Timeline of Orthodoxy in the British Isles

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The early Christian writers Tertullian and Origen mention the existence of a British church in the third century AD and in the fourth century British bishops attended a number of councils, such as the Council of Arles in 314 and the Council of Rimini in 359.

The first member of the British church whom we know by name is St Alban, who, tradition tells us, was martyred for his faith on the spot where St Albans Abbey now stands.

The British church was a missionary church with figures such as St Illtud, St Ninian and St Patrick evangelising in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, but the invasions by the pagan Angles, Saxons and Jutes in the fifth century seem to have destroyed the organisation of the church in much of what is now England. In 597 a mission sent by St Gregory the Dialogist and led by St Augustine of Canterbury landed in Kent to begin the work of converting these pagan peoples.

What eventually became known as the "Church of England" [1] was the result of a combination of three traditions, that of Augustine and his successors, the remnants of the old Romano-British traditions and the Celtic tradition coming down from Scotland and associated with people like St Aidan and St Cuthbert.

These three traditions came together as a result of increasing mutual contact and a number of local synods, of which the Synod of Whitby in 664 has traditionally been seen as the most important. The result was an English Church, led by the two Archbishops of Canterbury and York, that was fully assimilated into the mainstream Church. This meant that it was influenced by the wider development of the Christian tradition in matters such as theology, liturgy, church architecture, and the development of monasticism.

Regarding the British Isles, what is known about the state of the Church there at the time of the Great Schism is that subsequent to the Norman Invasion in 1066, church life was radically altered. Native clergy were replaced, liturgical reform enacted, and a strong emphasis on papal church control was propagated. As such, it is probably safe to say that, prior to 1066, the church of the British Isles was Orthodox, and the Normans brought the effects of the Great Schism to British soil. As such, it is probably proper to regard King Harold II as an Orthodox Christian.

It also meant that after King Harold II, the English church continued under the authority of the "Pope" and not with Orthodoxy and this article does not consider the historical development of the "Church of England" after this date.

Orthodoxy was reintroduced by the Church of Greece and by Russia ... [to be developed] ...

The greatest contributor towards documenting the ecclesiastical and political history of England is attested to St. Bede, who completed in 731 five volumes of his best known work The Ecclesiastical History of England.

Pre-Roman Britain (55BC - AD43)

  • 55 BC Julius Caesar's first expedition to Britain, gaining a foothold on the coast of Kent.
  • 54 BC Julius Caesar's second invasion of Britain, resulting in many of the native celtic tribes paying tribute and giving hostages in return for peace.[2]
  • 5 Rome acknowledges Cymbeline, King of the Catuvellauni, as king of Britain.

Roman Britian: Introduction of Christianity (43-410)

