Читать книгу The Abbeys of Great Britain - H. Claiborne Dixon - Страница 3

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IN the hope of making the following sketches of more general interest, it will be as well to review as concisely as possible the progress of Monasticism in connection with the Church from the earliest times, and to renew our acquaintance with the history of the early British Church during those years previous to the coming of St Augustine in 597—a period veiled in the minds of many people in a mist of obscurity. That such a Church did flourish we have the testimony of St Athanasius, St Jerome, St Chrysostom, and of Gildas, a British ecclesiastic of the 6th century, and the only historian up to that time. In the reign of Claudius Cæsar, who, as is well known, expelled the Druids from Britain, our Lord’s disciples were becoming known as “Christians.” To the constant communication between the chief towns of Britain and the imperial city of Rome, and to the intercourse between British prisoners and Christian Romans both in Britain and Rome—(particularly in the case of Caractacus the captive British King, who may possibly have met St Paul in Cæsar’s household)—we ascribe the introduction of Christian teaching in our land.

The earliest introduction into England of Monasticism—originally founded in the East—has been attributed to Joseph of Arimathæa, who is credited with the founding of the monastery at Glastonbury. If this somewhat mythical statement cannot claim general acceptance on account of its antiquity, it is at least an acknowledged fact that Glastonbury was one of the earliest of monastic houses established in England. Bede tells us also that from the time of King Lucius A.D. 170, until that of the Emperor Diocletian, “the Britons kept the faith in quiet peace, inviolate and entire.” At the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century, Diocletian caused a general persecution of Christians, during which St Alban, proto-martyr of Britain, attested the reality of his faith; but happier days following in the reign of Constantine the Great, the early Church again prospered. We read that British bishops were present at such notable councils as those of Arles, A.D. 314, and Nicea in A.D. 325, etc., and though in 410 the Romans left Britain never to return, the good work, despite many rebuffs, still continued. An appeal was made to the Gallican Church for help and resulted in the mission of Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, to Britain on the decision of the Council of Troyes. Churches were built, others restored, the numbers of bishops increased, and a greater religious devotion promoted in the Celtic race which to this day has never wholly died. St Germanus founded a Bishopric in the Isle of Man in A.D. 447—Glastonbury and St Albans received a particular share of attention from him, and that religious fervour was inspired among the people which later showed itself so strongly against the heathen invaders, and which is so graphically portrayed in romantic song and story associated with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

During the time between the departure of the Romans and the coming of the Saxons, the conversion of Scotland and Ireland was begun by the Celts. Ninian, son of a British chief, after having a foreign education, established a community at Whithorn in Scotland; while a youth named Patrick, stolen from the Clyde by the slave traders, after being taught in the schools of Tours, Auxerre and Terins, was, in due time, consecrated Bishop of the Irish. Accompanied by twelve friends, he landed where Wicklow now stands, in 432, and, after meeting with much encouragement, established the See of Armagh. All this missionary work may thus be attributed to British initiative as it is obvious the See of Rome had little, if any, share therein. Adverse times fell upon the British Church with the arrival of the Jutes in 449, the Saxons in 477, and finally the Angles in 547. The Britons were driven westward, fearful destruction fell on the church, and Paganism reigned again in Britain. But, though scattered abroad, the Celts continued their missionary work—established cathedrals and monastic foundations in Wales, i.e. Llandaff, A.D. 500, Bangor and St David’s, 540, and St Asaph, 570, Sees which have had a continuous succession of bishops to the present day. St Finian of Clonard established communities in Ireland; St Columba landed in Scotland in 565 and founded a monastic house at Iona; and in West Wales (Cornwall and Devonshire), Christian teaching was promoted. A recent writer—F. H. Homes Dudden in Gregory the Great—says—