Druidic/Celtic knowledge. (Yahushua was absent from the scriptures of Judea for 18 years.) Many major families in Europe sent their children to be educated there at the time. Despite the nonsense written to discredit the celts and druids, historical research is fascinatingly pro celts (ie, they were corma to the Messiah).

The famous British poet, William Blake (1757-1827), captured this tradition of Yeshua in Britain in his poem “Jerusalem”, with the following verses:

This poem was later set to music by Sir Hubert Parry and became known as “The Glastonbury Hymn”. It has been sung by special choirs on unique public occasions even in recent such as the opening of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924 or at the close of the great National Concert in the Royal Albert Hall in front of the King and Queen for the Royal Jubilee Celebrations in 1935.[22]

Persecution in Jerusalem

In the Acts of the Apostles[23] we are told that soon after the stoning of St. Stephen (around 36 A.D.), the Christian community of Jerusalem was scattered abroad to various places. According to a number of historical records one group, led by Yoseph of Arimathea, sailed to France and some of them – including Yoseph – went onto Britain where he had his old contacts with the celts and druids. The great Church historian, Cardinal Caesar Baronius[24], briefly relates the journey in his “Ecclesiastical Annals” with the following words:

“In that year the party mentioned was exposed to the sea in a vessel without sails or oars. The vessel drifted finally to Marseilles and they were saved. From Marseilles Joseph and his company passed into Britain and after preaching the Gospel there, died.”[25]

Cardinal Baronius is generally considered the most outstanding historian of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Curator of the famous Vatican library and a man of great learning. He spent 30 years working on his “Ecclesiastical Annals”. In his account Cardinal Baronius even names the occupants of the boat one by one. In addition to Joseph of Arimathea, he includes Lazarus, Martha, Mary Magdalene, Mary wife of Cleopas, Salome and others.[26]

The first Christian church above ground in the world

So to what part of Britain did Yoseph from Arimathea and his party go? There are numerous indications that they made their way to a place called Glastonbury on the Isle of Avalon in the south-west of Britain[27]. This was a great centre of Druidic learning where – according to local celtic tradition – Yeshua had spent time a number of years before this and built a little church in honour of His Mother.

When the monk Augustine went from Rome to Britain in 597 to promote papal hegemony, he wrote back to Pope Gregory telling him about this church built by Christ Himself in Britain in honour of His mother:

“In the Western confines of Britain there is a certain royal island of large extent, surrounded by water, abounding in all the beauties of nature and necessaries of life. In it the first neophites of Catholic Law, God beforehand acquainting them, found a church constructed by no human art, but divinely constructed by the hands of Christ Himself, for the salvation of His people. The Almighty has made it manifest by many miracles and mysterious visitations that He continues to watch over it as sacred to Himself, and to Mary, the Mother of God.”[28]

This is a remarkable testimony to the apostolic origin of the Celtic Church when we recall that the same Augustine met with intense opposition from the elders/bishops of the Celtic Church when he attempted to persuade them to accept Pope Gregory as their leader. The Celtic tradition is not passed down from Rome which had receieved its authority from the Celtic prince Constantine in the 4^th Century. In fact it is maintained that the leadership had come from the original family of Yeshua who built the first church on celtic/druidic royal lands in Britain. (That Celtic prince became Emporer Constantine when he was sent to control the ‘eastern lands’. He then began the new Church of Rome as a means of controlling the peoples there. He was not faithful to the celtic corma way of following Yahushua Messiah.)

There is an abundance of evidence which we will look at later that indicates that Joseph and his companions made this sacred spot their destination and settled there to build the first Christian church above ground in all the world.

There is also overwhelming evidence that on their arrival Yoseph and his party were welcomed by his friend the Celtic King Arviragus. He presented to Yoseph, as a perpetual gift, free of tax, twelve “hides” of land, a “hide” for each disciple - a “hide” was 160 acres, so in total the King granted them 1,920 acres. With this land grant a Charter was provided which set out the legal aspect of the gift: it gave the recipients right of citizenship and all the privileges accorded to the Druidic/Celtic hierarchy.[29] This is a clear indication that Yoseph was already well known and highly regarded in Britain’s Celtic royal circles.

Yoseph remained in Britain as the head of the missionary band at Glastonbury. From there the Celtic Christian co-operative or Church rapidly spread to various other parts of Britain. In fact the records indicate that in 48 A.D., Conor Macnessa, Irish King of Ulster, sent his priests to Glastonbury for training[30] in the Celtic spirituality taught by the family of Yeshua and Yoseph.

