Celtic Order of Saint Columba
Are you Interested in Celtic Monastic Spirituality?
We are a world wide, eccumenical internet based community, drawing our spirituality from the “Early Church” (33-600AD), in particular, Celtic Christian spirituality. We know for sure that the early monastic tradition in the Celtic lands starting well before but acknowledged at Glatstonbury around 459 AD. Our Apostolic succession through the Celtic line intersects with at least three of the Abbot Bishops of Glatstonbury (Benedictines) and St David of Wales. We consider our Community to be part of the “Ancient-Future” Church, blending the old with the new. (Mathew 13:52)
He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
Mathew13:52 NIV
As a Celtic monastoc order
We believe in ONE Holy Universal Christian Church, consisting of ALL Believers, professing Jesus Christ as the only means to salvation, regardless of denomination. Denomination is your chosen expression, not your religion!
Convergent
We acknowledge, celebrate and combine all the Christian Streams, blending them into ONE unified Christian experience. Diversity is the basis for true unity and completeness. Without each other’s diversity, we lack completeness. The diverse spiritual traditions actually complement each other: they were never meant to oppose each other.
The great spiritual streams are:
- Contemplative
- Holiness
- Charismatic
- Social Justice
- Evangelical
- Sacramental & Liturgical
Community
We are an international community of Christians, coming together to form intimate relationships based upon a common spiritual pilgrimage. We are not a “local church”, nor do we attempt to substitute it. However, we are a vital organ within the Body as we desire to serve the universal Church by offering a common walk towards Christian transformation for those who join our Community.
Together we walk into eternity! In brief, we are a Christian inter-denominational community who believe in Jesus’ example of the “Good Samaritan” as an expression of true faith.
As a community, we are dedicated to the establishing and development of a Christian Community that actually reaches out to others. We do not want to remain inside our Church walls and keep Jesus and His abundant life to ourselves. We want to share His life on the streets, where He gave it away! Rob Bell says, “The Gospel is good news, especially for those who don’t believe it.” Our changed lives should make a difference to all those we meet.
As a Community, our primary aim is to live Christ beyond our church walls. This can be seen in our main priorities:
- Assist and encourage personal “practical” transformation (How do we live Christ-likeness today?).
- Establish and develop an International Celtic Christian Community
- Working closely with the Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic churches worldwide, we seek to support the worldwide task of reconciliation between the various Christian Churches:
- Support Church planting.
The FCCI follows the spirituality of the early Celtic Christian Church in Britain, Scotland and Ireland. Many of our Companions (Community members), are contemplatives at heart. We seek to follow the example of a simple faith, lived in the spirit of Community. It is our common deep desire to know Christ in an intimate and experiential way. The early Celtic Christian Church was based upon small intimate Communities, conducive to both discipleship and Christian transformation. We as a Community have adopted this “rule of life” and endeavour to live in Christ’s presence as much as possible within our busy modern lives. As vessels of His glory, we seek to make the secular sacred.
Through the centuries, Christians have gathered to form communities in which they have supported one another in prayer, work, and fellowship.
That commitment has taken the form of an ecumenical Christian community in the Celtic monastic tradition celebrating and following the example of the early monastic traditions in the Celtic lands.
Members of this Community who come from a wide variety of denominational backgrounds and occupations, make professions of commitment according to their Rule of Life, including vows of obedience, stability, and conversion of life. All without having to be cloistered in a monastery.
Founded upon Scripture and the heritage of monastic tradition, the Celtic Order of St. Columba gives definition to its purpose as a living witness to the values and principles essential to Christian life and faith. Members of this worldwide community are joined in a common commitment of love and service to God, to each other and to the world.
Monasticism for a new millenium
'...the restoration of the church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ. I think it is time to gather people together to do this...'
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Extract of a letter written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to his brother Karl-Friedrick on the 14th of January, 1935.
Please join us
The COSC is a modified benedictine style monastic group. You can join the COSC while remaining in your own home, job, career, life. You can do so whether you are single, married, male or female. The cornerstone of a Religious vocation is the desire to give oneself to God, to draw near to Him and become more and more consistently His. If this desire grows and persists, it must lead to practical attempts to reshape one’s whole life. This reshaping follows from a sure conviction that Christ has removed the essential barrier between God and us. Only from such a conviction can we grapple with our faults and temptations.
There are four spiritual requirements for an aspirant:
1) that you are truly seeking God;
2) that you are eager for the “Work of God”
3) that you are eager for embracing Celtic Christian spirituality
4) that you welcome being humble (necessary because of our egoism) that comes in its exercise.
In addition we require that the help support the work of the FCCI.