St. Patrick and the Dragon
One of the most enduring stories of the fifth-century Irish bishop Saint Patrick is the claim that he chased all the snakes out of Ireland. While this story is unlikely to have a factual basis, as the geographic and climatic circumstances of the last ice age prevented a native snake population from developing, perhaps this legend is a reflection of a greater true theological narrative: the triumph of the woman’s offspring over the serpent’s.
According to the book of Genesis, in the immediate aftermath of the Fall of mankind, rather than smiting Adam and Eve outright and starting over, God places a curse on them and their offspring and the serpent who led them astray. He tells the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel” (Gen 3:15 NIV). This curse is not only just, ensuring all guilty parties receive proportionate retribution for breaking God’s law, but also prophetic. Traditionally, Christian theologians have identified the woman’s offspring here with Jesus and the serpent with Satan, whose “crushing” defeat at the resurrection followed the bruising of Christ. However, I would argue that, like many prophecies found in the Old Testament, the promise of this curse has been fulfilled in many times and ways through God’s sovereignty, including through the ministry of St. Patrick.
I would like to first identify the three parties in this fifth-century fulfillment narrative. Firstly (and perhaps most obviously), I identify St. Patrick with the woman’s offspring: the protagonist of this drama triumphing through struggle over the serpent. Secondly, I believe that the “serpent” here is neither a literal snake nor Satan himself, but rather the devil’s ongoing deceit embodied by the polytheistic religions that flourished in Ireland prior to St. Patrick’s ministry. Finally, and perhaps most controversially, I think the woman here is not Eve, but rather the Church. I believe that, just as Paul refers to Christ as the “second Adam” by whose perfection and atoning sacrifice we are freed from the curse of sin and death, so the Church, the “bride of Christ,” is the second Eve: by whose faithfulness to God the world is slowly freed from the devil’s deceit. Thus, the “offspring” of the church (the saints) triumph over the serpent’s offspring (lies, deceit, idolatry) through a long and often bloody battle. The legend of St. Patrick, with its reptilian imagery, gives us a relatively clear window into this ongoing cosmic struggle.
Just as the curse predicts, Saint Patrick’s spiritual conquest of Ireland for Christ was certainly not without its bruises, but the serpent’s defeat was sure from the beginning. St. Patrick’s trials began at age 16 when he was enslaved and first taken to Ireland by animistic Dal Riata raiders. During several years of captivity, his faith was formed and strengthened, and he developed a passion for the Irish people that would lead him back to Ireland after pursuing Christian education and consecration back in England upon his escape from the Dal Riata by ship. Upon his return, his ministry prospered so that he baptized thousands into the faith and even ordained native-born priests to continue the gospel’s growth. While there, he continued to suffer at the hands of pagan kings, but, unlike many of his evangelist brethren, he lived to see the kingdom of heaven overcome and conquer the hearts of many previously pagan Irishmen. Thanks to his ministry and the ministry of those Christians who would come after him, the idolatry perpetuated by the serpent lost its grip on that land.
Although I am personally uninclined to believe the legends of Saint Patrick’s literal expulsion of snakes from Ireland, I believe that his life, and particularly his struggle with the devil for the hearts of the Irish, are still both a valuable example for Christians today and a real sign of the spiritual war that has already been won. While we are unlikely to encounter openly pagan Dal Riata tribesmen today, the world is still sadly full of the devil’s deceitfulness. As Christians, we must acknowledge that there will always be that enmity existing between us and the serpent’s offspring, and be willing and prepared to fight the good fight and crush the serpent’s head just as St. Patrick did and, more importantly, as Christ did decisively in a now-empty tomb almost 2000 years ago.