St Bede of Jarrow

Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘St Bede of Jarrow’

7
Fight the Good Fight St Bede of Jarrow

Eighth-century Northumbrian monk St Bede urged Christians to think of heaven, and then fight our way there for all we are worth.

In a Sermon for All Saints Day, St Bede, a monk of Jarrow in early eighth-century Northumbria, has been speaking of the Christian life as a spiritual warfare against the dark Enemy of mankind his unseen servants. The warefare does not last long, he tells us: soon we are released from it, and the warriors who have fought on to the end are gathered safely into a heavenly citadel.

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8
The Lion and the Lamb St Bede of Jarrow

St Bede examines the connection between Passover and Easter, and shows how the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ complete a pattern.

‘Easter’ is a peculiarly English name for the annual feast elsewhere called Pascha, the Greek word for Passover. As eighth-century English monk St Bede explains here, Pascha takes the Israelites’ memorial of their escape from slavery in Egypt and turns it into a memorial of Christ’s death and resurrection, by which he broke the sceptre not of one earthly king, but of the dark powers lording it over all mankind.

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9
‘Why Am I Still Lying Here?’ St Bede of Jarrow

Cuthbert, struck down by plague, was vexed to find that his brethren had been praying for him all the previous night.

When the monastery at Ripon was founded in 661, Cuthbert served there under Abbot Eata. Eata clung loyally to a peculiar and not very accurate way of dating Easter borrowed from Ireland, and three years later King Oswy, who preferred the calendar used in Canterbury, Rome and the East, appointed Wilfrid in Eata’s stead. Cuthbert returned to the Abbey at Melrose in the Scottish borders.

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10
Cuthbert and the White Rider Clay Lane

The young Christian from ancient Northumbria was healed of a lame leg in a manner that reminded Bede of the archangel Rafael.

As a small boy, Cuthbert had been approached at playtime by a toddler who told him in the most grown-up fashion to cultivate mind as well as body. Some years later, though long before he became a monk, another unearthly visitor came by.

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11
The Consecration of Bishop Cuthbert St Bede of Jarrow

Cuthbert would not go to King Ecgfrith, so King Ecgfrith and his entire court had to go to Cuthbert.

Sometime after 676, Cuthbert left his monastery on Lindisfarne and retired to the nearby island of Inner Farne, with thousands of seabirds for company. His quiet retirement was to be short-lived, however, as he discovered following a rare trip down the coast to Coquet Island to counsel Elfled, the King’s sister, about the royal succession.

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12
The Bishop and the Chatterbox Clay Lane

One week into a Lenten retreat with the Bishop of Hexham, a boy’s miserable life is turned right around.

Bishop John of Hexham (?-721) is better known today as St John of Beverley, as he had been Abbot of the monastery in Beverley, North Yorkshire, before being elevated to the See of Hexham. His contemporary Bede was a great admirer, and told this story of him.

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