Ruthwell Cross – Mr G's Ponderings

Bradwell Chapel Cross from *a church near you* site

THE SAVING SIGN. Thoughts on Holy Cross Day September 14^th 2025

One of the most sacred sites in Essex is the simple Chapel of St. Peter on the North Sea shore at Bradwell. It is all that remains of a more extensive monastery which was originally built there by St. Cedd. He was one of twelve Anglo-Saxon boys who had entered the monastery at Lindisfarne, founded by St. Aidan. It was the Irish custom to build monasteries in remote places and there to train up young people to be apostles for Christ. St Aidan, trained on Iona adopted this practice with the Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria
Once trained, they were sent out to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. So, St Cedd left Lindisfarne and sailed down the North Sea coast before landing, in 654 AD, at Bradwell. Here he founded a monastery and from where the Gospel was proclaimed to much of Essex.

The Chapel of St. Peter at Bradwell has enjoyed mixed fortunes, even for a time being used as a barn but today it is a simple reminder of the Gospel coming to Essex.
Its interior is of breathtaking simplicity, the only adornment being a beautiful Cross, designed by the Church artist, Francis William Stephens.
On it are painted figures of The Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John and above the figure of Christ is a depiction of the Hand of God in an act of blessing. St. Cedd kneels at the foot of the Saviour. On either side of Christ are the faces of St Peter and St. Paul. Christ is shown with a halo marked by the cross and his arms are outstretched in blessing. This is a figure not of grotesque suffering but of triumphant victory.

It is an artistic representation of the Crucified as shown to us by St. John for whom the Cross is a sign of Triumph – of a completion of the saving work of Father and Son. Michael Ramsey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, commenting on St. John’s portrayal of the Passion of Christ says that on Calvary Christ ‘Reigns’ as he accomplishes his Father’s will and fulfils the Scriptures. This was his moment of supreme glory.’
Michael Ramsey makes the comment:
“Calvary is no disaster which needs the Resurrection to reverse it, but a victory so signal that the Resurrection follows quickly to seal it.”
Celtic/ Anglo-Saxon Christianity which fed the soul of St. Cedd was inspired by St. John’s understanding of the Cross. The Cross was seen as the ‘Saving Sign’ and its victory dominated spirituality and mission. They had a firm belief in the power of the Cross to transform hearts and lives.

Visitors to ‘Celtic’ countries like Ireland, Scotland and Wales will be familiar with the High Crosses, elaborately carved with biblical scenes from both Old and New Testaments all contained within the form of the Cross. These were (and still are) sermons in stone offering the onlooker a way into Scriptural truths of Salvation brought to our world by Christ. They are the Waymarks for the soul’s spiritual journey marking out the earth for God and leading the people towards eternal life.
They were often preaching posts – wayside pulpits at which the missionaries stood and proclaimed the Gospel and claimed souls for Christ.
I think of the magnificent Ruthwell Cross in Dumfrieshire which is carved with Old & New Testament scenes. It stands today in a small church, rescued from oblivion by a Church of Scotland minister at the end of the 19^th century, but it once stood on the shoreline, a gathering point for those who would hear of Christ’s triumph and Victory of the Cross preached to them by monks from as far away as Lindisfarne and Durham.
It is unique also because carved around the edges are Anglo-Saxon Runes which depict part of the oldest English poem, The Dream of the Rood.

When Cedd came to Essex, he came in the power of the triumph of the Cross. He sailed from Lindisfarne and by tradition he would adopt the Irish custom of placing the Cross of Christ in the prow of his boat so that he was constantly reminded in whose name and service he sailed.
No doubt, like so many Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Christians he practiced the Cross prayer – which involved hours of standing with arms outstretched in the Cross position.
Celtic praying included a gathering at the Cross for daily prayer. An eighth century monastic rule says:
“The monks should follow the head monk (abbot) to the cross with melodious chants, and with abundance of tears flowing from emaciated cheeks”, in imitation of a daily prayer office sung in Jerusalem at the Church of the Resurrection – the church built by the Emperor Constantine which gave rise to today’s special observance of the Holy Cross.
Hymns would be sung and the people would move slowly around the Cross – not unlike what happens today in modern Taizé which has done much to restore the Cross to the heart of Christian devotion.

Hardly surprising that the Cross has such a central place in the worship at Taizé which was born out of the ravages and destruction of a war- destroyed Europe and which preached Reconciliation as its central message.
As the stone crosses reclaimed Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Britain, so Europe was reclaimed for God and the hearts of the people led back to Christ. As the problems in the Ukraine, Gaza and other troubled areas of the world are showing us that reclaiming for God is on-going and always vital. We must go on proclaiming that the Victory of the Cross overcomes all evil. It is this Victory which is the about love transforming a disfigured and at times enslaved humanity.
As a prayer from Taize puts it:

Through the repentance of our hearts,
And the spirit of simplicity of the beatitudes,
You clothe us with forgiveness, as with a garment.
Enable us to welcome the realities of the Gospel
With a childlike heart,
And to discover your will,
Which is love and nothing else.

