DRAMA OF THE LOST DISCIPLES #14
by George Jowett (1961)
GOOD KING LUCIUS NATIONALIZES THE FAITH
BY the year A.D.140 all the original apostles, disciples and
all those who had been associated with them had passed on into
their eternal rest; the last being the noble children of the
glorious Claudia and Rufus Pudens. St. John had outlived all the
original three groups elected by Jesus. He lived to the
remarkable old age of 101 years. 1 Joseph, the Apostle of the
British, had died A.D.82, at Avalon 2 A few of them had lived to
see fulfilment of the command to go to all corners of the world
and preach the Gospel, and had seen the Christian platform on
which each had laboured firmly established. Their lives were the
nails that held it fast. It seems almost impossible to believe
that this handful of men and women could have achieved such a
formidable conquest in so short a time.
Undoubtedly it is the greatest and most enduring world
conquest in the history of time. Unarmed, these gentle, valorous
champions of goodwill conquered the evil forces of the mightiest
armies of the ancient world, their only weapon the promise of
Christ.
Within sixty-six years after the Incarnation prominent
Christian centres were strongly entrenched in many foreign lands.
In the foregoing chapters we have seen, like the roots of a bay
tree, how the endless flow of Christian workers streamed out of
Britain into Gaul, Rome, Germany, Switzerland and other
countries, evangelizing and building sturdy Bishoprics in
numerous cities of importance. Apart from those listed can be
added Jerusalem, Samaria, Caesarea, Lydda, Antioch, Damascus,
Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis,
Thyatira, Pergamos, Philadeiphia, Caesarea in Cappadocia,
Laodicea, Colosse, Galatia, Athens, Corinth, Thessalonia, Berae,
Philippi, Cyprus, Crete, Alexandria, Rome, Malta and Spain.
Britain and Gaul have been discussed.
In comparison, the missionary progress made by the Christian
world in the last one hundred years is minute. In spite of the
vast sums of money provided and expended, under far more
favourable conditions, the impress made by our churches and
missionaries in
......
1 Frenaeus speaks of him as still living in A.D.98, and Jerome
dates his death as sixty-eight years after the Crucifixion.
2 July 2, A.D. 82. according to Cressy.
......
India, China, Japan, Africa and elsewhere is not heartening.
Since the middle of the last century ungodliness and atheism has
developed alarmingly within the Christian nations. The Gallup
polls claim that the majority of the Christian world believes in
God and worship, but the empty churches and pitiable financial
support given to them hardly substantiates the claim. The
difference between the teachers and the people of the Christian
golden era and the present luxury Christian era is that our
ancestors gave heart-service. Today it appears to be purely
lip-service. Virtually the Lord's Day is lost and is nothing more
than a Roman holiday. (The author is speaking here of Sunday, and
the 4th commandment is just about totally ignored today by 99
percent of Christians around the world - Keith Hunt)
As the wings of death swept the spirits of the glorious
cavalcade to their well-earned reward, other disciples stemmed
from the many Christian centres in an ever-growing army to take
their place, preaching the Word with fiery tongues. The
missionary band that flowed from Britain still provided the
greatest number in the field. Avalon was still the citadel of the
Christian faith. For the churches labouring in other foreign
fields, particularly Rome, the task was filled with grave
personal danger. They lacked the invincible protection of the
British warriors; they stood alone and were to continue to do so
for more than one hundred and fifty years before a British army,
led by its royal warrior chieftain, was to smash the Gates of
Rome and crush pagan opposition for ever.
In Britain there had long been peace between Roman and
British armies. Recognizing the futility of the strife and the
decimation of her Legions from war in Britain, Rome found her
military defence so weakened that she was hard put to defend her
own frontiers. Tacitus states that from A.D.43 to A.D.86 sixty
major battles had been fought on British soil. From A.D.86 to
A.D.118 only one Roman name appears in British history, Neratius
Marcellus. The great Roman commander, Agricola, who had
experienced the mettle of British valour on many a battlefield,
was more broadminded than any of his predecessors. 1 He was
convinced that the Britons were oblivious to persecution and war.
