Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book I Chapter VIII
by Venerable Bede
THE PERSECUTION CEASING, THE CHURCH IN BRITAIN ENJOYS PEACE TILL THE TIME OF THE ARIAN
HERESY. [A.D. 307337.]
WHEN the storm of persecution ceased, the faithful Christians, who, during the time of
danger, had hidden themselves in woods and deserts, and secret caves, appearing in public,
rebuilt the churches which had been levefled with the ground; founded, erected, and
finished the temples of the holy martyrs, and, as it were, displayed their conquering
ensigns in all places; they celebrated festivals, and performed their sacred rites with
clean hearts and mouths. This peace continued in the churches of Britain until whole
world, infected this island also, so far removed fr time of the Arian madness, which,
having corrupted the rest of the globe, with the poison of its arrows; when the plague was
thus conveyed across the sea, all the venom of every heresy immediately rushed into the
island, ever fond of something new, and never holding firm to anything.
At this time, Constantius, who, whilst Diocletian was alive, governed Gaul and Spain, a
man of extraordinary meekness and courtesy, died in Britain. This man left his son
Constantine, born of Helen his concubine, emperor of the Gauls. Eutropius writes, that
Constantine, being created emperor in Britain, succeeded his father in the sovereignty. In
his time the Arian heresy broke out, and although it was detected and condemned in the
Council of Nice, yet it nevertheless infected not only all the churches of the continent,
but even those of the islands, with its pestilent and fatal doctrines.