  • Apostolic Era: According to the compilers of the Synaxarion, three members of the Apostolic Church had been responsible for preaching the Gospel in Britain:
  • Apostle Peter who, after visiting Milan, had "passed over to the island of Britain, now called England, (where) he spent many years and turned many erring Gentiles to faith in Christ";
  • Apostle Aristobulus (brother of St. Barnabas), who is called the Apostle of Britain and who was its first bishop; and
  • Apostle Simon the Canaanite and Zealot. In these Islands, the Celtic Church had shone forth - especially during the glorious period known as the "Age of Saints" when its missionaries preached throughout much of Europe, becoming 'Equals to the Apostles'.
  • Apocryphal legend claims that Joseph of Arimathea accompanied the Apostle Philip, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene & others on a preaching mission to Gaul. citation needed.
  • Eusebius of Caesarea, (AD 260-340) Bishop of Caesarea and father of ecclesiastical history wrote: "The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the isles called the Britannic Isles."
  • Ireland had been a place of refuge for monks fleeing from iconoclastic persecution; so, later, it was referred to as "the New Thebais" on account of the number of its monasteries.
  • 43 Roman Emperor Claudius conquers England at Richborough (Kent), making it part of the vast Roman Empire; London is founded.
  • 51 Caratacus, British resistance leader is captured and taken to Rome.
  • 61 Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, let uprising against the Roman occupiers but was defeated and killed by the Roman governor, Suetonius Paulinus.
  • 63 Joseph of Arimathea, travels to Britain and lands in Glastonbury [3] on the first Christian mission to Britain; Aristobulus, consecrated as first bishop to Britain.
  • ca.75-77 The Roman conquest of Britain is complete, as Wales is finally subdued; Julius Agricola is imperial governor (to 84).
  • 122 Construction of Hadrian's Wall.
  • 133 Julius Severus is sent to Palestine to crush the revolt.
  • 140 Romans conquer Scotland.
  • ca. 155-222 Tertullian wrote that Britain had received and accepted the Gospel in his life time. [4]
  • 167 Most commonly held date that Phagan and Deruvian sent by Eleutherius to convert the Britons to Christianity citation needed
  • ca. 170-236 Hippolytus of Rome [5] identifies Apostle Aristobulus listed in Romans 16:10 with Joseph of Arimathea and states that they ended up becoming Shepherds of Britain.
  • 180 Protomartyr of Wales, St. Dyfan of Merthyr martyred at Merthyr Dyfan, Wales, May 14.
  • 208 Tertullian writes that Christ has followers on the far side of the Roman wall in Britain where Roman legions have not yet penetrated.
  • 283-305 Protomartyr of England, St. Alban [6][7], June 22.
  • 304 Repose of Amphibalus at Verulamium (St Albans), Hertfordshire, June 25; Julius and Aaron [8] martyred at Caerleon, Britain, July 1 under the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian; Socrates and Stephanus martyred in Monmouthsire, September 17 under the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian [9]
  • 307 The Church in Britain enjoys peace from the persecutions
  • 313 "Edict of Toleration" (Milan), Christianity is made legal throughout the empire.
  • 314 Council of Arles, for the first time, three British bishops attend a council.
  • 325 First Ecumenical Council of Nicea convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine.
  • 337 Constantine received "Christian" baptism on his deathbed. Joint rule of Constantine's three sons: Constantine II (to 340); Constans (to 350); Constantius (to 361)
  • 350 Ninian establishes the church Candida Casa at Whithorn in Galloway, Scotland, beginning the missionary effort to the Picts.
  • 380 Pelagius [10] enters Britain from Rome and introduces the Heresy of Pelagianism.[11]
  • 383 Rome appoints Magnus Maximus as emperor in Britain while conquering Gaul, Spain and Italy
  • 390 Patrick born at Kilpatrick, Scotland.
  • 395 Death of Theodosius, the last emperor to rule an undivided empire, leaving Arcadius, emperor in the East and his other son, Honorius, emperor in the West; the office of Roman Emperor changes from a position of absolute power to one of being merely a head of state.
  • 403 Abduction of Patrick to Ireland to serve as a slave; Victricius, Bishop of Rouen, visits Britain for the purpose of bringing peace to the island's clergy, who were in dispute over the Pelagian heresy.
  • 406 Invasion of Gaul by Germanic tribes, severing contact between Rome and Britain [12].
  • 410 Escape of Patrick back to Britain; Emperor Honorious recalls the last legions from Britain; Britain gains "independence" from Rome [13]; The Goths, under Alaric, sack Rome

Early British Kingdoms: Era of Celtic Missionaries (410-597)

  • 410 Probable end of Roman occupation of Britain; Pelagian is driven out of Britain by the Goths of Alaric and moves to Palestine.
  • 412 Patrick of Ireland has a vision of God informing him that he will leave for Ireland.
  • 415 Pelagianism is attacked at the Council of Diospolis
  • 418 Pelagianism is condemned at the Council of Carthage
  • 419 King Brychan of Brecknock born, circa 419, in South Wales.
  • 429 Celestine I dispatches prominent Gallo-Roman Bishops Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes to Britain as missionary bishops and to combat the Pelagian heresy.
  • 430 Patrick ordained by St. Germannus, Bishop of Auxerre.
  • 431 Augustine and Pelagius;
  • 432 Patrick sent from Aesir in Gaul to mission to Ireland.
  • 440 Materiana born in Gwent of Wales.
  • 445 Founding of monastery at Armagh in northern Ireland.
  • 447 Germannus returns to Britain with Severus and heals a lame youth, condemns Pelagian heretics.
  • 450 First monasteries established in Wales; Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britian.
  • 455 Germanic Saxons and Angles conquer Britain, founding several independent kingdoms.
  • 459 Repose of Auxilius of Ireland[14]
  • 461 Repose of the Holy Hierarch St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland March 17 [15]
Post-Roman Britain, ca.500 AD.

