Bede's Ecclesiastical History of EnglandBede, the Venerable, Saint
History
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England
Bede, the Venerable, Saint
England -- Church history -- 449-1066
The island is situated opposite the borders of the South Saxons and the
Gewissae, being separated from it by a sea, three miles wide, which is
called Solvente.(642) In this sea, the two tides of the ocean, which break
upon Britain all round its coasts from the boundless northern ocean, daily
meet in conflict beyond the mouth of the river Homelea,(643) which runs
into the aforesaid sea, through the lands of the Jutes, belonging to the
country of the Gewissae; and after this struggle of the tides, they fall
back and return into the ocean whence they come.
Chap. XVII. Of the Synod held in the plain of Haethfelth, Archbishop
Theodore being president. [680 A.D.]
About this time, Theodore being informed that the faith of the Church at
Constantinople was much perplexed by the heresy of Eutyches,(644) and
desiring that the Churches of the English, over which he presided, should
remain free from all such taint, convened an assembly of venerable bishops
and many learned men, and diligently inquired into the faith of each. He
found them all of one mind in the Catholic faith, and this he caused to be
committed to writing by the authority of the synod as a memorial, and for
the instruction of succeeding generations; the beginning of which document
is as follows:
“In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, under the rule of our
most pious lords, Egfrid, king of of the Northumbrians, in the tenth year
of his reign, the seventeenth of September, the eighth indiction;
Ethelred, king of the Mercians, in the sixth year of his reign; Aldwulf
king of the East Angles, in the seventeenth year of his reign; and
Hlothere, king of Kent, in the seventh year of his reign;(645) Theodore,
by the grace of God, archbishop of the island of Britain, and of the city
of Canterbury, being president, and the other venerable bishops of the
island of Britain sitting with him, the holy Gospels being laid before
them, at the place which, in the Saxon tongue, is called Haethfelth,(646)
we conferred together, and set forth the right and orthodox faith, as our
Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh delivered the same to His disciples, who
beheld His Presence and heard His words, and as it is delivered by the
creed of the holy fathers, and by all holy and universal synods in
general, and by the consent of all approved doctors of the Catholic
Church. We, therefore, following them, in piety and orthodoxy, and
professing accordance with their divinely inspired doctrine, do believe
agreeably to it, and with the holy fathers confess the Father, and Son,
and Holy Ghost, to be properly and truly a Trinity consubstantial in
Unity, and Unity in Trinity, that is, one God in three Subsistences or
consubstantial persons, of equal glory and honour.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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