Andor & Iona - The Persecution of Pilgrims

‘A pilgrim is not a wanderer.’

 Psalm 119:10

I must confess to not being especially taken with Disney’s most recent Star Wars spin-off show ‘Ahsoka’, I much preferred the previous series ‘Andor’ which was a little grittier and had some quite interesting things to say about the real world.

For example, in episode 6, we are introduced to an indigenous tribe of people called the Dhani who live on the rugged planet of Aldhani. We see the Dhani trekking up the mountains, making a long and arduous pilgrimage to an ancient stone structure to watch a spectacular yearly celestial event, much like the Northern Lights here in Scotland.

The planet Aldhani is occupied by the Empire who seek to make the pilgrimage as difficult as possible for the oppressed Dhani people. We are told how the number of pilgrims is only 60 but before the Empire arrived, the ritual would have attracted 15,000.

Indeed, we don’t have search very far to find parallels, where regimes are making life miserable for pilgrims today by imposing restrictions upon devotees and barriers around pilgrimage sites.

For example, thousands of displaced Armenians no longer have access to their sacred, holy sites, as their Armenian Christian culture, heritage and their most ancient monasteries and churches are being destroyed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Meanwhile, thousands of Orthodox Christians have been denied access to Mount Tabor, in the Lower Galilee, site of the transfiguration of Jesus.

Similarly, last Christmas in Kosovo, Kosovan authorities banned Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Porfirije from entering Pec Monastery, the cradle of Serbian Orthodoxy, where Serb Christians have lived in the land of their ancestors, continuously for the last 1,500 years.

In Turkey, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, has been refused permission by the Turkish authorities to hold the Divine Liturgy at the historic Sümela Monastery in Turkey’s northwestern Trabzon province.

And its not just Christian pilgrims facing a tough time; The ruling Chinese Communist Party have imposed restrictions on Tibetans in Lhasa wishing to travel to the sacred Mount Kailash in western Tibet for this year during the Buddhist festival of Sagadawa.

So why do totalitarian regimes despise pilgrims so much? Put simply, repressive governments dislike them because pilgrimages represent freedom and the movement of people to the beat of a drum that isn’t theirs. Happy pilgrims who are chanting and singing hymns as they go, repeating their prayers and mantras, are carrying out acts of spiritual resistance and defiance.

Pilgrims are bringing tribute to a higher authority and giving devotion to a greater power, which the regime wishes to have for itself. In other words, the faithful scare the forces of tyranny.

Most of all, the banning of pilgrimages and the harassment of pilgrims is an attempt by regimes to disconnect a particular group of people from a specific place and their own spiritual roots.

Yet, we all have deep connections to important places, links that cannot easily be broken and emotional attachments that can persist for centuries without being forgotten.

Indigenous Scottish travelling folk, for example, are believed to be descended from Highland clansmen displaced following Culloden and the Clearances and it is thought that their stopping places around Scotland were the same sites where their ancestors’ clans once lived. In more recent centuries, they then returned to their old villages, as itinerant tinsmiths to repair tools, where they once sharpened claymores, schiltrons and dirks.

It is the same reason we Scottish Catholics continue to return to our old pre-reformation churches and ruined cathedrals, from St Andrew’s to Melrose, from Iona to Dunfermline, to pray and remember our forbearers in faith; The ‘roofless abbeys and lady chapels in the low glades of the north where altars of Mary were lighted of old’, as Cardinal Manning once described Scotland. 

It is the same reason I strongly support and admire the recent restoration wonderful annual Brecbannoch pilgrimage being made by a group of Scottish Catholic pilgrims to Iona Abbey during the summer months, while carrying a beautifully restored reliquary containing the precious relics of our Scottish saints.

Yet, it’s not just totalitarian regimes and oppressive governments who scorn pilgrimages, some of our fellow Christian denominations aren’t especially keen on pilgrimages either. Some feel that journeying to particular places on earth, to venerate the bones of saints is a superstitious act of idolatry. Others think that going on pilgrimage, as an act of penance or to become holier, takes our attention and focus away Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

It was this mistaken understanding of pilgrimage as an expression of ‘works’ whereby we earn our salvation, rather than gaining salvation through faith alone, which caused the practice of pilgrimage to be prohibited in Scotland, following the Reformation.  

In reality, Christians go on pilgrimage to deepen their connection with God and to feel connected to the aforementioned oppressed Christian communities around the world today. Christians have always made pilgrimages to Jerusalem and the Christian life itself is a journey, we are all living in exile and we are all on a quest to one day return to the homeland.

Indeed, I am reasonably sure none of the faithful taking the Brecbannoch pilgrimage to Iona believe that each muddy footstep buys them heavenly air miles or earns years off purgatory, like salvation club card points.

In truth, the Brecbannoch pilgrims’ main mission is to invoke the intercession of Scotland's three patrons, St Andrew, St Margaret and St Columba, and to pray for a renewal of the faith in our nation.  

As such, I pray that the Brecbannoch pilgrimage will grow and flourish, with the number of participants increasing each year. I’d love to see an interactive Brecbannoch route map made available through an app, to allow those who cannot attend to be able to participate from home. Or the creation of a new Scottish Catholic breviary, to act as a companion prayer book for the pilgrimage, with daily prayers drawn from the devotions of the early Scottish Church.

It would be a mistake to think that the restitution of such a venerable old custom, cannot be appropriated as a vehicle for contemporary evangelization, as well as the re-evangelization of the lapsed.

For me, the Brecbannoch pilgrimage represents an expression of inclusive Christian fellowship, wholesome and healthy conservative Catholicism and a gentle traditionalism, with its heart firmly rooted in humble piety, rather than polemics, free of any political baggage.

For many young Catholics, the Brecbannoch pilgrimage also acts as a sort of vibrant alternative to the sometimes dry and often uninspiring corporate language of synodality, with its core implementation teams facilitating spirit-led listening encounters.

To some young Catholics, the Brecbannoch pilgrimage offers an exciting antidote to some of our increasingly dated sounding folk hymns, and to be honest, I’d happily walk 40 miles just to escape Colours Of Day.

Seriously though, lets all get behind this positive initiative, as there isn’t too much to feel good about at the moment. We are facing a round of impending a parish closures, our country doesn’t currently have its own Cardinal or Scottish seminary in Rome, yet we still have our sacred places and our ancient faith. Let’s cherish it and renew it, like the Dhani on the planet Aldhani, like the faithful following in the footsteps of Columba, on the road to holy Iona.