DRAMA OF THE LOST DISCIPLES #11
by Georage Jowett (1961)
DRAMA OF THE LOST DISCIPLES TO BRITAIN
SIMON ZELOTES MARTYRED IN BRITAIN
DURING THE BOADICEAN WAR
FOLLOWING the defeat of Caractacus at Clune, A.D.52, and his
exile at Rome, Arviragus speedily reorganized the Silurian
forces, striking back at the Romans with a fury that exceeded any
former combat. Ostorius Scapula was still in command of the Roman
armies in Britain, but his forces had become greatly demoralized
by the succession of defeats and the terrible savagery of the
British onslaughts. In the year A.D.53 Scapula suffered a
staggering defeat at Caervelin, near Caerleon. Discouraged and
broken in health from the years of harrowing warfare, he
petitioned Nero to be relieved of his command and return to Rome.
This was the year Nero had succeeded Claudius as Emperor of the
Romans. Nero accepted Scapula's resignation and he was
immediately replaced by Aulus Didius, 1 also known as Didius
Gallus. Didius founded the city of Cardiff, which is still known
by the Welsh as Caer Dydd - 'The Castle of Didius'.
It is interesting to learn that one of the first acts of
Didius on arriving in Britain was to depose Cartismandua, Queen
of the Brigantes, whom he thoroughly distrusted. Her treacherous
betrayal of her cousin, Caractacus, had caused her to be held in
disdainful contempt by both the Romans and the British. As it
was, her own clan had expelled her for adultery. 2
Didius was impotent in dealing with Arviragus on the field
of battle. He suffered repulse and defeat in rapid succession.
After a brief command he was replaced by Veranius, A.D.57. The
latter had no better success, in fact worse. Arviragus drove the
Roman forces behind the Plautian wall of fortresses and bottled
up Veranius at Verulam. Matters in the field had become so bad
for Roman arms that, in desperation, Nero ordered huge
reinforcements to be rushed to Britain, under the superlative
relieving command of Suetonius Paulinus, 3 then regarded as the
ablest tactician in the Roman army. He took with him the Second
Augusta Legions, and the famous Ninth, Fourteenth and Twentieth
Legions who
......
1 Tacitus, Annals, 12:40.
2 Tacitus, History, 3:45.
3 Tacitus, Annals, 14:38-39.
......
carried the victorius legend 'Vicesima, Valens, Victrix'. They
were unequal to the occasion. Disaster continued as the British
drove the enemy before them, asking no quarter and giving none.
Tacitus bitterly expresses the feeling at Rome which required
their most capable generals and finest legions to combat the
'barbarous' British. He writes:
"In Britain, after the captivity of Caradoc, the Romans were
repeatedly defeated and put to rout by the single state of the
Silures alone." 1
The clemency shown the royal British captives at Rome by the
Emperor Claudius did not mollify the Silurians in the least. Men,
women and priests without discrimination took the field to avenge
and arrest the continued tyrannical persecution of Roman
savagery. Ruefully Tacitus observes: "The race of the Silures are
not to be changed by clemency or severity." 2
Mercilessly they fought pitched battles, stormed forts and
Roman encampments, putting Roman settlements to the torch. The
record reads: "The plains and streets ran with Roman blood."
The more the Romans were defeated the more excessive were their
vicious depredations. The culminating climax came under orders
from Suetonius Paulinus, to carry out a scorched-earth programme,
to destroy everything in their path and particularly to
exterminate the seats of Christian learning and all therein. This
eventuated in the horrible Menai massacre. 3 Entering the
community under pretext of peace, with concealed arms, the Roman
soldiery suddenly set upon the inhabitants. Thousands of
unsuspecting priests and priestesses and a multitude of people
were treacherously butchered in cold blood, men, women and
children. The aged and the infants were alike hewn down without
mercy.
According to Tacitus, this horrible campaign raged at its
worst from A.D.59 to 62.
