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Dr Ian Adamson writes of the visit of the Swedish Tall Ship T/S Gunilla;-

Annala Uladh--Annals of Ulster---otherwise Annala Senait--Annals of Senat Kal. Jan. AD 823.. The plundering of Bennchair (Mor), (Bangor the Great), of the Ards, by Foreigners, and the spoiling of its oratory;and the relics of Comghall were shaken out of their shrine.

'Twill be true,true,
By the will of the supreme King of Kings
My stainless bones shall be taken
From beloved Bennchair to Oentrobh.(Antrim)

For more, and better versions, of my photos see T/S Gunilla on Mister Keep Fit.

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Link

Swedish ship in port, Saturday, May 29. 2010

Psalm 148 (New International Version)

1 Praise the LORD. [a]
Praise the LORD from the heavens,
praise him in the heights above.

2 Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

3 Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars.

4 Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.

5 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for he commanded and they were created.

6 He set them in place for ever and ever;
he gave a decree that will never pass away.

7 Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,

9 you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,

10 wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,

11 kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,

12 young men and maidens,
old men and children.

13 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendour is above the earth and the heavens.

14 He has raised up for his people a horn, [b]
the praise of all his saints,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.
Praise the LORD.

Footnotes:
a.Psalm 148:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah ; also in verse 14
b.Psalm 148:14 Horn here symbolizes strong one, that is, king.

The Swedish Training Tall Ship T/S Gunilla is currently visiting Bangor. It's the first Swedish ship that I can remember visiting.

The second image shows T/S Gunilla on a Swedish stamp.

Link

T/S Gunilla - Öckerö gymnasieskola

Dr Ian Adamson writes -

I was sorry to hear of the death of your friend from MS. (a)

On Saturday 15th May, I attended a Research Day organised by Patricia Gordon of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Northern Ireland at Queen's University Medical Biology Centre, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast under the guidance of Dame Ingrid Allen DBE, the sister of one of my friends in Medical School, Gwynneth. The wonderful keynote lecture "Solving the Riddle of MS" was given by Dr Stephen Hauser, Chair of the Department of Neurology, University of California, San Fransisco, USA - like Dame Ingrid, one of the greatest minds in the Medical world (b).

He [Dr Hauser] outlined the several susceptible genes in developing MS and also the environmental factors.Now MS is commonest in areas away from the Equator,being almost unknown in Central Africa.Yet it is relatively common in the British Isles, North America, Canada, Scandinavia, southern Australia and New Zealand. There is a growing amount of research to suggest that vitamin D is involved but I asked if they had looked for a Viking gene, which might trigger it off. Dr Hauser replied that there was not yet enough data on population genetics but that the question was a very good one.


Which brings me to Kathryn Lindskoog and "Pilgrim's Regress" (c). In August, 2002 , I liaised with my friend Peter Robinson MP,MLA, on behalf of one our constituents in East Belfast, Mr Raymond Atkinson, with regard to Bernagh, "Red Hall" (d).

I attended the Development Arts Sub-Committee on Wednesday 7th August, 2002, at Belfast City Hall, emphasising the importance of the building in terms of its literary connection with C.S.Lewis.They agreed to further a letter to the Environment Service requesting it to reconsider its opinion that the building should not be listed, and I followed this up with the Minister of the Environment, Dermot Nesbitt, MLA, my colleague in the Ulster Unionist Party. I also wrote to Mr Bob Ferguson, Chief Executive of the owners, the South and East Belfast Health amd Social Services Trust, outlining C.S. Lewis's connection with Scottish as well as English Literature, as I believed that "Red Hall" might be a suitable location for my Ulster Scots or Ullans Academy (e).

We were assured by Mr Nesbitt that the Department were aware of the links with C.S.Lewis at the time Red Hall was evaluated, but the building itself was architecturally unremarkable and these links in themselves did not meet listing criteria (f). Despite a media campaign I initiated with the help of Ben Lowry, Eddie McIlwaine and Dan Gordon of the Belfast Telegraph, the house was sold for development and subsequently demolished (g).

Dr Paisley and his family were appalled. Rhonda, you will remember, had obtained funding for Ross Wilson's statue of The Searcher, the CS Lewis Centenary Sculpture, unveiled by Douglas Gresham at the Holywood Arches Library, Holywood Road, Belfast on Friday 6th November1998 (h). As the house was being demolished Dr Paisley stood outside in silent protest (i).

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Editor's Notes and comments

(a) See Azalea (Monday, May 24. 2010). My friend's funeral takes place today.

(b) See Dr Hauser's entry in the UCSF Medical Center.

The name reminds me of Professor Richard Hauser, whom I met in the 1970s at a conference in Belfast with his wife, Hephzibah Menuhin. [A musician like her famous brother, Hephzibah was a concert pianist.] Prof Hauser invited me to call on him in London, which I did shortly afterwards. He claimed to have been the first to bring together representatives of the Armenians and the Kurds (traditional enemies) since the days of the Armenian Holocaust under the Ottoman Empire. Prof Hauser showed me a suitably sinister curved oriental dagger, which he told me had been a present after the meeting that he had organised.

