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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, came forth
and rebuilt the churches which had been levelled to the ground; founded,
erected, and finished the cathedrals raised in honour of the holy martyrs, and,
as if displaying their conquering standards in all places, celebrated festivals
and performed their sacred rites with pure hearts and lips. This peace
continued in the Christian churches of Britain until the time of the Arian
madness, which, having corrupted the whole world, infected this island also, so
far removed from the rest of the world, with the poison of its error; and when
once a way was opened across the sea for that plague, straightway all the taint
of every heresy fell upon the island, ever desirous to hear some new thing, and
never holding firm to any sure belief.
At this
time Constantius, who, whilst Diocletian was alive, governed Gaul and Spain, a
man of great clemency and urbanity, died in Britain. This man left his son
Constantine [Constantine the Great] born of Helena, 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 exposed and condemned in the Council of Nicaea, nevertheless,
the deadly poison of its evil spread, as has been said, to the Churches in the
islands, as well as to those of the rest of the world.
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