In the year A.D.60 the avaricious Roman Prefect, Catus
Decianus, had broken the Claudian Treaty with the Iceni, on a
false pretext fomented by Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, who at
that time held great influence with Nero. Seneca, while renowned
as a philosopher of sorts, was better known as the wealthiest man
in Rome, who had obtained his vast fortune by trickery and
promoting usurious loans. He had advanced the huge sum of ten
million dollars to Prasutagus on the security of the public
buildings of the Iceni. Prasutagus, the king, was also an
extremely wealthy
......
1 Tacitus, Annals, 12:38-39.
2 ibid, 2:24.
3 ibid, 14:29-31.
......
man. Tacitus says his wealth was rated at Rome as being
fantastic. However, the financial transaction was a private
matter between Seneca, Prasutagus and his family. Having no
political involvement it was outside the authority of Decianus.
Nevertheless, Seneca conspired with Decianus to act on the recent
death of Prasutagus, completely disregarding the valid claims of
the estate. The Roman Prefect needed no second invitation to
satiate his greed from the pillage and plunder that would follow.
This act of treachery was made more simple for Decianus by reason
of an existing Peace Treaty made between Rome, the Iceni and the
Coraniaid. This political agreement permitted the Romans to enjoy
freedom of travel and residence in the domain of these two
British clans. This privilege provided opportunity for Decianus
to take the populace by surprise. He struck suddenly with
violence, inciting his soldiers to unwarranted brutalities which
appalled and drew severe censure from the Senate and Roman
writers.
They sacked the British Palaces and public buildings of all
treasure, stripping the Iceni nobles of their estates and
personal wealth formerly guaranteed to them by the Claudian Pact.
To add to the infamy of the act, licentiousness ran rampant. 1
The two daughters of Queen Boadicea, widow of Prasutagus, were
publicly raped and Boadicea was whipped.
(The BBC have produced a very fine true historical movie - called
- "The Warrior Queen" - and is about the life of Queen Boadicea.
This movie is not for children. It is from ITV Studios Home
Entertainment. On the back in part it says: "...Nero no longer
tolerate the Iceni way of life and endeavor to crush the upstart
Queen Boadicea and her tribe. However, they have understimated
the Celtic spirit and seeking revenge, Boadicea leads her people
against the mighty Romans with devastating effects." - Keith
Hunt)
The Menai massacre, already referred to, followed closely on
the heels of this bestiality. These combined monstrosities
infuriated the British beyond restraint. 2 Their anger swept the
length and breadth of the Island with the frenzy of a vendetta.
The Roman writers graphically reported that the Roman generals
and soldiery alike were stunned with the avalanche of British
reaction. In fright the Romans confined their forces within their
own encampments.
Despite the fact that the Iceni and the Coraniaid were
branded as traitors for deserting Caractacus during the Claudian
campaign, these atrocities brought the British clans together in
a solid phalanx. The British Queen Boadicea, inflamed by the
personal indignities perpetrated upon her daughters and her
people, rose in militant defiance to avenge the insults. Her
warriors swarmed around her eager for the fray. She was to lead
them into battle with a devastating offensive that has caused her
name to flame throughout British history as the finest embodiment
of Britannia.
To this day Britannia is displayed on the face of British
coins in the form of a woman.
Boadicea, the British name meaning Victoria, was a cousin of
Tacitus,
......
1 Tacitus, Annals, 14:31.
2 Tacitus, Annals, 14:31-35.
......
Claudius Pudens, thus closely related to both Caractacus and
Arviragus.
To Arviragus Boadicea sent Venusius, the Pendragon of the
Iceni, in an urgent appeal, offering to place the combined forces
of the Iceni and Coraniaid under his command. Whether he accepted
or not is unstated, probably because the historic record is
overshadowed by the brilliant stature of the valorous Queen. We
do know that her own Pendragon, Venusius, led the two warrior
tribes, but only as second-in-command. Boadicea was
Commanderin-Chief and led her warriors personally into battle.