The records also indicate that many other Christians came to Britain to help Yoseph to spread the spirituality of Celtic Christianity. Some idea of how great was the multitude of converts can be gleaned from one record which states that from Gaul alone Philip, the Apostle, sent a total of a hundred and sixty disciples to assist Yoseph and his companions.[31]…corma co-operators.

In the year 60 A.D. the records make special mention of Yoseph going back to Gaul (France) and returning to Britain with another band of recruits of the way followers of the teachings of Yeshua. Among these listed was Simon the Zealot, one of the original twelve disciples of Christ. It is also mentioned that the Apostle Philip blessed Yoseph and his band of co-workers before they set off for their return to Britain. Probably the inclusion of Simon the Zealot indicated an important missionary effort, hence the solemn occasion of the blessing. This was actually the second journey to Britain for Simon the Zealot and his last.

Of Simon the Zealot, Dorotheus, Bishop of Tyre, (A.D. 300), wrote in his work “Synopsis de Apostol”:

“Simon the Zealot traversed all Mauretania, and the region of the Africans, preaching Christ. He was at last crucified, slain and buried in Britain.”[32]

And several centuries later Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Byzantine historian,[33] recounts:

“Simon born in Cana of Galilee who for his fervent affection for his Master[34] and great zeal that he showed by all means to the Gospel, was surnamed the Zealot, having received the Holy Spirit from above, travelled through Egypt, and Africa, then through Mauretania and all Libya, preaching the Gospel. And the same doctrine he taught to the Occidental Sea and the Isles called Britanniae.”[35]

A number of records indicate that St. Paul also preached in Britain.[36] Yoseph of Arimathea continued to lead the Celtic group of followers of the Yeshua way of spirituality in Britain right up to his death at Glastonbury on July 31^st 82 A.D..[37]

The Celtic Christian co-operative of the spirituality of Light of Yeshua that Yoseph founded spread so rapidly in Britain that a little over a century after his arrival in Glastonbury, it came to be recognized officially as the national spirituality or Church of Britain. This happened in 156 A.D. at Winchester[38], then the royal capital of Britain, when King Lucius (King of Light) by a royal edict, officially proclaimed the Celtic Christian Church to be the national Church of Britain. Later in the 4^th Century, the Celtic royal prince Constantine was sent from Britain to control the business interests of the royal celts in the East. He made Constantinople and Rome the spiritual base of the East and even began a new Church of Rome cult.

“Christianity was privately confessed elsewhere, but the first nation that proclaimed it as their religion and called it Christian, after the name of Christ[39], was Britain.”[40]

“Britain officially proclaimed Christian by King Lucius, at National Council at Winchester, A.D. 156.”[41]

“The Britons preserved the faith which they had nationally received under King Lucius uncorrupted and entire, and continued in peace and tranquillity until the time of the Emperor Diocletian” [43]

It is interesting to note that Yoseph of Arimathea and his co-operative of relatives and companions (ie corma) who landed in Britain were never referred to by the British priesthood as Christians, not even later when the name was in common usage. They were called “Culdees”, as were the other disciples who later continued Yoseph’s mission to Britain.

According to many experts[44], the word “Culdee” is derived from “Ceile-De”, meaning, “servant/slave of the Lord”. This title, applied to Yoseph of Arimathea and his companions, clearly indicates that they were considered as special people with a special message, and so they were called “servants of the Lord”. Today in CCA, we use the term ‘culdee’ to signify those who have become ‘servants/slaves of the Lord’ by their co-operative (corma) acceptance of ‘following the way’ of Yashua as taught by his own family.

In the ancient British records[45], Yoseph and his twelve companions are all referred to as Culdees, as also are Paul, Peter, Simon the Zealot, Aristobulus and others who preached the Gospel in Britain. The name was never applied to any disciple not associated with the Celtic Christian co-operators (corma) of the followers of the way taught by Yoseph and accepted co-operatively by the celts and druids. So also today among us, the CCA name then!

As the Celtic Church developed, the term “Culdee” came to be used for the clergy of the Celtic Christians. At the same time the name “Culdee” emphasized the fact that the Culdee Celtic Church was established by Yahushua/Yeshua/Jesus’ uncle, Yoseph of Arimathea. It became a title applied to the Celtic Church and to its clergy, persisting for many centuries in some parts. In CCA we accept the origins but not any modern day officialdom that may not be necessarily co-operative (corma) to the movement of the divine spirit of Light as Yeshua taught.

In Britain Culdees are recorded in church documents as officiating at St. Peter’s, York, until 936. In fact the Canons of York were called Culdees as late as the reign of Henry II in the twelfth century and the name Culdee and Culdich was maintained even more tenaciously by the Scottish Church and its prelates into later centuries.