(c) After suffering from MS for decades, Kathryn Lindskoog finally died of the disease in 2003. She was the author of FINDING THE LANDLORD: A GUIDEBOOK TO C. S. LEWIS'S PILGRIM'S REGRESS, Kathryn Lindskoog, Cornerstone Press, Chicago, USA, 1995. See C.S. Lewis's "The Pilgrim 's Regress" Part 1, Wednesday, June 18. 2008.

(d) 'Bernagh' (later renamed 'Red Hall') was the family home of C.S. Lewis's boyhood and lifelong friend Arthur Greeves.

THE PILGRIM'S REGRESS (dedicated to Arthur Greeves) 'spurted out' of Lewis in 1932, during a fortnight's stay at Bernagh. This was Lewis's first book as a Christian and the only book that he would write in Ireland. See Bernagh in the C S Lewis Centenary Group Trail Brochure.

(e) C.S. Lewis's boyhood nurse, Lizzie Endicott, was an Ulster-Scot. Lewis could certainly read Lowland Scots, 'Lallans', for he paid extensive tribute to the Scottish courtly writers, including Dunbar, Douglas, Lyndsay and Montgomerie, in the volume that he wrote in the series of the Oxford History of English Literature (which Lewis called OHEL). This was Volume IV, Poetry and Prose in the Sixteenth Century (1954). [Originally titled English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama]. A pupil, and later Professor of English, John Wain, regasrded OHEL as Lewis's greatest book. Given Lewis's talent for mimicry, I wouldn't be surprised if he could make a fair attempt at Ulster Scots.

(f) Mr Nesbitt was formally correct. The grounds for "Listing" a building depends on its architectural merit, or lack thereof, rather than its historic interest in connection with important events in the past.

(g) Bernagh/Red Hall, built in the late 19th century, possessed extensive grounds. The area was an attactive residential one. The demolition occurred a few years ago during the buildsing boom when developers were making large profits.

(h) Rhonda Paisley attended Art College and interested herself in the visual arts. She and Ross Wilson both became members of our Centenary Group (see here). Ross Wilson's "The Searcher" is a fine addition to the physical landscape of the city and a fitting memorial to its greatest literary figure.

(i) What a final tableau! Rev Ian Paisley standing in silent protest. I knew nothing of this so thank you, Ian, for telling us of it!

Following a torrential shower and hail that swept across western Hungary, clouds form into a vast ring over the region of Gyoer, west of Budapest, Hungary
- the DAILY TELEGRAPH

In order to see the spectacular cloud, you'll have to foillow the link, since I can't download the phopto freom the DT site. 'Gyoer' is Győr with its two awkward sounds, unique to Hungarian viz. 'gy' which sounds rather like our 'j' in 'jam' and 'ő', the 'long umlaut', Győr lies midway between Vienna aqnd Budapest, in Western Transdanubia. The German name is Raab, much easier to pronounce for English speakers. There's a French memorial outside the city to the French soldiers who died in the Napoleonic "bataille de Raab". The city is home to my Hungarian friend. He, his son and his daughter speak a variety of European languages.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/7766722/Pictures-of-the-day-26-May-2010.html

ä ö ü Ä Ë Ö Ü ß ê î Î â  ă Ă Ş Ţ Ç ş šŠ ţ ç Á É Í Ó Ú á é í ó ú À à è Ő ő ű ñ ï ë Ł ź ¡ ć ï
Αα Ββ Γγ Δδ Εε Ζζ Ηη Θθ Ιι Κκ Λλ Μμ Νν Ξξ Οο Ππ Ρρ Σσς Ττ Υυ Φφ Χχ Ψψ Ωω ᾲ ᾴ ῂ ῄ ὶ ί ῦ ώ ύ

Continued from Part 3:

The demand for Unionist Unity has been articulated recently by several in the DUP, notably by its Deputy Leader, Nigel Dodds MP [the DUP Leader, Peter Robinson, has had other things to think about]. And this has found an echo on the doorsteps, as I found during the General Election campaign.

The DUP, with 8 MPs and a majority of Unionist MLAs, would inevitably dominate any single Unionist Party. In essence, this demand is for the UUP and TUV to commit suicide, disband, and become absorbed into the DUP. The TUV may well choose this option in any case -the TUV is a recent splinter from the DUP - following its electoral failure in the General Election. But thye UUP is a different matter.

The UUP is the Party which dominated politics in Ulster for generations, first in resisting Home Rule and then in ruling the partitioned pro-Union part of Ireland known as Northern Ireland after 1920. In my youth, the UUP could record a vote of over 50,000 at the General Election and a MAJORITY of over 50,000 in South Antrim. Having lost its postion as the largest Unionist party to the DUP during the leadership of David Trimble, the UUP has recently chosen out a distinctive role for itself as a local ally of the Conservative Party, with whom, in the past, it has had many traditional links. Yet that link has not revived the electoral fortunes of the UUP in the recent General Elction.

Last Saturday, the Grand Master of the Orange Order, Robert Saulters, addressing an Orange gathering in Armoy, Co Antrim, declared that he believed that there should be "one big unionist party" representing all the disparate shades of unionist opinion. These comments have been welcomed by senior DUP figures, its Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds MP, Jeffrey Donalson MP and Arlene Foster MLA. The last two were prominent defectors from the UUP to the DUP during the Trimble years. And Arlene Foster recently deputised for Peter Robinson as Northern Ireland's First Minister.

