WHITBY Abbey with its famous abbess, Hilda, was one of England’s leading centres of Christianity and a major event occurred during her stewardship. It was the Synod of Whitby in AD 664, the town then known as Streoneshalh.

In England there were two Christian traditions; one Celtic, the other Roman. This was not a distinction between Catholicism and Protestantism, but a difference between North and South.

English southerners followed the teachings of St Augustine sent by the Pope as the first Archbishop of Canterbury, ie the Roman tradition. Northerners followed the Celtic tradition established by the Irish monk Columba at the Iona monastery.

In our day, the differences appear slight – Celtic monks had tonsures that differed from the Roman tradition, tonsures being hairstyles. The other tradition was that they celebrated Easter at different times.

This was highlighted when King Oswy of Northumbria, one of several English kings, married Queen Eanflaed of Kent. Oswy followed the Celtic tradition, while his wife celebrated her Easter in the Roman tradition. Oswy disliked two Easters in his royal household. He arranged a Synod to reach an agreement.

Whitby Abbey was selected and there were only two items on the agenda – the monks’ tonsures and the method of determining the date of Easter in England. Delegates were leading figures within the English church, but I could not find any information about the agreed hair-style.

Their most important task was to decide the method for calculating the date of Easter in England. Abbess Hilda followed the teachings of Colman and her abbey celebrated Easter on the Celtic date. She took no part in the discussions because she was hosting the Synod. The president was King Oswy and he would give his royal authority to the victorious side, each appointing a spokesman to deliver their arguments.

Even today, people think the Synod established the method of determining Easter throughout the world, but that is not so. England alone was its concern. If this agenda seems rather slight, it was to unite two traditions of the English Church; they were within one religion with headquarters in Rome, but each followed slightly differing methods of practising their faith.

The spokesman for the Ionian or Celtic side was Bishop Colman of Northumbria; both Oswy and Hilda following that tradition. It seemed the Synod would favour it, but the Ionians had not bargained for the knowledge possessed by Wilfred of Ripon, also a priest of Northumbria. He favoured the Roman system.

Aged 30, he was educated at Lindisfarne, but had spent time in Lyons and Rome, returning to England full of enthusiasm for the Roman tradition. On behalf of the Ionian tradition, Bishop Colman argued that the system for determining the date of Easter followed the teachings of Columba, a monk who had followed the teachings of St John the Evangelist. Colman insisted that the Celtic tradition should continue, but Wilfred adopted a more historic aspect.

According to Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum and Stephen of Ripon’s Life of Bishop Wilfrid, he presented some key points to the Synod:

• The method of calculating the date of Easter was used in Rome, the city where Saints Peter and Paul lived, taught, suffered and were buried;

• The Rome system was practised universally, even as far as Egypt;

• The customs of the Apostle John were based on the needs of his own community at a particular time and since then the Council of Nicea in AD 325 established different customs, including the date of Easter;

• He suggested that Columba had done his best, but was restricted by lack of knowledge, adding that Ionian monks attending the Synod did not have the excuse of ignorance;

• He stated that whatever the arguments were, no one had any authority over Peter or his successors, the Bishops of Rome. In other words, the popes.

After Wilfred’s address, Oswy asked both sides if they agreed that Peter had been given the keys to the kingdom of Heaven by Christ, reinforcing Peter’s role as “the rock” upon which Christ’s fledgling church would be built to serve the entire world. No one denied that and it would reinforce the teachings of Augustine at Canterbury.

Oswy then made his decision. He declared in favour of St Peter, the “rock” and holder of the heavenly keys, and so the Roman tradition for determining the date of Easter in England was accepted by the Synod.

The two traditions were united and to this day, Easter in Britain remains a moveable feast as it does in Christian countries around the world. Some Eastern Orthodox faiths use a different system, so a well-timed holiday in Greece means you can celebrate two Easters if you wish.