Sunset On Distant Castle | Eire: Isle of the Saints by John Doan скачать в хорошем качестве

Sunset On Distant Castle | Eire: Isle of the Saints by John Doan

“dogs and purveyors of evil and murderers, and liars and false swearers … who have distributed baptized girls as prizes, for the sake of a wretched worldly kingdom which will pass away in an instant… like mere mist or smoke which is dispersed by the wind.” St. Patrick (From His Letter Against The Soldiers of Coroticus) Just as Irish raiders (then called Scotti) had looted the coast of Britain, kidnapping and enslaving captives at the time of Patrick’s boyhood, the petty kings of Britain latter took retribution with their own raids on Irish coastal villages. Bishop Patrick attributed the Irish actions to the fact that they were “heathens.” But he expected the “more civilized” Romanized British Celts to behave according to Christian principles. In angry protest, Patrick sent a delegation of clerics to Britain to request the immediate return of the baptized captives. The British responded by “laughing aloud,” stating that the Irish Christians were neither full-fledged Christians nor complete human beings because they were not Roman. Patrick lamented for both the captives and their corrupt abductors. A former slave himself, he was the first great voice in history to speak out against slavery. He would be the last for the next twelve hundred years. While visiting the west coast of what is now Scotland, I stopped to view the ruins of the ancient fortres. I wondered if this was where the petty king Coroticus retreated after his raids. I had the distinct feeling of standing on the other side of time from Patrick, seeing his curse of a “wretched worldly kingdom which will pass away” fulfilled. What once stood proud and secure was now reduced to piles of worn stones. I composed this piece late in the day as the sun, low in the sky, thrust its radiant sabers through openings in the clouds only to dissolve in the fine salt mist. This is how I saw the sunset on distant castle – a lament to slaves and their captors.