The Book of Kells: The Gospels as Labyrinth

On one page of the Book of Kells, three Latin words fill almost the whole sheet. Or rather, one word does. A gigantic Chi (Χ) sweeps across the vellum, followed by a Rho (Ρ) and an Iota (Ι), the first letters of Christos in Greek. Together they spell out XPI, the medieval abbreviation for Christi. Around and inside the letters, spirals coil within spirals. Knots interlace. Angels peer out of the curves. In a corner, two cats watch two mice nibbling a Eucharistic wafer, and an otter holds a fish. At the bottom, almost lost, is the rest of the sentence: autem generatio. The words come from Matthew 1:18: "Now the birth of Christ [was on this wise]". It is the most famous page of the most famous book in Ireland.

The object

• A Latin Gospel book of the four Gospels, based on the Vulgate text with Old Latin readings, together with prefatory tables and summaries.
• 340 folios of calfskin vellum survive. It was made around 800 CE, probably at the monastery of Iona (off Scotland), at Kells (in Ireland), or begun at one and finished at the other. The community of Iona moved to Kells after Viking raids in the early ninth century.
• 1007. The Annals of Ulster record that the "great Gospel of Colum Cille" was stolen from the church at Kells for its jewelled cover. It was found months later under a sod, with the cover gone. This is usually identified with the Book of Kells.
• It has been at Trinity College Dublin since the 1660s, and it is digitised in full by the college library.

The art and what it encodes

Insular illumination. The book is the high point of Insular art, the shared style of Ireland and Britain. It weaves Celtic spirals and knotwork, Germanic animal interlace and Mediterranean Christian imagery into one decorative language.

The four living creatures. The evangelists appear as the four beings of Ezekiel and Revelation: a man (Matthew), a lion (Mark), an ox or calf (Luke) and an eagle (John). The Christian tradition gave each symbol a meaning drawn from how each Gospel opens. The system is documented and explicit, set out by Jerome among others.

Ornament as meditation. Pages of interlace so dense they reward magnification, with some knots and figures too small to see without a lens. They have been read as visual prayer: the reader's eye slows down and follows endless lines, as the mind should dwell on the sacred word. This is a reading of the design, widely held. It is not recorded by the makers.

Small symbols on the Chi-Rho page. The cats, mice and wafer, the otter with a fish (a fish being the ancient Christian ΙΧΘΥΣ sign) and the moths have all been read as Eucharistic and resurrection symbols. The cats and mice have also been read as simple observation or humour. The specific meanings are debated.

Connections

Celtic and Germanic religion (ch14, for the spiral and interlace inheritance), Patristic Christianity (ch22), Norse paganism (ch23, for the Viking raids that pushed the Iona community to Kells), and Codex Sinaiticus (V18), another great Gospel book.

From The Divine Archives · https://getconexto.com/vault/book-of-kells.html