Like Julius Caesar he realized that defeat or privation had the
adverse effect of discouragement on this warrior nation, inspired
with the fire of the Cross. He effected a more humane policy by
inaugurating a treaty that held no chains. Wisely he incorporated
the British as allies of the Roman Empire, recognizing all their
native freedoms and kingly prerogatives. In A.D.120 the Emperor
Hadrian enlarged on the treaty, which merely permitted the Romans
to hold certain military bases in Britain. The peace treaties of
Agricola and Hadrian created
......
1 For his character, Tacitus, Agricola, ch. 4.
......
the long peace between Rome and Britain that lasted up to the
Diocletian persecution, circa A.D-300.
In the year A.D.137 St. Timotheus, son of Claudia Pudens,
had journeyed from Rome to baptize his nephew King Lucius at
Winton (Winchester), at the same time consecrating him, Defender
of the Faith, as legal, royal successor to his ancestor,
Arviragus, upon whom Joseph had conferred the original honour.
This began a new wave of evangelism in Britain which, it is said,
had somewhat waned since the death of Joseph. To a certain extent
this can be understood: rarely do we find the successor of a
strong, vigorous founding leader equally as dominant;
nevertheless, as one reads the long list of teachers that
continued to pour from Avalon and Cor Eurgain, filling new
Bishoprics at home and abroad, there appeared to be little
flickering of the light.
However, there is no doubt that the enthusiastic religious
zeal that Lucius now supplied infused a vigour more akin to the
energy that inspired the founders of the Josephian Mission at
Avalon and the Pauline Mission in Cambria, particularly knowing
that he was a direct descendant of the royal Silurian kingdoms of
Cornwall and Cambria.
According to his genealogy Lucius was son of Coel, son of
St. Cyllinus, son of Caractacus, son of Bran, son of Llyr. By
intermarriage he was also directly descended from Arviragus, of
the Cornish-Devon Silures. This made Lucius the great-grandson of
both Caractacus and Arviragus, truly a majestic heritage.
It is strange how the Roman names of the early British kings
cling to the pages of the English history books, in preference to
their original Celtic names. Because of this the writer finds
himself obliged to concur in order to avoid any confusion in the
reader's mind in referring to historic data.
His native name was Lleurug Mawr. Because of his exemplary
religious life and his outstanding achievements in church and
state, he was termed in Celtic Lleuver Mawr, meaning the 'Great
Light'. However, the name by which he is best known is the Latin
interpretation Lucius. The Romans latinized his name to Lucius
from the Latin 'Lux', which carries the same implication as the
Celtic to the Romans, the 'Great Luminary'.
It is interesting to note that Lucius made his royal seat at
Caer Winton, Romanized to Winchester, as it is still known. The
city was founded by the brilliant British king, Dunwal Mohnutius,
renowned in British history as one of 'the Three Wise British
Kings', the Great Numa, or Law-maker. He made Winchester his
royal capital, 500 B.C., instead of the older capital London. It
was also known as the 'White City', due to the white chalk walls
with which he surrounded the city. Even after, when London was
re-established as the royal capital of Britain, Winchester
continued to be known as the 'Royal City'. The city was founded
on an ancient Druidic Gorsedd site. Some of the stones are still
preserved in the old public buildings. Many great British kings
made royal Winchester their capital. William the Conqueror
refused to consider his first coronation valid until crowned a
second time at Winchester, 'to justify his rightful claim to the
British throne, where all true British kings had been crowned'.
The most notable event in the meritorious reign of King Lucius
was performed in the year A.D.156 when, at the National Council
at Winchester, he established Christianity as the National Faith
of Britain.
By this act he solemnly declared to the world that Britain
was officially a Christian nation by Act of Parliament. This Act
is described in the British Triads as follows:
"King Lucius was the first in the Isle of Britain who bestowed
the privilege of country and nation and judgment and validity of
oath upon those who should be of the faith of Christ."