Here we are brought to the heart of the Cross’s message – the Victory of love. Not only sin and death are defeated by love but also those other things which afflict our lives and drag us down. In the face of evil, pain, hurt and uncertainty, the Cross becomes a protection – the Saving Sign.

There is a Passiontide Prayer which includes the lines:
Yea, by this Sweet and Saving Sign,
Lord, draw us to our peace and thine.

[Mr G]

Near the shore of the Solway Firth, in Dumfriesshire lies the village of Ruthwell. It is famous for two things. The Trustees Savings Bank was first established here and there is a fascinating museum in the main village street.
If that serves mammon then God is also served in Ruthwell’s second and more important claim to fame.

On the edge of the village is the Parish Church with its neat and well-kept churchyard. Inside, it seems, at first, to be a simple and fairly ordinary Church of Scotland Church but it would not take you very long to notice that this is a church with a huge difference.
In an apsidal section there is a well (not a water one!) from which rises up an 18 foot Stone Cross, beautifully carved. It is breathtaking and it is also providential because it might never have been there at all.

The Ruthwell Cross, carved in the 8^th century began life as a preaching cross – a common sight in Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times.
In the absence of Churches, missionary monks would build stone crosses on which were carved intricate scenes from the Bible as a kind of teaching aid – much as stained glass windows were to do in medieval churches. The monks would gather people around the cross and using the carved illustrations they would proclaim the Gospel. It was a kind of outdoor pulpit.

Many of these crosses survive – especially in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Cornwall. These are hard evidence of the Celtic/Anglo Saxon Christian Mission in Northumbria, the Scottish Borders and elsewhere.

The Ruthwell Cross is Anglo-Saxon and was probably constructed as a preaching cross on the shore of the Solway Firth by Northumbrian monks from the double monastery of Jarrow and Monkwearmouth, who went to Dumfriesshire to assist King Necthan of the Picts in the re-Christianization of his territory.

The names associated with Ruthwell are the Venerable Bede himself (from whose Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation we learn so much about early Christianity in Britain ) and Ceolfrith, Abbot of Jarrow who is credited with Ruthwell’s construction.

Long after it was no longer needed as a Preaching Cross, it was removed to the local Church where it stood near the altar. In 1642, during the Scottish Reformation it was taken down, partially defaced and broken up. Part was used to repair the Church floor and the rest was buried in the churchyard.
In 1802 Henry Duncan, the then minister, dug up fragments of the Cross and then he set about finding as much of it as he could, carefully reconstructing it as a monument in the Churchyard.
In 1887 the Cross was moved back into the Church where it now stands, the damage having been repaired. It is now under the protection both of the Church of Scotland and the Historic Monuments Commission of Scotland.

Thus we have restored to us one of the finest examples of carved crosses there is to see anywhere in the world.
And it is truly magnificent. Many Visitors, myself included, are reduced to awe at its beauty.

It has much elaborate ornamentation and there are Gospel scenes and Old Testament scenes, common on many such crosses but it also has something else which makes this a very special cross indeed.
The Cross is also inscribed with Anglo-Saxon Runes – the Runic Alphabet of Germanic tribes which became the Anglo-Saxon tongue and which evolved into the English Language.
The Runes on the Ruthwell Cross are remarkable because, translated, they are part of a poem which is now known to be the earliest Christian poem in the English Language – and maybe the earliest Anglo-Saxon writing we possess.
The poem is known as the Dream of the Rood. (Rood is the Anglo-Saxon word for Cross and from it, of course, we get the Rood screen which in many churches is the chancel arch screen surmounted by a carved Crucifix.)

Michael Alexander *** in his work The Earliest English Poems says it was the most famous poem of its day and we know of it particularly because it is carved on the Ruthwell Cross.
A more complete version is a 10^th century manuscript version in the style of early Gospel mss found in the Italian library of Vercelli which has therefore given it the name it is now known by.

It is an intriguing poem in which the main narrative is provided by the Cross itself, of the Crucifixion of Jesus from its own experience. The Cross speaks of the Young Warrior (Jesus)dying for his people and is a wonderful example of Anglo-Saxon dream vision poetry.

It’s presence, in runic form, on the Ruthwell Cross, is a testimony that the Northumbrian Mission, converted people by proclaiming the faith of Christ Crucified, using illustrations carved on the Ruthwell Cross. People discovered just how much the Love of God for them was demonstrated in the proclamation of the Victory of God’s love in Jesus from the Cross.

A good reminder on the weekend which includes the celebration of Holy Cross Day. (September 14^th)

[Mr G]
Holy Cross Day 2024

*** Earliest English Poems, Professor Michael Alexander

There are many translations of the poem, Dream of the Rood.
A Choice of Anglo-Saxon verse, edited by Richard Hamer, contains a translation I enjoy.
A good introduction to the poem is : The Dream of the Rood, edited by Michael Swanton.