Continuation of my Contentions Series

20. St Cuthbert never defeated the Green Man, who has now returned with a Law.

What a great contention!

St. Cuthbert was one of the key religious figures during the time of conflict between Celtic Christianity and Roman Catholicism. He spent much of his time evangelizing to the people of Celtic background, attempting to ‘cleanse’ Celtic paganism from the Christianity practiced in the area.

The reference to the Green Man is where this gets interesting!

The “Green Man” is a bit of a mystery to the people of England. As a decoration piece he shows up in many Churches, including that of the Church of Saints Mary & Cuthbert. Today, a more friendly version of the “Green Man” is found on English pub signs as well as garden stores in America.

In this decorative aspect, the “Green Man” has triumphed past any attempts to remove Celtic influence on English and Christendom. So it seems that in this regard, St. Cuthbert was not successful in ‘defeating’ the “Green Man”.

The return of the “Green Man” with the “Law” establishes a wonderful connection between the Green Man of Celtic paganism to the Green Man of Islamic tradition, otherwise known as the saintly figure of al-Khidr.

Similar to the mystery of the “Green Man” figure in Churches, al-Khdir (“The Verdant” or “Green Man”) has a mysterious past within Islamic tradition. Al-Khidr is a teacher of Prophets including Moses and Joshua (Peace be upon them), who teaches them Divine wisdom which they did not know. There is some debate as to his nature, either being an Angel, a Prophet, or a Saint. He is described as an immortal figure, appearing to those who need to find him. He and his stories are described in the Naqshbandi-Haqqani chain of saints.

Stories of al-Khidr seem to reflect a similar wild-nature to that of the man depicted in English architecture. In the story related in the Naqshbandi-Haqqani chain we find that Musa (Moses), Peace be upon him, seems to be a man of rigidity and absolutes, while al-Khidr seems wild and unpredictable.

Also with this contention a relationship is being made to Al-Khidr and the Law of Islam. The Al-Khdir of the time of Moses is now bound by the Sharia’ Law of Islam, as are all Muslims.

So in this dynamic way, Al-Khidr was never defeated by St Cuthbert, and he has now come with Islam. I really enjoyed this contention!

Al-Khidr is mentioned in the next one as well.