Introduction

When we talk about Holy Mission, conversation usually turns around an activity of the church, that is, around something that the Church can "do". That is, of course, correct, but not complete. Holy Mission is not just one of the many initiatives that the ecclesiastical community can take or not. It is something that relates to the very nature of the church, that is, to what the Church "is".

Let us think about it: the Church is the meeting place of God and the world, it is the body of the incarnated and resurrected Christ, which continues to form and "increase" uninterruptedly throughout history, incorporating the creation and transforming it to parts of this body. If (hypothetically speaking) we were to abrogate this incorporation, then the Church would not only become lethargic, but -much more- it would stop being the Church. How much would be left of Christ if he would stop having His human nature? Therefore, the opening up of the Church to the world, addressing to the people of each time, inviting them to the belief and accepting them to its body, is not an extra or an optional work. It has to do with the very essence of its existence.

The Church visualizes an end of history, the Eschats, where the whole universe will be renewed, will become the Body of Christ and participant in the Kingdom of God (see A' Corinthians 15:24-28, Ephesians 1:20-23, Colassaeis 1:18-20). That is its wish and service. Within the present of each time, it strives to outline with a spirit of freedom its eternal message in the various data of the different civilizations and times. That is to say, it dares to do something equivalent to what the Son did when He incarnated into man's standards.

With this book - which could be characterizes as an introduction to an original acquaintance with the British Orthodoxy -we are groping two folds of the missionary march and creativity ion the cultural connection of the British islands. These folds are signified in the title of the book; it's the Celtic presence on one side and the (Anglo-) Saxon presence on the other one, which were once in a relation of conflict and once in a relation of interprovisioning. We preferred this twin fold report, since the most recent researchers are rather distrustful towards point of view that put these two presences exclusively in contradiction and juxtaposition to each other.

Our Connection to the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Christianity of Britain, we, the writers, experience it as a mingling of personal quest, heart pilgrimage and scientific research. This mingling inspired the structure of this book. The reader is summoned to begin from what he can walk to, to be afterwards to those that must be studied. Namely:

The two first texts ("Iona of my heart... " and "when Christianity arrived on the ebb") are traveling records. They record our visit and sojourn at two important places in Britain, particularly representative of its missionary set of features. They were originally published in the magazine "All the Nations"(issues59/1996, pp.73-76 and 71/1999, pp.16-19, accordingly) and one re-issued here with a few improvements. Let it be noted that we took all the photographs that accompany these texts on the spot.

The following five texts ("extracts from the Life of Saint Columba" , "extract from the life of Saint Aidan", "extract from the life of Saint Cuthbert", "Conla and the fairy" and "the priest's meal") are published here for the first time as a minor contribution to the theoretical research. With these we invite today's man to listen informatively, but thoughtfully as well, testimonies of the past.

The chronological map and the geographical map that are prefixed, help towards the spherical reconstruction of the major historical frame, in which those particular junctures were born and must be comprehended, and the forementioned texts are undertaking.

The Writers

Th. N. P. - H. T. P.