Although Bede, the great Anglo-Saxon monk, scholar and historian, spent all his life in north-east England, his influence spread across Europe and gained him the title the ‘Venerable Bede’.
Bede was born in 673 in what is now Tyne and Wear in north-east England. At the age of seven he was sent to the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow, that he would ultimately become a monk. There, the Anglo-Saxon-speaking Bede learned Latin and Greek. In fact, he was to spend all his life at the monastery, which although isolated, was an outstanding centre of learning with a priceless library of over 200 books. There he became a deacon at the unusually early age of nineteen, a priest at thirty and, over the years, an increasingly renowned scholar and teacher.
Bede travelled no more than a hundred miles from his monastery and, evidently uninterested in promotion, remained no more than a monk. He became a scholar with a great range of interests: grammar, mathematics, poetry, church music, science and history. He was a careful, thoughtful man with a gift for order; he was one of the great popularisers of dating historical events using the anno Domini system based on Christ’s birth.
Although today Bede is remembered as a historian, in his day he was best known as a writer of works on the Bible. These include at least twenty commentaries, many of which remained read across Europe for centuries. Living at a time when there were significant divisions, Bede also had a deep concern for his church. Britain had been evangelised from two sources and two church cultures existed. Missionaries from the continent had created a well-structured church system linked to Rome, while Celtic missionaries from the north and west had produced churches of a more independent nature. Feeling that these disagreements were not merely a shame but also distracted from evangelism, Bede sought to bring them together.
One point of difference was the date of Easter and Bede studied and wrote on this. Then, in order to state the context for these differences and to encourage unity, Bede wrote the book he is most remembered for, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. It is an invaluable source on both the early Christianity of Britain and British history.
Accessible and well-crafted, Bede’s history is also a ‘good read’ and one example is how he records what is, without doubt, the earliest English sermon illustration. He tells how in 627, the pagan king of the Northumbrians called together his retainers to debate whether they should convert to Christianity. In the discussion, one of the king’s advisors pointed out that human life was like a sparrow flying through a great hall on a winter’s night; entering in from darkness at one door, flying briefly across in the warmth and firelight before passing out by another door into a new darkness. ‘It is like that with us,’ he observed. ‘We are ignorant of what came before or comes after life. If, therefore, this new faith contains something more certain, it deserves to be followed.’
Bede was also anxious that ordinary people, who generally did not know Latin, should understand their Christian faith, and translated the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed into English. Finally, old and ill, he began translating John’s Gospel, completing it only on the day of his death in 735. Although Bede’s John has not survived, it marked the first step on the long road to the Bible in English.
Bede was also an accomplished singer and reciter of poetry. Committed to a truly spiritual life, he was critical of those in the church who enjoyed too much eating and drinking. One man who knew him wrote, ‘I can with truth declare that I never saw with my eyes or heard with my ears anyone give thanks so unceasingly to the living God.’
After his death, Bede’s body was taken to Durham Cathedral. Recognised as one of the great minds of the church, he was long remembered and eventually declared a saint. One pleasing accolade is that, in the Divine Comedy, the poet Dante places Bede in paradise; an honour given to no one else from the British Isles.
There is much to reflect on in the life of Bede.
First, Bede sought true wisdom from God. Bede is a model of the Christian scholar. He tried to filter truth from myth, researched facts, acknowledged his sources and wrote well and wisely. Where he didn’t know he asked, sometimes seeking information from as far away as Rome. His output of at least forty books is impressive.
Second, Bede sought knowledge of the Word of God. His main output was to do with scripture and he clearly had a hunger to see the word of God read and understood.
Finally, Bede sought the welfare of God’s church. He rebuked spiritual apathy, sought spirituality and encouraged unity. He knew, too, that like all of us, a church can be helped in finding where it is going if it knows where it has come from.
I’m no great fan of shrines to saints – all Christians are saints – but when I next pass through Durham Cathedral I will seek Bede’s tomb and, in acknowledgement of a good and faithful Christian, bow my head in his honour.
J.John
Reverend Canon