In so few words is described one of the most momentous
events in Christian history, officially establishing Lucius as
the first Christian king by national act of Council. His great
grandsires, Caractacus and Arviragus, were Christian kings in
person but they had not proclaimed it by a national order in
Council over the realm. The time then was not propitious. Their
era was the period of acceptance, conversion, organization and
the vanquishment of their mortal enemy, the Romans, in defence of
the faith; years of preparation by the diligence of the apostles,
their disciples, and those that followed after. The great British
Edict was joyously welcomed by Christians in other lands.
Sabellius, A.D.250, shows this national establishment was
acknowledged elsewhere beyond the confines of Britain. He writes:
"Christianity was privately confessed elsewhere, but the first
nation that proclaimed it as their religion, and called itself
Christian, after the name of Christ, was Britain."
Genebrand declares:
"The glory of Britain consists not only in this, that she was the
first country which in a national capacity publicly professed
herself Christian, but that she made this confession when the
Roman Empire itself was pagan and a cruel persecutor of
Christianity."
This statement by Genebrand is important, proving the
invalidity of the claim by the Roman Catholic Church, centuries
later, that this epochal act of legislature was brought about by
the Pope Eleutherius of Rome. In striving to justify their claim,
Romish writers of the seventh century sought to confuse the
dates. The ironical fact is that no allusion was made to this
claim by the church at Rome until after the Italian-Augustinian
Mission in Britain, A.D.597, over four hundred and forty years
after the Act had been declared. Why the centuries of silence if
it were true?
The flat rejection by the British Bishops on their first
meeting with St. Augustine, who sought to coerce the British
church into the novel Papal system, so angered him and his Romish
retinue that he began to institute a rejection of all British
priority to her native claims in being the first to accept and
establish the Christ faith. They had said:
"We have nothing to do with Rome. We know nothing of the Bishop
of Rome in his new character of the Pope. We are the British
Church, the Archbishop of which is accountable to God alone,
having no superior on earth."
Blackstone, the great English jurist, wrote:
"The ancient British Church was a stranger to the Bishop of Rome,
and all his pretended authorities."
Sir Francis Bacon, writing in "Government of England," says:
"The Britons told Augustine they would not be subject to him, nor
let him pervert the ancient laws of their Church. This was their
resolution, and they were as good as their word, for they
maintained the liberty of their Church five hundred years after
this time, and were the last of all the Churches of Europe that
gave up their power to the Roman Beast, and in the person of
Henry VIII, that came of their blood by Owen Tudor, the first
that took that power away again."
A number of writers in modern times have supported many of
the statements made by Augustine and his followers, taking for
granted what they read from the Romish writings. They could not
bother to check the record.
Actually the spiteful Augustine and his cohorts outsmarted
themselves. Gregory I, who commissioned Augustine to go to
Britain, was not officially Pope. The slovenly historians
dishonoured him. The title of Pope, or universal Bishop, was
first given by Emperor Phocas, A.D.610. He created the office to
demote and spite Bishop Ciriacus of Constantinople, who had
justly excommunicated him for his having caused the assassination
of his predecessor, Emperor Mauritius. Phocas first offered the
title to Gregory I, who was then Bishop of Rome. Gregory refused
the office. It was accepted by his successor, Boniface III. He
was the first to assume this false title.
One has but to read Luke 22:24-26; Ephesians 1:22,23;
Colossians 1:18; and I Corinthians 3:11 to see that Jesus did not
appoint Peter to the headship of the Apostles and expressly
forbade any nation to do so.
In later years it became a habit with many Roman Catholic
writers to refer to all the former Bishops of Rome as Pope, even
to Linus and Paul. The Apostles of Christ never heard the term
and Peter and Paul in making their elections specifically
nominate the elected as Bishops only. As Bishops they were all
known in Rome until the inauguration of the Papacy, A.D.610, and
in Britain even during the alliance with Rome the heads of the
British church were never anything but Bishops, and they alone
inherited apostolic succession in an unbroken line from the
original Apostles of Christ.
