Difference between revisions of "Timeline of Orthodoxy in the British Isles"

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(Early British Kingdoms: Era of Celtic Missionaries (410-597))
(Roman Britian (43-410))
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*307 The Church in Britain enjoys peace from the persecutions
 
*307 The Church in Britain enjoys peace from the persecutions
 
*325 '''[[First Ecumenical Council]]''' of Nicea convened by the Roman Emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]]
 
*325 '''[[First Ecumenical Council]]''' of Nicea convened by the Roman Emperor [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]]
*337 '''The Arian Heresy'''
+
*380 '''Pelagius <ref> 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.</ref> enters Britain from Rome and introduces the Heresy of '''Pelagianism.<ref>http://www.seanmultimedia.com/Pie_Pelagius_Synod_Lydda_415AD.html </ref>
*380 '''Pelagius enters Britain from Rome and introduces the Heresy of '''Pelagianism.<ref>http://www.seanmultimedia.com/Pie_Pelagius_Synod_Lydda_415AD.html </ref>
 
 
*383 ''Rome appoints Magnus Maximus as emperor in Britain while conquering Gaul, Spain and Italy''
 
*383 ''Rome appoints Magnus Maximus as emperor in Britain while conquering Gaul, Spain and Italy''
 
*390 [[Patrick of Ireland|Patrick]] born at Kilpatrick, Scotland.
 
*390 [[Patrick of Ireland|Patrick]] born at Kilpatrick, Scotland.

Revision as of 06:53, May 26, 2009

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 Pope Gregory the Great 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.

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';
  • 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.

Roman Britian (43-410)

  • 43 Roman Emperor Claudius conquers England, making it part of the vast Roman Empire.
  • 63 Apostle of Britain Aristobulus consecrated as first bishop to Britain; Joseph of Arimathea travels to Glastonbury.
  • 140 Romans conquer Scotland
  • 283-305 Protomartyr of England, St. Alban [2][3], June 22.
  • 304 Repose of Amphibalus at Verulamium (St Albans), Hertfordshire, June 25; Julius and Aaron martyr at Caerleon, Britain, July 1;
  • 305 Martyrdom of St. Alban and companions
  • 307 The Church in Britain enjoys peace from the persecutions
  • 325 First Ecumenical Council of Nicea convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine
  • 380 Pelagius [4] enters Britain from Rome and introduces the Heresy of Pelagianism.[5]
  • 383 Rome appoints Magnus Maximus as emperor in Britain while conquering Gaul, Spain and Italy
  • 390 Patrick born at Kilpatrick, Scotland.
  • 406 Patrick was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave.
Dates Required:
These events have been referenced in St. Bede's Ecclesiastical History and require to be edited into this period of British history with dates. Help is welcome:
  • Caius Julius Caesar, the first Roman that came into Britain
  • Claudius, the second of the Romans who came into Britain, brought the Islands Orcades into subjection to the Roman Empire; and Vespian, sent by him, reduced the Isle of Wight under their dominion
  • Lucius, king of Britain, writing to Pope Eleutherus, desires to be made a Christian
  • How the Emperor Severus divided that part of Britain, which he subdued, from the rest by a rampart
  • The reign of Diocletian, and how he persecuted the Christians

  • How, in the reign of Arcadius, Pelagius, a Briton, insolently impugned the grace of God
  • How, during the reign of Honorus, Gratian and Constantine were created tyrants in Britain; and soon after the former was slain in Britain, and the latter in Gaul
  • The Britons, being ravaged by the Scots and Picts, sought succor from the Romans, who, coming a second time, built a wall across the island; but the Britons being again invaded by the aforesaid enemies, were reduced to greater distress than before

Medieval Period (410-1485)

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

Anglo-Saxon England: Founding of 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)

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

High Middle Ages: Plantaganet Era (1154-1485)

  • No information yet

Early Modern Era (1485-1801)

Tudor Era (1485-1603)

  • No information yet

Elizabethan Era (1558-1603)

  • No information yet

Stuart Age: Civil War and Revolution (1603-1714)

Great Schism. Church of England no longer with the Eastern Orthodox church. Orthodoxy re-establishes in Great Britain around the 16-17th century. citation needed
Jacobean Era (1603-1625)

  • No information yet

Caroline Era (1625-1642)

  • No information yet

Interregnum: Commonwealth of England (1649-1660)

  • No information yet

English (Stuart) Restoration (1660-1689)

United Kingdom of Great Britian (1707-1801)

Georgian Era (1714-1837)

  • 1738 Print 'Noon' [20] by William Hogarth [21] shows evidence of a crowd exiting a Greek Orthodox church.

Modern Era (1801-Present)

Sometime between 1840 and 1924, St. Arsenios of Cappadocia prophesised that "The Church in the British Isles will only begin to truly grow again when it begins to venerate once more its own saints".

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

Victorian Era (1837-1901)

Edwardian Era (1901-1910)

  • 1906 Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas built in Cardiff.
  • 1908 Oecumenical Patriarchate transfers its rights for four Greek Orthodox community churches to Church of Greece.
  • 1914 Anthony born in Lausanne, Russia.
  • 1918 The family of Tsar Nicholas, Alexandra and their five children are lined up in their basement and shot, July 16.

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

Repose of Metropolitan Gabriel Saliby (Antiochian);
Bishop John Yazigi elected to Metropolitanate of Western and Central Europe, March 30

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

For more information on the United Kingdom and Ireland visit:

Further Reading

References

  1. The "Church of England" (the Ecclesia Anglicana - or the English Church)
  2. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles list the year of St. Alban's execution as 283 not as 305.
  3. 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
  4. 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.
  5. http://www.seanmultimedia.com/Pie_Pelagius_Synod_Lydda_415AD.html
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Saint Augustine of Canterbury is also called the "Apostle to the English".
  10. The "St Augustine Gospels" manuscript is the oldest surviving Latin illustrated Gospel book in existence.
  11. A bronze reliquary in which the relics of St. Aed of Ferns are kept is currently preserved in Dublin.
  12. St. Beuno the Wonderworker, Abbot of Clynnog, was uncle to St. Winefride of Treffynon, November 3, whom he also restored to life.
  13. Almost all that is known of St. Boisol or Boswell, is learn from St. Bede (Eccles. Hist., IV, xxvii, and Vita Cuthberti).
  14. 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."
  15. 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.
  16. Considered a local Saint by the Orthodox church of England but not formally canonised.
  17. The proper name of Milton Abbey is the Abbey Church of St. Mary, St. Samson and St. Branwalader.
  18. 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.
  19. "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.
  20. From the series entitled "The Four Times of the Day"
  21. 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.
  22. 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
  23. http://www.st-panteleimon.org/
  24. Monachos: http://www.monachos.net/

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