Boadicea was a born warrior chieftainess, undoubtedly the
greatest warrior Queen in all history. She had acquired her name,
Victoria, by her valour in former military campaigns. Boadicea
had always despised the Romans, now she hated them with a
chilling bitterness that hungered for vengeance. Historians tell
us that in appearance she was a most dramatic, striking figure.
The Roman writer, Dion Cassius, states:
"Boadicea ascended the general's tribunal; her stature exceeded
the ordinary height of women; her appearance itself carried
terror; her aspect was calm and collected, but her voice became
deep and pitiless. Her hair falling in long golden tresses as low
as her hips, was collected round her forehead by a golden
coronet; she wore a tartan dress fitting closely to the bosom,
but below the waist expanding in loose folds as a gown; over it
was a chlamys, or military cloak. In her hand she bore a spear."
Such is the portrait of the majestic Boadicea, as she stood
surrounded by the 120,000 warriors who had responded to her
blazing call for vengeance. To them she delivered an address as
challenging and to be as immortal as the one given by her famous
relative, Caractacus, before the Roman Senate. Dion Cassius
records this address as follows:
"I appeal to thee a woman. I rule not, like Nitocris, over beasts
of burden, as are the effeminate nations of the East, nor like
Semiramis, over tradesmen and traffickers, nor like the manwoman
Nero, over slaves and eunuchs--such is the precious knowledge
these foreigners introduce among us - but I rule over Britons,
little versed in craft and diplomacy, but born and trained in the
game of war, men who, in the cause of liberty stake down their
lives, the lives of their wives and children, their lands and
......
1 Xiphilinus Excerpta, p.176
......
property. Queen of such a race, I implore thine aid for freedom,
for victory over enemies infamous for the wantonness of the
wrongs they inflict, for their perversion of justice, for their
contempt of religion, for their insatiable greed; a people that
revel in unmanly pleasures, whose affections are more to be
dreaded and abhorred than their enmity. Never let a foreigner
bear rule over me or these my countrymen; never let slavery reign
in this island. Be thou forever O goddess of manhood and victory,
sovereign and Queen in Britain."
Having exhorted her followers, the famous Boadicean war
began in A.D.60. Always in the fore, fiercely inspiring her
warriors, Boadicea, with her two daughters riding beside her, led
her armies from one devastating victory to another, the scythes
on the wheels of her war chariot slashing deep into the enemy
lines. Colchester was the first to fall. The Temple, fortified by
Roman veterans, held out two days; then disaster overtook them.
The Ninth Legion, under Petilius Cerealis, was slaughtered at
Coggeshall. Cerealis and a few horesemen were the only ones to
escape. The Roman headquarters at Verulam was burnt to the ground
and its defenders cut to pieces. It seems as though nothing could
stop the furious onslaughts of the British Queen. The Roman
populace fled in terror on news of her armed approach. Tacitus
states that one Roman Legion that dared to stand ground was cut
down to the last man. 1 Her forces had by then swelled to the
enormous number of 230,000, clearly indicating that more than the
two clans were supporting her punitive cause. It can be fairly
assumed that the Silurians, under Arviragus, were participating
in this concerted action, since the field of battle had extended
into their territory. We do know that the powerful Trinobantes,
the warlike clan with whom Julius Caesar signed the Peace Pact of
September 26th, 54 B.C., had cast in their lot with Boadicea.
Tacitus declared that the Silurian state alone had inflicted one
defeat after another upon the Romans. Now with at least four of
the most powerful warrior clans in Britain massed together under
the one standard of baneful vengeance to the number of more than
a quarter of a million, there is no need for wonder why the
Romans were swept ruthlessly before them. Never before had the
British been so deeply wounded and angered by the violation of
their native privileges, their religious institutions and
personal dignity. The desecration charged them with superhuman
determination to
......
1 Tacitus, Annals, 14:32.
......
avenge. Tacitus reports that over 80,000 Roman soldiers perished
in these sanguinary battles, and Catus Decianus, terrified by the
violence of the conflict and the horrible carnage he witnessed,
took flight, escaping into Gaul.
