| A Syrian Greek Archbishop: God’s Gift to Canterbury Fr. John Nankivell As the Church of England prepares for a new Archbishop of Canterbury, Fr John Nankivell looks at the life and lasting influence of an earlier Archbishop of that see, St Theodore of Tarsus, focusing on the many ways in which this holy, wise and learned man transformed the Church in England. 664 AD was a year of dramatic events in Britain: ‘an eclipse was quickly followed by plague’ and the archbishop of Canterbury died. In fact, there were very few bishops left, though two of the ablest to have served in these islands, the Irish-trained Angles Chad and Wilfrid, were on the point of being consecrated. And this was the year in which important decisions had been made at a meeting in Whitby. At this critical time, the kings Egbert of Kent and Oswy of Northumbria conferred and selected a Kentish priest, Wighard, and sent him to Rome to be consecrated as successor to the recently deceased archbishop Deusdedit. Wighard reached Rome but died soon after his arrival. In a long letter, Pope Vitalian assured king Oswy that he was giving careful consideration to the choosing of a suitable successor and exhorted the king to continue to lead his people in the Catholic and Apostolic faith. The bearers of the letter were given relics of the Apostles and martyrs, the most valuable gifts that one church can bestow on another. Among them were relics of the holy martyr Pancratius, now known to most people through the London train terminus built in the vicinity of his church. The outcome of Pope Vitalian’s deliberations was the extraordinary appointment of Theodore, a sixty-six year old native of Tarsus, an un-ordained eastern monk. After ordination to the sub-diaconate, four months was needed for his hair to grow so that he could receive the circular tonsure, and he was consecrated bishop on 26 March 668. There had been easterners in Italy for some decades, following the Persian and Arab invasions earlier in the century, and leaders of the church had arisen from their number, including Greek and Syrian popes. But why send an aged Syrian to Britain, which had no such eastern communities? |
| He also attacks the bishops, and the impression you get from Gildas is of a wellestablished, middle-aged, flabby church that needs sorting out. So it seems to have been a long established church by the fifth or sixth century. St. Aidan. Bede says that his History of the English Church and People is an attempt to give good examples of good men to improve us, so there is much there to admire, but in a private letter to Egbert, the Bishop at York, two or three years before Bede’s death, Bede, like Gildas, speaks of a similar sort of corruption and lack of interest on the part of some of the clergy for their people. This was a major source of concern for Bede, and when he writes to the bishop all these things come out. He doesn’t wash his own era’s dirty linen in public, but he makes use of Gildas’ in his history. So there was an established British Church rather early, but when we talk about what it “was like,” we are talking about a church that was the same in fundamentals as the Gallic Church or the Spanish Church, the Italian Church, or the Church in Asia Minor… What was the difference between them? What was the difference, for example, between Irenaus of Lyons and anyone else in the Christian world? Obviously there were distinctive characteristics about Irenaean theology and his link with Asia Minor, but it was all part of the universal Church. Another thing about the British Church that shows the extent to which things had developed, was the response to the Pelagian heresy. Pelagius (the only British person to turn up in early patristic literature) spent much of his time in Rome, and in fact I think it’s Jerome that talks about him being “stuffed with Irish porridge,” which has misled some into thinking that he was Irish. Bishop Germanus of Auxerre in Burgundy (+448) was sent to Britain twice to help sort out the heresy. British representatives had participated in earlier councils, as well as in the reaction to the heresy, so Britain was obviously part of the main-stream Christian world. |
| However, Sts. Edith and Wilfrida were not the only saints whose relics were venerated at the convent. Let us mention two other ones. Firstly, there was St. Alburgh (or Alburga; feast: December 25/January 7), a sister of King Egbert of Wessex and wife of Wulfstan, ealdorman of Wiltshire. Widowed in 802, she became a nun and founded a convent at Wilton, initially with twelve nuns. She may have become its first abbess. St. Alburgh reposed on the day of Nativity of Christ, December 25, 810. And, secondly, there is St. Ywi (Iwi; feast: October 8/21). He was a disciple of St. Cuthbert on Lindisfarne where he served as a hierodeacon. Later Ywi sailed to Brittany where he spent the rest of his life as a wandering preacher and hermit, performing many miracles and reposing in c. 690. In the tenth century Breton priests took his relics on a tour of England (probably to