In Ireland the term “Culdee” was widely used long before St. Patrick arrived there. (Patrick spend the last 30 years of his life in the monastery of Glastonbury where Yashua had built a place of worship (basilica to honour his mother)). O’Driscoll, a noted Roman Catholic writer, states:

“The ancient Order of the Culdees existed in Ireland previous to Patrick; and all their institutions proved that they were derived from a different origin from that of Rome”[46]

“In the greater churches of Ulster, as at Clones and Devenish and at Armagh in our own memory there were priests called Culdees who celebrated Divine Service in the Choir. Their president was styled Prior of the Culdees.”[48]

In fact in Ireland a whole county was named Culdee, declared with emphasis when reference was heard at a court hearing in the seventeenth century as to its laws.

Some people think that the Christian faith was first brought to Britain by the monk Augustine in the sixth century or by St Patrick who died in Glastonbury after living there for over 30 years. However, anyone who researches the historical records will find overwhelming evidence that the Celtic Christian Church was alive and well in Britain for over five and a half centuries before Augustine had even set foot on British soil. In fact Augustine himself admits this in his famous letter to Pope Gregory in Rome - which we saw earlier[49]- when he reports that “the first neophites of Catholic Law” found the church our Lord had built in Glastonbury in honour of His Mother.

And many other famous people before Augustine confirm the establishment of Celtic Christian communities in Britain by the disciples of Yahushua/Jesus. The well-known writer and earliest of the Church Fathers, Tertullian of Carthage[50], back in 208 A.D. stated that in his time the Christian Church “extended to all the boundaries of Gaul[51] and parts of Britain inaccessible to the Romans but subject to Christ”.[52]

“The word Christian was spoken for the first time in Britain, by those who first received The Word, from the Disciples of Christ.”[53]

A contemporary of his, the great philosopher and Church Father, Origen[54], wrote:

“The power of our Lord is with those who in Britain are separated from our coasts.”[55]

Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea and the “Father of Ecclesiastical History”[56], stated:

“The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the Isles called the Brittanic Isles.” [57]

Some years later the great translator of the Scriptures into Latin, St. Jerome, stated in 378 A.D.:

“From India to Britain all nations resound with the death and resurrection of Christ.”[58]

A few decades later the venerable Patriarch of Constantinople, John Chrysostom[59] stated in his “Sermo De Utilit”:

“The British Isles which are beyond the sea, and which lie in the ocean, have received virtue of the Word. Churches are there found and altars erected…. Though thou shouldst go to the ocean, to the British Isles, there thou shouldst hear all men everywhere discoursing matters out of the Scriptures, with another voice indeed, but not another faith, with a different tongue, but the same judgment.”

And the famed Taliesin,[60] one of Britain’s greatest scholars, Celtic Arch Druid and Prince Bard, forthrightly declares that though the Gospel teaching was new to the rest of the world it was always known to the Celtic British. He writes:

“Christ, the Word from the beginning, was from the first our teacher, and we never lost His teachings. Christianity was a new thing in Asia, but there never was a time when the Druids of Britain held not its Doctrines.”

In the sixth century Gildas Baldonicus[61], Britain’s foremost early historian, wrote in his “De Excidio Brittanniae”:

“We certainly know that Christ, the True Son, afforded His Light, the knowledge of His precepts to our Island in the last year of Tiberius Caesar”[62]

“Yoseph introduced Christianity into Britain in the last year of the reign of Tiberius.”

In later periods subsequent to Augustine of Canterbury the confirmations continue to abound. For example, the date of the arrival of Christianity in Britain is very clearly stated in the illustrious “Historia Britannorum” compiled by Nennius in the early ninth century. Nennius was one of Britain’s greatest historians and also Abbot of Bangor-on-Dee. He states that he drew most of his information from the writings and monuments of the old British inhabitants. Nennius records that Christianity arrived in Britain “in the last year of Tiberius”.

Further weighty confirmation is to be found in William of Malmesbury’s manuscript, “Antiquity of Glastonbury”. William of Malmesbury is recognized as the official historian of Glastonbury and was held in the highest esteem as an exacting, honest writer. The learned Archbishop Ussher refers to William of Malmesbury as “our chief historian”. Leland and others call him “an elegant, learned and faithful historian”. His reputation was so great that he was invited by the Abbot of Glastonbury to dwell among them and write a faithful history of the Abbey from a study of the ancient manuscripts. At that time, before the great fire of 1184 which destroyed the abbey and its library, all the treasured records and manuscripts were in existence and at his disposal. He wrote his “Antiquity of Glastonbury”[63] in 1121. In corroboration of his fine work he refers to a Christian mission to Glastonbury in 183 A.D. and quotes from the record left:

“They also found the whole story in ancient writings how the holy apostles, having been scattered throughout the world, St. Philip the Apostle coming into France with a host of disciples, sent twelve of them into Britain to preach, and that – taught by revelation – constructed the said chapel which the Son of God afterwards dedicated to the honour of His Mother. Their leader, it is said, was Philip’s dearest friend, Joseph of Arimathea, who buried our Lord.”

