St. Gildas the Wise of Wales wrote in his De Exidio Brittanniae that Christianity came to Britain in the last year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius Caesar, which would be in the year 37 A.D. William of Malmesbury, the great Saxon writer who recorded British oral tradition, says it was St. Joseph of Arimathea who established the first Christian mission in Britain. St. Joseph’s mission is verified by other prominent historians including Cardinal Baronius and Cardinal Pole of the Vatican and Pope Pius XI. The Vatican says St. Joseph was part of a mission trip to Gaul made by Philip, one of the twelve apostles. In 42 AD Simon Zelotes brought missionaries to Britain and his mission was followed by Aristobulus in 44 AD. Hippolytus, bishop of Rome, wrote that Simon was the first bishop in Britain. The Eastern Orthodox Church says Aristobulus, who was mentioned in Romans 16:10 and the brother of Barnabas, father-in-law of Peter and colleague of Paul, was the first Christian to be martyred on British soil. In 60 AD St. Simon returned to Britain and brought missionaries into what is present day Wales. By 80 AD missionaries from St. John’s Church in Ephesus had reached northern Britain and the Lowlands of Scotland.
The Celtic church thrived throughout the Brittanic Isles and on the continent of Europe where it became the largest western church until the 9th century, when it came under attack by Charlemagne. By the 10th century, due to Saxon and Viking raids on its monasteries and political alliances with Rome that took church properties and gave them to Rome the church began to go underground. Contrary to what has been written the church did not go away but survived in the Highlands of Scotland, the outer Brittanic Islands and in parts of Wales and Brittany. It is alive and well today and it is the oldest western church in existence.
When you worship in a Celtic Church you will be connected with a worship tradition long lost. The form of the Apostle’s Creed and Lord’s Prayer we use are the oldest versions recorded in history. Since the first missionaries came from the Church in Jerusalem many of the prayers used in the Eucharist can be found in the first century’s Apostolic Constitutions. You also will be connected with the pre-Nicene Church that kept the Sabbath and honored Easter at 14 Nisan, as reported in all four of the Gospels. And like that early church we supplement our worship with incense and sing our hymns without musical instruments.
Our worship is liturgical, ancient and reverent. Our teachings are orthodox. We invite you to join us in worshipping in the mysteries of a tradition that was founded by the apostles.