The greatest single carnage followed the attack on London.
At that time it was a populous city, the trade centre in Britain
for international commerce. It was filled with Roman merchants
and was protected by a powerful Roman garrison.
The assault and destruction of the city is one of the most
appalling war records one can read. It was little short of a
massacre and shows how intense was the merciless British fury,
steeped in a hatred so unnatural to the general British
character. Some may consider the quarterless slaughter performed
by the British in the Boadicean campaign as unwarranted and
diametrically opposed to Christian principles. One should
remember, however, that since the Claudian Edict for Christian
extermination, beginning A.D.42, up to and including the
Boadicean war of A.D.60, the people and the land of Britain had
suffered a persecution at the hands of the Romans for eighteen
years which no other nation had experienced. Their towns,
religious institutions, libraries and seats of cultural learning
had been burnt to the ground with a barbaric insolence
unequalled. The defenceless had been massacred. Licentiousness,
pillage and plunder of wealth, crops and cattle had been
conducted unabated in the vicious Roman pledge to crush the
Christian faith and spirit in Britain. People can stand only so
much, then anger gets the better of them, often leading to what
we may term an excess of violence. The British were only paying
the Romans back in their own barbaric coin and unquestionably
they saved Christianity for posterity with the sacrifice of their
lives and property.
Some historians claim that Suetonius Paulinus, Commander-in-
Chief of the Roman forces, terrified at the determined onslaught
on London, fled the scene with a few of his troops. This is
hardly conceivable. The chroniclers report that the battle for
supremacy waged savagely for several days, indicating that the
British encountered organized military resistance. Paulinus
probably made good his escape when he saw the battle was lost,
leaving the destruction of the city, its inhabitants and such
Legionaires that remained to the sword of the pitiless British.
Tacitus states that 40,000 of the Roman defenders of London and
its inhabitants were put to the sword and the city to the torch.
Next, Boadicea levelled the important city of Verulam, now
St. Albans, driving the enemy before her. Such of the inhabitants
of Regnum and Rutupium as could fled before her armies arrived.
It is said that the destruction of lives on both sides was so
great that the burning towns and cities were quenched in blood.
The British Amazon swept westward in an effort to intercept
Paulinus. Dion reports many battles fought with the heavy balance
of disaster borne upon the Romans. The climax to the victorious
Boadicean war ended in a most unpredicable manner at Flintshire,
A.D.62, where the modern town of Newmarket stands. The contesting
armies had met in a savage conflict that was fought from dawn to
darkness, with the battle swaying in favour of one side then the
other. As dusk set in a section of the British army, led by
Boadicea, was separated from the main body. Believing herself
trapped and fearing capture (even though the record states the
British forces had reorganized, preparatory to a final major
assault), rather than fall into the hands of the despoilers and
the rapine she knew would follow, the valorous Queen Boadicea, in
a last gesture of defiance, committed suicide on the field of
battle.
As the tragic news swept through the ranks of both sides, it
is recorded that Briton and Roman alike were stunned with the
calamity of this extraordinary climax. Fighting immediately
ceased with each side withdrawing into their own encampment with
unbidden consent. The death of this great British queen settled
like a pall over all. The woman who had terrified the Romans in
life awed them in death. A great sadness descended upon her
people. And the Romans, quick to seize an opportunity, took
advantage of the situation to come to peace terms with the Iceni.
Under the terms of this new Peace Pact the Romans restored all
the confiscated wealth of the royalty, the nobles and the people.
The stolen estates were returned to the surviving members of the
royal household and to the nobility with all their original
privileges. The treacherous transaction of Seneca was cancelled
and an heavy indemnity was paid to the Iceni.
How truly the Roman historian wrote: "Every peace with the
British was a signature of defeat."