Even many noteworthy Roman Catholic authors subsequently confirm the establishment of Christianity in Britain by Yoseph of Arimathea, the uncle of Yeshua and Mary/Mariam. For example, the Archdeacon of Wells, Polydore Vergil[64], an eminent Roman Catholic author who wrote during the denunciations and quarrels between the Pope and Henry VIII of England, stated:

“Britain partly through Joseph of Arimathea, partly through Fugatus and Damianus, was of all kingdoms the first to receive the Gospel.”[65]

In 1555 Cardinal Pole, as the Pope’s representative in Britain, in front of Queen Mary and the asssembly of the Lords and Commons, stated:

“This island first of all islands received the light of Christ’s religion”[66]

This is a pinnacle of understanding to our own CCA spirituality. For we have received the divine light to co-operate with the adoring or religious spirituality of Christ’s mind of Light. We have each been bestowed with the ‘mind of Christ’. We have each chosen to be ‘culdee’ and serve the Lord with adoration and co-operation. So the name of the Celtic Corma Adorers (CCA) spirituality which is served by the Magnificat Meal Movement International (MMMI), as the sower of the word and teaching of Yeshua.

“This nation in the time of the Primitive Church was the first to be called out of the darkness of heathenism”[67]

“We have abundant evidence that this Britain of ours received the faith, and that from the disciples of Christ Himself, soon after the Crucifixion.”

“It is certain that Britain received the Faith in the first age from the sowers of the Word. Of all the churches whose origin I have investigated in Britain, the church of Glastonbury is the most ancient.”[68]

William Goode, a priest who was born at Glastonbury and educated there during the reign of Henry VIII, confirms the old records, further stating:

“There was in existence at Glastonbury inscribed tablets to perpetuate St. Joseph’s memory, chapels, crypts, crosses, arms, and the observance of the feast of St. Joseph for six days at the Kalends of August, as long as the Monks enjoyed most securely the King’s charters.”

He relates the arrival of Yoseph with his group, the gifts of land to Yoseph of Arimathea by King Arviragus and the burial of Yoseph at Glastonbury.

The erudite Archbishop Ussher of Armagh[69] wrote in his “Brittannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates”:

“The British National Church was founded in A.D. 36[70], 160 years before heathen Rome confessed Christianity.The Mother church of the British Isles is the church in the Isle of Avalon, called by the Saxons Glaston”.

There are many other authoritative testimonies that we could list[71] here regarding the establishment of the Celtic Church in Britain by Yoseph of Arimathea but this is hardly necessary at this point. Perhaps the greatest testimonies of all come from Baronius and Alford, the two foremost historians of the Vatican. Referring to ancient documents in the Vatican Library, both of them affirm St. Joseph as the Apostle of Britain and the first to introduce Christian teachings to the island. The Popes also have substantiated this statement.

Even Queen Elizabeth I confirmed this in a very public manner when she solemnly stated at Calais before Commissioners appointed by the French King:

“Joseph of Arimathea planted Christian Religion immediately after the Passion of Christ in this Realme”[72]

Another indication that Christianity was founded in Britain by Yoseph of Arimathea is the seniority granted to British bishops at Church Councils. At these Councils the representative of each country customarily took his seat in the order in which each land had received Christianity. Over the centuries the British Bishop has retained the first seat. Even over a thousand years after the first Church Council, when France and Spain challenged the priority of Britain in 1409, it was the Pope who vetoed the complaint by stating that Britain held priority of place by reason of her being the first nation to accept and co-operate with the faith and spirituality in the way taught by Christ. And as a result not only at the Church Council of Pisa (1409), but also those of Constance (1417) and Siena (1424), it was clearly stated that the British Bishops were accorded seniority on the grounds that “Joseph of Arimathea brought the faith to Britain immediately after the Passion of Christ”

Theodore Martin of Lovain, wrote of these disputes in 1517 in his “Disputatio super Dignitatem Angliae et Galliae in Councilio Constantiano” and reports that “the antiquity of the British Church was affirmed in Ecclesiastical Councils.” He lists the examples of the Councils of Pisa, of Constance and of Siena and informs us:

“It was stated that the British Church took precedence of all other Churches, being founded by Joseph of Arimathea, immediately after the Passion of Christ.”

