On the Trail of the Seven Coptic
Monks in Ireland
Fr. Dmitri
Ross
The Coptic
Orthodox Church has long known of the historic links between the British Isles
and Christian Egypt, but documentation and solid evidence is thin on the ground
for these early centuries of church history. There are learned articles by
Monique Blanc Ortolan of the Musee des Arts coratifs, Paris, and Pierre du
ouguet of the Louvre on ‘Coptic and Irish Art’ and by Joseph F.T.Kelly of John
Carrofl University, Cleveland, Ohio, on ‘Coptic Influences in the British
Isles’ in the Coptic Encyclopedia which are worth consulting. Other works, like
Shirley Toulson’s The Celtic Year, which asserts that “rather than adhere to
the ruling of the Council (of Chalcedon), some of the most dedicated adherents
of Monophysitism fled from Egypt, and some of them most surely travelled west
and north to Ireland”, in their enthusiasm to establish a link, make up what is
lacking in hard evidence with sheer conjecture.
The late Archdale King noted the links between Celtic Ireland and Coptic Egypt.
He suggests that much of the contact took place before the Muslim Conquest of
640. There exist evidence of a Mediterranean trade in a single passage in the
life of St.John the Almsgiver (loannes Ill Eleemon) , Greek Patriarch of
Alexandria between 61 0-621, in which reference is made to a vessel sailing to
Alexandra from Britain with a cargo of tin, doubtless come from Cornwall or
Somerset.
King
observes that the kind of asceticism associated with the Desert Fathers was
especially congenial to the Irish but refers to Dom Henri Leclercq’s suggestion
that Celtic Monasticism was directly derived from Egypt, as an “unsubstantiated
hypothesis”. No serious historian, however, would deny that first-hand
knowledge of the Desert Fathers was brought directly to the South of Gau’ by
St.John Cassianand that the links between the British and Gallican churches
were specially strong at this period. King nevertheless admits that the
grouping together of several small churches within a cashel or fortified
eiiclosure seems to support Leclercq’s view.
King
mentions an Ogham inscription on a stone near St.Olan’s Well in the parish of
Aghabufloge,00unty Cork, which scholars interpret as reading:’Pray for Olan the
Egyptian.’ Professor Stokes tells us about the Irish Monk Dicuil, who around
825 wrote his Liber de Mensure orbis terre describing the pyramids as well as
an ancient precursor of the Suez Canal. It would seem that Egypt was often
visited by pilgrims to the Holy Land. Stokes instances the Saltair Na Rann, an
anthology of biblical poems attributed to Oengus the Culdee, but containing the
sixth or seventh century Book of Adam and Eve, composed in Egypt and known in
no other European Country except Ireland.
King also
notes that one of the commonest names for towniands or parishes is Disert or
‘Desert’: a solitary place in which anchorites were established. Presumably the
same etymology gives us the Scoffish Dysart, just north of Kirkcaldy, and the
Welsh Dyserth, to the south of Prestatyn? This would then present a consistent
picture common to Celtic Christianity. The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee, an
early ninth century monastic bishop of Clonenagh (Co.Offlay) and later of
Tallaght, has a litany invoking ‘Seven monks of Egypt in Disert Uilaig, I
invoke unto my aid, through Jesus Christ.’(Morfesseor do manchaib Egipr(e) in
disiurt Uilaig).
The
Antiphonary of Bangor (dating from between 680-691) also contains the text:
Domus
delicis piena Super petram constructa Necnon vinea vera Ex Aegypto
transducta...”
which is
translated as:
House full
of delight Built on the rock And indeed true vine Translated from Egypt..
Providence
undoubtedly put me in touch with Fr.Feargal Patrick McGrady, priest of
Ballymena, County Antrim in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor. As
well as being a native of Downpatrick (the burial place of St. Patrick), Father
Feargal is enthusiastic about the Eastern Churches and holds His Holiness Pope
Shenouda in high esteem. He was delighted to assist with my enquiries and very
soon made contacts with local historians, who are the real source of the
information we need.
Dr.Cahal
Dallat, Geneaologist and Historical Consultant, of Ballycastle, County Antrim,
identified Disert llidh or Uilaigh with Dundesert, near Crumlin, County Antrim,
which is to the north-west of Belfast, the Capital of Northern Ireland, between
Belfast International Airport and Templepatrick.
Mr.Bobbie
Burns, a local historian living in Crumlin, was another link in the chain. He
produced a report in the Belfast Telegraph of l3th.JuIy 1936 under the headline
“Unique Once Famous Ulster Church: Neglected Crumlin Ruins”, which showed the
ruins of the medieval church built on the site of an earlier shrine. The local
historical group is taking a renewed interest in the site and the local
Protestant landowner has given permission for them to come and go freely to the
site.
It is hoped
that they might obtain a grant to restore the dilapidated ruins but they are
excited by its more ancient and possible Coptic connections. The site is
approached by a path along the side of a grazing field 200-300 metres from
Poplar Road. It is on the steep bank of Crumlin River, which is a large free
flowing river, but is more than 100 meters from the water.
Access is
easy in dry weather, but not pleasant after heavy rain. The terrain inside the
enclosure is very rough. The ground is strewn with boulders which have either
fallen or been removed from the medieval walls. Parts of the medieval walls, in
places three feet thick and covered in ivy, survive on the east (or gable) and
south sides. The east wall contains two arched recesses or sedilia, now only
about four feet in height but probably much higher if their foundations were
cleared of the extensive in-fill of stones and earth. The gable rises to around
thirty feet in height but a number of stones have already been removed and were
anymore to go it would be undermined and likely to collapse. What remains of
the wail at the other end is much lower. It is likely that the whole structure
would have been removed long ago but for the difficulties of dislodging stone
from the walls and the problem of transportation to the road.
We are
grateful for the efforts of these local enthusiasts for having preserved these
ancient ruins and look forward to making further discoveries about the last
resting place of the Seven Monks of Egypt.
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