collect donations for their monastery) and when the relics were visiting Wilton Abbey and were laid on the altar, they suddenly became immovable. All decided that it was the will of God, and so the hermit’s relics remained there forever. Thus St. Ywi became the second most important saint of Wilton after Edith. The Wilton Diptych Wilton Convent is associated with a rare and unique surviving relic of medieval England—the late fourteenth-century “Wilton Diptych,” which is currently kept in London’s National Gallery. This portable diptych in the Gothic style has two panels, and it shows Richard II (ruled 1377-1399) being presented to Christ and the Mother of God by St. John the Baptist (his patron-saint), St. Edmund the Martyr and Edward the Confessor. The diptych was obviously painted especially for Richard II. Monastic life at Wilton prospered until the Reformation, when it stopped forever in 1539. Today nothing remains of the large abbey’s structures, though some believe that St. Edith’s relics may lie buried somewhere under the local gardens. The exact site of the original convent is under Wilton House—a stately home to the southeast of Wilton. Now only the ruins of a church connected with the abbey survive in Wilton, a pretty but small historic town in Wiltshire that was earlier the administrative center of this county (now the main city of Wiltshire is neighboring Salisbury). In the fifteenth century, the convent built a parish church in honor of St. Mary the Mother of God in the town for a local parish. This church became redundant long ago as in the nineteenth century a new town parish church was built. Now this nice ancient church lies mostly in ruins—only the nave survives practically intact. It can be easily found in the town center. Wilton also has a Roman Catholic Church of St. Edith. |
| Looking west along the Nave at Saint Peter " s Cathedral in Trier At an expedition dedicated to Emperor Constantine the Great held in Trier in 2007 it was possible to learn how Christian shrines were preserved in early medieval Europe. At first dark glass bottle were used to save relics, as well as small boxes or crosses. In the eighth century, special purses were used, and from the late ninth century on, reliquaries of various forms were used—ostrich eggs, figures, church buildings, and so on. A Russian pilgrim in the Trier vestry would undoubtedly find the original reliquary case with gold filigree in the Byzantine style (eighth century) quite interesting. The text on the sign under it says that the reliquary was made by “Byzantine or Russian masters”. In the late ninth century reliquaries appear that speak by their form about the relics they contain: a piece of a skull would be found in a reliquary shaped like a head, and a piece of an arm would be in a case shaped like an arm. This is how relics were presented for veneration. The upper portion of the portable altar of the Apostle Andrew is made in this style. It is a gold-guilt right foot, crossed in several places by thin, elegant straps, decorated with precious stones. From a distance it creates the impression of a foot wearing a sandal, but looking closer we see that only the straps are present, while the sole is not. In fact, a consultant from the the cathedral confirmed that the reliquary in the form of a gold foot on the portable altar of the Apostle Andrew, which was made by craftsmen under the direction of Archbishop Egbert between 977 and 933, does not contain the sandal itself, as some tourist brochures and websites of Western parishes say, but only a part of the strap of St. Andrew’s sandal. Furthermore, to the portable altar belongs the covering from the Apostle Peter’s staff and a nail reliquary (made in 933), where one of the nails that nailed Christ to the Cross was kept. Sandal of Apostle Andrew the First-Called, Trier, Germany. |
| The Danes now made peace with Edmund and headed north to Northumbria (North-Eastern England), arriving in York on November 1, 866. The English Kings Osbert and Alle, who had been fighting each other up to that moment, now joined forces and marched on York, and after destroying the city walls they entered the city on March 21, 867. However, the resultant battle within the city was disastrous for the English: both kings and eight of the leading noblemen were killed. The Danes then ravaged the whole of Northumbria as far as the River Tyne before installing an Englishman named Egbert as puppet-king of the region under their power. This was only «the beginning of sorrows» for the English. At the end of the year the Danish «Great Army» moved south into Mercia (Central England) and took the city of Nottingham. In answer to King Burhred of Merciás appeal for help, King Aethelred of Wessex, his younger brother Alfred (the future King of England) and St. Edmund came to meet him outside the walls of Nottingham. However, the Danes avoided a battle with the English kings outside Nottingham, so peace terms were concluded. In exchange for giving up Nottingham, the Great Army was allowed to retreat back