Clearly Saulters and the DUP are now "singing from the same hymnsheet". It was Saulters who convened the private and confidential meeting between the the UUP Leader, Sir Reg Empey, and the DUP Leader last December. The DUP leaked this information to the press in January creating great embarrassment for Sir Reg.

Soon after Saulters made his comments, leading Orangeman and UUP Assemblyman, David McNarry, agreed that the remarks were "very timely". On the other hand fellow-Orangeman Tom Elliott MLA (likely to be a candidate for the UUP Leadership) declared that the hopes for a single unionist party were detached from the reality of unionist voters' wildly differing views on virtually every issue outside support for the Union. Elliott added that Saulters could not be seen as a neutral broker since he was seen as close to the DUP.

UUP Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy (naturally another Orangeman) said that he had a certain amount of empathy for Saulters' views but he ruled out the Orange Order's having any political role in this matter.

Basil McCrea MLA - who may be another candidate for the UUP Leadership - described as "from the UUP's liberal wing" (on what grounds I have no notion) claimed that unionism needed a "positive vision"; the real challenge was to find a way to enthuse new unionist voters to come out on polling day.

This dispute has prompted a reaction. On Monday SDLP Assemblyman Declan O'Loan proposed "Nationalist unity" - a united nationalist party embracing the SDLP and Sinn Féin. For his pains, the SDLP Leader withdrew the Party Whip from O'Loan the following day.

McCrea's remarks underline the fact that there has been a precipitate drop since 2001 in the numbers of votes cast for Unionist parties of any description - from 400,00 votes to under 200,000. What can the reason be? Previously the Unionist voting bloc had remained solid.

Nicholas Whyte in his blog suggests-

former Unionist voters are not terribly interested in Unionism, and that efforts by Unionist parties to scare them into voting Unionist by waving the flag will continue to prove unsuccessful, whether those efforts are carried out by one party or several.

Since the constitutional future of the Province will be decided by referendum, there is no point in voting "Unionist" in the various elections to choose a governing administration at whatever level -

Actually, Unionism has won; the Union has been secured, pending a referendum rather than an election, by the 1998 peace deal, the Republic's constitutional claim has been amended and the IRA have disarmed. Voting Sinn Fein doesn't actually bring a United Ireland any closer; voting DUP doesn't do anything to make it a more distant prospect. Unionist voters mostly realise this (even though neither Unionist nor Nationalist politicians are prepared to admit that it is the case). There is therefore no need for a united Unionist party to fight for the Union.

I disagree with what Whyte has to say on 'normal politics', but this post is already long enough. I shall leave that argument till another day.

Blog Links

Secret talks, Saturday, January 30. 2010

Links

Unionism must unite - Saulters Newsletter 21 May 2010

Party whip removed from SDLP's Declan O'Loan BBC News Tuesday, 25 May 2010

Unionist unity and Garden Centre Prods Nicholas Whyte's blog 26 May 2010

ä ö ü Ä Ë Ö Ü ß ê î Î â  ă Ă Ş Ţ Ç ş šŠ ţ ç Á É Í Ó Ú á é í ó ú À à è Ő ő ű ñ ï ë Ł ź ¡ ć ï
Αα Ββ Γγ Δδ Εε Ζζ Ηη Θθ Ιι Κκ Λλ Μμ Νν Ξξ Οο Ππ Ρρ Σσς Ττ Υυ Φφ Χχ Ψψ Ωω ᾲ ᾴ ῂ ῄ ὶ ί ῦ ώ ύ

To be continued

Continued from Part 2 (Monday, May 17. 2010):

I drafted this last week but never posted it. It now needs to be updated, since there have been several significant developments.

Ian Parsley comments on Part 2;

I would add that although I always likes the "Alliance works... costs" slogans, I was never particularly comfortable with the one about "tribal politics" precisely because, as you say, almost all party politics is tribal. This is actually the crux of any problems among the party workers about the ConLib coalition - it is not that Conservatives and Liberals have nothing in common, just that they are from different "tribes". Some years ago, a friend once referenced an article which said there are, in fact, three reasons someone opts for a political party, only one of which is that party's policies - the other two are a) the potential influence to be gained by joining a certain party; and b) the "tribe".

At a meeting of the UUP Executive on Saturday 15th May, Sir Reg Empey announced that he would be stepping down as UU Party Leader, and that a new Leader would be in place for the Party's Annual Conference in October. Furthermore, that there would be a "Review" of the Party's link with the Conservatives. There have been calls for within the UUP for "Unionist Unity", which would clearly move the UUP in the opposite direction (a).

The UCUNF performance at the General Election was clearly disappointing, for which several reasons can be suggested. First, in my opinion, was the chaotic and tardy selection of candidates by the UUP. The process should have been complete by September 2009, and an ultimatum delivered to Sylvia Hermon (b), as Alex Kane judged earlier this year (c).

Nicholas Whyte wrote that The Traditional Unionist Voice is finished, and I'm sure he's right. In January, on the other hand, Alex Kane had told us that the TUV was on couse to take North Antrim from the DUP and make severe inroads into its vote everywhere.

