IONA

The Island

The Abbey at Iona

For a small and seemingly out of the way place, Iona has had a remarkable effect on people and history. The island sits on some of the oldest stones in the world and has had a continuous religious history dating to pre-Christian times. The community founded here by St. Columba was the mature off-spring of Celtic Christianity in Ireland. It is the direct ancestor of the church in Scotland. Through its daugher settlement on the holy island of Lindisfarne, Iona is the source of Christianity in Northern England. Its missionary outreach founded churches throughout Western Europe, into Scandanavia and down into the North of Italy.

The late George MacLeod, founder of the modern Iona Community, decribed Iona as 'a thin place' - a place where the membrane between the material world and spiritual world is particularly thin.

A celebrated early Christian center and the burial place of kings, Iona is still a destination for pilgrims and for those seeking respite from the modern world. Just three miles long and one and a half miles wide, Iona is accessible only by ferry. Motor cars are prohibited.

It is home to one of the most comprehensive collections of Christian carved stones in Scotland. It is also home to the Iona community, an ecumenical Christian community, making its influence known around the world in worship, scholarship and social justice.

Modern life is all about going places and being busy. At Iona, we will stop. And be about the business of being.

Follow this link for a virtual tour of the island. The red buttons allow you to open interactive 360 degree panaromas. The yellow buttons reveal photos taken from the air.

Please take the time to visit Dr. Deborah Vess' site on Celtic Monasticism: History and Spirituality . It is a direct outgrowth of previous Celtic Pilgrimages with Esther de Waal, Marcus Losack and Therese Elias, OSB. It provides a wealth of information about Celtic Spirituality - as well as virtual tours of the sites we will visit.

Also, see the Links and Readings pages for more information about all of the saints and sites and ideas we will encounter on our sacred journey.

Find your roots. Find yourself.