World’s First Christian Church outside Jerusalem, in Britain!

Written by “Jack” (author of the “Straight Talking About God” website),
with contributions from Dr. Gene Scott PhD,  Dr. Brian Mackenzie-Hanson B.A. (Hons), D.D.,
E. Raymond Capt (author of “Traditions of Glastonbury”),
Lionel Smithett Lewis (Glastonbury Vicar and author of “St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury”) and 
Andrew Gray (author of “The Origin and Early History of Christianity in Britain”).

The Link with England

In 37 A.D. Christ’s great uncle, St Joseph of Arimathea, and followed by the apostle St Simon Zelotes, and later by St Paul with other disciples, came to Britannia (it is believed, according to some records, in Christ’s footsteps! However this is NOT a doctrine of the Church), to erect the first Christian Church outside Jerusalem, there has been a Church of England (Britannia) ever since although it’s affiliations, allegiances and doctrines have been moderated and switched between Rome and England several times throughout its history: 

(i.e. (A tradition not borne out by any tangible evidence to the contrary holds that Jesus Christ visited Britain as a youth and a young man between circa 10 A.D. - 27 A.D.), First Christian Church in Britain 37 A.D., Martyrdom of St. Simon Zelotes “Bishop of the Britons” 44 A.D., Silurian battles against Romans 52 - 53 A.D., Suetonius Paulinus attacks Western Britons and Druidic and Christian centres of learning 59 - 62 A.D., Boudicea (Iceni) Rebellion 61 - 63 A.D., Phagan and Deruvian mission 167 A.D., King Lucius became Christian 170 A.D., St Alban - Martyred 209 A.D., Constantine proclaimed Emperor at York 306 A.D., three British Bishops attend the Synod of Arles 314 A.D., Early Arianism 319 - 586 A.D., St Augustine 597 A.D., Synod of Whitby 664 A.D., Great Schism 1054 (concluded 1472), Lombardy 1061, Norman Conquest 1066, Ecclesia Scotticana 1218, Ecclesia Anglicana 1246, Schism (Western Church) 1378 - 1417, John Clerk 1521, Henrician Schism (Reformation) 1534, BsCP 1549 and 1552, 42 Articles of Faith 1553, 39 Articles of Faith 1563, Second Schism (Anglicanism independent of Rome) 1570, Puritan abolition of Anglicanism 1649 - 1660, BCP 1662, Arian Movement (Church of England) 1707 - 1747, Catholic Relief Act 1778, Oxford Movement 1833 - 1845, 2nd Vatican Council 1962 - 65); 

The fact that there are records of Christian centres of learning in Britannia during the Roman persecutions of  three British Bishops, from York, London and probably Lincoln, were recorded as being present at the Council of Arles in 314 A.D. proves that there was already an established Church in Britannia at this time and as this pre-dates the Roman Catholic heresy the early Church of England had its origins in original Catholicism. Therefore the pre-664 A.D. Church in Britannia was Arian in nature! 

Christianity in Britannia began during the first century and existed independently of the Church of Rome until the Synod of Whitby in the middle ages. Although Anglicanism fell victim to Roman heresy, be it amid protest, the Arian Catholic Church has declared that Anglican and Anglican Catholic ordinations will be recognised in principle for clergy wishing to repent of their heresy and convert to the Arian Catholic Church. However Ordination Sub Conditione may still be required pending a review by the Archdeacon. 

The Arian Catholic Church maintains that one of the administrative centres of the Universal Church should be based in England, as endorsed by St Paul, St Simon Zealotes and St Joseph of Arimathea. 

The First Christian Church outside Jerusalem was built in Glastonbury, Britain, in 37 AD...

Surprised? This is all well-documented history. History that very few of us have ever heard. Why? For the same reason that many of us were never taught about the massacre of the Arian Christians in the 4th century who were a larger following than those of the Church in Rome. People write history to suit themselves. We’ll see this again and again as the history of the English church unfolds. We’re victims of the Greco-Roman version of history. They wanted people to believe that they were the most important ones on the stage of history, and called everyone else barbarians. Well, that just isn’t so.

