THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN BRITAIN!

[nonjuror2003]

THE EARLY CHURCH IN BRITAIN..!

If asked we could say that the Catholic Church first came to light in an Upper Room in Jerusalem about 33/ 37 AD. The event is recorded in the Book of Acts. We don't know just when it came to Britain, because the records are missing, there are no police reports, or newspaper cuttings, or even immigration reports! But what we do have are reports from scholars and dignitaries within the Church itself, for instance Tertullian, one of the earliest Church Fathers mentions Christianity in early Britain and he lived about 120AD. There are several other dignitaries who confirm the presence here, amongst them being Archbishop Dorotheus of Tyre, a martyr and Saint who died in 303 AD. he claimed that S.Simon Zelotes, a brother of Christ, was one amongst many who brought the faith. He says also, that S.Aristobulos, was the first Bishop, (descendant of the Apostles,) . (He is mentioned by S.Paul in the Epistle to the Romans.)
In the years before the II,WW, we were taught that another high flyer who brought Christianity at this early date was, S.Joseph of Arimathea. He arrived in the West Country and is claimed to have built a mission, at Glastonbury around the Counties of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.
It was oftimes claimed that S.Joseph an uncle of the Lady Mary, was a civil servant and business man, who traded for copper in the mines of southern Britain. This is what we were taught at the State School on Burleigh St, Stoneyholme. Finally, but not least, one of the more respectable Celtic Historians, Albanicus the Wise, who wrote an interesting history in the Fifth Century, claimed that the Catholic Faith was brought to Britain in the last year of the reign of Tiberius, this was about 37AD.
We do not rely on these traditions or writings because history backs up the theories; the Church in Britain played an active part in the development of Catholic Religion throughout the Roman Empire the bishops being present at various Councils of the Church. A Roman Scholar from Manchester claims that at least one British Bishop was at the Council of Nicea, 325, the greatest gathering in the Church's history. It was this Council , with six others that constitute the 'Magisterium' or authority, of the Catholic Church, they are commonly called the Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Early Church.

Part 1.

[nonjuror2003]

It is wrong to imagine that all Churches are the same, there's only one Church and that is the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Body of Christ and membership is gained by Baptism and a Right belief or understanding of the teachings of Christ, Revealed to the Saints,( Ep,Jude.) this recorded in Scripture and explained, or interpreted by the Apostles and the Bishops through the agency of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. This is the authority of the Catholic Church(and this is what the Anglican Church is part of,) not one man, or even a few men, but the bishops of the world wide Church. Having accepted Christ's Revelation, we have to accept the Faith he brought to us without additions or diminution! (S.Paul) If you do not accept this canon, or rule of faith, i.e. Revelation, Scripture and Councils,you are not a member of the Body of Christ as understood from the reading of the Gospel, and you are in a Christian Sect! A sect is a group or Body of People who have separated from the parent, or original group on a limited issue i.e. the Roman Church on the Papacy. A classic example is the Holy Roman Church , this body added to the Catholic Faith of the First thousand years when after the Council of Trent in 1564, it added first , Papal Jurisdiction and later, Papal Infallibility to the core of Catholic belief.

What we now know as the Anglican Church was the original group in Britain and for some 600years it was the only part of the Church in this area. About 597 AD, there appeared a new group sent from Rome, by Gregory, the Bishop of Rome, a good man, but one who was not aware that the Church already existed in the far isles, a country that was suffering from internal warfare amongst the mixed race inhabitants. He sent a monk called Augustine along with a band of some forty people most of whom ,if not all, were monks. They were met by a Catholic Bishop, who was Chaplain to a Christian Queen, called Bertha. They were given food and the necessities of life and Christian Churches to worship in. They catered chiefly for the Saxons who appear to have been pagans.
Several years passed before Augustine felt able to make a move toward the Celtic Bishops and finally an arrangement was made for both sides to meet in the West Country. Augustine was boorish and did not rise to meet the British Bishops choosing to remain seated, like a district commissioner in a pre war British Film, then he proceeded to lecture them ,ignoring the fact that he was worshipping in at least two of their churches and that his whole mission went against the canons, or rule, of the Ecumenical Councils and the Universal Church.