In their efforts to sway the minds of the people Augustine,
and a few who followed later, sought to debase the facts and
confuse the dates, in a futile effort to convince those not
allied with the Roman Catholic hierarchy that all Christianizing
eminence was created by them. Due to the record of the
correspondence issued between King Lucius and Eleutherius, Bishop
of Rome, the spurious claim was made that Lucius pleaded with the
Bishop to send his representatives to Britain to convert him and
nationally proclaim Britain Christian.
All British and Roman records attest to the fact that Lucius
was confirmed and baptized in the faith by his uncle, St.
Timotheus, as stated before. He was baptized in the famous
Chalice Well, at the foot of the Tor at Avalon, May 28, A.D.137.
In the year A.D.167 he commemorated the event by building St.
Michael's on the summit of the Tor, which was the largest Druidic
Gorsedd in Britain. This memorial was destroyed in the earthquake
that shook Glastonbury, A.D.1275. The present St. Michael's was
erected on the same site. It is a most imposing monument. It can
be seen for miles before one enters the ancient town of
Glastonbury. Standing on its high eminence it reaches into the
sky like a giant finger, proclaiming to all who see it the
monumental events of the auspicious life of King Lucius. 1
In the year A.D.170 Lucius founded the majestic church at
Winchester, now known as Winchester Cathedral, and familiar to
thousands of Canadian soldiers in World War II garrisoned at
Winchester as the Battle Abbey of the British Empire. Therein
repose its greatest warriors and therein is preserved the
elaborate casket of the grandfather of Alfred the Great. Also the
Round Table of King Arthur's fame is preserved in the County
Hall.
Twenty-seven years after Lucius had nationalized Britain in
the Christian faith he sent his two emissaries, Medwy and Elfan,
to Rome to obtain permission of Bishop Eleutherius for the return
to Britain of some of the British missionaries aiding Eleutherius
in his evangelizing work within the Roman Empire, in order that
he, Lucius, could better carry out his expansive Christian
programme in Britain.
Gildas, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bede, Urban, John of
Teignmouth and Capgrave, referred to "as the most learned of
English Augustinians whom the soil of England ever produced",
support the date of return of the emissaries of King Lucius from
visiting Bishop Eleutherius at Rome, as that given in the British
annals, A.D.183, over a century and a half before the Roman
Catholic Church was founded. Cardinal Baronius not only denounces
the Augustinian claim but in detail recites the whole record from
the year A.D.36 onward.
Bishop Eleutherius, in his letter to King Lucius, A.D.183,
plainly shows that he is aware that Lucius possessed all the
necessary knowledge of the Christian teachings beforehand and
needed no advice from him, and that he had no part in the
nationalizing of Britain in the Faith, or in converting or
baptizing the British king, otherwise he would have referred to
the matter that had occurred twenty-seven years previous to his
letter. By this he shows how unjustified is the claim of the
Church of Rome, let alone the Roman Catholic Church, which was
not yet dreamed of. John Foxe, the talented author of "Acts and
Monuments," reproduces the controversial letter as Eleutherius
wrote it to King Lucius:
"The Roman laws and the Emperors we may ever reprove, but the law
of God we may not. Ye have received of late through God's mercy
in the realm of Britain the Law and Faith of Christ.
......
1 "Vide Capgrave," John of Teignmouth, "Book of Teilo," and
William of Malmesbury.
......
Ye have within you within the realm both the parties of the
Scriptures. Out of them, by God's grace, with the council of your
realm, take ye a law that can, through God's sufferance, rule
your kingdom of Britain. For ye be God's Vicar in your kingdom,
according to the saying of the Psalm, 'O God, give Thy judgment
to the King.'"
Medwy and Elfan returned to Britain with Dyfan and Fagan,
both British teachers who had first received their schooling at
Avalon.
Elfan, Dyfan and Fagan were appointed Bishops in Britain.
Elfan succeeded Theanus, first Bishop of London, who died A.D.
