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On the Ruin of Britain
St Gildas, tr. Williams, 1899
8. Rise of Christianity
Meanwhile, to the island stiff with frost and cold, and in a far distant corner of the earth, remote from the visible sun, He, the true sun, even Christ, first yields His rays, I mean His precepts. He spread, not only from the temporal firmament, but from the highest arc of heaven beyond all times, his bright gleam to the whole world in the latest days, as we know, of Tiberius Caesar. At that time the religion of Christ1 was propagated without any hindrance, because the emperor, contrary to the will of the senate, threatened with death informers against the soldiers of that same religion.
Notes
- If we read this section with care we find that Gildas is not referring to the introduction of Christianity into Britain; his meaning seems to be that the sun rose for Britain as for the whole world by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is evidently taking his information (ut scimus) from the Latin version of Eusebius’ Chronicon. This reads: “When Pilate sent information to Tiberius of the doctrine of the Christians, Tiberius referred it to the Senate, so that it should be received among the other sacred records. But when it was decided by the city fathers that the Christians should be expelled from Rome, Tiberius in an edict threatened the accusers of the Christians with death. Tertullian writes so in his Apologeticus” (Pilato de Christianorum dogmate ad Tiberium referente Tiberius retulit ad senatum, ut inter cetera sacra reciperetur. Verum cum ex consulto patrum Christianos eliminari Urbe placuisset, Tiberius per edictum accusatoribus Christianorum comminatus est mortem. Scribit Tertullianus in Apologetico. An. Abr. 2053.) Eus. Chron., Schöne, ii, p. 151. Tert., Apol. 5.