Page 26 - LOTN Autumn Issue 54 2023

FAITH AND CULTURE

She points out that there is a difference between equal roles backed up by the original scriptural references to them and
and identical roles. She also asks the reader if her message decided that she needed to do something to reclaim their
is relevant to today's society and how could we ensure that rightful place in Church history. This book is the result of
men and women are equally valued. these musings. It lists three hundred and fifteen women,
It would be remiss of me not to mention why the Author, some simply 'daughter of...', 'sister of ..' etc. and then analyses
Jane Coll set about writing "Equal but Different". the role that they played in their stories. The results are
While staying at Pluscarden Abbey, Elgin, Scotland to divided into semi-independent chapters with discussion
avail herself of their library, the author came across some suggestions suitable for a Bible Study group. There are
writing on the women of Matthew's genealogy which suggested reading lists at the end of each chapter, tables
sparked an interest in how these women were portrayed showing summaries of the numbers of women in various
in Church teaching and how this compared to their original categories and an extensive bibliography.
stories as recorded in scripture. She was struck by the way
in which so many women's reputations as sinners was not Maureen Woodhead is a Pluscarden Abbey Oblate, and friend
of Jane.

Holy Stones
Holy StoneS

In the ninth part of her series on the "Holy" stones which
mark our faith history in Scotland, Tina Harris continues
her ambitious task of revealing some of the history of the
Peterkirk sites of the North East. The Peterkirks are those
churches dedicated to St Peter the Apostle which lie within the
Diocese of Aberdeen.
The Picts and the adjoining site of the Peterkirk, which had existed here since it
The remnant of the bede house repurposed as a memorial

Peterkirks in North was commissioned by Nechtan in the eighth century.
First documented in 1224, St Peter's was demolished in
1794, the remnant being repurposed as a memorial to the Hay
East Scotland family, first mentioned in 1121.
Centuries later, in 1857, a new St Peter's would be built two
miles away in the thriving port town of Buckie, in the style of
a cathedral.
BY TINA HARRIS
St Peter’s, Duffus
St Peter’s (Rathven/Enzie) This has to be the most well preserved of all the Peterkirks.
The visual remains of the Rathven Peterkirk lie within a A sacred space indeed. It has been listed (according to the
small graveyard on the south side of the village. The style is information board) as existing in 1226, after having served
distinct, high and narrow. as a parish church for over six hundred years. The surviving
In the History of the Bede House of Rathven (near Buckie), parts of the medieval church are very narrow, on a rectangular
written by William J Cramond, it was noted that no one plan with high walls. However, "The Church of the Blessed
appeared to know anything of its foundation, although it is Peter" was mentioned in an earlier charter in 1190, and is
recorded in the Chartulary of Moray that about 1226, one John still identified as a church today, and used for worship on
Bissett gave to God and the Church of St Peter the right of Easter Sunday mornings…sadly not in the Roman rite, but
patronage for the support of seven leprous persons. nevertheless a fitting tribute to its founder. It has also retained
It may be assumed that this bede house stood on the its title of Peterkirk. Sadly, there is no acknowledgement of the

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