into Northumbria. Now began a horrific despoliation of the Christian inheritance of the whole of Eastern England. In the north, St. Ebbás monastery at Coldingham was burned down with the nuns inside after they had all, with Abbess Ebba giving them the lead, cut off their noses and upper lips to deter the attackers from raping them. Tynemouth, Wearmouth, Jarrow, Whitby and other famous monasteries were destroyed; and in Eastern Mercia Bardney and Crowland were gutted. When the news of the Great Army " s approach reached Abbot Theodore of Crowland, he sent away all the able-bodied men and buried the church valuables. Then, as the flames of nearby Kesteven lit up the sky, he calmly vested himself for the Divine Liturgy, which he celebrated with the assistance of Deacon Alfget, Subdeacon Savin and Monks Aethelred and Wulric. |
| Vladimir Moss 19. SAINT BEDE “THE VENERABLE” OF JARROW Our holy Father Bede the Venerable was born in the year 673 on the lands of the monastery of St. Paul at Jarrow in Northumbria. At the age of seven he was entrusted to the first abbot of Jarrow, St. Benedict Biscop, and after his repose to his successor, St. Ceolfrid. There is a tradition that during a plague that swept England during St. Ceolfrid " s abbacy, only the abbot and the young Bede were left to chant the services. At the age of nineteen Bede was ordained to the diaconate by St. John, bishop of Beverley, and to the priesthood by the same holy bishop when he was thirty years old. «From the time of my receiving the priesthood,» writes Bede, «until my fifty- ninth year, I have worked, both for my own benefit and that of my brethren, to compile short extracts from the works of the venerable Fathers on Holy Scripture and to comment on their meaning and interpretation. And while I have observed the regular discipline and sung the church services daily in church, my chief delight has always been in study, teaching and writing.» In addition to 25 commentaries on the Holy Scriptures, he wrote his famous Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Lives of the Holy Abbots, a Letter to Egbert (archbishop of York, which may have stimulated the founding of the famous school of York) and other works. If his contemporary, St. Aldhelm, may be considered (with Caedmon of Whitby) the Father of English poetry, then the Venerable Bede must be considered the Father of English prose and history. So successful was he in fulfilling this calling, that his works became the staple education of generations of Christians in the lands of North-West Europe. St. Boniface, the enlightener of Germany, wrote to England for copies of his works, and on hearing of his repose said: «The candle of the Church, lit by the Holy Spirit, is extinguished.» And Alcuin, the abbot of St. Martin " s at Tours, called him «the schoolmaster of his age». Alcuin related that Bede used to say: «I well know that angels visit the congregations of brethren at the canonical hours. What if they should not find me there among my brethren? Will they not say, «Where is Bede? Why comes he not with his brethren to the prescribed hours?»» |
| Vladimir Moss 45. SAINTS EDITH AND EDITH OF POLESWORTH Our holy mother Edith was the daughter of King Egbert of Wessex, the sister of King Aethelwulf of Wessex, and the aunt of King Alfred the Great. Polesworth was one of two towns or estates granted by Aethelwulf to St. Modwenna for the founding of monasteries. Edith became the first abbess. She died on March 15, 871. Our holy Mother Edith was the eldest daughter of King Edward the Elder and Queen Egwena, and sister of St. Edburga of Winchester and King Athelstan. In 925, according to Roger of Wendover, King Athelstan joined his sister in marriage to the Danish King Sihtric (or Sigfric) of Northumbria, who then converted to Christianity for the love of the beautiful Edith. However, not long after he abandoned both Edith and Christianity and returned to the worship of the idols, dying one year later in apostasy. Edith, «having preserved her chastity, remained strong in good works to the end of her life, at Polesworth, in fasts and vigils, in prayers and in zeal for almsgiving. She departed after the passage of a praiseworthy life from this world on 15 July, at the same place, where to this day Divine miracles do not cease to be performed.» Some think that these two Ediths were one and the same person. One of them died at Tamworth, where she built a monastery. Holy Mothers Edith and Edith, pray to God for us! (Sources: Roger of Wendover, Flores Historiarum; Donald Attwater, The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, London: Penguin, 1965, p. 109; Agnes Dunbar, A Dictionary of Saintly Women, 1904, Читать далее Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное |
| Vladimir Moss 7. SAINTS AETHELRED AND AETHELBRICHT, MARTYR-PRINCES OF KENT The holy princes Aethelred and Aethelbricht (Ethelbert) were the sons of King Ermenred of Kent and his queen Oslaf. When still young they were committed into the care of their cousin King Egbert, who became king in 664, and his queen, St. Sexburga. Their innocence and holiness of life offended one of the king " s counts, Thunor, who feared that if the young princes lived long they would supplant him in the king " s favour. So he began secretly to hate them, and to accuse them before the king, saying that if they lived they would deprive either him or his children of the kingdom. And he began to entreat the king for permission to king them. But the king refused, for they were dear to him and his family. Nevertheless, Thunor secretly killed the young princes one night in the king " s palace and hid them under the king " s throne, thinking that noone would think of looking for them there. However, when the king at dawn saw a beam of light stood up through the roof of the hall up to heaven, he ordered Thunor to be fetched and asked him what he had done with his cousins. Thunor answered that he knew where they were, but would not tell him unless he had to. But when the king adjured him by their friendship to reveal the secret, he told him that he had buried them in the king " s hall under his throne. Then the king was very disturbed, and after building a shrine for the princes, he summoned his counsellors and asked them what he should do. They, with the support of Archbishop Theodore, advised that the princes» sister, Ermenburga, be summoned from Mercia, where she had been given in marriage, so as to fix the compensation due to the relatives of the princes for their murder. She fixed the compensation at eighty hides of land in the isle of Thanet. Now when she and the king had gone to Thanet, he asked her to choose which part of the land she wanted in compensation. She replied: as much land as her deer, which always ran in front of her when she travelled, would run round. The king agreed, and they set off after the deer until they came to the place which was called Thunor " s leap. Then Thunor bowed to the king and said: «Sir, how long will you listen to this dumb animal, which will run round the whole of this land? Will you give it all to the queen?» At that moment the earth opened and swallowed him up. Thus the king founded a monastery at Minster-in-Thanet, and Ermenburga became the first abbess. The bodies of the martyr princes were translated to Wakering in Essex and then, towards the end of the tenth century, to Ramsey Abbey by St. Oswald of Worcester. Holy Martyr-Princes Aethelred and Aethelbricht, pray to God for us! (Sources: An Old English manuscript; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1978, p. 140) Читать далее Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное |
| Vladimir Moss 91. SAINT SWITHUN, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER Our holy Father Swithun was born in Wessex in the ninth century and educated at the Old Minster in Winchester. He was chosen by Egbert, King of Wessex (802839), to be his chaplain, and to be the educator of his son Ethelwulf, who became king in 839. In 852 St. Swithun became Bishop of Winchester. In 853 King Ethelwulf sent his five-year-old son Alfred, the future founder of the All-English monarchy, on a pilgrimage to Rome. He was escorted by St. Swithun. Pope Leo IV endowed the young prince with the insignia and dignity of a Roman consul. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he even «consecrated Alfred as king and stood sponsor for him at confirmation, just as his father Ethelwulf had requested when he sent him thither.» But this is disputed by historians... In 854 King Ethelwulf «determined to give a tenth part of the lands throughout all my kingdom to Holy Church». This charter was signed, after the king, by St. Swithun. His signature is also on other royal gifts of land to the Church. It was a very difficult time for the English people as the pagan Vikings invaded the land and spread death and destruction far and wide. In 860 a great naval force even stormed the city of Winchester itself, but was later defeated. Swithun not only protected the kingdom by his prayers, but is also credited with building the bridge at the east end of the city. Once, when he was visiting the workmen at the bridge, the saint saw a poor woman carrying eggs back home in her basket. She dropped the basket, and, to her great distress, the eggs broke. However, the holy bishop, taking pity on her, restored the eggs whole and unbroken to the basket. It is at about this time that an Anglo-Saxon poem called Judith was composed; it has been described as «one of the noblest poems in the whole range of Old English Literature, combining the highest dramatic and constructive power with the utmost brilliance of language and metre». Professor Cook of Yale University thinks that it was composed by St. Swithun himself in about the year 856 in gratitude for the deliverance of Wessex from the fury of the Vikings and dedicated to Judith, wife of King Ethelwulf. In the poem the Vikings are represented by the Assyrians, the English by the Jews, and Queen Judith by her namesake in the Bible story. |
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