The royal Boadicea, majestic in appearance, rich in
eloquence, dauntless in war, endowed with the military genius
which for two years had outmatched the ablest strategists of
Rome, drove their Legions before her arms like sheep to the
slaughter. The British heroine who preferred death rather than
sacrifice her freedom, a warrior queen with no equal in the
colourful pages of history, the avenger of womanly indignities, a
champion of the Christian faith, was now no more than a glorious
memory.
The Romans wrote that her funeral obsequies were the most
magnificent ever bestowed on a monarch. So lavish in pomp and
assemblage they gazed in wonder on its splendour, awed and
silenced in both shame and fear. Her unhappy death, though
spectacular, was an incomparable sacrifice for the preservation
of the ancient British freedoms for which she stood.
Boadicea's monumental record is immortalized and enshrined
in the magnificent statue erected on Westminster Bridge to her
memory. It is one of the finest statues to be seen anywhere in
the world. Everyone who views it is impressed with its
illustrious majesty. It is created exactly as the ancient Roman
writer, Dion Cassius, described her. She stands erect, spear in
one hand, and with the other hand holding in check the two
rearing chargers, coronet on her brow, with her long hair flowing
to the breeze. Her two daughters are kneeling beside her on the
floor of her war chariot. Her noble features proudly portray the
cast of her fearless character. On the wheels of her chariot are
shown the terrible scythes, which were a deadly, slashing war
weapon peculiar to the British armaments, dreaded by the Romans.
The sculptor who executed the statuary was truly inspired
with the commission. It depicts Christian Britannia on the shores
of England, defying the evil powers of the world.
The scene of battle and its tragedy over the centuries are
commemorated by place names known to this day as 'Cop Paulinus',
'Hill of Arrows', 'Hill of Carnage', 'Hollow of No Quarter',
'Hollow of Woe', 'Hollow of Execution', 'Field of the Tribunal',
'Knoll of the Melee'. On the scene still exists a monolith called
'The Stone of Lamentation', described as the spot where the great
Queen took her life. On the road to Caerwys was 'The Stone of the
Grave of Boadicea', since moved to Downing.
The conflict against the Romans did not cease with her
death. The Roman peace made with the Iceni had no effect on other
British clans. It is written that her tragic death did not abate
the punitive spirit and campaigning determination of the Britons
in the north and the west. Under the invincible leadership of
Arviragus, Venusius, and the gallant new Pendragon, Galgacus, 1
hostilities vigorously continued against the Romans.
To all this calamity Joseph and his missionary co-workers
were sorrowful spectators. But through it all they glimpsed
triumph, strong in their faith that the Cause of Christ was safe
for all time in the embattled Island realm. Greater sacrifice and
heroism was
......
1 Tacitus, Agricola, 30-32.
......
yet to be suffered for Christian welfare but the Flag of Christ
was never to dip to any pagan power.
In Pynson's metrical Life of St. Joseph, the following lines
occur referring to the death of Mary, the Mother of Jesus
"So after Hyr Assumpcyn, the boke telleth playne; With Saynt
Phylyp he went into France. Phylyp bad them go to Great Brytayn
fortunate."
These lines inform us that after the death of Mary Joseph
returned to Gaul with Philip, his dearest friend. The last line
rather implies that Philip was fortunate in prevailing on Joseph
to return to Britain. This would suggest that Joseph, bowed in
sorrow, was loath to part from the man who was so close to him
that he could understand his grief. Knowing that work was the
best antidote for sorrow, Philip urged his friend to return to
his mission in Britain where he was so greatly needed. Not only
was Philip fortunate in persuading Joseph; Britain was fortunate
to receive him back.
ENTER SIMON ZELOTES
It will be noticed that the word 'them' is employed in the
last line. Who were 'them'? The word is plural. The answer is
provided in the Magna Tabula Glastoniae, cited by Bishop Ussher.