On the Wednesday before polling day I showed up at Bangor Market, which for many years has been a cockpit of politics in Northern Ireland, not least on the day before polling for European elections. My rosette was in my pocket so that, for the moment, I was an anonymous member of the public. Yet the only political activity I could see was that from the TUV. On closer inspection its Party Leader, Jim Allister was there - he who, according to Alex Kane was in pole position to take the North Antrim seat. I asked to take a photograph at which a TUV activist wanted to take a photo of me with Jim for publication on the TUV website!

Notes

(a) Basil McCrea MLA is expected to be a candidate and has declared himself to be a critic of the Conservative link. At the Ullans Awards ceremony to which Ian Adamson invited me recently, I observed McCrea chatting amicably with Alan McFarland MLA, a follower of Sylvia's who has likewise resigned from the UUP.

(b) Ironically, had Sylvia swallowed her pride and remained within the UUP, she would have been well-placed to become Leader of the UUP - head of the whole caboodle and not just an 'Independent'.

(c) see Alex Kane speaks Part 2, Friday, January 15. 2010

Blog Links

Alex Kane speaks Part 2, Friday, January 15. 2010

Links

Nicholas Whyte's Northern Ireland Elections site

Nicholas Whyte's view on the Election in Northern Ireland (from his blog)

Electoral reform - what would it mean for NI MPs? (BBC site) Nicholas Whyte's views

To be continued

Dr Ian Adamson writes;-

Conlig House/Little Clandeboye is mentioned under Main Street, Conlig, Gate Lodge, page 135, and he [Marcus Patton] supplies a photograph on page 158 of Little Clandeboye.

Ed: Thanks, Ian. Bangor: An Historical Gazetteer, Marcus Patton, Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, paperback 1999.

Interestingly, Marcus has a whole section on Main Streets. This appelation,of course, was taken by the Scotch Irish, along with the Diamond, to the American Colonies and was a significant addition to their Town Planning. In England the standard would have been High Street. Bangor has both.

An interesting observation. So "Main Street, USA", as in DisneyWorld, comes from the Scotch Irish settlers!

Originally Bangor had only Main Street. "Ballymagee Street" was formerly the name for the current "High Street" (which certainly rises quite sharply from sea level). In the early 20th century the Town Fathers decided that the town deserved both a Main Street and a High Street.

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Ed: Dr Ian Adamson sends these quotations which tell us why he entitled his book, Bangor - Light of the World (1979);

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its savour wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot. You are the Light of the World. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither is a candle lit and put under a bushel, but on a candlestick,and it gives light to everyone in the house. Let your light so shine that your good works may be seen and so glorify your Father who is in heaven."

- Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew Chapter 4, verses 13-16:Ed)

"A great Light illuminating the World has been kindled,raised on a candlestick, shining over the whole earth, a royal city well fortified and set on a hill, in which there is a great population who belong to God."

- Hymn to St. Patrick
From the seventh century Bangor Antiphonary

Ed: And Dr Adamson sends a copy of the forward written by Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich to Adamson's book Bangor-Light of the World (1979):

Bangor is one of a small group of Irish placenames which are well known to scholars in many European countries. Students of hagiography meet it in the lives of Columbanus and Gall. Students of the early Irish annals meet it in connection with the so-called “Ulster Chronicle”. Students of the Twelfth Century Reform of the Irish Church encounter it in Saint Bernard’s Life of St. Malachy. Students of Irish hymnology, liturgy and palaeography are constantly referred to the “Antiphonary of Bangor” as one of the prime sources in all these areas.

It was a splendid idea on the part of Dr. Ian Adamson to bring out a book centred on the Antiphonary in 1979. The great edition of the Antiphonary by Warren was issued in two volumes by the Henry Bradshaw Society as long ago as 1893. They provide a page by page facsimile for the scholar, but they are too bulky, too costly, too learned and too inaccessible for the ordinary reader. Dr. Adamson’s work reproduces the thirty-six folios (= seventy-one pages, as one side of a folio is blank) of the original MS. in a smaller scale facsimile, provides a transcript of the Latin text in beautiful calligraphy, supplies an English translation of some of the canticles, hymns, collects and prayers, and most important of all, places the MS. in its Judaeo-Christian background within the cultural history of Bangor monastery.

Now that a new edition of Dr. Adamson’s work is shortly to be published, I deem it a high honour to be invited to write this foreword for it. Dr. Adamson is already well known for The Cruthin (1974), an original and challenging contribution on the early history of the North of Ireland, and The Battle of Moira (1980), an edition of Ferguson’s epic poem, Congal. In all his writings he has shown a special interest in the Pictish people of the North. Bangor was founded near their most important kingdom, Dal nAraidhe, and Comgall, its founder, was a member of their ruling aristocracy. Dr. Adamson therefore writes of Bangor with new insights and with freshness, breadth of vision and unspoiled enthusiasm.

Twenty years ago I paid my first visit to Bobbio in Northern Italy where the manuscript of the Antiphonary of Bangor was lovingly preserved for many centuries. I then proceeded to Milan in order to see the manuscript itself in its present home in the Ambrosian Library. Imagine my frustration when I discovered that although the Library had reopened after the summer vacation, the manuscript room would not reopen for visitors until the following week. As my return ticket did not allow me to stay over, I pleaded with the Library Authorities and pulled out all the stops........came all the way from near Bangor........would only take a minute........was a professor of history........but all to no avail. Every time a member of the staff passed in or out of the room I could see that there were manuscripts on show in the glass cases within..... but I did not see the manuscript of the Antiphonary for another three years.

