The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

I. The Beginnings of Christianity in Britain

From the landing of Julius Caesar on the shores of Britain, in 54 B.C., down to A.D. 410, when the Roman soldiers were withdrawn from the isles, the secular history of Britain can be traced with fair continuity. But for about 150 years thereafter there comes a break in the narrative—a sort of Dark Age. Of the transition by which the provincial Britain of Honorius (d. 423) became the Anglo-Saxon Britain of Ethelbert (d. 616) and Ethelfrid (or Aethelfrith), there is little certain knowledge. PFF1 595.2

The mists of uncertainty likewise cover the early entrance of Christianity into the British Isles. The exact date cannot be determined, and the mode and the route by which the Christian faith first penetrated these isles is not known. Much has been written concerning it, and many claims have been made, but uncertainty still prevails. It seems virtually impossible to separate the strands of truth from the tangled skein of conflicting legend. Milman declares: “There can be no doubt that conquered and half-civilized Britain, like the rest of the Roman Empire, gradually received, during the second and third centuries, the faith of Christ.” ¹ PFF1 595.3

Neander says the evidence is against its coming from Rome, concluding that it was rather through Gaul, from Asia Minor, ² as its ritual agrees more nearly with the latter. PFF1 596.1

1. CHURCH EXISTENT FROM SECOND CENTURY ONWARD

As noted, just when Christianity was introduced into Britain cannot be stated with certainty. Some scholars claim it was during the first century. If it followed the entrance of Christianity into Gaul, then it was probably toward the close of the second century, for the first churches in Gaul were planted there about A.D. 150. And there seems to be evidence of the influence of Gallic Christianity, which came directly from the East. Tertullian, writing about 202, exultantly mentions the British churches, referring to “the haunts of the Britons—inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ.” ³ PFF1 596.2

Origen also writes of an already existing church there by the third century. ⁴ In the fourth century Eusebius of Caesarea similarly alludes to the gospel’s having penetrated Britain; ⁵ Athanasius was in correspondence with the British Christians. ⁶ Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, salutes the bishops of Britain, and regrets that distance forbids frequent communication. ⁷ Both Chrysostom and Jerome similarly refer to the Christian faith in the British Isles. ⁸ And Theodoret of Cyrus, in his fifth-century ecclesiastical history, includes the British Christians. ⁹ So there is continuity and consistency of early contemporary evidence. PFF1 596.3

As early as 314 three bishops from Britain appeared as representatives at the Synod of Arles, ¹⁰ in Gaul. And in 359, at the Council of Ariminum (Ariminium), Rumania, three more British bishops are noted by Sulpicius Severus. ¹¹ There is no evidence, however, that any sat in the general Council of Nicaea in 325. And after the withdrawal of the Roman army from Britain, in 410, there was little intercourse for a time between the British Christians and those under the influence of Rome. ¹² PFF1 597.1

2. SETBACKS UNDER THE GERMANIC INVASION

About 449 the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from the Continent began to invade Britain. Thus the British Christians were gradually forced back to the western mountain fastnesses of Wales, where they dwelt in communities in semimonastic fashion. Each community was presided over by an abbot, probably a perpetuation o£ the Celtic clan system. Information concerning the ensuing century is exceedingly scanty. But when an effort was made about the close of the sixth century to bring them into subjection to Rome, the British were found to be very tenacious in their beliefs and practices. They were students of the Bible and were intensely missionary—minded, evangelizing among the Picts of the North, and in France and Germany. And it was the Iro-Scottish Celts, it should be noted, who were so strongly missionary-minded. ¹³ PFF1 597.2

Britain had been pretty thoroughly Romanized in secular matters when this invasion by Germanic tribes from the Rhine got under way in the fifth century. There had been fine buildings, public baths, and good roads in Britain. Latin was quite generally spoken in the cities. But the invasion radically changed the entire picture. The barbarians swept over the decadent Roman Empire and interposed themselves like a giant wedge across Central Europe, largely isolating Britain. The Roman legions had withdrawn from Britain, and the Picts and Scots had begun to ravage the northern country. Pirates from the West plundered the towns. The Jutes from Jutland occupied East Kent, and then much of the rest of the country. Saxon war bands followed from the German coast, pillaging the southern shores, while tribes of Angles landed on the north side of the Thames and along the eastern coast. ¹⁴ PFF1 597.3

