Voyage of St. Brendan

[Lukaris]

March is a month where 2 prominent Celtic saints’ day occur. Those of St. David of Wales ( Dewi Sant) on March 1 &, of course, St. Patrick of Ireland on March 17. In light of this and as the Orthodox Lenten fast commences on March 18 this year, it seems appropriate to provide info on another Celtic Saint, St. Brendan of Ireland and his journey. Much of his account is a spiritual journey and mystical in its nature. A significant amount repeatedly culminates i
during “Maundy Thursday” ( the Last Supper), Good Friday, Holy Saturday, & “Easter” ( Pascha). The rigors of the journey are Lenten at times within the account & definitely of an overall Lenten nature. For his final journey Brendan is told, “…you have a journey before you of 40 days, which will take you to Holy Saturday. You will celebrate Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday and the holy days of Easter where you have celebrated them for the last six years.”

Info on St. Brendan:

Saint Brendan the Navigator

Our father among the saints Brendan was born about 484 AD to an Irish family near the present city of Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland.

orthochristian.com

A pdf of his journey ( about 60 printed pp):

https://markjberry.blogs.com/StBrendan.pdf

A good read for Orthodox, Catholics, & Protestants ( probably best for like liturgical Anglicans, Lutherans,Methodists etc) but for anyone receptive to it.

 

[ArmyMatt]

thanks!

and I think it’s noteworthy that a guy in the 70s replicated his journey with historically accurate equipment, showing the journey was indeed possible for St Brendan.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

This is sort of off topic (but slightly related); I believe there is a kids movie that I think was inspired by St Brendan and the Book of Kells. The Secret of Kells - Wikipedia

 

[Dewi Sant]

It is also profitable when reading the Navigatio to consider it as an allegorical account of the life of the monastic (and by extension, us), as being one of journeying. The islands and beasts he encounters speak of stages in one's life toward the Kingdom.
As we celebrated Forgiveness Vespers yesterday, I couldn't help but feel like we were boarding a plane or some other sort of vessel which would carry us toward the great feast.
Meatfare and Cheesefare being analogous to the stages of departure from the world as one passes through the various halls of the airport. Luggage drop-off, security screening and so on.
Brendan's coracle is more apt than the safety of the liner. It is through the effort of the sailor monks that they are kept afloat. Here the airliner analogy falls weak as we do not simply relax and watch films, but are actively engaged in maintaining our vision of Christ and building the spiritual muscle of paddling the oars and braving the currents.
Even with contemporary means of travel, the west coast of Ireland is rather treacherous in all but the most clement of weather. Many pilgrims have been disappointed in their crossing to the Skelligs being cancelled.