juantoo3
....whys guy.... ʎʇıɹoɥʇnɐ uoıʇsǝnb
On a list of archeological sites I would one day like to visit, the area in and around Glastonbury, more specifically the tin mines and Mendip Hills, and a side trip to Tintagel Castle...and with time and money a hop over to Ireland to Skellig Michael, would rank very near the top of places I long to lay eyes on and not rely on mere words.
Because they are not germane to this specific discussion I would have to leave the legends of King Arthur and St Patrick out of the equation for now and focus specifically *on the early Christians* (they don't get any earlier) that conducted their services in the old Wattle Church founded by Jesus and his kin. The monastery at Glastonbury was destroyed under Henry VIII, and I've read the Wattle Church itself was destroyed by fire in the 11th century. Add in that (don't take this wrong) the Catholic Church moved in and took over, there is probably precious little other than the lingering legends left to assist us with determining what exactly Christ expected of His followers. I know you poopoo the suggestion, but these same Christians were ruled over at one time by Constantine's Father, and upon that man's death his soldiers robed Constantine "with the purple" making him the new Emperor of Roman Britain (much to the dismay of Galerius, I might add, who had gone to great lengths to subvert Constantine's rise to power). No doubt a significant number, perhaps a sizeable minority, of those soldiers were British Christians, and this predates the Catholic Church. Mind you, throughout the rest of the Empire at this moment in time when Constantine was elevated to be Emperor of the West, to be Christian anywhere else was to take your life in your hands, the Persecution of Diocletian and Galerius was in full swing at the time, and while it can be said the other persecutions were sporadic and localized, the Persecution of Diocletian is widely recognized by historians as the "worst" (if you were Christian) of all of them. (This is later reflected at Nicea, but that is still 12-14 years in the future) Roman Britain was the only relatively safe place throughout the Empire where Christianity was tolerated during the Great Persecution, because of Constantius and then Constantine.
Those same British Christian soldiers would have been among the ranks that marched with Constantine all the way to the Milvian Bridge. One would think that if there is any source material (perhaps in Latin?) describing these Christian soldiers and their ways and means, that should go far to aid in establishing what exactly the earliest Christians believed. Of course for precisely that reason such documents, if they exist, would likely not see wide audience.
Since these Christians were converted Celts (specifically the Dumnonii) they would not have carried the same religious obligations as their Jewish counterparts, and instead would have entered into the faith with a very different worldview.
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