Anglo-Saxon England: The English Orthodox Church (597-1066)

According to historians, during this period St. Non, the mother of St. David of Wales, and the daughter of the nobleman Cynyr of Caer Goch of Pembrokeshire, reposed and St. Materiana of Cornwall, April 9, reposed early 6th-century at Minster of Cornwall.

Viking Age (793-1066)

  • 793 Sack of Lindisfarne Priory, beginning Viking attacks on England.
  • 794 Vikings sack the Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey.
  • 795 In the earliest recorded Viking raid on Ireland, they attack Iona, Inisbofin and Inismurray.
  • ca.800 Book of Kells is completed by the Celts.
  • 802 The Vikings sack Iona.
  • 803 Council of Clovesho II abolishes archbishopric of Lichfield, restoring the pattern of the two metropolitan archbishoprics (Canterbury and York) which had prevailed before 787, and requires the use of the Western Rite amongst the English speaking peoples.
  • 806 Vikings kill all the inhabitants on the religious island of Iona, Scotland, UK.
  • 807 The Christianized Vikings (Danes) land on the Cornish coast, and form an alliance with the Cornish to fight against the 'heathen' West Saxons.
  • 815 Egbert of Wessex ravages the territories of the west Welsh (Cornwall).
  • 825 Egbert of Wessex defeats Beornwulf of Mercia at Ellandun; Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex submit to Wessex and East Anglia acknowledges Egbert as overlord.
  • 828 Egbert of Wessex becomes the first King of England.
  • ca.830 Historia Brittonum written (known for its list of 12 battles of King Arthur).
  • 836 Egbert of Wessex is defeated by the Danes.
  • 838 At Hingston Down, Egbert of Wessex beats the Danish and the West Welsh.
  • 843 Kenneth I (Cináed mac Ailpín), King of the Scots, also becomes King of the Picts, thus becoming the first monarch of the new nation of Scotland; the Alpin dynasty of Scottish kings begins to reign.
  • 851 Vikings plunder London and Canterbury.
  • 852 Saint Swithun becomes Bp. of Winchester, England.
  • 855 Æthelwulf of Wessex grants churches in the kingdom of Wessex the right to receive tithes.
  • 866 Vikings raid and capture York in England.
  • 869 King Edmund of East Anglia, martyred November 20.
  • 870 Repose of Ss. Beocca and Hethor, the two martyrs of Chertsey; the Great Summer Army invades England led by Bagsecg and conquers East Anglia; the buildings destroyed by the Danish invaders include the abbey of Ely and the monastery of Peterborough.
  • 875 The Danes capture Lindisfarne and arrive in Cambridge.
  • 878 King Alfred the Great of Wessex defeats Vikings; the Treaty of Wedmore divides England between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes (the Danelaw).
  • 886 St Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, captures London from the Danes.
  • 888 Shaftesbury Abbey is founded in Dorset, England.
  • 890 Bede's Ecclesiastical History was translated into Old English at the insistence of Alfred the Great.
  • 899 Repose of King Alfred the Great, October 26.
  • 903 Relics of King Alfred the Great [24] translated to New Minster Abbey.
