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Icons of St. Cuthbert of
Lindisfarne, wonder-worker, successor to St. Aidan
Feast Days: repose March 20,
translation Sept. 4 (d. 687)
Top Icon: of unknown
provenance, but apparently by the hand of Aidan Hart.
Next Icon: by the hand of
Aidan Hart, UK.
Next
Icon: wall painting in the Galilee Chapel, Durham Cathedral (where the
relics of Sts. Bede & Cuthbert rest)
Next Icon: by the hand of
Aidan Hart (it is part of a wall fresco).
Next
Icon: a more contextual view of the above.
Next Icon: by the hand of
Aidan Hart.
Next
Icon: by the hand of Aidan Hart, the prototype being an old manuscript
illumination.
Next
Icon: from Christ with Scottish
Saints, photo by Gordon MacIver.
Next Icon: available from
Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston.
Next Icon: by the hand of
Aidan Hart, Oecumenical Patriarchate, UK.
Next
Icon: part of large St. Aidan icon, by the hand of Aidan Hart, UK,
Oecum. Patriarchate
Next
Icon: illumination image from a manuscript in the British Library. St.
Cuthbert at sea.
Next
Icon: illumination from a manuscript in the British Library. A
prostrate monk kisses St. Cuthbert's feet.
Final Icon: the consecration
of St. Cuthbert, of unknown provenance.
Beneath:
picture of a St. Cuthbert's cross, available from Gallery Byzantium.
Holy
Father Cuthbert, pray to God for us!
St. Cuthbert is the
miracle-working Saint of the Orthodox English par excellence. He was a
Briton who shepherded flocks until a vision of the soul of St. Aidan
(Apostle of Northern England) passing through the air to heaven
convinced him to join the monastic community of Melrose in Scotland,
then under the expert direction of St. Boisil (Basil). Named prior or
hegumen of Lindisfarne in the stormy period after the decision rendered
at the Council of Whitby in 664, he evangelised the people, drawing
huge crowds. However, his heart yearned for solitude and he got a
blessing to live as a hermit, first near Lindisfarne, later in the
Farne islands near Bamborough. In 685, against his will, he was elected
Bishop of Hexham, but swapped sees with St. Eata to become himself the
Bishop of Lindisfarne, in succession to holy Aidan. He finished his
days working mighty wonders of healing among the people, full of the
gift of prophecy. He reposed near Lindisfarne on March 20, 687. Today
his holy Relics rest at Durham. St. Cuthbert is the patron of our
Western Rite Orthodox mission in England at Wolverhampton, and this
writer is a witness to the graceful presence of his holy relics at
Durham cathedral, where the state church keeps his shrine only in the
form of a simple stone slab.
(Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do!)
Preface
from the Old English liturgical books for St. Cuthbert's feast day: "It
is truly meet and just, right and availing to our salvation, that we
should always and in all places give thanks to Thee, O Holy Lord,
Father almighty, everlasting God, upon this day of the departure to
Christ of the most holy priest Cuthbert, who first of all became an
example to saints in his daily life, a life of most temperate and most
chaste conduct, and afterwards followed the contemplative life in the
wilderness for many years, nourished only by the love of the God of
deathless life, and then was chosen to the rank of the episcopate,
being invited not by his own will but by God’s providence, and the
counsel of the churches. For he had ever fought manfully and mightily
against flesh and blood, and the rulers of this ćrial realm, seizing
victory with the helmet of hope for salvation, and the breastplate of
righteousness, and with the shield of faith, and the sword of the Word
of God, and being protected on the right hand and on the left, the
soldier of God overcame the battle-formations of the enemies, and the
Lord wrought many miracles by him, and he foretold his death many days
before. For he commended the governance of the people to the King and
the Bishop, and he set out for the holy desert, and he gave up his
spirit to God the Father almighty accompanied by a heavenly, holy
multitude from the Gospel. Thee, therefore, O Lord, we entreat, that by
the intercession of holy Bishop Cuthbert, we may be counted worthy to
reach the harbour of joy, and the heavenly realms of Him before Whom
there stand innumerable choirs of Angels and Archangels, and they say:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth," etc. --- from Old Sarum
Rite Missal, Fr. Aidan Keller, St. Hilaron Press
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