Mullingar lecture to explore links between Egypt and early Christian Ireland

The next Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society lecture will take place at the Greville Arms Hotel, Mullingar on Wednesday November 7 at 8.30pm.The title of this illustrated lecture is 'Monastic Ireland - a gift of the Nile'. It will be delivered by Alf Monaghan, and all are welcome.Alf's presentation looks at the early history of Irish Christianity from a different perspective - a Mediterranean perspective. It asks many questions and confounds some of the accepted theories about the history of early Christianity in Ireland.It traces links with ancient Egypt, connects Irish monasticism with the Desert Fathers, and the early Irish church with the Coptic Church.Recent Irish discoveries such as the Faddan More Psalter - Egyptian papyrus found in an ancient book of psalms from bog in Offaly - are clues pointing to a more substantial eastern Mediterranean influence in early Irish Christianity than has been acknowledged to date.Alf Monaghan is from Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, and he has spent more than 30 years living and working abroad.After an early career in the UK food industry, he spent a decade with Enterprise Ireland, developing Ireland's export and investment activities in northern Europe.Since then, he has been an adviser to governments, development agencies and businesses in the Mediterranean, Middle East, south and west Africa, the Caribbean and other emerging markets.His last ten years were spent in the Middle East and north Africa, where he travelled in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. Alway interested in history, his time in Syria and Egypt in particular sparked off a deeper interest in early Christianity, and the links and influences between this area and Ireland - many of which are now lost or forgotten.