[Llywarch Hen]

Originally Posted by Perun

Well here's an article Im sure you'll be interesting in, althougb largely from a Ukrainian perspctive, nevertheless it shows the strong similiarities between Celts and Slavs

http://www.unicorne.org/orthodoxy/ar...es_a/celts.htm

The Breath of the Spirit from the North: Celts in Kyiv

Saint Olha the Great

Why use modern Ukrainian orthography to describe someone who lived centuries before the Ukrainians crystalised from out of the mass of Eastern Slavs? Saint Olga might as well be called Helga. She was from Pskov anyway. Or should that be PskIv?

was visited by numerous religious groups who contended with one another for the heart and mind of her Realm of Kyivan Rus'-Ukraine.

Oh dear... As Ukraine means the "Edge" of something else we can hardly use the word for a time when Kiev was the CENTRE!

These were Celtic Christians who entered Kyivan Rus' through the northern waters near Novhorod,

NovGorod, perhaps?

Celtic culture itself first came about somewhere in the Carpathian mountains, according to one view, when someone from the "La Tene" culture came into contact with another from the "Hallstadt" culture.

Nonsense. La Tene was more an emanation from Hallstadt.

Celts were a nomadic,

No.

warlike people who were called "wild" by all they came into contact with. "Wal" or "wild"

These words have NOTHING to do with each other.

therefore became a prefix to many place names associated with them, including "Wales," "Cornwall," "Wallachia" and "Wallonia." Even "Walnuts" were associated with them!

The last three examples are instances of this Germanic Wal- word being applied to ROMANS, not Clets.

The northern part of the Iberian peninsula was formerly inhabited by Celtic tribes and this area was called "Celtiberia." The King of Scots, Macbeth, stopped by here on his way to Rome and was able to converse freely with the people. Today, the descendants of Celtiberia belong to the seventh Celtic nation of . . . "Galicia" and their language, which can be studied at the Spanish universities, is "Galiz."

They might be entitled to honorary membership perhaps, but to call them Celts without any qualificatory remarks is absurd. They are Spaniards who speak a Romance language.

Paris, France was founded by the Celtic fishermen called the "Parisii" and the heads that decorate Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral recall an early Celtic war ritual of placing the heads of one's decapitated enemies up on walls.

This is a nigh on UNIVERSAL tradition.

There were Celts in Crimea and Khersonese was built by them.

That's just funny!

St Ninian and others established Churches within the familiar stone circles of the Druids where they worshipped or else in sacred groves.

The Druids didn't worship in stone circles, and there are no traditions of Ninian founding churches in them.

The grave of Taras Shevchenko if marked, in fact, with a Celtic style Cross. Both traditions shared a pre-Christian cult of the sun! Another example of this is the round shape of traditional Ukrainian bread.

Archaeological excavations today provide at least some support for this legend and Christopher Columbus himself visited Ireland to read Brendan's logbooks before setting out to discover the route to China himself.

Hilarious!

Celtic religious and cultural influences on the Church of Kyiv were more indirect than direct,

And more nonexistent than true!

It was the Kyvian Caves Lavra that was and is the heart of Kyivan Christianity. The Rite of the Kyvian Church was developed there. The great Saints of Ukraine were nurtured and are venerated there.

A great centre of GREEK influence! And how are the likes of Ilya MUROMets a great Ukrainian Saint?

The genius of Celtic Christianity is one in which we can all share. It is also one that characterizes the Kyivan Church itself.

I know we Celts are fashionable, but does Pravoslavie need to embarrass itself with this absurd nonsense? The Slavs have their own spirituality, quite home grown. Any church from Vladivostok to Brest Litovsk has volumes of literature to prove that. The Celtic Church had many parallels with the Eastern, but this should be of no surprise. What a load of ignorant populist rubbish.