The Ancient Order of the Culdees of Iona is a religious society dedicated to assisting people to shatter the cycles of death and rebirth to which humanity is bound, find unqualified happiness and achieve their true divine potential.

These goals are achieved through the study and practice of the Fourfold Path. The Fourfold Path or Quaternary is a holistic education method designed to bring the Culdee to a state of true mental freedom and transcendental happiness which are characteristics of the ultimate goal, Theosis or becoming divine. The Four Fold Path has four parts: History, Physics, Ethics and Theology.

The name Culdee comes from Chaldee, (Chaldeans pronounce the word Chaldee as Kaldee or Culdee), in the sense that it alludes to Abraham the Chaldee, who left his home, worldly wealth, kindred and idol making to find the Promised Land. So, like Abraham, we are Chaldees in that we become spiritually divested of those worldly things in order to attain unity with the One, and to help our fellow beings achieve the same.

The word Culdee also has three etymological sources that are useful in illustrating the phases of Culdee training: first, the Latin phrase "Cultores Dei," meaning worshippers of God which reflects the purgative phase of Culdee training; second, "Chaldean," referring to the Chaldean Magi's study of nature reflecting the illuminative phase of Culdee training; third, the Gaelic phrase, "Céile Dé," meaning spouse of God which corresponds to the unitive phase of Culdee training.

The Ancient Order of the Culdees of Iona traces its roots to three elements, the Chaldean Magi, the Druids and Pythagoras of Samos. Pythagoras was initiated into the mysteries of the Chaldean Magi by the Magi Zaratas while Pythagoras was in Babylon. Pythagoras was also influenced by Celtic Druidry through his friend Abaris, a Druid from a place in Northern Europe the Greeks called Hyperborea. Pythagoras synthesized these traditions, along with others like Orphism, into a system for achieving Theosis.

Generations later Plato, who was initiated into the Pythagorean tradition in Italy, put much of the Pythagorean tradition into writing and continued the dissemination of Pythagorean ideas.

The tradition waned somewhat in the centuries after Plato, but was revived in the early part of the current era and was known by terms like Pythagoreanism and Neo-Pythagoreanism, Middle-Platonism and Neo-Platonism. Both Greeks and Jews synthesized the tradition. It was taught by the Rabbi Philo of Alexandria who "synthesized Stoic and Platonic philosophy with Jewish scripture largely through allegorical interpretation of the Septuagint. Philo argued that God was beyond all being, and brought the cosmos into being first through a purely intellectual act of will, and then, via his Logos (word), the physical cosmos was brought forth, thus according the Logos a role comparable to that of Plato's World-Soul." ¹ The tradition was also taught by Greek teachers such as Iamblichus, Porphyry, and Hierocles the head of the Platonic Academy in Alexandria.

Tradition says that Jesus, after being sent to Alexandria by the Chaldean Magi, was given training in all the various religious traditions that Alexandria had to offer, especially Magism and Pythagoreanism.

Joseph of Arimethea and the apostle John later brought the Pythagorean teachings of Jesus to Britain. After these, "Christian" teachings were brought to Britain, the Bard Taliesen is said to have stated, "Christ, the Word from the beginning, was from the beginning our teacher, and we never lost His teaching. Christianity was a new thing in Asia, but there never was a time when the Druids of Britain held not its doctrines."

The tradition spread to Ireland between the 2nd and 5th centuries. Saint Columba established the tradition in Scotland in the 6th century on the Isle of Iona.

During the 9th century John Scotus Eriugena wrote the definitive philosophical work of Celtic Pythagoreanism called Periphyseon, or The Division of Nature.

The current hereditary leader (Co-arb Columcille) of the Ancient Order of the Culdees of Iona traces his teaching lineage to the monastery of Iona where his ancestors were its hereditary abbots. This website is an effort by the Co-arb Columcille to re-establish the Ancient Order of the Culdees of Iona along traditional lines.

The training method taught by the Ancient Order of the Culdees of Iona is called the Quaternary or Fourfold Path.

¹ Dillon, John, M. (1977), The Middle Platonists, Ithaca: Cornell University Press