  • 904 King Constantine II of Scotland (900-943) is victorious at the Battle of Scone, after which the Vikings were forced to withdraw from Scotland; according to the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, the defeat of the Norsemen is attributed to the intercession of Saint Columba following fasting and prayer.
  • 906 Synod at Scone, reported by the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, where King Constantine II of Scotland and Bp. Cellach I of Cennrígmonaid met "upon the hill of credulity near the royal city of Scone, [and] pledged themselves that the laws and disciplines of the faith, and the rights in churches and gospels, should be kept in conformity with the [customs of the] Gaels".
  • 911 Normans convert to Christianity: in the Treaty of Saint Clair-sur-Epte with King Charles the Simple, Viking leader Rollo pledged feudal allegiance to the king, changed his name to the Frankish version, and converted to Christianity, probably with the baptismal name Robert.
  • 934 Death of Birnstan of Winchester.
  • 935 Relics of St. Branwallader (or Brelade translated by King Athelstan to Milton Abbey [25].
  • 943 King Constantine II of Scotland retires and becomes a monk.
  • 945 Dunstan becomes Abbot of Glastonbury.
  • 955 Repose of King Edred of England, November 23.
  • 960 Dunstan becomes Archbishop of Canterbury, reforming monasteries and enforcing rule of Benedict; Church of St. Dunstan, Mayfield is founded in East Sussex by St. Dunstan.
  • 971 Translation of St. Swithun's relics into an indoor shrine (previously buried outside); the ceremony is said to have been marred by 40 days of torrential rain.
  • 972 The monastery at the site of Peterborough Cathedral is rebuilt; St. Edburga of Winchester (+960) is canonized.
  • 977 St. Æthelwold of Winchester, Bishop of Winchester, rebuilds the western end of the Old Minster, Winchester, with twin towers and no apses.
  • 978 Death of King Edward the Martyr.
  • 982 Greenland is discovered by Erik the Red.
  • 988 Repose of St. Dunstan of Canterbury, Bishop of London.
  • ca.988-1023 The "Bosworth Psalter" is compiled at Canterbury, including a calendar of the Orthodox Church from among the Saints of Western, especially English origin who reposed before the West fell away from Orthodoxy.
  • 1002 Repose of St. Wulsin, renewer of the Monastery of St. Peter; St. Brice's Day massacre .
  • 1005 Irish King Brian Boru visited Armagh, confirming to the apostolic see of Saint Patrick, ecclesiastical supremacy over the whole of Ireland (as recorded in the Book of Armagh).
  • 1006 St. Alphege goes to Pope John XVIII at Rome for his pallium and becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.
  • 1012 Repose of St. Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury martyred to the east of London at Greenwich, April 19.
  • 1014 Abp. Wulfstan preaches his Latin homily, "Wulf's Address to the English".
  • 1018 Buckfast Abbey is founded at Buckfastleigh, Devon, England.
  • 1020 Canute the Great codifies the laws of England.
  • 1022 Aethelnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury, is received at Rome.
  • 1030 Relics of St. Boisil (Boswell), Prior of Melrose (+661), are translated to Durham Cathedral by the priest Ælfred.
  • 1043 Edward the Confessor crowned King of England at Winchester Cathedral.
  • 1045 Edward the Confessor begins construction of Westminster Abbey.

