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A Pilgrimage to Ireland 2008
Our first five nights were spent in Belfast, taking day trips to the pilgrimage sites that could be easily reached from Belfast. Our accommodations were more than adequate since we were staying in the Europa Hotel, one of the finest in all of Ireland. After resting up from our journey we set out in the mini van we would come to know quite well for our first day of visiting the ancient holy places.
Our first stop was in the middle of a twisty lane next to a small garden where an ancient holy well was carefully tended by the owners of a nearby house. It was our introduction to Irish holy sites, a prehistoric Druidic well, converted to use by the Christians. We traveled then to Saul on Strangford Lough where St. Patrick first landed on his missionary journey to Ireland. A local chieftain named Dichcu was converted there and gave St. Patrick a barn (sabhal pronounced “saul’ in Gaelic) to use as a church. St. Patrick died in Saul on 17 March 461 and was buried in nearby Downpatrick. There is a replica church on this spot, maintained by the Church of Ireland (Anglican). Not far from Saul is Raholp where we found the ruins of the church of St. Tassach. It was here that St. Patrick is said to have received his last rites. To access the church we had to climb over a rock wall and pass through a field occupied by a dozen or so black bulls, who stared at us in a most disconcerting manner. I had chosen that day to wear a bright red shirt. Our next stop was down the road at the Struell Wells. Since prehistoric times this lovely dell has been a place of bubbling springs tumbling into brooks. In this spot a well doesn't have to be very deep before it starts to brim with fresh clear water. It was doubtlessly a place held in high regard in ancient Druidic times. The early Christians turned it into a place where baptisms were performed, even erecting stone buildings around the baptistries. The many wells were reported to have healing powers for various ailments making this spot a favorite place of pilgrimage in medieval times. Finally that day we traveled to Downpatrick (from the Irish: Dún Pádraig meaning "Patrick's fort"), where St. Patrick's tomb lies in the churchyard of Down Cathedral. It is called his "tomb", yet all that can be said for sure is that his relics were once buried here.
This day we visited the site of St. Colmcille's (St. Columba) monastery at Kells whose tall, round tower still exists to this day. This is the place where the famous Book of Kells was found, but the book is now kept at Trinity College in Dublin. The church yard has four fine examples of large Celtic crosses. Another large Celtic cross stands outside the tourist center and is protected from the elements by a plexiglass roof. Up the hill from the churchyard stands a squat, stone structure of great antiquity called St. Columcille's House. We were admitted to the structure by its guardian, a tiny Irish woman (also of great antiquity) who held the key and knew the history of the place by heart. Inside, once our eyes adjusted to the dark, we saw a tall ladder leading to a small opening in the stone ceiling. This is where the monks could retreat and pull the ladder up for safety. We left Kells and drove to Mahee Island on Strangford Lough, where the ruins of an ancient monastery sit atop a green hill looking out over the waters of the lough. By this time the late afternoon was bathed in golden light and the song birds joined us in our hymn singing. Such places are difficult leave.
We began our day by visiting the a lovely spot in the quiet countryside on the slopes of a mountain known as Slieve Gullion, at Killeevy. In this beautiful spot overlooking a green valley, another of St. Patrick's disciples, St. Monnina, lived the monastic life with several nuns. St. Monnina lived a life in service to the sick and the poor. She died in the year 518 and her grave is in this place. Here also are the ruins of a 9th century church with its 12th century addition. We then journeyed to Monasterboice (Mainistir Bhuithe in Gaelic) the site of an important monastery famous today for its well- preserved high crosses and its 110 foot tall round tower. We would see many of these towers, for this was the way the monks would protect themselves from the ravages of invaders. It was by these towers that many lives and much treasure was saved from destruction.
This day we passed through Clogher and stopped to admire its high cross, then continued on to catch the little passenger ferry at Trory Point, outside Enniskillen to Devenish Island. This was the only day of our trip in which the sky turned gray and dropped a little light rain on our head. The rest of the time was amazingly clear, with fine blue skies, never getting hotter than 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Devenish Island is the well-preserved site of an important monastery founded in the 6th century by Saint Molaise. The monastery contains remnants of architecture from the 6th century through the 16th, including the ever present 100 foot high round tower. This green island in the middle of a quiet Irish lough is a place of great silence, where the holy prayers of a millennium of monks have a tangible presence even today.