The fact that the celts/druids accepted the spiritual light of the mind of Christ as taught by Yoseph of Arimathea is the basis of our individual CCA spirituality of divine choice of co-operation. We are not deceived by the modern day imaginative writers who debunk the celts and druids. Those celts who chose to accept and co-operate divinely (corma) with the message of the Messiah were not the barbarians they are often painted to be.

The learned Archbishop Ussher states that the basis of these claims by the British Church was the burial of St Joseph at Glastonbury and the donation of the twelve Hides by King Arviragus to him.

There are many other historical indications that Yoseph of Arimathea founded the Celtic spirituality of Christianity at Glastonbury. Take, for example, the fact that the church at Glastonbury was dedicated to the mother of Yeshua from the start.[73] The tradition of dedicating churches to the Virgin Mary only began during the twelfth century, the church at Glastonbury being the only exception as done by Yeshua and continued by Yoseph.

Further evidence lies in the list of recorded names, still extant, buried at Glastonbury. It is the most illustrious and unique, superior to any other cemetery in the world. For over a thousand years all the greatest kings, bishops, saints and heroes of the British race were interred here.

Another indication are the Charters supporting Glastonbury. The story of King Arviragus granting twelve “hides” of land to Joseph of Arimathea and his party is not a myth, a legend or an unsupported tradition. The title is officially recorded in the ancient names in the famous Doomsday Book (A.D. 1086), which reads as follows:

“The House of God, in the great monastery of Glastonbury, called The Secret of Our Lord. This Glastonbury Church possesses in its own ville XII hides of land which have never paid tax.”[74]

Not only is this particular evidence officially recorded in the historic Doomsday Book, it also corroborates the original deed of the twelve hides of land – 1,920 acres – and its tax-free grant as given to Yoseph of Arimathea and his companions by King Arviragus of the royal Silurians when the Christian group first landed in Britain in 36 A.D..

It should be borne in mind that the date given above, 1086 A.D., is not the date in which the Doomsday Book was first written. It represents the date in which the Norman King William had all the historic events recorded within the ancient book rechecked and brought up to date to his reign as King of England.

The original date and name of this great book is “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”,[75] preserved in the British Museum. It was created by King Alfred the Great in 871 –he commissioned monastic scholars to translate into the Saxon/British tongue the ancient British history from documentary evidence. The British historians Capgrave and Kemble both wrote that Alfred was given great credit in history for creating laws, institutions and reform. What he did was to restore and enforce the ancient Celtic/British practices of law, order and spirituality of movement of religion in existence many centuries before his time. This is borne out by an old record in which it states that Alfred ordered the ancient scriptural common existing laws of Dunwal to be codified into the Saxon tongue. Dunwal[76] was the greatest of early British Celtic kings and certainly the greatest law maker in British history.[77] He is recorded as Dunwal, the Law Maker. He lived and reigned around 500 B.C.

However, one cannot help but be impressed by the act of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, hostile to the Saxons by his claim to priority to the British crown, in recognizing the validity of the record of this ancient church and causing the facts to remain perpetuated in the famous historic Doomsday Book. Not only this, but he openly declared his respect for the sacred Glastonbury Abbey by endowing the church with another Charter and his royal protection. He too honored the choice of Yeshua and Yeshua in honoring the Mother of Yeshua at Glastonbury.

Over fifty years before this act of William, another foreign invader, the Danish King Canute, had journeyed to the Glastonbury Abbey of Mary with a great entourage and knelt beside the tomb of the former British king, Edmund Ironside, whom he so greatly admired. The historic record is lavish in detail, telling us that the pilgrimage of the Danish king was conducted in spendour, and with “peacock feathers”. He bestowed on the church munificent gifts and gave to it his enlarged Charter in 1032 A.D..

No church in the world has been favoured so many times by Royal Charters as the Celtic on to Mary in Glastonbury Abbey. Each regal seal declared its sacred historic beginning, attesting to the world-wide reverence held for this sacred memorial to Christ.

In addition to all of this there is the fact that for over one thousand years annual pilgrimages were made to the tomb of Yoseph of Arimathea by pilgrims from all parts of the Christian world in the month of August. (First week in August being also the 5^th August festival of the light of Mariam – garden party pilgrimages continue worldwide and the true birthdate of Mariam/Mary (See: “Mother of the Snows in Rome”.))

