Crumbs from the Table

Christianity in Britain may date back to before the year 200 ; it is claimed that St. Peter upon Cornhill  church in London was founded in the year 179. Certainly, Christianity had reached Britain by the year 208. The church father Tertullian mentions this fact as an example of the geographical spread of Christianity in his time, "In all parts of Spain, among the various nations of Gaul, in districts of Britain inaccessible to the Romans but subdued to Christ, in all these the kingdom and name of Christ are venerated." Another church father, Origen, writing about 239, likewise refers to Christianity among the Britons, "The power of the Saviour is felt even among those who are divided from our world, in Britain," although he is also careful to qualify that "very many have not yet heard the word of the Gospel." The first known martyr for the Christian faith in Britain was Alban , who was killed at Verulam (now St Alban's) sometime between the year 250 an...

Our family recently visited Ripon in Yorkshire, an historic town associated with a figure called Wilfrid. On our visit to the Cathedral, it turned out that there was no biography available in the Cathedral shop, so I am minded to write my own. While this history is full of unfamiliar roles and concepts, nevertheless, these were our, albeit imperfect, Christian forefathers. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3, warns of "boasting in men" and then goes on to say, "All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future -- all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." It is in that spirit that I have penned the present brief life of Wilfrid of Ripon. The 600s is a long time ago, and at that time the map of our country looked quite different to the way it looks today. Just 200 years earlier, settlers (the Angles, Saxons and Jutes) had sailed across the North Sea from what is now Germany, Denmark and the...