Today the late-comers, who missed the first day were given the chance to visit Saul, Struell Wells, and Downpatrick. It was a free day for the rest of us. Nektaria and I did some shopping, and found a wonderful second-hand book shop. That evening we joined with the members of Saint Ignatius parish for Vespers and dinner at the church in the parish hall.
The parish in Belfast is a very international congregation, with members from all parts of the globe: Greece, Russia, Syria, Poland, South Africa, Canada—there are even quite a few Irish. This being the Pascal season, the hymns were lithe and the sunlight shining through the clouds of incense added to the joyful feel of the day. We were all received warmly by the parishioners and made to feel quite at home on the other side of the world from our own homes.
Today we pulled up stakes and left Belfast behind, heading off to the south into the lovely forested hill country of county Wicklow. This place where lies the ancient ruins of a monastery and village at Glendalough (Gleann Dá Loch in Gaelic, meaning Glen of Two Lakes) is quite possibly one of the loveliest places on the planet. Here is where St. Kevin came, to a deserted hillside where he lived as a hermit in a narrow cave. St. Kevin practiced a uniquely harsh form of asceticism, praying while standing naked in the lake in wintertime, and while lying in a bed of stinging nettles in the summer. The story is told about how he prayed with his hands outstretched until a blackbird came and laid an egg in his hand. It is said he remained in that position praying until the egg was hatched. Although he tried to avoid the company of people, soon a band of monks had gathered around him. He was persuaded to leave his hole in the mountain and come live in a cell the monks built for him nearby the monastery. We stood in what remains of this cell and sang a troparian to the saint. We departed from these beautiful lakes and traveled through hills more rugged than I ever expected to see in Ireland. Much of the countryside reminded me of Oregon: forested hills, wild, empty plains, pleasant farmlands, all dotted with the occasional village. By evening we arrived at the western coast and the town of Galway where we would spend the next few nights in a resort hotel facing the Atlantic Ocean. It felt quite normal for us Oregonians to see the sun sink into the western sea, but the golden light that filled the evening sky following an impressive thunderstorm was worth the entire journey.
This day we were headed for Holy Island in Lough Derg, but we first stopped by the ruined monastery at Kilmacduagh to see more ancient ruins and another 100 foot high round tower sitting in the middle of cow pasture. This place was obviously used as a graveyard even now, with new graves mixed in with the ancient. Inside the roofless stone church someone had recently been buried, and the earth that had been dug up for that purpose contained a mixture of dirt, clay, stones, and human bones. We traveled on until we came to the village of Mountshannon on Lough Derg where we boarded two small motorboats (the locals called them ferries) to take us over to another paradise-on-earth called simply, Holy Island. This island (Inis Cealtra, in Gaelic) also called the “Island of Seven Churches’ is said to have been settled by St. Colum mac Cremthainn, who founded a monastic community here in the 6th century. By the 7th century the abbey, under the direction of St Caimin, became a famous school that attracted students even from foreign countries. The island is still used as a graveyard by people of the surrounding area who fill the lough with a floatila of small boats at each funeral. The island has many points of interest, including a holy well, and a trysting stone where couples became engaged by reaching their arms in from opposite sides and clasping hands. The only living inhabitants of the island are a herd of well-fed cows who munch the green grasses and await the day when the ferryman will take them on their final voyage back to the mainland.
