Insular Apostolic Church

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Apostolic Church of the Isles
Eaglis Aspalda na hOileann
Aspalax Æglasta Ioskya
The Celtic Cross
PolityEpiscopal
LanguageClassical Gaelic
LiturgyCeltic Rite
HeadquartersIona Nua
Independence9th century AD

The Apostolic Church of the Isles, also known as the Insular Apostolic Church is a communion of Christian churches sharing the common theological, liturgical, and cultural heritage of Insular or Celtic Christianity.

The Church's membership is concentrated primarily in the Kiravian Federacy and its overseas colonies, where it is the traditional faith of Gaelic- and Pretannic-Kiravians, as well as Féinem and the Ĥeiran Coscivian ethnic groups. It is the majority religion in the Kiravian states of Irovasdra, Ilánova, Kintyre, Arkelly, Mariava, and Arkvera, as well as the freely-associated state of Saint Kennera.

History

The Insular Apostolic Church traces its heritage to the Second Evangelisation of Kirav that began in AD 575, led by Celtic monks from the Levantian mainland proselytising mainly among the Ĥeiran Coscivians, established Kiravian Celts, and the denizens of Ilánova, the Far Northeast, the North Coast, and the Kilikas provinces. These Celtic monks brought with them the distinctive practices of Celtic Christianity, which became adopted as the norm among the peoples they converted to the faith.

The origin of the Insular Apostolic Church as a denomination distinct from the Catholic Church proceeds from the Tonsure Wars. In earlier times, there was significant regional and other diversity of liturgical rites within the Catholic Church, of which the Celtic Rite of Ultmar, Kiravia, and their appendant isles was but one example. However, around the middle of the eighth century AD, the Papacy endeavoured to enforce greater uniformity within the occidental Church under a standardised Latin Rite. In 738 an edict was passed mandating that all monastic orders in Gaelia must conform to the "regular traditions and trappings of the Papal orders", with specific language regarding the cutting of hair and the wearing of plain robes, not to be coloured in the "patterns of the forest". The edict was generally ignored in Gaelia and in the Kiravian lands, where the temporal power found no interest in enforcing the ruling. Matters escalated, and in 767 the Pope had declared Celtic Christianity a pagan and blasphemous church, effecting a schism between the universal Church and the defiant congregations cleaving still to the Celtic Rite. In 768, war broke out in Levantia between the Kingdom of Gaelia (defending the Celtic Rite) and the Alvarian and Fanerian armies called to enforce the Papal edicts. The war ended in defeat for the Gaelians, and the Celtic Rite would be successfully suppressed on the Levantine mainland. However, Gaelian dissenters known as the Pilgrims of the Kilikas, were welcomed in the Kiravian lands, where the Celtic Church continued to function independently.

It was not until the early ninth century AD that the surviving Celtic Rite bishops in Kiravia would begin to identify and assert themselves as the Insular Apostolic Church and organise their own overarching hierarchy, having until this point continued to regard themselves merely as rightfully dissenting members of the universal Church awaiting reconciliation. However, as it became clear that such reconciliation would not materialise, the Celtic bishops of Kiravia convened a Synod that would ultimately aggrandise to itself the authority to elect a Patriarch of the Isles as the independent head of the church.

Theology

Liturgy

Organisation

Ecclesiology & Ecumenism

The ecclesiological relationship between the Insular Apostolic Church and other major churches in the apostolic tradition, mainly the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches, is uncertain and a matter of much debate. The Church of the Isles maintains that it is part of the wider one, holy, apostolic and catholic Church along with the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, though it is currently not in communion with either. It remains unclear when the schism between the Insular Church and the wider catholic Church occurred, but most evidence points to a gradual ecclesiastical separation due more to lack of contact between New Iona and Urceopolis than to theological disputes, and that most theological differences between the Insular Church and what it now terms its "Sister Churches" accrued over time following the separation. The Church is actively pursuing dialogue with the Urceopolitan See with the goal of arriving at common theological declaration and establishing some degree of reciprocal sacramental recognition or partial communion, with an eye towards full reconciliation as a more distant goal. The Church enthusiastically supports ecumenical efforts with other Christian denominations.

Notable Figures

Saints

  • Saint Bran - Patron saint of potato farmers. Also venerated by the Catholic and Coscivian Orthodox Churches.
  • Saint Catríona of Innisféar - Martyr, patron saint of procrastinators and the woefully unprepared. Delayed her own execution by the Cromwelute Earl of Vrykróva long enough to allow other Christians to escape captivity.
  • Saint Ialm of Kérvoak - Mystic and peripatetic healer, patron of motorists and bus drivers. Builder of the first roadside chapels in Great Kirav and Ilánova, a tradition that continues to the present day in the form of non-denominational chapels at most Kiravian highway rest stops.
  • Saint Carrick of Arkelly - Monk credited with inventing whiskey on the rocks.

Clergy

  • Pádraig XXV - Current Archipelagic Patriarch, pioneer of reconciliation efforts with the Roman Catholic Church
  • Tomáus Mônihan - Bishop Emeritus of Port St. Kennera, known for his dedication to the independence struggle.
  • Kétaxur Restovin - Priest and social activist, prominent in the distributist, back-to-the-land átrimodernarisēn movement following the Crippling Depression of 2120X.

Lay Members

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