The British Bishops had a declaration published, written it is said by S. Dinooth, the Bishop of Bangor-Iscoed, an enormous Celtic Abbey, he is alleged to have written, " Be it known and declared that we all, individually and collectively are in all humility prepared to defer to the Church of God and to the Bishop of Rome and to every sincere and Godly Christian , so far as to love everyone according to his degree, in perfect charity and to assist them all by word and in deed in becoming the Children of God.But as far as any other obedience, we know none that he whom you term as the Pope, or Bishop of Bishops, can demand. The deference we have mentioned we are ready to pay to him as to every other Christian, but in all other respects our obedience is due to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Caerleon, who is alone under God our ruler to keep us right in the way of salvation."
(Spelman. Conciliar pp.109, 110. Haddas & Stubbs Vol.1 p,122.)

Under the pressure of Augustine's arrogance the talks collapsed, not because the British Bishops didn't want unity, but because they refused to abandon the Church order and the teaching of the Councils.
S.Augustine's mission only lasted a few years with all but one of his ministers abandoning Britain and returning to the Continent after Augustine died.
Part 2.

[fred]

Augustine's try for 'unity' was a disaster. Unity was not his goal, the Church in Britain was already united, it was what was known as a ,"Particular,' Church or Communion within the Body of Christ, that is the Catholic Church. It lived by the rules, or Canon of Faith, within the framework of the Revelation of Christ ,Scripture and the Bishops in Council. Even today the governance of the ancient , or traditional Church in this country follows this formula! During quarrels between the various races within Britain the Celtic Church collapsed as did Augustine's sect! What Augustine wanted was the dominance of the Bishop of Rome and the supremacy of the pope! The old church was revived with the help of the Irish and Scots, but suffered a useless schism when large part of the Church wanted to follow the Ceremonial and practices accepted on the Continent! This split lasted for two hundred years in Britain with a great deal of resentment amongst the traditionalists. The Church in Ireland remained Celtic, or Traditionalist till the 11th, Century! It was at the Council of Whitby, 644 AD, that the decision was taken to follow European practices rather than the old British ones. Later the modernists installed a Greek Monk, Theodore, as Archbishop of Canterbury, it was virtually a new Church and brought the institution in to the modern times more suitable to the new society than the Celtic one. There was no real rift, all the old values were held, there was nothing new except the modern Church was organised in to parishes, while the old was rested on the Celtic System of great abbeys such as Bangor Iscoed which at one time had two thousand members. Both sections were Catholic, even though there was great bitterness.
It was about the middle of the next century that the term Anglican came in to use. Ecclesia Anglicana, meaning the Church in England, or the Church of England.
It was used by Baeda, the Saxon Historian and shows as much as anything the political dominance of the Saxons over the Celtic people. Later on, the term was used again in the Magna Carta to describe the Church in England and from then on it was used throughout the middle ages in correspondence to signify the English Church to our bretheren abroad.

Part 3,

[annette fleming]

I've read your comments on this board about the Church , It's quite sad really, before you can be a Catholic, you've to be in communion with the POPE!

[aeneas]

Dear Annette,
It is interesting, not sad. Yet people have a right to their own views, it is when they are ,'simply spoiling,' that the trouble comes about. Even so, while one can have different opinions., or even doubts,these doubts, or opinions, no matter how firmly held, should be based on something other than conjecture. In the case at issue, the basic plank in the Church is antiquity? At least according to Tertullian, John Newman or Archbishop Bramhall! But nowhere in Christ's Revelation, Scripture or Holy Tradition is there any mention of the Papacy or the Pope! Why is that think you? Would you not think that some one, or institution, who is claimed and claims to be God's Vice Regent on Earth would be mentioned in Scripture or Holy Tradition, that is the Bishops of the First thousand years in Council?
The Roman Catholic Church insists in its additions to the Creed that Scripture should be read through and understood by the works and comments of these early bishops in council. Your own views are not to be rejected or dismissed outright, but there should be more!