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Easter Launch for Orkney Pilgrim Route

A waymarker on the new St Magnus pilgrim route on Orkney. (Image by Fionn McArthur)

 

A NEW pilgrimage route is to be launched on Orkney on Easter Sunday, on the 900th anniversary of the death of St Magnus.

 

The Rev David McNeish, minister of Birsay, Harray and Sandwick in Orkney, says plans for the St Magnus Way emerged after a small group of people from different churches came together to discuss a pilgrimage route on the island.

 

“When we started talking about a pilgrim route St Magnus, who is the patron saint of Orkney, was the first person who came to mind. After his martyrdom on the island of Egilsay his body was brought to Birsay on the mainland. Then 20 years later, when the seat of power moved to Kirkwall, his bones were taken there.

 

“So there was a journey Magnus himself took after his death, as well as evidence of people making pilgrimage to Orkney in the Middle Ages,” he explained.

The route has grown from the seed of an idea in autumn 2015 and has attracted funding and support from a range of organisations including the European LEADER fund, the Society of the Friends of St Magnus Cathedral, the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK), the local community council, supermarket retailer, Tesco and the Church of Scotland.

 

Historians from the University of the Highlands and Islands are helping to define the most accurate route and are writing the story that unfolds on the pilgrimage.

 

The Orkney Pilgrimage group is also developing a phone app which will tell the story of St Magnus and provide background on places to stay or to find refreshment. Pilgrims will also find spiritual reflections for their journey.

 

Mr McNeish says spiritual journeying has a timeless appeal.

 

 

“We talk a lot about the drop in attendance at Sunday services and about other ways to worship. Pilgrimage is a way for a lot of people to reconnect with their spirituality and with the Church.

 

“Rather than asking people to come inside the church, we are coming outside to encourage faith in new ways.”

 

“As a pilgrim you get a chance to encounter God as you walk in the great cathedral of nature.”

 

The launch comes amid a growing interest in the practice of pilgrimage, which will feature at this year’s General Assembly.

 

Last month National Lottery funding of £399,000 was awarded to develop the Fife Pilgrim Way, a 70-mile route that will travel from Culross or North Queensferry to St Andrews.


Final Leg of Orkney Pilgrimage Opens

Final Leg of Orkney Pilgrimage Opens

New pilgrim route honouring St Magnus launches in Orkney on Easter Sunday on the 900th ann...

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