This first section is taken from Lionel Smithett Lewis’ St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury:

“It is certain that Britain received the Faith in the first age from the first sewers of the Word. Of all the churches whose origin I have investigated in Britain, the church of Glastonbury is the most ancient.”

Wrote sir Henry Spelman in his Concilia, and again he wrote in the same work: 

“We have abundant evidence that this Britain of ours received the Faith, and that from the disciple of Christ Himself, soon after the Crucifixion of Christ.”

Robert Parsons, the Jesuit, in his Three Conversions of England, admits that: 

“The Christian religion began in Britain within fifty years of Christ’s ascension.” 

His co-religionist, the very learned Alford, in his Regia Fides says: 

“It is perfectly certain that, before St. Paul had come to Rome, Aristobulus was absent in Britain.” 

The discreet Fuller goes so far as to say: 

“If credit be given to these ancient authors, this Church without competition was senior to all Christian churches in the world.”

Wrote the erudite Polydore Vergil: 

“Britain, partly through Joseph of Arimathea, partly through Fugatus and Damianus, was of all kingdoms the first that received the Gospel.” 

It is a matter of distinct interest, which we commend to modern Roman Catholics, that Cardinal Pole, twice over, when solemnly reconciling England to the Pope and the Church of Rome, at the beginning of Queen Mary’s reign, claimed that Britain was the first country to be converted to Christianity.

The Venerable Bede, writing about 740 AD, says: 

“The Britons preserved the Faith which they had received under King Lucius uncorrupted, and continued in peace and tranquillity until the time of the Emperor Diocletian.”

It will be noticed that two distinct events are spoken of above: 

(1) The foundation of the Church in England by the Disciples of Christ. 
(2) The acceptance of Christianity by the British Nation under Good King Lucius about 170 AD. 

Britain was the first of all nations to accept Christianity as its national religion. Few people realize that this is why the British King is called “our Most Religious King”. Not many realize that the superior dignity and antiquity of the British national Church has been decided by Church Synods and Councils (though heretical for other reasons): the Synod of Pisa in 1409, Council of Constance in 1417, Synod of Sienna in 1424, and the Council of Basel in 1434. It was there contended that the Churches of France and Spain must yield in points of antiquity and precedence to that of Britain, as the latter Church was founded by Joseph of Arimathea immediately after the Passion of Christ.

St Gildas the Wise (c. 494 or 516 – c. 570), the earliest Celtic Christian historian and clergyman distinctly says that the Light of Christ shone here in the last year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, that is 37 AD. This falls in with the claim recorded above, which gave precedence to British Bishops at the Church Councils on the ground that Britain was converted “Immediately after the Passion of Jesus Christ”. It fits in also with the statements of Fuller and Polydore Virgil already recorded that the Church of Glastonbury was the Senior Church of the world; with Sir Henry Spelman’s words that Britain received the Faith soon after the Crucifixion; with Alford’s statement that Aristobulus was in Britain before St. Paul went to Rome; with the observance by the Greek Church of the martyrdom in Britain of Our Lord’s disciple, St. Simon Zelotes, on 10th May 44 A.D. (a date supported by Cardinal Baronius; and with Hippolytus’ (born about 160 AD) inclusion of that Apostle in his lists as “Bishop of the Britons”. All these are testimony to the year 37 AD as marking the coming of the first Mission and not to the date 63 AD.

Next we go to The Drama of The Lost Disciples, by George F. Jowett for some background on the journey and makeup of the party headed up by Joseph of Arimathea.

