St. Justinian of Wales, and Christian in-fighting

Celtic Advent December 5th

St. Justinian of Ramsey Island

       Justinian was a 6th century saint from Brittany who immigrated to Wales, initially as a hermit on Ramsey Island off the coast of Pembrokshire.  He became the soul-friend of St David, the patron saint of Wales, who convinced him to become abbot of one of the monasteries that David had founded on the mainland.  Justinian became disillusioned with laxity of some of monastics there and returned again to Ramsey Island with a group of followers who shared his stricter views. At this point we get a couple of versions of a more mythologic tale of Justinian.  Either three servants who are tempted by devils, or three monks who are upset with Justinian's strict rule, seek him out and cut off his head. A healing spring immediately comes up from the site of his head and/or Justinian picks up his head and crosses over Ramsey Sound to the mainland where he dies and is buried.

       What fascinated me about Justinian was not the "miraculous" aspects of his violent death, but rather than underlying theme of disagreement about the Christian lifestyle, even this early in the history of Christianity.  I used to have a vision of early Christians, including the Celts, as this harmonious, loving group, praying and serving the wider communities that built up around the Celtic monastaries.  I knew there were disagreements about doctrines--what was the nature of the divinity versus the humanity of Christ, or what date do we use for Easter--that caused schisms in the early church, but these seemed like intellectual arguements rather than "how do we live our life as Christians."

    But then I realized that there were other examples besides Justinian of the tensions between a strict ascetic lifestyle and a more lax approach.  St. Francis of Assisi start his Order of Friars as a reform movement within the church, with a fairly strict interpretation of voluntary poverty as one of it's tenets.  Within his own lifetime a group of his followers split off from him, thinking him too strict.  In less that 200 years after Francis' death, the portrayal of a Franciscan Friar as an overindulgent glutton became a common joke. (see Chaucer for one example)

     Another example, perhaps more like Justinian, is that of one of my favorites contemplatives, St. John of the Cross in 16th century Spain. John is inspired by Teresa of Avila to join the stricter  reform movement of the Carmelites.  He does, but is resented by the more lax group of Carmelite monks, who capture and imprison him and inflict a regimen on him of weekly whipping and deprivation (until he finally escapes).

     And then of course there is Jesus...if we look at Him through the lens of his Jewish background, He is calling for major reform, a return to the a stricter vision of Judaism as outlined in Isaiah.  He threatens the hierarchy, the hypocrites who bend the law in order to have a more comfortable lifestyle...and gets crucified.  I realize there were other factors at work but certainly this is at least a part of what was going on.

     I get frustrated with modern Christian groups and what seems like perpetual dissention and bickering.  I sometimes flash to an image of Jonathon Winters in a rarely watched but funny movie called "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," where in exacberation he shouts out, "why can't we all just get along!" But then I realize that maybe that is part of the interaction between a message like Christianity and our own human tendencies.

    The church will always be, to quote the early protestants, semper reformando, always in need of reform. There will always be people like Justinian, Francis or John of the Cross who see the church becoming too lax, too immersed in the ease of the culture, too "easy."  They will intitate an attempt at reform, maybe sometime it is  stricter than we as moderns would like, but it is always in a sincere effort to turn the church back to humbler roots. Other Christians then feel threatened, and often violence, or break-up, or both, ensues.  All I can do then is trust in God's plan and pray:

Lord, You have drawn me to be a follower of Christ. You inspire me to follow His precepts and teachings as You inspired saints like Justinian. Help me to watch out for when I become too lax, or compromise too much from His example.  Help me also to be patient with those who disagree with the Way that I am treading and with Christian groups in general who become frustrated with each other's views.  Help me to dwell in Your love and forgiveness. In Thy name. Amen