Peter Spink (17 August 1926 – 22 November 2010) was an English

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest,

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Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midla ...

, mystic, spiritual teacher, writer and founder of the "Omega Order", a mixed teaching and contemplative community.Peter Spink obituary
(''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 27 January 2011).

Biography

George Peter Arthur Spink was born in

Gaddesby Gaddesby is a village and civil parish in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. The population of the civil parish (including Ashby Folville and Barsby) at the 2011 census was 762. It is located around southwest of Melton Mowbray and ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, and, after leaving school, worked as a tea-packer and in coal mines. In his late teens he became a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and went on to train as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

, spending 5 years evangelising to the villages of northern India from 1949 to 1954. On his return to England he was ordained as an Anglican priest, spending the years from 1956 to 1959 as a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

in two parishes in the

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

- one a large

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...

. It was here, that he became convinced of the importance of the healing ministry after laying hands on a seriously ill child who subsequently recovered. From 1959, Revd. Spink served as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to British embassies in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

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and

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. On returning to England he became a chaplain at Coventry Cathedral, then

Canon residentiary Canon () is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct of ...

in 1970. From 1977 to 1980, he was warden at Burrswood Home of healing, an independent Christian non-surgical hospital. While at Burrswood he founded a small community in a formerly-derelict house in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

, which became the Omega Order, a mixed ecumenical and teaching

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

. In 1981, Spink left Burrswood to become the full-time Warden of the ''Omega Order'', which, in 1986, moved its headquarters to Winford manor in Winford,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

which it occupied until around 2000. He made several appearance on television, and was the subject of one part of the religious series "''Inner Journeys''" ( HTV, 5 December 1993) where he described his spiritual quest for understanding. He converted to Catholicism around 2000. In later life Spink suffered from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

and died in November 2010, aged 84. He was married to Ruby (née Cox), a fellow missionary in 1948, and had a daughter, Kathryn Spink, a notable writer and biographer.

Teaching

Spink wrote several books expounding a philosophy of "experiential wisdom" rather than conventional religious belief, mirroring his own "escape from the box" which allowed him "glimpses of the Cosmic or universal Christ towards which

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

so clearly points". In his last book, "''Beyond Belief''" (1996), he described his teaching as for those "who are looking for a God....who can be known and experienced directly". His own influences included

Christian mysticism Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...

Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (; 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit, Catholic priest, scientist, palaeontologist, theologian, and teacher. He was Darwinian and progressive in outlook and the author of several influential theologica ...

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

George Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff ( – 29 October 1949) was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and movements teacher. Born in the Russian Empire, he briefly became a citizen of the First Republic of Armenia after its formation in 1 ...

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (; 27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century ...

and

Theosophy Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neop ...

; his approach has been described as "New Age" by some. The purpose of the ''Omega Order'', which he founded, was to help people move beyond the confines of orthodox religious belief to a more intuitive, mystical appreciation of God. The philosophy of the order was encapsulated in a written testament called the "Omega vision". The order published several books (and a regular journal called "Omega News") and functioned as a retreat and course center, based at Winford Priory in Somerset, as well as housing a small contemplative and teaching community of monks and nuns. The

offices An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

were celebrated daily.''Offices of the Omega Order'' (Omega Trust, 1990).

References

Bibliography

*''Spiritual Man in the New Age'' (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1980) *''The Path of the Mystic'' (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1983) *''The End of an Age'' (Omega Trust Publications, 1983 ) *''A Time for Knowledge'' (Omega Trust, 1984) *''A Christian in the New Age'' (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1991) *''Beyond Belief, how to develop mystical consciousness and discover the God within'', Piatkus, 1996. {{DEFAULTSORT:Spink, Peter 1926 births 2010 deaths 20th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century Christian mystics English spiritual writers English religious writers Protestant mystics Christian religious orders established in the 20th century Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism People from the Borough of Melton English male non-fiction writers