Roman Catholic Period (1066-1534)

Anglo-Norman Britain: Latin Continental Ecclesiology Formalized (1066-1154)

Norman conquests in red. Norman conquest of England (1066); Kingdom of Sicily (founded ca.1042-1154); Principality of Antioch (1098).
  • 1066 Normans invade England flying banner of Pope of Rome, defeating King Harold of England at Battle of Hastings; death of the last Orthodox King of England, Harold of England, October 14.
  • 1066-1171 Beginning reformation of English church and society to align with Latin continental ecclesiology and politics.
  • 1072 On October 15, the last English Orthodox bishop, Ethelric of Durham, after anathematizing the Pope, died in prison at Westminster.
  • 1075 Council of London, a council of the Roman Catholic church in England held by the new Norman archbishop of Canterbury Lanfranc, deciding that all dioceses were to be re-centred on cities.
  • 1098 Anselm of Canterbury completes Cur Deus homo, marking a radical divergence of Western theology of the atonement from that of the East.
  • 1104 Relics of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne translated [26] from Lindisfarne to Durham Cathedral, September 4.
  • ca.1136 Geoffrey of Monmouth writes his chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain").

Plantaganet Era (1154-1485)

This period witnessed the continual struggle between the English Kings and the Church in Rome for the legal high ground.
  • 1159 John of Salisbury authors Policraticus, a treatise on government drawing from the Bible, the Codex Justinianus, and arguing for Divine Right of Kings.
  • 1170 Abp. of Canterbury Thomas Becket is assassinated in December in Canterbury Cathedral, after having excommunicated the Abp. of York and the Bps. of London and Salisbury, who had held the coronation of Henry the Young King in York in June, in breach of Canterbury's privilege of coronation; Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland; city of Dublin captured by the Roman Catholic Normans.
  • 1202-04 Nobleman Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester achieved prominence in the Fourth Crusade.
  • ca.1207 Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton divides the Bible into the defined modern chapters in use today.
  • 1215 Magna Carta is issued, arguably the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law and democracy today in the English speaking world.
  • ca.1220 English Bp. Richard Le Poore is said to have been responsible for the final form of the "Use of Sarum", which had the sterling reputation of being the best liturgy anywhere in the West.
  • 1221 The Dominican Friars (known as Black Friars) arrive in England, appearing in Oxford.
  • 1265 Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester calls the first English parliament.
  • 1295 King Edward I summons the Model Parliament, including members of the clergy and the aristocracy, as well as representatives from the various counties and boroughs.
  • 1296 The Stone of Scone was captured by Edward I as spoils of war and taken to Westminster Abbey, where it was fitted into a wooden chair, known as King Edward's Chair, on which most subsequent English sovereigns have been crowned.
  • 1337-1453 Hundred Years' War between England and France.
  • 1347 Death of William of Ockham, English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher and a supporter of the doctrine of Apostolic poverty, which was held by fundamentalist Franciscan and mendicant orders, bringing them into conflict with the pope; also the author of Occam's Razor.
  • 1349 Death of Richard Rolle, English religious writer and mystic, Bible translator, and hermit.
  • 1382-95 First English Bible translated by John Wyclif.
  • 1393 Julian of Norwich, thought of as one of the greatest English mystics, writes The Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love, chronicling her prolonged states of ecstasy when she saw visions of the sufferings of Christ and of the Trinity.
  • 1438 Margery Kempe,a "religious enthusiast"[27] and laywoman, completes her autobiography The Book of Margery Kempe, chronicling her spiritual experiences, visions, and extensive pilgrimages to various holy sites in Europe.
  • 1453 The Hundred Years War ends, England loses all its territory in France except for Calais.
  • 1455-1485 Wars of the Roses, a series of dynastic civil wars between supporters of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, for the throne of England.
  • 1476 William Caxton introduces the printing press into England, setting up a press at Westminster; the first book known to have been issued there was an edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Tudor Era (1485-1603)

  • 1521 Pope Leo X rewards King Henry VIII for his written attack on Luther by granting him the title "Defender of the Faith".

English Reformation (1534-1660)

English (Stuart) Restoration (1660-1689): Orthodox Presence Re-established

Anglicanism was restored in a form not far removed from the Elizabethan version. However the ideal of encompassing all the people of England in one religious organisation, which was taken for granted by the Tudors, had to be abandoned. The religious landscape of England assumed its present form; the Anglican was the established church occupying the middle ground; Roman Catholics and those Puritans and Protestants who dissented from the Anglican establishment, too strong to be suppressed altogether, had to continue their existence outside the National Church rather than controlling it.
  • 1662 Major revision of the Book of Common Prayer is published, remaining the official prayer book of the Church of England up until the 21st century (when an alternative book called Common Worship largely displaced it in Anglican parishes).
  • 1670 Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain established by priest Daniel Voulgaris first Greek Orthodox Community in London, re-establishing an Orthodox presence in Great Britain.
  • 1676 Arrival of Joseph Georgerines, Archbisop of Samos.
  • 1677 "Greek St Church to the Panagia" erected for the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain [28]
  • 1684 "Greek St Church to the Panagia" confiscated and handed over to Huguenot refugees from France. Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain forced to worship for the next 150 years in the Imperial Russian Embassy.
  • 1688 The Glorious Revolution (Revolution of 1688), overthrew King James II of England (VII of Scotland and II of Ireland) by a union of Parliamentarians with an invading army led by William III of Orange-Nassau.
  • 1689 Act of Toleration, partially restores civil rights to Nonconformists who dissented from the Church of England, such as Baptists and Congregationalists, allowing them their own places of worship and their own teachers and preachers, subject to acceptance of certain oaths of allegiance; however this did not include Roman Catholics, Quakers or non-trinitarians.