Ancient documents carefully preserved, and others recently recovered from dusty, long-forgotten archives referring to that epochal year, record him [Joseph] as having been cast upon the seas with a few faithful companions by their remorseless enemies, in an open, oarless boat without sails, on an ebbing tide over which they drifted far from the shores of their shadowed Judean homeland, to which they would never return. The only man who the Sadducees dared not oppose was Joseph, the great uncle of Jesus, known scripturally and in secular history as Joseph of Arimathea. He was the protector of that valorous little band of disciples during the perilous years following the crucifixion, the indefatigable head of the Christian underground in Judea, and the guardian of Christ’s only earthly treasure, Jesus’ mother. In actuality, Joseph of Arimathea was the Apostle of Britain, the true Apostle first to set up Christ’s standard on the sea-girt little isle, five hundred and sixty-two years before St. Augustine set foot on English soil. He, with twelve other disciples of Christ, erected in England the first Christian church above ground in the world, to the glory of God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Joseph of Arimathea was a man of refinement, well educated, and one who possessed many talents. He had extraordinary political and business ability and was reputed to be one of the wealthiest men in the world of that time. He was the Carnegie of his day, a metal magnate controlling the tin and lead industry which then was akin in importance to that of steel today. He is reputed to have owned one of the largest private merchant shipping fleets afloat which traversed the world’s sea lanes in the transportation of this precious metal. In St. Jerome’s translation, Joseph’s official title is given as “Nobilis Decurio”. This would indicate that he held a prominent position in the Roman administration as a minister of mines.

According to the Talmud, Joseph was the younger brother of the father of Mary the mother of Jesus. He was her uncle, and therefore a great uncle to Jesus. Chiefly from the secular reports we learn that Joseph was a married man and his son, Josephes, left a mark of distinction in British history. It is quite obvious that the husband of Mary died while Jesus was young. Under Jewish law such a circumstance automatically appointed the next male kin of the husband, in this case Joseph, legal guardian of the family. We know that Joseph never forsook his nephew. He stood by Him as a bold, fearless defender at the notorious trial, and defied the Sanhedrin by going to Pilate and boldly claiming the body when all others feared to do so. It is commonly taught that Jesus was poor and of obscure relatives. His relationship with the affluent Joseph of Arimathea proves otherwise. In His own right He was a property owner but long before He took up His mission He forsook all material wealth.

Legends of Glastonbury

Rev. C.C. Dobson gave us some historical background of both the tin trade in Britain and Jesus’ relationship with Joseph of Arimathea. Herodotus as early as 445 BC speaks of the British Isles as the Tin Islands or Cassiterides. Pytheas (352-323 BC) mentions the tin trade, as does also Polybius (circa 160). Diodorus Siculus gives a detailed description of the trade. He tells us that the tin was mined, beaten into squares, and carried to an island called Ictis, joined to the mainland at low tide, which is generally held to be Mount St. Michael in Cornwall, although some have identified it with Falmouth. Thence it was shipped to Morlais, and transported across France on pack horses to Marseilles. From Marseilles it was again shipped to Phoenicia. Innumerable ancient workings in Cornwall still attest the trade, and tin is still mined there today. Lord Avebury and Sir John Evans held the opinion that the trade existed as early as 1500 BC, and Sir Edward Creasy in his History of England writes: “The British mines mainly supplied the glorious adornment of Solomon’s Temple”.

Joseph of Arimathea was an uncle of Mary the mother of Jesus, being the younger brother of her father. He gained his wealth as an importer in the tin trade, which existed between Cornwall and Phoenicia. It is postulated that on one of his voyages he took Jesus with him when a boy. Hence the legend that the young Jesus visited Glastonbury in Britain returning to Israel later as a young man. According to the legend he erected for himself a small house of mud and wattle; later Joseph of Arimathea, fleeing from Palestine, settles in the same place and erected a mud and wattle church there.

Reference

You may find The Traditions of Glastonbury and a very nice video tape showing the locations around Cornwall at Mr. E. Raymond Capt’s website, www.artisanpublishers.com .

St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury, Lionel Smithett Lewis (Glastonbury Vicar), ISBN 0-227-67868-0 Publisher, James Clarke & Co Ltd, Cambridge, England.

The Origin and Early History of Christianity in Britain, Andrew Gray, ISBN 0-934666-43-1, Artisan Sales - - http://www.artisanpublishers.com

The New Testament Apochrypha

• Pseudo-Pauline Apocrypha: Acts 29, and

• Psuedo-Apostolic (Nicodemus) Apocrypha: The Acts / Gospel of Nicodemus.