Oh, the bittersweet joy of traveling to Inishmore (Aran-na-naomh in Gaelic, meaning Aran-of-the-Saints)! Bittersweet because the visit was short and we had, at last, to leave. It was a forty-five minute ferry ride to this windswept isle, famous for its saints and its sweaters. Once we arrived we were met by a local driver with a minivan to chauffeur us around the nine mile long island. One quickly notices that there are about two dozen bicycles for every car, and that all of those school kids who were on the ferry are now wobbling down the narrow lanes on bicycles. There is also the option of hiring a horse cart for a leisurely trot up to the pub and back. Our first stop was at the foot of a hill upon which perched a landmark for fishermen, the Church of St. Benan. This 7th century structure is said to be the smallest church in Ireland measuring 3 x 2 meters. We moved on to the Church of St Enda. resting in the sand dunes, surrounded by Celtic crosses marking the resting places of the faithful. In this holiest of places over 120 monks are buried, including St. Enda himself. As we stood on the dunes by the bright blue sea, praying and singing hymns to God, it seemed as though we were joined in our praise by St. Enda and the 120 monks themselves. It was on this island that in the 5th century he started one of the first monasteries in Ireland. We then moved on up the road to the Church of the Four Beautiful Ones dedicated to St. Fursey, St. Brendan, St. Conall, and St. Berchain—the church was named so long ago that no one remembers why it is named that, but I suspect it was because of the beauty of holiness emanating from them. After singing some hymns and praying, we headed up the twisty road where we squeezed past a car driven by the local Catholic priest, the same one who had catechized our driver. Fr. Irenaeus jumped out of the minibus to make his acquaintance and upon meeting a group of Orthodox pilgrims, the dear old man stopped whatever he was doing to come join us at the local pub for lunch. He turned out to be a well-traveled and highly educated man, having even studied for awhile in Berkley, California. Fr. Irenaeus asked Nektaria sing the troparia to the Four Beautiful Ones that we had just used in our prayers, and while she sang our new priest friend's eyes filled with tears. It was truly a blessed experience. Click here to read more about the ancient Christian ruins on Inishmore. There was so much to see on the island, the rest of the day seems a blur. We saw a place where there were seven churches within the same acre of land, all ruined, all beautiful, sitting together like old friends. We also visited a place where ancient monks had erected bee hive shaped stone huts that still exist today, staring out in silence at the green sea. By the end of the day there was just enough time to visit some of the little shops near the ferry before heading back to the mainland.
This was the day we left Galway to return to the north, to Belfast for one last night, and then the long flight home. As the crow flies, from Galway to Belfast is a distance of about 180 miles, but crows did not make the twisty Irish roads. It took us until about noon to reach the monastic ruins of Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis in Gaelic, meaning "Meadow of the Sons of Nós"), which sits on the green banks of the river Shannon about smack in the middle of Ireland. Clonmacnoise was built in 545 by Saint Ciarán and thrived for a thousand years. After surviving attacks by Vikings and Anglo Normans it was finally reduced to ruin in 1552 by the English garrison in Athlone. Much of its former glory can be deduced from the ruins, its seven churches, round tower, and high crosses. Today it is a major heritage center with a well- appointed museum. After the long trek back to Belfast we met together one last time at the home of Fr. Irenaeus and Genevieve for a meal and fellowship. The next day we would leave for home, taking with us many fond memories, and a strong desire to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ once again enlighten this fair isle with its golden light. I encourage all who read this to pray to God for the work of the Orthodox Church in Ireland, that its spiritual heritage will win out over the secularism and materialism that engulfs it today, that one day God's children will live there together in joy and peace and it will be known once again as Holy Ireland, the Land of Saints and Scholars. To see a large collection of photographs taken by pilgrims on the 2008 pilgrimage go to this website: 2008 Pilgrimage Photos More reading: The Antiochian Orthodox Church of St. Ignatius, Belfast, parish website. Read about Saint Enda and the monastic school at Aran. Read about Saint Columba. The Christian and Medieval Sites on the Aran Islands |
 Read about the upcoming May 2009 pilgrimage! |
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n May of 2008 a group of twelve pilgrims
traveled to Holy Ireland. The pilgrimage was led by Father Irenaeus,
the pastor of St. Ignatius Antiochian Orthodox Church, Belfast;
Maximos Murray, a chanter and seminarian from that parish; and, as
our lecturer and scholar of early Irish hagiology, Father John
Musther, who traveled from Cumbria in the U.K.
Day 1, Tuesday, May 6th – Saul,
Raholp, Struell Wells, Downpatrick