Lest the same fate should befall others I hope that Ian Adamson’s new edition of Bangor: Light of the World will have a wide circulation. It covers many themes which will be a revelation to most of us – The Perennial Praise in the Jewish Temple and its movement west with Martin of Tours, the Divine Office in Early Ireland and the Rule of St. Columbanus, St. Mahee of Nendrum and St. Malachy of Armagh. It also provides that most unusual thing at the present time – a book about the religious history of Ulster, of which both Protestant and Catholic, both Nationalist and Unionist, can be equally proud. Tolle, lege.

+Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich
Archbishop of Armagh
Ard Mhacha
Lá Fhéile Pádraig, 17 Márta 1987

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I'm supporting Graham Brady in the election today for the Chairman of the Conservative Backbench 1922 Committee. I've very glad that today Tim Montgomerie, too, has come out in support of Brady on Conservative Home.

Any Leader faces danger if he chooses to surround himself with yes-men. He needs to hear a truly independent voice. Tim Montgomerie writes of the "iron grip" that David Cameron holds today over most of the Conservative Party. Cameron showed poor judgement last week when he sought to flood the 1922 Committee with his Ministers. Fortunately this week, after strong lobbying, Cameron has decided that the Ministers - the "payroll vote" - will not participate in the election of the 1922 Chairman.

Montgomerie writes that Brady ".. is a man of principle - resigning from the frontbench over grammar schools - but is not a troublemaker - staying loyal to David Cameron after his resignation."

Graham Brady addressed the North Down Conservative Supper Club in January 2008. I wrote then -

Graham came to public prominence in May 2007 when he resigned his front-bench position as Conservative spokesman on Europe in protest against the perceived dropping of support for Grammar Schools by David Cameron and his education spokesman, David Willets. The fight to preserve the Grammar Schools in Northern Ireland is an issue which lies very close to the heart of Ulster Conservatives so Graham was a most welcome guest.

Blog Link

Graham Brady MP in Ulster, Thursday, January 17. 2008

Link

Graham Brady for Chairman of the 1922 Conservative Home

RELEASE INTERNATIONAL PRAYER ALERT
Tuesday, May 25, 2010

As advised in our Prayer Alert dated May 11, our lengthy fortnightly email has been replaced by ad hoc prayer requests for individual issues as they arise. Thank you for praying about the situation reported below.

IRAN – Maryam and Marzieh acquitted, free and now safe

Two Christian prisoners of faith have been acquitted of all charges 14 months after their arrest – and are now safe in a country outside Iran.

Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Esmaeilabad left Iran last Saturday – with a warning from the courts that they would be 'dealt with severely' if they were ever involved in Christian activities in Iran again.

Both were reportedly eager to thank everyone who prayed for them. Maryam said: 'I believe our arrest, imprisonment and subsequent release were (...) all for His glory. But the prayers of people encouraged and sustained us throughout this ordeal.'

Maryam and Marzieh, who were raised as Muslims, were arrested in March 2009 and charged with 'apostasy' and 'propagating Christianity'. They were held at Tehran's Evin prison where they endured repeated interrogations and solitary confinement and suffered very poor health. They were released on bail in November.

Meanwhile, the Iranian authorities have also released on bail a couple from Isfahan, Hamid Shafiee and Reyhaneh Aghajary, following a large bail payment. They have been reunited with their sons and are said to be in good health. They have been told to expect a future court summons.

(Sources: ASSIST News Service, Elam Ministries, Farsi Christian News Network, Middle East Concern)

Blog Link

Maryam & Marzieh: Acquitted and free, by prayforiran.org Sunday, May 23. 2010

May blossem currently in our area. For better images see May blossom on Mister Keep Fit.

Ed: Dr Ian Adamson has sent this reaction to Celtic Spirituality, Thursday, May 13. 2010.

Celtic Spirituality- A Tribute

“Correct” belief, the now standard orthodoxy of the Christian Church, was established chiefly at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (now Iznik in Turkey) in May 325 AD. The Council was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine I to settle what he described “as a fight over trifling and foolish verbal differences” between the major Alexandrian ecclesiatics. One group, the followers of Arius, had integrated Neoplatonism, which accented the absolute oneness of the divinity as the highest perfection, with a rationalist and literal approach to the New Testament. Jesus of Nazareth was seen as the most perfect creature of the universe whose standing had caused him to become “God’s Son”, but who, as the “Logos” or “Word”, was created by the uncreated “Father” and thus subordinate to His Will. Arius had published this thesis in the verse of his Thalia (Banquet) around 323, and it spread rapidly by the way of the popular songs of the common people.

The champion of Nicene orthodoxy was Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria in Egypt, and he and his followers eventually won the day. The resultant Nicene Creed was an enlarged and explanatory version of the Apostles’ Creed in which the doctrines of Christ’s divinity and of the Holy Trinity were defined. The Creed found in the seventh century Irish manuscript known now as the “Bangor Antiphonary” differs in wording from all other versions which are known, and is, in substance, the original creed of Nicaea. The Bangor School accepted orthodox Christianity as “the true vine brought out of Egypt” and through it Columbanus and his followers helped to wrest Europe from Arianism.