And when printing was invented, the first book to come off the press after the Bible was the life story of St. Yoseph of Arimathea printed by Wynkyn De Worde.[78]

The Celtic Church had to endure various periods of persecution. During the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian at the start of the fourth century there were many martyrs. The Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain in the later part of the fifth century[79] provided further persecution for the Celtic Church which had to withdraw to the western side of Britain for a time (ie Glastonbury). However, little by little many of the invaders were won over to the Celtic Christian way of spirituality of the teachings of Yahushua.

However, the arrival in Britain of the papal emissary Augustine in 597 marked the beginning of a new persecution which would eventually lead to the total suppression of the Celtic Christians. The Celtic Church had come to differ from the Roman Church in many aspects. It was more ancient and based all its teachings and precepts on Sacred Scripture. It followed the ancient calendar including the sacred observance of the Sabbath and the prescribed biblical feasts. The Celtic Christians looked a lot to St. John the Evangelist, the “beloved disciple”, whereas the Roman Church focussed on St. Peter of Rome. The Celtic Christians considered themselves “followers” of the way of the Messiah rather than followers of the Pope of Rome’s laws. They had chosen to be co-operators with the divine spirit (ie corma) as we do in CCA and MMMI activities.

The Culdees directed the Celtic Church. They incorporated some of the terms used by the learned Druids and retained the white dress of the Druidic priests[80]. The Culdees usually came into office by heredity. Another difference from the Roman Church was the fact that the property of the Culdee was owned by the family, not by the Church. This was a major issue of difference. As late as the twelfth century Giraldus Cambrensis, bishop of St. David’s and a strong supporter of the Roman Church, complained that in the Celtic Church “the sons after the deaths of their fathers, succeed to the ecclesiastical benefices, not by election, but by hereditary rights.”[81] The issue of the ownership of property became reason for the Church of Rome adopting a celibacy manmade rule.

The Celtic Church colleges were attached to the churches and the seats of learning were called “Cathair Culdich” i.e. the Chair of the Culdees[82]. This followed the Druidic university practices of their past.

Augustine’s initial endeavours to bring the Celtic Church under the control of Rome met with intense opposition from the bishops of the Celtic Church. When he attempted to persuade them to accept Pope Gregory as their leader, Bishop Dianothus, Abbot of Bangor-Iscoed, responded on behalf of the Celtic Church:

“But as for any other obedience, we know of none that he whom you term Pope, or Bishop of Bishops, can demand. The deference we have mentioned we are ready to pay to him as to every other Christian, but in all other respects our obedience is due to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Caerlon, who is alone under God our ruler to keep us right in the way of salvation.”[83]

In the CCA we follow the same rulership of Yahweh as the sole ruler of each individuals co-operator or follower (corma-saint).

In 601 Augustine and some of his followers attended the Synod of Chester. Seven bishops from the Celtic Church were present along with many men of great learning from the monastery Bangor-Iscoed. The general assembly openly opposed themselves to the Roman Church, declaring:

“The Britons cannot submit either to the haughtiness of the Romans or the tyranny of the Saxons.”[84]

The Culdees of the Celtic Church pointed to the second canon of the Council of Constantinople[85] which ordained that the Churches that are outside the Roman Empire should be governed by their ancient customs.[86] However, Augustine was determined to force the Celtic Church to submit to Roman hegemony, declaring a threat of attack:

“If you do not receive brethren who bring you peace, you shall receive enemies who will bring you war. If you will not unite with us in showing the Saxons the way of life, you shall receive from them the stroke of death.”[87]

Clearly St Augustine was no saint of the spirituality that co-operates with the peace teachings of Yeshua or love of others. (One must wonder why the Church of Rome cannonised this unchristian bishop. See Study: “Augustine the Manichean Bishop”.)

In 613 a large section of the Christian community at Bangor-Iscoed – about twelve hundred people – was in deed massacred by Anglo-Saxon Roman Church Empire troops. This had been the major seat of learning of the Celtic Church in Britain.[88] According to the historian, Venerable Bede, it was Augustine who originally instigated the massacre to dispose of the teachings, followers and descendants of Yeshua and Yoseph.

Other massacres followed and thus the Roman Empire Church power gradually imposed itself more and more in Britain by force and power. This forcing of the Cult of Rome still continues today as we have experienced ourselves by the public ridicule and slander through the global medias to force our corma-saints to return to the Church of Rome. Is Iraq war another sign of this? A major turning point was reached at the Synod of Whitby in 664 when Colman, the abbot of Lindisfarne, on behalf of the Celtic Church, agreed to change over to the Roman tradition under force. Notwithstanding Colman’s surrender, there were many pockets of resistance for a long time after this. Therefore the divine co-operation (ie corma) was forcefully changed to obey the cult of the Church of Rome with unscriptural manmade laws.

