CHAPTER 1

THE CHURCH IN BRITAIN BEFORE 597

i. The Coming of the Faith

The exact date when the Christian message first came to England isunknown. At the time when the Christian Church was graduallyextending its influence in the countries on both sides of the Mediterranean,England was in process of being colonized by Rome. Romanlegionaries were marching along their own well-made roads, Romanofficers were bringing the old British tribes to heel, Roman law wasbeing administered, and one more province was in process of beingabsorbed into the great Roman Empire which now dominated theknown world.

Among those who came from Rome, whether soldiers, administrators,traders or camp-followers, there may well have been somewho had heard and accepted the message of the Christian Churchand who secretly prayed to the Christians' God while their fellowsdid homage to the old gods of the State, or to Mithras or Isis or oneof the gods of the mystery religions. But of this we have no certainknowledge. If there were such, they have left no record behind them.But where history is silent, legend and tradition have producedstrange and wonderful stories of journeys to this island made byS. Paul or S. Philip or S. Joseph of Arimathea and of the foundingof a Christian church at Glastonbury.

The first mention of any Christians in Britain is in Tertullian'stract against the Jews, written about 200, in which he spekks of partsof Britain, inaccessible to the Romans, which had yet been conqueredby Christ; while Origen, writing about forty years later, includesBritain among the places where Christians are to be found. It seemsclear, then, that about the year 200 the Christian world was becomingaware of the fact that there were believers in Britain, andit has been suggested that, when the savage persecutions broke outin Gaul in 177, a number of Christians fled northwards and thatsome may have found their way to these shores.

For the next century or so little is known of these Christiansin Britain. The third century was, on the whole, a time of greatadvance for the Church for, apart from the persecutions of Deciusand Valerian (249–60), it was an age of comparative peace andsecurity when books were written, churches built and schoolsfounded. In Britain some organization was being set up, for, by theyear 314, there were several bishops in the country, three of whom—Eborius of York, Restitutio of London and Adelphius probably ofColchester—attended the Council of Aries. This shows a considerableadvance in the establishment of the Church on a diocesan basis,and implies that the scattered Christians of the third century had bynow organized themselves into a definite Church. No British bishopsare known to have answered the Emperor's summons to Nicaea in325, but Athanasius expressly states that the British Church acceptedthe decisions of that Council.

The first Christian in Britain whose name is recorded was Albanwho, according to Bede, was a layman of the Roman city of Verulamiumwho gave shelter to a Christian priest fleeing from his persecutors.While the priest lay hid, Alban learnt of the Christian faithand was converted; and when the soldiers came to arrest the fugitive,Alban, dressed in the priest's cloak, gave himself up, was condemnedto death, and martyred on the hill where the abbey church of S.Alban's now stands. The date is generally assumed to have been 304,during the persecutions of Diocletian.

With the passing of the Edict of Milan in 312 the Christian Churchentered upon a new phase of its history. For three centuries the Christianfaith had been classed among the 'illicit religions'; it had alwaysbeen to some extent unpopular; and the shadow of persecution hadlain over it. By this decree Constantine removed the ban, and for thefirst time in history the Christian was free to declare his faith openlywithout fear of a cruel death. From this time onwards a great andrapid advance was made.

Such an advance must have been made in Britain, but still our evidenceis very scant. In 359 some British bishops again attended oneof the great councils of the Church, the Council of Rimini; but theywere so poor that three of them were driven to accept the imperialoffer of money to pay their expenses, though all the other bishopspresent had refused to do so in order to preserve their independence.This would suggest that the Church in Britain, though becomingmore organized, was as yet poor, and no...