Following the Reformation Neoplatonic mysticism rose once more in Italy. Fleeing from the Roman Catholic Inquisition its followers found an equally severe orthodoxy in Calvinist Geneva. One Michael Servetius was burned there as a heretic in 1553. Faustus Socinius was banished during the 17th century Counter Reformation and in Poland he founded a group based upon Arian theology. These Polish Socinians had a profound effect on Church and State in the British Isles among Calvinists and Anglicans alike. In Ireland Thomas Emlyn suffered persecution as a Socinian and in 1725 and 1828 trouble over the acceptance of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) led to the founding of the Non-Subscibing Presbyterian Church of Ireland which was, ironically, strongest in those modern counties of Antrim and Down, which constituted Ulster in Columbanus’ day.

In 367 AD, Anthananius decreed that heretical books should be destroyed. A corpus of writings known to us now as the “Gnostic Gospels” were among these. Previously known to us through attacks on them by the Presbyter Irenaeus, the second century Bishop of Lyon, several of these gospels survived by being buried at a monastery founded by a friend of Athanasius called Pachomius. The monastery was at Cheroboskian, now called Nag Hammadi, in Upper Egypt.

One finds much relevance for today in these texts, particularly as they relate to Jesus’ view of women. Women are indeed regarded more highly in the Gnostics texts than in orthodox texts. The Gnostics allowed women priests and gave a special place to Mary Magdalene above all the disciples. The Gospel of Philip says

“.....the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdelene. But Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often ……... The rest of the disciples were offended by it. They said to him, “Why do you love her more than all of us?” The Saviour answered and said to them;” Why do I not love you as I love her”

A text called the “Dialogue of the Saviour” says: “She spake as a woman who knew the call”. A Gospel of Mary (Magdalene) contained in a Coptic Codex in Berlin, known as long ago as 1896 was not published until 1955.

Today special and psychological arguments continue to operate against the place of women which was such a feature of Gnosticism. A Vatican 2 document saying “Every type of discrimination.....based on sex is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent” has not been put into effect. It is remarkable that conditions today are not unlike those which pertained during the formation of the early Church. Now we have the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Texts. But not only that, we have teachers of vision like to show us again the Way of the Lord in a manner relevant to our own times.

Grace Clunie (a) is one of those inspired people who already know in some mysterious way the true wisdom of human existence.They see out only to see in. Such mystics are never really at home in a “lawed and ordered” society with its organised Church. The ebb and flow of their exegesis must be allowed that freedom to grow which is necessary for the maturation of the human species. Neither force, nor power, nor autonomy can provide inroads into this process of maturation, for without freedom there will be a holding back in that evolution necessary to prepare us for our rightful place in the universe.

I often wonder whether the “orthodoxy” usually attributed in common Christian heritage to the formulation of the Nicene fathers has been more of an oppression than a safeguard. As a collective phenomenon human beings are still at the stage of the toddler, who is many times distressing, but who, with care and patience, will evolve and progress to maturity. As a follower of the Declaration of Nazareth (b), which Brian Smeaton (c) has called the Manifesto of Christ, Grace Clunie evinces from us those capabilities which lie in us all.

Ian Adamson

Code: Picts

Editor's Notes

(a) I was wondering whether the surname has the same origin as that of Hollywood star George Clooney. This site says yes. Its origin is Scottish, from Perthshire. Originally "MacCluny", it comes from the Gaelic word "cluanag" meaning an islet in a river, a piece of choice pasture or a meadow.’ Today Clan MacPherson welcomes all "MacClooney"s and the like.

Edward MacLysaght in his Guide to Irish surnames (Dublin, 1964) prefers a Southern origin. " Ó Cluanaigh Co.Wexford. Clooney and Clonney are usual variants. Clooney is a synonym of MacLoonie in Co.Down."

(b) 16He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Gospel of Luke Chapter 4, verses 16-21

(c) Brian Smeaton is a Church of Ireland Minister and poet based in County Donegal. Rector of Ramelton, parish of Aughnish, within Donegal's Ulster-Scots dialect area.

Ed: Dr Adamson has raised a great number of issues. I'd plan DV to respond to some of them quite soon.

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Ed: Ray Keene has this piece in today's TIMES. The print edition adds a fine photo of the current FIDE President dressed as Ghengis Khan astride a dark-coloured stallion:

Raid on chess power base as rivals vie to play the king
Ray Keene

Chess is normally seen as an intellectual battle of wits, but real-life violence has erupted in Russia as a former world champion attempts to checkmate the Kremlin for control of the game’s governing body.

Security guards stormed the headquarters of the Russian Chess Federation and evicted officials after they backed Anatoly Karpov in his fight to unseat the eccentric Kirsan Ilyumzhinov as president of the game’s world governing body, Fide.

The federation’s bank accounts were frozen and documents seized from its Moscow offices after it rejected a demand from President Medvedev’s chief economic aide, Arkadi Dvorkovich, to support Mr Ilyumzhinov’s re-election as Fide’s chief in September.