The cities and roads fell into decay, for the Germanic invaders were rural peoples. The Christian Celts were driven back, and the pagan gods Woden and Thor were worshiped. Latin disappeared, and a German dialect was substituted. In fact, the civilization of the Romans was largely destroyed. ¹⁵ The barbarism of the German forests prevailed. Various sections were ruled by petty kings, with overlordships by the stronger kings. The Anglo-Saxon dialect came to supersede the Latin tongue, and Christianity was to a great degree driven out of a sizable portion of Britain. PFF1 598.1

3. IONA BECOMES LIGHT OF WESTERN WORLD

However, by the fifth century Ireland had been Christianized, largely through the efforts of PATRICK (c. 396-469). ¹⁶ She began to manifest great missionary zeal, but had little intercourse with the churches of the Continent. About 570 COLUMBA (c. 520-597), ¹⁷ Irish evangelist, with twelve companions, came to the isle of Iona, on the southwest coast of Scotland, and founded a monastery. And the Picts of Scotland—then called Caledonia—were Christianized, along with a considerable portion of northern England. PFF1 598.2

Monasteries in those days, it should be remarked, were the chief repositories of knowledge and learning. Here early English literature was cradled. Here the earliest poets received their inspiration. And here, even before that, Hilda (d. 680), abbess of Hartlepool and Whitby, became the chief educator of the Northumbrian church. She presided over a great religious house, a training school for the clergy. No fewer than five of her pupils became bishops. ¹⁸ These monasteries of Britain produced many noted scholars, most famous of whom was the Venerable Bede (673-735), of Yarrow, soon to be noted, who had six hundred monks as his pupils. PFF1 599.1

In 586 the leading British bishops fled to Wales. A large number assembled at Llanddewi Brefi, where the church was reorganized, and centers were established in various places. The few churches in England that escaped the Saxon torch had been converted into heathen temples, and their altars polluted with pagan sacrifices. The missionary effort of this exiled British church was now directed toward the pagans of Central Europe, who had barely been touched by the church of Rome. The monastery of Iona led the way, and for several centuries the Iro-British church was a great missionary force in Europe. Iona became known as the “Light of the Western World.” Its first evangelizing company of twelve set out under COLUMBAN, ¹⁹ in 585, and settled in the south of France. PFF1 599.2

It was during this period that the British church first came into conflict with ecclesiastical Rome. This was induced by differences between the teachings and practices of the British missionaries and those of Rome, and by the refusal of the British to acknowledge the primacy of the pope. A conspiracy was formed to expel them, and Columban and others moved to Switzerland, where they worked among the Suevi and Alemanni. After a time they were driven from there and took refuge in northern Italy, establishing the monastery at Bobbio, in the Apennines. Other British missionaries carried the gospel into Germany, Bavaria, and Thuringia. And centers were established in the Netherlands and others in France. Of the impact of the British church, as it burst upon Central and Western Europe, Green says: PFF1 599.3

“For a time it seemed as if the course of the world’s history was to be changed, as if the older Celtic race that Roman and German had swept before them, had turned to the moral conquest of their conquerors, as if Celtic and not Latin Christianity was to mould the destinies of the Churches of the West.” ²⁰ PFF1 600.1

This Celtic period of the Northumbrian church throbs with interest. Columba, who started his intensive missions from Iona, labored on for thirty years, and died just after Augustine landed on the shores of Kent. His work was independent of Rome. The influence of the Roman faith, on the other hand, was largely dependent on the extension of the empire, whereas Celtic Christianity was a native growth. ²¹ It was thus that Iona was the light of Christendom and the center of the evangelism of the time. PFF1 600.2