Another blow to the Celtic Church came in 673 with the Council of Hertford. It was presided over by Archbishop Theodore and condemned the Celtic Church as non-Catholic.[89]

The beautiful island of Iona had been a stronghold of the Celtic Christians under the 32-year leadership[90] of St. Columba who maintained the Sabbath observance of Yeshua and the celts. He died there the same year that Augustine started his mission in Britain. The Celtic Church community in Iona resisted the Roman Cults pressure for many years.[91] In the early years of the 8^th century the chief Culdee in Iona, Adamnan, switched his allegiance to the Roman Church instead of allegiance to co-operate with Yahweh as the sole ruler of the Celts. The rest of the community at Iona forced him to go into exile because of his betrayal and his preference to co-operate with the Roman Empire Army Church in contrast to co-operation with Christ like the celts had done. However, some years later, in 717, King Nectan completely expelled by force the members of the Celtic Christians and families from Iona to please the Roman Army Church demands and threats. Many died as a result. King Neatan was under threat himself from the Church of Rome’s Pope if he did not do this to the celts. The Celtic Christians were painted as heretics to Rome!!

Despite all these setbacks many other communities of the Celtic Church continued to resist Roman domination. Around 730 A.D. the strongly pro-Roman Church historian, Venerable Bede, wrote:

“The Britons are contrary to the whole Roman world and enemies to the Roman customs, not only in their Mass, but in their tonsure…The Britons … set themselves against the appointed custom of the whole Catholic Church”[92]

“The Britons still persist in their errors, halting and turning aside from the true path, expose their head without a crown[93] and keep the feast of Christ[94] apart from the fellowship of the Church of Christ”.[95]

The actions of co-operation to the divine light as practiced by the Celtic Christians was then labeled as ‘in error’ and in many places rewarded with slavery or murder or terrorism.

In other countries throughout Britain and Europe the Celtic Christian Church vigorously resisted papal hegemony for a long time.

The Celtic Church in Ireland put up a very stubborn resistance to the Roman Papal rule. Undoubtedly the example of St. Columbanus[96], one of the greatest Celtic Christian missionaries of all time, had a big influence. He lived the last part of his life in his famous monastery at Bobbio in northern Italy where he continued to observe the Celtic traditions of Christ. He even wrote to the Pope challenging him to accept the Celtic Church’s calendar and pointed out to him that St. Jerome had supported it.[97] In one letter to Pope Boniface IV he stated:

“Your Chair, O Pope, is defiled with heresy. Deadly errors have crept into it; it harbours horrors and impieties. Catholic? The true Catholicism you have lost. The orthodox and the true Catholics are they who have always zealously persevered in the true faith.”[98]

Columbanus died in 615 but the Celtic Christian Church in Ireland resisted papal hegemony for a long time after his death. The Vatican’s Cardinal Baronius states:

“The bishops of Ireland were all schismatics, separated from the Church of Rome”.[99]

However, eventually the Celtic Church in Ireland - as elsewhere -became increasingly absorbed into the Roman Church as its properties got confiscated by force by the Roman Church Army hierarchy.[100] In the twelfth century it received a devastating blow with the invasion of King Henry II of England in 1171. He brought with him the Papal Bull “Laudabiliter” in which the Pope claimed the right to bestow Ireland as a gift to the English King on condition that he suppress the Celtic Culdee Church and bring the island and its people into submission to the manmade church of Rome. King Henry organized a Council of Irish Clergy in Cashel in 1172 which brought the Celtic Church and the celtic christian people of Ireland under Roman papal control once and for all. Sadly, the “Celtic white rose of Ireland” has suffered since.

Nevertheless, there still remained pockets of resistance in some parts of Ireland for many years. The records indicate that a Culdean abbey and church were still functioning actions obedient to Yahweh in Ireland’s Tipperary in 1185[101]. In fact a deed executed in 1628 states that the lessor was “Edward Burton, prior of the Cathedral Church of Armagh, on behalf of the vicars Choral and Culdees of the same”[102]. And Bishop Worth, in his rental of Killaloe drawn up in 1667, adds as a note to the thirty-three canons, “These in Ulster are called Culdees”[103]

The Celtic Christians Church in Scotland also put up resistance to Roman Catholic Army Church’s papal hegemony for several centuries. In the tenth century the Pictish king, Constantine II, according to the Register of St Andrews, “having resigned the kingdom according to God’s will became Abbot of the Culdees of St. Andrews.”[104]

“The Culdees continued to perform Divine worship[105] in a certain corner of the church after their own manner, nor could this evil be removed till the time of King Alexander in 1124, so that the Culdees and popish priests performed their services in the same church for nearly three hundred years.”[106]

So the Celts were labeled as ‘evil’ for their separate services from the Papish (Roman) priests!

