Chapter 12
Ioua
Iona
Place names were very significant to the English Europeans; they were like landmarks for a memorial, that the generation to come might ask, "What does this name mean, and what significance does it have?" In this way, an important message could be passed on from one generation to the next.
In the law we are told, "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set." Deuteronomy 19:14
The wicked move the ancient landmarks, as brought out in the book of Job: "Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks and feed thereof" (Job 24:2). In this chapter you will probably be able to determine who the wicked crew was that altered the place name of Ioua to Iona, and why it was done.
"Place names and dedications of churches across Europe and its islands, demonstrate the extent to which these evangelists traveled." The Celtic Church in Britain, p. 9
"IONA, the ordinary name of the island which was the great Christian (Messiahan) seminary of North Britain, is due to false derivation. The oldest form of the mime in the MSS. is Ioua, used as an adjective agreeing with insula. . . . Ioua was altered into Iona." Folk Etymology, A Dictionary of Verbal Corruption's or Words Perverted in Form or Meaning, by False Derivation p. 537 by A. Smythe Palmer
Did you know that there was something special about Iona? Oh yes, there was! For out of this place many ancient truths were preserved and proclaimed. Truths which have been forgotten, hidden away, burned up, axed etc. The great enemy and champion of error fought hard against this place because of its propagation of the Truth. "It is not an injustice to history to say that Scotland twice saved the world for the Reformation." Truth Triumphant p. 116
A question we might ask ourselves: Which ancient truths were preserved at Iona? There were many, but, as this chapter will show, the two most prominent were the seventh-day Sabbath, and the great set-apart name of our Creator.
The headquarters of Iona was established by Columba the successor of Patrick. These two prominent figures have now been "sainted" by the Catholic church, but the truth is, that they were not Catholic; as a matter of fact, they contended against Catholicism. The Catholic church had to "saint" them in order for the church to find acceptance in the minds of the people, who dearly loved Patrick and Columba.
One testimony concerning Patrick was that he "spread everywhere the name of God without fear, confidently," Celtic Church in Britain p. 53 by Leslie Hardinge.
Columba observed the commandment of our Creator, His seventh day Sabbath. The last hours of Columba are recorded as follows:
"Having continued his labors in Scotland thirty four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death and on Saturday, the ninth of June, said to his disciple Diermit: This day is called the Sabbath, that is, the day of rest, and such will it truly be to me; for it will put an end to my labors'." Truth Triumphant p. 108
"Columba taught his followers never to receive as religious truth any doctrine not sustained by proofs drawn from the Sacred Writings." Ibid p. 106
The followers of Columba did this very thing. One letter which has survived, and is generally attributed to Columbanus "dealt with the Hebrew festivals as well with the Sabbath, and shows an affinity with early Celtic practice in quoting solely from the Scriptures." The Celtic Church in Britain p. 83
"Columba with his own hand copied three hundred New Testaments, as well as portions of the Old Testament. What must have been the output of Iona when all the workers assigned to making manuscripts produced their contributions?" Truth Triumphant p. 107
"The object of the writing was, of course, to multiply copies of the Scriptures. . . .There must have been at Iona a separate room or hut where the writing materials were kept; a library where those engaged in transcribing the Scriptures might work, where the polaires containing the finished copies hung on the walls and where the valuable manuscripts were kept." Menzies, St. Columba of Iona p. 68, 70
"Iona was not a monastery, but a great mission institute. It can be likened to the schools of the prophets of the Old Testament. Truth Triumphant p. 105
"The name (Iona) is believed to be a misreading of Iova, Ioua, a name that occurs in old MSS." Winstons Cumulative Loose Leaf Encyclopedia & Dictionary 1936
"The earliest form of the word has excellent authority, for it occurs many times in the life of Columba written by one of his successors as abbot within a century of his death. But it is always given as an adjective, Ioua Insula the island of Io." Place Names of the English-Speaking World p. 158, by CM. Matthews
Noah Webster in his first American Dictionary (1828) under the word ALLELUIAH shows that "Io" is a corruption of Jah (see Psalm 68:4 KJV) as in the word Hallelujah, meaning, Praise ye YAH!
This short form of "Io" as the set-apart name can also be seen in the original 1611 King James Version where it is attached to such Biblical names as Ioshua, Iohn, Ioci, Ioab, Ionathan, Iosedech, Iochcbcd, Ioram, Ioseph, etc.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance shows the fuller form of some of these names as Yehoshua, Yehochanan, Yehonathan, Yehosedech, Yehoseph, Yehoram.
Ioua was a form of the set-apart name of our Creator. When the set-apart name YAHUWAH was carried or pronounced into the Greek, it became Ioua. Example, take for instance the name Jehu (originally Yahu) in the Septuagint it becomes "Iou". Let's do another, take "Yahudah" (Judah) in the Greek it is "Iouda". Yahu, which is the first part of the set-apart name of our Creator, was reduced to "Iou" when transferring to Greek, then on to Latin and other European languages.
Before it was pronounced Iova, the o and u were sounded together, the "o" being silent. CM. Matthews in his book Place Names of the English-Speaking World continues on to call it "Iova", which resembles "Iowa". By the way, the Lewis & Clark map of 1814 refers to the Iowa river, spelling it "Ioua", which is exactly as the island of Iona anciently.
Iona, the great Sabbitarian center, was the hightower, or defense from Catholicism, where the righteous could run to and be safe from persecution. It was called "the government of Ia." J. O'Donovan, The Annals of Ireland, Three Fragments, Fragment II, year 704. Quoted in The Celtic Church in Britain p. 26, 95 by Leslie Hardinge
This supports the idea that the island of "Ioua", being named after the Creator, Who worked through this place in making His truth known, showing that Iona originally Ioua is another historical testimony to the original "a" sound at the end of the set-apart name.
What Ever Became of Iona?
Iona was the "Lighthouse of Truth" in Europe through the centuries of the Dark Ages. It was the last great hold out against Catholicism, until the Reformation.
What became of this great Sabbitarian center?
Queen Margaret, with a zeal for the Roman church, set out to Romanize the ancient Celtic Church in Scotland.
"Margaret never hesitated to unite church and state. Like Constantine, she joined together that which (the Messiah) had put asunder. Beginning with a Sunday law, she proceeded to the demolition of the Celtic Church. How little does the public suspect that religious legislation to enforce Easter and Sunday has often been the method of choking out the life of a liberty loving church." Truth Triumphant p. 112 (proper title restored)