Communio sanctorum

Here, on a less heavy note than recent posts, is the sketch for the new icon my wife Irina has promised me.

5 English saints to the left, 5 Russian ones to the right.

On the Russian side, no great surprises: St Sergius of Radonezh, St Seraphim of Sarov, St. Xenia of St Petersburg, St Philaret of Moscow and St Vladimir.

 On the English side, the choice was more difficult. There was the inevitable question of whether to use 1054 as a dividing line. We decided no. I wanted to include the martyr St Thomas Becket of Canterbury (died 1170), a childhood hero saint of mine. As a symbol of a Christian who very vocally said no to the political powers-that-be, he is an apposite figure in Brussels, in both the Belgian and European contexts. Pushing back the dateline also widened the choice of female saints, which is a bit thin before 1054. Yes, you can find several in the excellent Orthodox Synaxarion of English saints published by the Antiochians, but few, apart from St Hilda of Whitby, are much more than names. So we have taken St Julian of Norwich, a well-loved and much-read anchoress who died in 1416, popular right across the confessional spectrum in England, and who also allows my wife to include a cat in the icon. The other three are:

• St Aidan (d. 651), the single most important missionary to England (more effective than St Augustine). The comment in the Synaxarion that ‘he had no time for pomp and made himself available equally for princes and paupers’ appeals;

• St Cuthbert (d. 687), our equivalent of St Sergius, whom no one outside England can pronounce correctly, closely connected to Lindisfarne, the island monastery off NE England. Look out over the sea across the bay from the far end of the island and you are at the very roots of the English Christian experience.

• St Alphege (d. 1012), a hermit monk who ended up as archbishop of Canterbury. Captured by the Danes, he refused to allow himself to be ransomed, and paid for this with his life.

 How the English and Russian saints will get on, we will have to wait and see. I am fairly sure of St Sergius will quickly be friends with St Cuthbert, St Philaret has much in common with St Aidan, both being good preachers and expositors of the Scriptures. St Seraphim might just hit it off with St Julian, both having spent long periods as anchorites. St Vladimir will share a common experience of court life with St Thomas, though the latter may find his religion a touch too opportunistic. Which leaves St Alphege with St Xenia. Could be a problem there…..