The Revolution Entrenched (1689-1707)

  • 1700 The Parliament of England passed Popery Act 1698, intended to prevent the Growth of Popery, imposing a number of penalties and disabilities on Roman Catholics in England.

United Kingdom of Great Britian (1707-1801)

  • 1714-1837 Georgian Era.
  • 1738 Print 'Noon' [29] by William Hogarth[30] shows evidence of a crowd exiting a Greek Orthodox church.
  • 1778 The Parliament of Great Britain enacted the Papists Act 1778, the first Act for Roman Catholic Relief, reversing some of the penalties imposed in Popery Act 1698.
  • 1780 The Gordon Riots, an anti-Catholic uprising against the act of 1778, which became an excuse for widespread rioting and looting.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801-1927)

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927-Present)

Notes

  • Some of these dates are necessarily a bit vague, as records for some periods are particularly difficult to piece together accurately.
  • The division of Church History into separate eras as done here will always be to some extent arbitrary, though it was attempted to group periods according to major watershed events.
  • This timeline is necessarily biased toward the history of the Orthodox Church, though a number of non-Orthodox or purely political events are mentioned for their importance in history related to Orthodoxy or for reference.

Unknown dates

If you know the dates for these events, please assist us

G. E. Palmer, Philip Sherrard and Bishop Kallistos Ware translate and publish four volumes of the Philokalia into English; Bishop Kallistos Ware and Mother Mary produced English translations of the Lenten Triodion and Festal Menaion.
Grand Duchess St. Elizabeth (a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria and a great-aunt of Prince Philip) and St. John Maximovich, who have been associated with them in the recent past.
The memory of Brother Lazaros, killed (some would say, martyred) within the Cathedral at Camberwell, remains vivid...
Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, which depends directly on the Oecumenical Patriarchate and whose Founder was the saintly Archimandrite Sophrony, a pupil of St. Silouanos of the Holy Mountain.

