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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Iona
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Small island in the Inner *Hebrides, off the southwest tip of Mull, which acquired great religious importance with the establishment of a monastery by St *Columba in 563. It was from here that St *Aidan took Christianity to the east coast of Britain, at *Lindisfarne. Recent excavation suggests that in the following centuries Iona may have developed into a sizable community, more like a small university town than a monastery.
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The island experienced a modern revival in 1938 when George Macleod, a minister of the Church of Scotland, founded the Iona Community, a missionary group dedicated to emulating the practical Christianity of the early Celtic fathers. The first task was restoring the abbey, reconsecrated in 1959, but the mission was also extended to other places, in particular industrial parishes in Scotland. Large numbers of Christian groups now work and worship on the island each summer.
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