Every time Joseph went to Gaul he returned with more missionary
helpers. On this occasion we are told that among them was his son
Josephes, whom Philip had baptized. How long Josephes stayed in
Britain with his father is not stated, but from various records
it is quite evident that the son of Joseph journeyed as an
emissary between Gaul and Britain. Facts show that Josephes
returned to Gaul after arriving in Britain with his father at
Philip's request. Joseph remained in Britain as the head of the
missionary band at Avalon. In the year A.D.60 special mention is
made of Joseph going to Gaul and returning to Britain with
another band of recruits, among whom is particularly mentioned
Simon Zelotes, one of the original twelve disciples of Christ.
This is the second time it is specially mentioned that Philip
consecrated Joseph and his band of coworkers prior to embarking
for Britain. Probably the inclusion of Simon Zelotes indicated an
important missionary effort, hence the consecration. This was the
second journey to Britain for Simon Zelotes and his last.
According to Cardinal Baronius and Hippolytus, Simon's first
arrival in Britain was in the year A.D.44, during the Claudian
war. Evidently his stay was short, as he returned to the
continent.
Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Byzantine
historian, A.D.758-829, writes:
"Simon born in Cana of Galilee who for his fervent affection for
his Master and great zeal that he showed by all means to the
Gospel, was surnamed Zelotes, having received the Holy Ghost from
above, travelled through Egypt, and Africa, then through
Mauretania and all Lybia, preaching the Gospel. And the same
doctrine he taught to the Occidental Sea, and the Isles called
Britanniae." 1
In the Bible Simon is often referred to as Simon the
Canaanite, because he came from Cana. The Hebrew word for
'zealous' has a similar sound to that of the name of his home
town, being 'canna'. The Greek translation of the word is
'Zelotes', the name by which he is best known. His enthusiastic
preaching of the Word earned him his zealous surname.
Simon arrived in Britain during the first year of the
Boadicean war, A.D.60, when the whole Island was convulsed in a
deep, burning anger against the Romans, which was never equalled
before or after in the long years of conflict between the two
nations. Tacitus - states that from A.D.59 to 62 the brutalities
of war were at their worst. Atrocities occurred on both sides but
the Romans carried their vicious perpetrations to such an extent
that even Rome was shocked. Bearing this in mind we can readily
understand that any Christian evangelizing outside the British
shield would be fraught with imminent danger. At all times the
disciples of Christ were oblivious to danger, but when the
pressure became too severe invariably they fled the land until
matters quietened down. In the year A.D.44 a Claudian Edict
expelled the Christian leaders from Rome. Many of them sought
sanctuary in Britain. Among those who fled to Britain from Rome
was Peter. 2 This was the year Simon first went to Britain. He
did not come from Rome but from Gaul, where he had been assisting
Philip. Moreover, Simon was directly associated with the
Arimathean Mission of Avalon on both his missionary efforts in
Britain. As we shall later see it made quite a difference to the
British in their acceptance of him whether the missionary came
from Rome or Jerusalem.
Simon was unusually bold and fearless, as his surname
implies. In spite of the volcanic turmoil seething through
Britain during the Boadicean war, Simon openly defied the
barbaric Edict of Paulinus, and the most brutal Catis Decianus,
to destroy anything and anyone Christian. He decided to conduct
his evangelizing campaign in the eastern part of the Island. This
section of Britain was the most
......
1 See also Dorotheus, Synod de Apostol.
2 Cornelius a Lapide, Argumentus Epistoloe St. Pauli di Romanos,
ch.16.
......
sparsely inhabited by the native Britons and consequently more
heavily populated by the Romans. It was far beyond the strong
protective shield of the Silurian arms in the south and the
powerful northern Yorkshire Celts. In this dangerous territory
Simon was definitely on his own. Undeterred, with infinite
courage, he began preaching the Christian Gospel right in the
heart of the Roman domain. His fiery sermons brought him speedily
to the attention of Catus Decianus, but not before he had sown
the seed of Christ in the hearts of Britons and many Romans who,
despite the unremitting hatred of Decianus for all that was
Christian, held the secret of the truth locked in their hearts.