Mr Dvorkovich, who heads the federation’s supervisory board, had declared that it would throw its weight behind Mr Ilyumzhinov even before officials had met to consider the rival candidacy of Mr Karpov. When the federation voted last week, however, it chose Mr Karpov, a decision condemned by Mr Dvorkovich as lacking in “legitimacy”.

The federation’s chairman, Anatoli Bakh, told Ekho Moskvy radio that Mr Dvorkovich had orchestrated the raid on its headquarters. The Kremlin aide was unavailable to comment last night.

Mr Ilyumzhinov, who is also the millionaire president of the Buddhist republic of Kalmykia in southern Russia, has been Fide’s president since 1995, and is a chess fanatic. He has made the game compulsory in schools in Kalmykia and spent $60 million (£41 million) building a “Chess City” outside the capital, Elista.

He ordered deputies to vacate the local parliament and refurbished it so that the rival champions Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov could play each other in 2006, ending a damaging 13-year split in the game that had produced rival world champions.

Described as “colourful” by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, he caused a political storm this month by declaring on state television that he had been visited by aliens. A member of Russia’s parliament asked Mr Medvedev to investigate whether state secrets had been disclosed after Mr Ilyumzhinov described how humanoid figures in yellow spacesuits had landed their craft on the balcony of his apartment in central Moscow. He said that they had given him a tour of their spaceship, and taken him to visit “some kind of star”.

He claims to have formulated Kalmykian state policy by consulting a local witch and has a brand of vodka named after him. He also favours appearing at public occasions dressed as Genghis Khan, seated on a white charger.

His prospects of defeating Mr Karpov for the leadership of Fide are high, however. Although chess organisations in Europe and the US will doubtless back Mr Karpov, most small countries with little chess background will favour Mr Ilyumzhinov.

Mr Karpov, lacking the resources of a state to back his campaign, has resorted to fundraising among the chess-loving glitterati of New York. A function this month at the Trump Soho Hotel was graced by his former bitter rival, Garry Kasparov.

Mr Kasparov’s overt backing for Mr Karpov may have been the final factor in provoking the attack on the Russian federation’s base last week. Mr Kasparov, a founder of the opposition The Other Russia movement, is an outspoken critic of the Kremlin regime created by Vladimir Putin, now Prime Minister.

Ed: ChessBase News has this piece, datelined last Friday, on the same subject.

Cllr. Dr. Ian Adamson comments on Saturday's "The Ulster Scot";

You are right, of course, that Bangor is no longer Scotch in speech but Conlig was included in Bob Gregg's map. Little remains of the tongue in Conlig itself.

When I was a boy it was still strong and father used to sell Betsy Gray: A Tale of '98, Robin's Readings and Sons of the Sod by W.G. Lyttle in the Shop. These were published in Bangor by the "SPECTATOR OFFICE". My favourite was Sons of the Sod, price 1/6, said by the press to be the best local story ever written.The dialogue was pure Ullans, not the artificial variety of so-called Ulster-Scots now promoted by the present Minister of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.

Lord Trimble last week

Because of my speech I was called the 'Man from Conlig' at Bangor Grammar School, even though I walked home on good days, so did not come from very far away. I was in the same class at school as the future Ulster Nationalist, David Trimble, though I have always been and remain a British Unionist. Anyway I was proud of my village.

Conlig House was the boyhood home of William James Pirrie, who became Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1896/97 and built the Titanic. I determined to become Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1996/97, so Conlig would have had two Lord Mayors.

Eddie Irvine

Rev Ian Paisley recently

I did not build any great ships but I was able to sponsor my young friend Eddie Irvine into motor racing. But most of all, although I was never a physician to a King, like my grannies' family member, Sir Hans Sloane, I have for some years been proud to be the Personal Physician to Ian Paisley, the most significant political figure in Ireland of the second part of the Twentieth Century.

P.S. I quite liked the picture of Bangor Marina as this was the spot from where Columbanus presumably left to re-evangelise Western Europe.


Editor's comments: Conlig, a village 2 or 3 miles from Bangor on the road to Newtownards, has seen considerable "development" recently with the construction of several estates of privately-owned dwellings as well as one Housing Executive estate in the general area. Ian's testimony seems to be that, in his youth, the village was Ulster-Scots in speech but now the Belfast dialect has replaced it.

W.G. Lyttle (1844-96) was Editor of the local newspaper, the County Down Spectator. My mother had a copy of Betsy Gray on her shelves. I tried to read it, but found the dialect in which it was written impenetrable.

Edmund "Eddie" Irvine, the former Formula 1 racing driver, grew up in Conlig. His father owned the local garage and competed in local motorsport. Eddie today has a number of interests in the area.

Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). Wikipedia has - an Ulster-Scot physician and collector, notable for bequeathing his collection to the British nation which became the foundation of the British Museum. He also invented Drinking chocolate and gave his name to Sloane Square in London, and Sir Hans Slone Square in his birthplace Killyleagh. It would be interesting to hear more of Ian's family links with this great man of science.

William James Pirrie (1847–1924), Lord Pirrie, was born in Canada of Irish parents but grew up in Conlig. His surname has the same origin as that spelt "Perry". Spelt this way, it reflects the nomal Scotch pronunciation.

