Today our week with Bede travel devotional took us to Durham Cathedral. Durham cathedral is most well known as the resting place for Saint Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede himself.
Bede on Cuthbert
Cuthbert (634 – 687 AD) was a near contemporary of Bede (672 -735 AD). Bede would have grown up hearing about Cuthbert, likely the most famous Christian in England at the time, and certainly in the northern part of England. Cuthbert was a monk, hermit, and bishop renowned for his holiness, humility, and healings. Cuthbert served at Melrose Abbey and Lindisfarne, but he was also evangelistic, bringing Christianity to remote northern villages in what is today England.
We know Bede greatly admired Cuthbert because Bede wrote, The Life and MIracles of Saint Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne. We also know this from what Bede wrote in his Ecclesiastical History:
There shone forth in that monastery a man of great holiness, Cuthbert by name, who was afterwards a bishop of great renown, and even while he lived, received a name celebrated far and wide for the brightness of his miracles. From his earliest boyhood he was inflamed with a desire of a religious life, and when he came to man’s estate, he entered a monastery, that he might the more readily attain to heavenly things. He was affable and humble in spirit, instant in prayer, diligent in study, and ready for every good work.
Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book IV, Chp. XXVII.
Bede died at around age 62 and was buried in Jarrow at the monastery where he lived, studied, taught, and wrote. After his death, his tomb became a place of local pilgrimage for monks and scholars who revered his learning and piety. Around 1020 AD, Bede’s remains were moved from Jarrow to Durham Cathedral, and today his tomb became a site of pilgrimage for the GSB team, including one zealous Texas A&M fan.
Durham Cathedral
We arrived in Durham from York around noon, parked, and walked into the old town.
Now, I should mention, Ann has full confidence in her access to the Lord by the blood of Jesus, and like a good Protestant believes in bypassing human intermediaries when seeking the Lord. She doesn’t kiss stones or “venerate” saints, and she is the ultimate iconoclast.
So, you can imagine my surprise as we were walking to Durham Cathedral when Ann mentioned she would be praying at the tombs of Cuthbert and Bede for her beloved Texas A&M Aggies, who were playing the highly ranked Missouri Tigers in football later in the day.
The walk up the hill to Durham Cathedral is no easy trek, but the view as one crests the hill is worth the walk. At the top, one will find a Norman Romanesque behemoth constructed of a honey-colored – reddish sandstone. Durham Cathedral was built between 1093 – 1133 AD, old even by European standards.
The tombs of Bede and Cuthbert
We started at the back of the cathedral in what is called the Galilee Chapel, where the tomb of Bede sits on display. On the tomb in Latin it reads, “In this grave are the bones of the Venerable Bede.” Our week with Bede travel devotional had led us to his final resting place.
As I stood there contemplating the great man, his love of God, and his great contribution to the Kingdom through his writing, I saw Ann kneeling at the tomb.
We then walked to the other end of cathedral to Cuthbert’s tomb, and at the entrance we saw a list of all the Bishops of Durham, starting with Aldhun (995-1018 A.D.), and continuing to the present (Paul Roger Butler). And there, in the list toward the bottom, was the name of David Jenkins (1984-1994). My first thought was that we should run for cover or at least move away from all metal objects.
There was also a sign that said no dogs were allowed into Cuthbert’s shrine, but sure enough, some Brit was up there with his dog. The English, who are undeniably the most polite and orderly drivers in the world, and who generally have no problem following rules, abandon all that when it comes to their dogs. As I have mentioned here before, I’ve seen pooches in restaurants and have had to talk over a barking dog in one of the finest hotel lounges in southern England two years ago.
Then when I got up the stairs to the Cuthbert shrine, there was Ann kneeling again, this time at the tomb of Cuthbert.
A bishop who questioned the Resurrection, a dog in a shrine, and now a lapsed Iconoclast — getting into a contemplative mood was near impossible. Still, I thought about the great Cuthbert, how we had been reading about him in Bede’s book, and now we were here at his tomb over 1,300 years later, still thinking of his life of devotion to King Jesus.
The other book where mention matters
Cuthbert got mentioned in the right book, one so comprehensive and well-written, that he was all but guaranteed not to be lost to history.
It is interesting that the Lord speaks of Christians being named in a book as well. That book, of course, is written by Jesus, and it is the book in which we should all seek mention:
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. . . . But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Rev 21:22-23, 27.
After our drive back to York, we walked into the old town for dinner at Ivy‘s. Over a relaxing and well-earned meal we discussed other places we had traveled together and the history those places represented. We thanked the Lord for His grace and blessing in allowing us to do so.
And I think Ann may have secretly given a nod to Bede and Cuthbert.