The twelfth century Charter of David of Scotland (1084-1155) similarly indicates there was still some resistance when it states:

“Be it known that we have granted to the Canons of St. Andrews the Island of Loch Leven, that they may establish there a Canonical Order; and if the Culdees who shall be found there remain with them, living according to rule, they may continue to do so in peace; but if anyone of them resist, we order hereby that he be ejected from the island.”[107]

This forceful rejection from their homes was mostly executed if the celts were found to be practicing Sabbath like the Messiah did.

In fact the Celtic Culdees had in Abernethy a university and a college church which is known to have subsisted towards the end of the thirteenth century.[108]

Perhaps the Celtic Christian Church (CCC) and its traditions would have put up a more protracted resistance to Roman Catholic Army Church’s papal hegemony if the great historical church and its library at Glastonbury had not been destroyed by a great fire in 1184. Although a Royal Charter was issued by King Henry II soon after the fire to rebuild Glastonbury Abbey as “the Mother and burying place of the Saints, founded by the Disciples of Our Lord”, the great treasures of proof of the true historical facts held in the library had been lost forever. A tragic and suspicious fire!

The final destruction of the Celtic Christian way at Glastonbury Abbey came about in 1539 with the dissolution of the monasteries perpetrated by King Henry VIII[109]. Today there is only the ruins of what was once a great abbey and Celtic Marian church at Glastonbury. All the historical Roman type deceptions and violent persecution and destruction have gradually eroded the memory of Glastonbury’s unique place in Christian and Celtic history and the great traditions of the Celtic Culdee Church.

We today in the 21^st century have each individually chosen to be co-operative followers of the Messiah’s Light. The force and threats and slander have been hurled at us too in our CCA and MMMI spirituality. Yahushua (Jesus) gave us the mission of peace with Yahweh God as our beloved ruler and for those who remain faithful to the divine way… there will always be attach from the true cults of men. We too have seen many race back to surrender to the man-made laws of the Roman religious groups. But we have also seen many return to our ranks to find the blessed relief of following fo-operatively (corma actions) with the Messiah’s light. Finding the facts builds ones confidence to stand firm and at peace with Yahweh above. The ‘saints’ have no need to be the slaves of man as they are the slaves of love / Yahweh (Romans 6).

L.S.Lewis: St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury, Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, 1955

A.Gray: The Origin and Early History of Christianity in Britain, Artisan Sales, CA, U.S.A., 1991

E.Raymond Capt: The Traditions of Glastonbury, Artisan Publishers, Oklahoma, U.S.A., 1987

L.S.Lewis: Glastonbury, her saints, Thorsons Publishing Group Ltd, Northamptonshire, England, 1985

G.F.Jowett: The Drama of the Lost Disciples, Covenant Publishing Company, Co Durham DL14 OHA, England, 2004

J.P.Carley: Glastonbury Abbey, Gothic Image Publications, Somerset BA6 9DP, England, 1996

J.Michell: New Light on the Ancient Mystery of Glastonbury, Gothic Image Publications, Somerset BA6 9DP, England, 1997

H.W.Stough: Dedicated Disciples, The Birth of Christianity, Artisan Publishers, Oklahoma, U.S.A., 1987

E.Schroeder: Whatever happened to the Twelve Apostles?, Peacock Publications, S.A., Australia, 2003

I.H.Elder:Celt, Druid and Culdee, Covenant Publishing Co., S.W.I., England, 1962

De origine Ecclesiae Britannicae by Elvan of Avalon (an illustrious British scholar who had been educated in the School of Joseph of Arimathea at Avalon, A.D. 180. He is referred to by the eminent Roman Catholic eccleasiastic Pitsaeus, and Cardinal Baronius)

[1] The most universally accepted Latin translation, commonly called the Vulgate

[2] See Mark 15:43 and Luke 23:50. Britain’s earliest historian, Gildas Baldonicus (516-570), also refers to Joseph of Arimathea as “Nobilis Decurio”.

[3] Cassiterite being an ore of tin

[4] See E.Raymond Capt: “The Traditions of Glastonbury”, Artisan Publishers, Oklahoma, U.S.A., 1983, p.23-25, 28

[5] Circa 445 B.C. Bk. 3:115; Thalia, Section C, XV

[6] 350 B.C.

[7] 353 B.C.