185. The Welsh authorities state that he presided over a
congregation of Christian Culdees at Glastonbury (Avalon), before
he was sent to Rome with Medwy. Pitsaeus, the Roman Catholic
Canon, in his "Relationes Historicae de Rebus Anglicis," says
that Elfan, known as Elvanus of Avalon, was brought up at
Glastonbury and was educated in the school of St. Joseph of
Arimathea, and that he wrote an informative work concerning the
origin of the British church. On being elected as the second
Bishop of London, Elfan was the first prelate to occupy the new
church erected by King Lucius in memory of St. Peter, a church
which has remained famous throughout the centuries of Christian
history as St. Peter's of Cornhill, London.
Medwy was made a Doctor of Theology by the king.
It seemed that the three newly-appointed Bishops shared
Lucius's deep affection for Avalon and sought to restore it to
its original conception, as first founded by St. Joseph with his
twelve companions. 1 From Winchester they journeyed to the Sacred
Isle of Avalon, of which Geoffrey of Monmouth writes as follows:
"There, Gad leading them, they found an old church built, as
'twas said, by the hands of Christ's Disciples, and prepared by
God Himself for the salvation of souls, which Church the Heavenly
Builder Himself showed to be consecrated by many miraculous
deeds, and many Mysteries of healing. And they afterwards
pondered the Heavenly message that the Lord had specially chosen
this spot before all the rest of Britain as the place where His
Mother's name might be invoked. They also found the whole story
in ancient writings, how the Holy Apostles were scattered
throughout the world. St. Philip coming into France with a host
of Disciples sent twelve of them into
......
1 Lewis, "Glastonbury, Her Saints," pp.10-11.
......
Britain to preach, and that there, taught by revelation, they
constructed the said chapel which the Son of God afterwards
dedicated to the honour of His Mother; and that to these same
twelve were given twelve portions of land for their sustenance.
Moreover, they found a written record of their doings, and on
that account they loved this spot above all others, and they
also, in memory of the first twelve, chose twelve of their own,
and made them live on the island with the approval of King
Lucius. These twelve thereafter abode there in divers spots as
anchorites - in the same spots, indeed, which the first twelve
inhabited. Yet they used to meet together continuously in the Old
Church in order to celebrate Divine worship more devoutly, just
as the kings long ago granted the said island with its
surroundings to the twelve former Disciples of Christ, so the
said Phagan (Fagan) and Deruvian (Dyfan) obtained it from King
Lucius for these twelve companions and for others to follow
thereafter. And thus, many succeeding these, but always twelve in
numbers, abode in the said island during many years up to the
coming of St. Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish."
In this manner, at Avalon, the beautiful past was renewed by
Fagan and Dyfan, following in the steps of the Noblis Decurio and
his twelve saintly companions, and the many others of the
illustrious company of Christ.
Returning to the famous letter of Eleutherius to Lucius, we
note the remarkable statement naming Lucius 'Vicar of God'. This
is the first time that title was ever bestowed on a king and that
a British king and by the Bishop of Rome. By this act the church
at Rome declared Lucius to be the head of the church and not
they. However, Lucius did not accept or use this honourable
title. He recognized the admonition of the Bishops of the British
church and of all Christian Britons inured in the faith, that
Christ alone was the Head of the Church and the true
representative of the Father. Instead, Lucius was named, 'the
most religious King', a title which every British ruler since who
has sat on the British Throne has held!
Lucius also established the three famous Archbishoprics at
London, York and Caerlon on Usk. In the year A.D.179 he built the
historic St. Peter on Cornhill. This church is often referred to
as the first Christian church erected in London, of which Elfan
was installed as the first Bishop. During the ensuing centuries
this church was enlarged but was destroyed in the Great Fire of
......
1 Lewis, "Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury," 6th edition, pp.
14-15.
......
