COULD THE Coptic Christian church of Egypt have played a decisive role in influencing the shape and formation of early Irish Christianity? A public lecture next week in Galway will argue that it did.
Alf Monaghan will present a lecture to the Galway Archeological and Historical Society, entitled Monastic Ireland: A Gift of the Nile? in the Harbour Hotel on Monday February 13 at 8pm.
Mr Monaghan's talk will question accepted theories about the history of early Christianity in Ireland, and argue that there were links with ancient Egypt. He will argue for connections between Irish monasticism and the desert fathers, and of the early Irish church with the Coptic church. He argues that recent discoveries, such as the Faddan More Psalter, an Egyptian papyrus found in an ancient book of psalms from a Tipperary bog, are clues pointing to a more substantial eastern Mediterranean influence in early Irish Christianity, than has been acknowledged to date.
Admission to the talk is free and all are welcome.
