The 31st August sees the celebration of the Feast of St. Aidan, the patron saint of our community in Manchester.  The facts of St. Aidan’s life and work are well known but there are three aspects that often escape attention.

First, St. Aidan was not the first monk from Iona to land in the northeast.  The first returned post haste with shocking and horrendous stories of the barbarism of the inhabitants and their resistance to the gospel.  St. Aidan was wisely sent as a successor on the grounds that he was able to discern what the local people needed from the gospel, what the New Testament calls “spiritual milk” rather than “spiritual meat.”

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.”  (Hebrews 5:12)

We do not know much more about this as a practical method of mission in the 7th century north of England but we do know from his life that St. Aidan’s was a very humble, loving and prayerful monastic bishop.  He emphasised Christian education, especially of the young.  One of his first accomplishments was to set up a school for local youngsters on the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne which later produced both saints and bishops of the Church.  He accounted for and respected peoples’ backgrounds; he knew what to share according to the condition and temperament of each person.  This is a lesson we also need to learn and practice.  We must not simply expect those who know next to nothing about Christianity to embrace the fullness and richness of Orthodoxy “in one go.”  Those who have barely tasted and known that “the Lord is good,” (1 Peter 2:2) can hardly be expected to understand the nuances of the “filioque” or the Orthodox sacramental theology … but they can be Orthodox Christians!  The rest can come later.  Working out what that means is the Orthodox mission task for today.

St. Aidan did not do any of this alone though as, initially, he did not even know the local language … which brings me to my second point.

St. Aidan enlisted the help of others in his great task, no less than the king (later himself to be a saint, Oswald) who became his interpreter on his preaching and evangelistic journeys throughout the northeast.  He also had the foresight to know that the Church had to be built through both holiness and a common life in the Holy Spirit … something that would be second nature to him as a monk in the community of Iona.

Similarly today, our mission task is a calling we share together, clergy and people together, equipping us all for the building up of the Body of Christ, the Church.  Although there exists a vast range of voluntary activities and organisations today for various charitable causes, the Church cannot nor should not simply compete with these.  Our missionary rationale is quite different.  We serve because He served, we lay down our lives because He lay down his life, we preach the words of life in the gospel because we have been given that life in Christ.  Orthodox missionary work is wholly about God the Life-Giver and bringing others to know Him and the gift of the gospel, each according to his or her own capacity and need, adults, youths, children and infants alike.

The story of St. Aidan has at first sight a sad conclusion but on deeper reflection an abiding message of hope. The Lindisfarne monastic community did not survive St. Aidan for more than two centuries, which is a short time of course in the life of the Church.  In 875 AD the monks hurriedly left as the Viking raids along the east coast became more persistent and dangerous.  They fled with St. Cuthbert’s body, arguably, Lindisfarne’s greatest son.  St. Aidan’s legacy, however, did not die with these terrible events.  His witness is not limited to specific times and places. Human empires come and go.  Local churches rise and fall. 

We can see this played out on a wider geographical canvas. There is for example little left now of the once vibrant church in North Africa historically centred in Carthage and stretching from Morocco to Libya.  Only in Egypt in this stretch of north Africa does their remain a significant Christian presence.  Christians are being pushed out of the Middle East by violent godless men, but I repeat, the Church is not limited to specific times and places, no matter how honoured and venerable.  Christians belong nowhere and everywhere because our citizenship is in the kingdom of God and not the kingdom of men.

Today especially we need to remind ourselves that our churches may not well survive in their present form.  Historically, they have been closed by those of other religions, atheists, communists and fascists.  They have been plundered by invading armies.  Their people have been persecuted, killed, scattered across the globe … just like the scattered children of Lindisfarne although on a much, much bigger scale.  Orthodox Christianity, however, is not quenched by such attacks, such impermanence in its earthly foundations.  Our life is hidden in Christ and no one can touch that.  This is what has preserved St. Aidan’s witness to this day.  Against this faith and life the gates of hell itself can never prevail.  We should not weep bitter tears nor concern ourselves with what has been lost but rather reach forward to that which can in God be gained and built anew.  The gospel, like our Lord Himself, is forever fresh and new, full of hope.  Be of good courage, therefore, Christ God has overcome even death … and so shall we!