WHITBY Abbey, with its famous abbess, Hild, now known as St Hilda, was one of England’s leading centres of the Christian faith and a major event occurred during Hilda’s stewardship. It was the Synod of Whitby in AD 664 when the town was known as Streoneshalh.

In England at that time there were two Christian religious traditions – one was Celtic and the other Roman. This was not a distinction between Catholicism and Protestantism but more of a difference between North and South. Broadly speaking, English Southerners followed the teachings of St Augustine, sent by the Pope as the first Archbishop of Canterbury, ie the Roman tradition.

Northerners followed the Celtic tradition established by the Irish monk Columba at the Iona monastery.

In our day, the differences appear slight – monks following the Celtic tradition had tonsures that differed from those worn by those following the Roman tradition, tonsures being hairstyles. The other difference was that they celebrated Easter at different times.

Although both traditions followed the same beliefs, with the Pope as head of their church, the differences were highlighted when King Oswy of Northumbria, one of several English kings at that time, married Queen Eanflaed of Kent.

He was a Northerner and she was from the South. This resulted in the royal household celebrating Easter on two different dates.

Oswy followed the Celtic tradition, with its own date of Easter, while his wife celebrated her Easter in the Roman tradition. King Oswy decided to do something about it.

He arranged a synod whose purpose was to bring together the two sides so they could discuss the issues and hopefully reach an agreement.

Whitby Abbey was selected because it was considered an ideal meeting place.

There were only two items on the agenda – the monks’ tonsures and the method of determining the date of Easter in England. The delegates were leading figures within the English church – probably abbots, abbesses and bishops – and they travelled from the whole of England. So far as the monks’ tonsures were concerned, the monks would have to obey their abbots but it seems there was little argument or discussion about it. I could not find any information about the agreed hairstyle.

The second and most important matter was to determine the method for calculating the date of Easter in England.

It had caused friction between the Ionian tradition and the Roman tradition so Oswy wished to settle the matter and bring tranquillity into his home as well as to the rest of the country.

He did not like the idea of celebrating two Easters.

Abbess Hilda followed the Northern tradition based on the teachings of Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne, and her abbey celebrated Easter on the Celtic date.

She was to take no part in the discussions because she was hosting the synod whilst the president was King Oswy.

He would act as judge to give his royal authority to the victorious side. Each side would appoint a spokesman to deliver their arguments.

Even today, some people think the synod established the method of determining Easter throughout the world, but that is not so. England alone was its concern.

If this agenda seems rather slight to us, its purpose was to unite two traditions of the English Church; they were within one religion with its headquarters in Rome but each followed slightly differing customs in their practice of the faith.

The spokesman for the Ionian or Celtic side was Bishop Colman of Northumbria and both King Oswy and Abbess Hilda followed that tradition.

It seemed the synod would favour the Ionian/Celtic tradition but the Ionians hadn’t taken account of the skills of oratory and knowledge possessed by Wilfred of Ripon, himself a priest of Northumbria.

He was chosen to lead the arguments for the Roman system.

Aged 30 at the time, Wilfred had been educated at Lindisfarne but later spent time in Lyons and Rome, returning to England full of enthusiasm for the Roman tradition.

On behalf of the Ionian tradition, Bishop Colman argued that the system for determining the date of Easter followed the practice of the charismatic Columba.

His argument was that Columba was of unquestionable holiness and he had followed the teachings of St John the Evangelist. Colman insisted that the Celtic tradition of determining the date of Easter should continue.

Wilfred adopted a more historic aspect, and according to Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum and Stephen of Ripon’s Life of Bishop Wilfrid, he addressed the assembly by referring to some key points.

They were:

  • The method of calculating the date of Easter was practised in Rome, the city where Saints Peter and Paul had lived, taught, suffered and were buried
  • The Rome system was practised universally by the church, even as far as Egypt at that time
  • The customs of the Apostle John were based on the needs of his own community at a particular time and since then the Council of Nicea in AD 325 had established different customs – including the date of Easter
  • He suggested that Columba had done his best but was restricted by a lack of knowledge, adding that the Ionian monks present at the synod did not have the excuse of ignorance
  • He stated that whatever the arguments were on either side, noone had any authority over Peter or his successors, the Bishops of Rome – in other words, the popes.

At the conclusion of Wilfred’s address, King Oswy asked both sides if they agreed that Peter had been given the keys to the kingdom of Heaven by Christ, reinforcing Peter’s role as “the rock” upon which Christ’s fledgling church would be built to serve the entire world.

No-one denied that and it would reinforce the teachings of Augustine at Canterbury.

Oswy then made his decision. He declared in favour of St Peter, the “rock” and holder of the heavenly keys, and so the Roman tradition for determining the date of Easter in England was accepted by the synod.

Thus the two traditions were united and to this day, Easter in Britain remains a moveable feast of the church as it does in Christian countries around the world, even though some Eastern Orthodox faiths use a different system. A well-timed holiday in Greece means you can celebrate two Easters, if you wish.

The British Government passed the Easter Act of 1928 which enabled the date of Easter to be fixed but this did not affect other countries.

This was thought to benefit matters such as school holidays as well as forward planning by businesses and travel-based organisations but the Act was never brought into force because other countries did not agree with the English arguments.

A happy Easter to everyone.