London which almost completely levelled the ancient city. The
tablet telling the history of this great church, embedded in the
original walls, survived the Great Fire, and has since been
preserved over the mantel of the fireplace in the vestry. It
bears the following inscription:
"Bee it knowne to all men that the yeare of our Lord God 179,
Lucius, the first Christian King of the land, then called
Britaine, founded the first church in London, that is to say, the
church of St. Peter upon Cornehill. And hee founded there an
Archbishops See and made the church the metropolitane and chief
church of the kingdome; and so indured the space of 400 years
unto the coming of St. Austin the Apostle of England, the which
was sent into the land by St. Gregoire, the doctor of the church
in the time of King Ethelbert. And then was the Archbishops See
and Pall removed from the forsaid church of St. Peter upon
Cornehill into Dorobernia that now is called Canterburie and
there it remaineth to this day. And Millet a monke which came
into this land with St. Austin, hee was made Bishop of London and
his See was made in St. Paul's church. And this Lucius king was
the first founder of St. Peter's church upon Cornehill. And hee
reigned in this land after Brute 1245 yeares. And in the yeare of
our Lord God 124, Lucius was crowned king and the yeares of his
reign were 77 yeares."
Among other wonderful churches King Lucius founded was the
church at Llandaff and the church at Cardiff, known today as St.
Mellors, which is still referred to as Lucius's Church. He also
founded the beautiful church of St. Mary de Lode in the city of
Gloucester, where he was interred. In later year, A.D.679, this
church was enlarged and beautified by the Christian king of the
British Mercians, Wolphen.
It is commonly stated that the Emperor Constantine was the
first to have the coin of the realm stamped with the sign of the
Cross. The statement is an error. King Lucius, the ancestor of
Constantine, was the first to mint his coins displaying the sign
of the Cross on one side and on the other side his name 'Luc'. In
the collection in the British Museum exist two coins depicting
the reign of King Lucius, bearing the motifs as stated. Of
interest is the fact that Arviragus, maternal ancestor of Lucius,
was so bitterly opposed to all that was Roman that he made
acceptance, or circulation of Roman coins among the British, a
capital offence. This refusal to accept Roman coinage by the
British lingered well into the reign of Lucius. From Claudius,
whom Arviragus first opposed on the field of battle, to the reign
of Emperor Hadrian, no coins of intervening Roman Emperors are to
be found in Britain. From Hadrian onwards complete series of
Roman coins are found. An examination of the coinage exhibit in
the British Museum substantiates these facts and the notable
omission. The coins of Arviragus are considered to be the most
magnificent minted. An eminent numismatic expert made the remark
"Wherever a coin of the British King Arviragus is shown in any
coin collection, it stands out as a gem."
The coins of Cunobelinus bear the inscription on one side of
his name 'Cuno', on the reverse side a galloping charger and the
plume of three ostrich feathers.
The interesting part is that the coins of these three famed
British kings were all minted at Colchester. Historians pay
little attention to this ancient city. Focus is all on the great
centres such as London, Winchester, York, Edinburgh, Canterbury
and others. Few are as steeped in British tradition, where so
many notable events had their beginnings, events that are
milestones in the destiny of nations and, in particular,
Christianity, as we shall see as we pursue our story.
Colchester is a quiet little city today, but what a mass of
startling history it contains for those who have the energy to
part the curtains of time and examine the records.
Of all the great disciples of Christ, King Lucius is in all
probability the least known. To the average person his name has
no meaning. All he did to solidify the Christian foundation is
not even considered, let alone remembered. Historians by-pass him
as though he never existed, in spite of the wealth of information
describing his life and achievements at hand. The talented Foxe,
in his Acts and Monuments, wrote:
"The said Lucius after he had founded many churches, and given
great riches and liberties to the same, deceased with great
tranquillity in his own land, and was buried at Gloucester."
King Lucius died December 3, in the year A.D.201, after a
long reign of seventy-seven years. The learned Alban Butler'
states that Lucius was buried first at St. Mary de Lode, the
lovely church he founded at Gloucester, then later was reinterred
in the other church he built, St. Peter's upon Cornhill, for
which church he had a deep affection. Much later, his remains
were again translated to Glou-
......
1 The Liver of the Saints (1756).
......
cester, where they were placed in the choir of the Franciscan
church by the Earls of Berkley and Clifford, which church, the
Church of the Grey Friars, was founded by these two famous f
amilies.
