Drama of The Lost Disciples - GOOD KING LUCIUS NATIONALIZES

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"



NOTE:



I say again that true history of nations, and true history of the

true Church of God, can be found here and there, for those with

the spiritual eyes to see it. Much of that history is given to

you on this website - Keith Hunt