See also

External links

Greek Orthodox Church in Great Britain

Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain

Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Western and Central Europe

Wikipedia

General

Published Works

References

  1. The "Church of England" (the Ecclesia Anglicana - or the English Church)
  2. The British forces are led by Cassivellaunus.
  3. St. Philip sent Joseph of Arimathea, with twelve disciples, to establish Christianity in the most far-flung corner of the Roman Empire: the Island of Britain. The year AD 63 is commonly given for this "event", with AD 37 sometimes being put forth as an alternative.
  4. Tertullian wrote that Britain had received and accepted the Gospel in his life time: "All the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons--inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ."
  5. Hippolytus was considered to have been one of the most learned Christian historians and is the one who identifies the seventy whom Jesus sent in the Gospel of Saint Luke
  6. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles list the year of St. Alban's execution as 283 not as 305.
  7. St. Alban is first mentioned in "Acta Martyrum", and also by Constantius of Lyon in his Life of St. Germanus of Auxerre, written about 480
  8. The earliest authority for their existence is St. Gildas in De Excidio Britanniae.
  9. Ss. Socrates and Stephanus appear in the Martyrologion Hieronymianum MS.50 from Trinity College, Dublin (11th-century) and one of the earliest amplifications of Bede's martyrology. Tradition holds them to be disciples of St. Amphibalus.
  10. St. Jerome suggests that this Pelagius was of Scottish descent but in such terms that it is uncertain as to whether he was from Scotland or Ireland. He is also frequently referred to as a British monk and Augustine has been documented as referring to him as "Brito" to distinguish him from Pelagius of Tarentum.
  11. http://www.seanmultimedia.com/Pie_Pelagius_Synod_Lydda_415AD.html
  12. In early January, 406, a combined barbarian force (Suevi, Alans, Vandals & Burgundians) swept into central Gaul, severing contact between Rome and Britain. In autumn 406, the remaining Roman army in Britain decided to mutiny. One Marcus was proclaimed emperor in Britain, but was immediately assassinated.
  13. Emperor Honorius tells Britain to attend to its own affairs, effectively removing the Roman presence.
  14. St. Auxilius of Ireland: The date of death is also given as 454 or 455, see Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints (J. Hodges, 1898), 275.
  15. When he came to Ireland, as its enlightener, it was a pagan country; when he ended his earthly life some thirty years later, about 461, the Faith of Christ was established in every corner." (Great Horologion) The work of St Patrick and his brethren has been called the most successful single missionary venture in the history of the Church.
  16. The date of St. Gildas' birth can only tentatively be placed to the decades either side of the beginning of the Sixth Century. St. Bede indirectly suggests the year 493 for this event and this is the date adopted for this article.
  17. Saint Augustine of Canterbury is also called the "Apostle to the English".
  18. The "St Augustine Gospels" manuscript is the oldest surviving Latin illustrated Gospel book in existence.
  19. A bronze reliquary in which the relics of St. Aed of Ferns are kept is currently preserved in Dublin.
  20. St. Beuno the Wonderworker, Abbot of Clynnog, was uncle to St. Winefride of Treffynon, November 3, whom he also restored to life.
  21. Almost all that is known of St. Boisol or Boswell, is learn from St. Bede (Eccles. Hist., IV, xxvii, and Vita Cuthberti).
  22. The Mayo (Magh Eo, the yew plain), known as "Mayo of the Saxons". St. Bede writes of this monastery: "This monastery is to this day (731) occupied by English monks... and contains an exemplary body who gathered there from England, and live by the labour of their own hands (after the manner of the early Fathers), under a rule and canonical abbot, leading chaste and single lives."
  23. Cædmon is said to have taken holy orders at an advanced age and it is implied that he lived at Streonæshalch at least in part during Hilda’s abbacy (657–680). Book IV Chapter 25 of the Historia ecclesiastica appears to suggest that Cædmon’s death occurred at about the same time as the fire at Coldingham Abbey, an event dated in the E text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to 679, but after 681 by Bede.
  24. Considered a local Saint by the Orthodox church of England but not formally canonised.
  25. The proper name of Milton Abbey is the Abbey Church of St. Mary, St. Samson and St. Branwalader.
  26. His [St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne] body was still found to be untouched by decay, giving off "an odour of the sweetest fragrancy", and "from the flexibility of its joints representing a person asleep rather than dead.
  27. Margery Kempe (ca.1373-ca.1439) stands very much alone in the English mystical tradition. Indeed, she is thought by some to be outside this tradition because of the lack of depth in her revelations, the highly personal level of her visions, and the extremes of her behaviour. If she is a mystic, it is certainly not in the same sense as her better known contemporaries such as Richard Role or Julian of Norwich.
  28. "In the year of salvation 1677 this Temple was erected for the nation of the Greeks, the Most Serene Charles II being King, and the Roual Prince Lord James being commander of the foreces, the Right Reverend Lord Henry Compton being Bishop, at the expense of the above and other Bishops and Nobles and with the concurrence of our Humility of Samos Joseph Georgeirenes, from the island of Melos." - Inscription from tablet carved in Greek preserved on the west wall of the church Charing Cross Road. This site is now occupied by St Mary's of Kenton a non-Orthodox denomination.
  29. From the series entitled "The Four Times of the Day".
  30. In Hogarth’s time the portion of the street where the church stood was called Hog Lane. It was later renamed Crown Street and was demolished when Charing Cross Road was widened.
  31. The position of "Doctor of the Church" is a position of theological significance; St. Bede is the only man from Great Britain to achieve this designation (Anselm of Canterbury, also a Doctor of the Church, was originally from Italy
  32. http://www.st-panteleimon.org/
  33. Monachos: http://www.monachos.net/