The evangelizing mission of Simon was short-lived. He was finally
arrested under the orders of Catus Decianus. As usual his trial
was a mockery. He was condemned to death and was crucified by the
Romans at Caistor, Lincolnshire, and there buried, circa May I
oth, A.D.61.
The day of the martyrdom of Simon Zelotes, the devoted
disciple of Christ, is officially celebrated by the eastern and
western church on May 10th and so recorded in the Greek Menology.
Cardinal Baronius, in his Annales Ecclesiastici, gives the same
date in describing the martyrdom and burial of Simon Zelotes in
Britain.
Of Simon Zelotes, Dorotheus, Bishop of Tyre, A.D.300, writes
in his work "Synopsis de. Apostol":
"Simon Zelotes traversed all Mauretania, and the region of the
Africans, preaching Christ. He was at last crucified, slain and
buried in Britain."
There are some who think because Simon Zelotes perished in
Britain he must have been slain by the British. This could not be
at all possible. Only the Romans practised crucifixion. In the
first place this form of death was reserved as a gesture of
contempt in executing their meanest criminals. During the
Christian era it was more viciously employed on the Christians in
defiant mockery of all the Cross stood for to all Christians. To
the British, and indeed to all Christians, crucifixion was a
profanity of the Cross. The historic record leaves no doubt as to
who crucified Simon Zelotes.
Some also entertain the belief that Simon Zelotes was the
first British Christian martyr. Of the elect, he was the second
British martyr. Aristobulus, brother of Barnabas and
father-in-law of Peter, was the first to be martyred in Britain.
Aristobulus preceded Simon to his reward at what is now St.
Albans by a couple of years. The record states he was martyred
"in the second year of Nero". This would be circa A.D.59.
Unknown to many, the remains of Simon Zelotes, with many
more of the saintly elect, are buried in England, creating the
saying uttered the world over, "Britain, the most hallowed ground
on earth."
The year before the Boadicean war and the two years of its
existence, admitted by Rome to be marked with unparalleled
horror, are the darkest, most bloodstained years in British
history through Roman infamy. Yet they are epic years in British
Christian annals, resplendent with noble sacrifice and heroic
deeds, outmatching the terror and stark tragedy those years
contained. To this notable period the martyrdom of Simon Zelotes
added lustre in his last devotional act in serving his Master,
with whom he first walked on the shores of Galilee.
Nearby where this noble martyr perished was the ancestral
home of Abraham Lincoln, the great American Christian President.
His ancestors migrated from England in the first waves of English
colonists to settle in Virginia. The church in which Lincoln
worshipped was made an American sanctuary by patriotic,
Christian-minded American soldiers of World War II. They made
various beautiful contributions to this ancient little church at
Boston, Lincolnshire, to the memory of the family, particularly
to their illustrious American descendant.
Eighteen hundred years after the martyrdom of Simon Zelotes,
in the land of the Lincolns, in America, Abraham Lincoln became a
martyr for his humane Christian principles, the same principles
which Simon Zelotes taught, for which he was crucified and gave
his all in the glorious service of his beloved Jesus.
..........
NOTE:
ONCE MORE WE SEE TRUE HISTORY AS THE RECORDS PRESERVE
IT IN THE WRITINGS OF ROMAN HISTORIANS AND OTHERS.
MORE AND MORE TODAY THE FACTS OF TRUE HISTORY ARE BEING
ADMITTED AND EVEN MOVIES ARE BEING MADE TO PROTRAY THE
HISTORY THAT HAS BEEN HIDDEN FROM VIEW FOR FAR TOO LONG
A TIME.
OF COURSE THE BRITISH HAVE KNOWN THE TRUE HISTORY OF
THE ROMANS AND QUEEN BOADICEA, AS THERE IS THAT
WONDERFUL STATUTE IN HER HONOR IN LONDON TO THIS VERY
DAY.
Keith Hunt
To be continued with "The Glorious Cavalcade"
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