Pirrie became the driving force behind the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast and one of the world's greatest salesman of the time. He conceived the vision of a series of three great liners, the most luxurious that the world had ever seen, and successfully brought the concept to fruition. The great ships were given the names OLYMPIC, TITANIC, and BRITANNIC.

Pirrie became Lord Mayor of Belfast, and MP and was enobled. Furthermore, he became a great patron of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Yet Pirrie cannot have been the benefactor who promoted the building of Conlig Presbyterian Church, whose first Minister was a kinsman of my mother's named Samuel Hamilton. The entry in the updated version of Genealogy of the Hamiltons of Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, by Alastair M.T. Maxwell-Irving, F.S.A. Scot.. & John Ramsay of Culramoney, Co. Antrim (privately published, 1995, see Hamilton family: Part 2, Friday, April 9. 2010) has;

1a SAMUEL HAMILTON (1812 22.2.1892). Minister at Conlig (Co. Down)(1846 54) and First Saintfield (Co. Down)(1854 86).
m. (A) (30.9.1846) Jane (d.27.10.1851), dr. of William Munce of ...., "Gentleman", and had issue ....

m. (B) (13.1.1857) Elizabeth, dr. of Rev. Andrew Breakey of First Killyleagh, and had issue ...

In fact, I did quite a bit of research on this family connection in the 1990s. In my files I have copies of the records of the Rev Samuel Hamilton's two marriages. Of the first, I would summarise as -

Marriage solemnised at Bangor in the parish of Bangor in the County of Down, Registrar's District of Newtownards.

On 30th September 1846, Rev. Samuel Hamilton, full age, bachelor, Clergyman, of Conlig, son of Samuel Hamilton, Farmer, married Jane Munce, full age, spinster, of Belfast, dr. of William Munce, Gentleman,

in Second Presbyterian Church, in the presence of William Pirrie and John M. Pirrie M.B. [M.D.?]
signed by David (possibly Daniel?) Hamilton [Minister of 2nd Bangor?]

I believe that Conlig Presbyterian began as a church extention, or church plant, from 2nd Bangor Presbyterian. Second Bangor was the "Secession" Church, and is now known as "Trinity Presbyterian". I have been told that in those days 2nd Presbyterian met on a building on the land where Trinity Nursery School now stands. [ My mother was once Chairman of the School's Board, and she was succeeded in that role by Lady Sylvia Hermon, now MP, who admired my mother's work. My mother has a longstanding interest in Nursery education.]


Rev Samuel Hamilton may have been attached to 2nd Bangor, where he married Jane Munce in 1846. The 'William Pirrie" who witnessed his marriage cannot have been the man who became Lord Pirrie (he was born only in 1847, and in Canada) but was very likely one of the family. I've been speaking of Rev Roy Stirling, the current Minister of Conlig Presbyterian. Rev Stirling tells me that he has a baptismal book that goes back to 1845, so that Conlig was already a functioning congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. One of the first baptisms recorded is of a son of William Pirrie whose address is given as "Whitespots". Rev Stirling knows of no building in the village known as "Conlig House".

In the 1990s, a female descendant of Rev Samuel Hamilton was visiting from England. My mother asked the lady to meet us at the evening service of Conlig Presbyterian. But the relative knew nothing of Conlig and went to Saintfield instead! Al least my mother and I got to visit Conlig Presbyterian, We met the vistor the next day.

Dr Ian Adamson comments -

Wonderful,as always, James. Conlig House became known as Little Clandeboye and has a most interesting history. You will find reference to it in Marcus Patton's beautiful book on Bangor, on sale in Eason's in Main Street.

I loved it [i.e.the house: Ed] as a boy and our house in Holywood reminds me of it. Everything I ever did had a reason, not always easy to understand at the time but your exceptional notes make a difference. Marcus Patton played at our wedding.

You will find Conlig House/Little Clandeboye pictures by Googling it and finding it under "maps"...O Ye Of Little Faith

Ed: Very true, Ian - see photo. There's a note with the photo - Large house in Conlig townland with gate lodge. Residence of William Pirrie in 1852; unoccupied in 1863 but owned by Lord Dufferin & Clandeboye. Residence of James Barratt in 1902.

This would seem to tell us about the "William Pirrie" who witnessed my relative's marriage in 1846. What can have been his relationship to Lord Pirrie, who was born in 1847 in Canada?

Marcus Patton (now OBE) and I were in the same form at Connor House. We would often walk home together. Marcus then went on to Campbell College, rather than Bangor Grammar School. Marcus was very artistic and it is no surprise to learn that he is an accomplished musician as well.

Marcus's father was Harry Patton, an architect. Before his death, Harry attended at the North Down Conservative Supper Club regularly. The family home was just round the corner from where I write at 'Duniris', Downshire Road. [Later: In his GAZETEER Marcus writes that 'Duniris' was built for his grandfather, Rev Alexander Patton. 'Dunedin' may have been Marcus's family home.] Marcus followed the same career path as his father, with a particular interest in conservation and architectural heritage.

I was in touch with Marcus in the 1990s in my quest to identify the houses and hotels associated with C.S. Lewis. Then a few years ago I came upon Marcus taking notes outside our house in Raglan Road. He was researching for his Bangor Gazetteer. I believe that I have this book in my collection. I must look see.

Cole: Picts