There is another record concerning the death of King Lucius,
chronicled in the Roman Martyrologies, which states that Lucius
abdicated his throne and with his sister, St. Emerita, travelled
as a missionary through Bavaria, Rhoetia and Vindelicia, meeting
a martyr's death near Curia in Germany. According to an old
transcript recorded circa A.D.685, Lucius, king of the British,
and his sister Emerita, are buried in the crypt of the old
cathedral at Chur (Coire), the capital of the Grisons Canton,
Switzerland. Cressy the Benedictine, who wrote following the
Reformation, quoting from these old chronicles, recites the above
in his book "Church History of Bittany." Students of the life of
the illustrious King Lucius state that the Roman Martyrologies
have the British king confused with the religious Bavarian King
Lucius, who was martyred near Curia in Germany.
In A Guide to the Cathedral, compiled by the Rev. H. Haines
in 1867 at Gloucester, he writes:
"King Lucius was baptized on May 28, A.D.137, and died on
December 3, 201. His feast had been given on both these days,
but the latter is now universal."
There exists a wealth of material extolling the exemplary
life of Good King Lucius, among which are the writings of Bede,
Nennius, Elfan, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Cressy, William of
Malmesbury, Ussher, who states he had consulted twenty-three
works on Lucius Rees, Baronius, Alford, The Book of Llandaff,
Welsh Triads, The Mabinogion, Achau Saint Prydain, and many other
reliable works, all of which pay noble tribute to this famed
Christian monarch, who devoted his entire life as a disciple in
Christ's service, to the benefit of the Christian world which has
forgotten him.
The lasting benefits of the wonderful achievements of King
Lucius on the realm endured for well over one hundred years after
his death. The people and the land thrived in peace and
prosperity.
The Venerable Bede, writing A.D.740, sums up the picture in
a few brief words, but in his characteristic eloquence:
"The Britons preserved the faith which they had nationally
received under King Lucius uncorrupted and entire, and continued
in peace and tranquillity until the time of the Emperor
Diocletian" (Bk. 1, ch.4).
The savage Diocletian persecution broke the peace and
produced the conquering Constantine, known to history as the
Emperor Constantine the Great, a direct descendant of Lucius,
Arviragus and Caractacus, a stalwart champion and disciple of the
Christian faith.
(The Christianity that Constantine had was a much different
"Christianity" than Britain had during the first and second
centuries AD; in fact it remained much different than Constantine
adopted for many centuries after the age of Constantine taking
power as the Roman Empire ruler, albeit he did stop the
persecutions against those who went under the name of "Christian"
- Keith Hunt)
The seed never perished, enduring from one generation to
another. In times of peace its strength coursed beneath calm
waters, ever ready to crash to the surface in stormy conflict to
defend the priceless heritage as circumstances demanded. In every
case it was a prince of the royal blood who stalwartly and often
heroically stood forth to meet the challenge of battle
oppression. And in each case the Defender of the Faith was a true
lineal descendant of those valiant British kings and queens of so
many centuries ago, even as is today Elizabeth II of the United
Kingdom and the British Commonwealth.
(The "Christianity" that Queen Elizabeth 11 reigns over is a far
removed Christianity from the first centuries of British
Christianity, as an easy to find research of Bede's writings and
others will show. The Christianity of the Church of England is
akin to the Christianity of the Church of Rome - full of false
teachings, and pagan customs and traditions that indeed came from
Rome, as Rome went forth to conquer the world, as the mother of
harlots, and the woman who has made the nations spiritually drunk
on her spiritual fornications - Keith Hunt)
Publisher's Note.
Despite the agreement of authorities that King Lucius was
baptised by his uncle, St. Timotheus, in the year A.D.137, there
seems uncertainty as to the place of baptism, Winchester,
Glastonbury and, by implication, Gloucester, being listed in this
chapter. The Gloucester reference implies baptism there, but
could be a reference to that at Glastonbury, thus narrowing the
field to two. The place, however, is not the important factor
here; the fact of baptism is.
..........
To be continued with "Emperor Constantine the Great"
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