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St. Alban the Martyr Glynn Cardy (c) June 29, 2003
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Late one night there was a knock on the door. On the porch stood a worried man, turning his head from side to side, anxious that whatever was pursuing him was not about to pounce. He begged to come in. His eyes pleaded for safety, for sanctuary. As he stepped across the threshold of that open door his robe became more visible. It was the robe of a Christian priest, and it was emboldened with a cross - a symbol of death.
Death had indeed come with that robe to the household. Before the week was out both the night caller and his host would be dead. Yet, with that robe also came that odd and intoxicating mixture of godliness, selflessness and freedom.
The year was 209 CE. The country was Britain. Emperor Septimus Severus of Rome resided in Britain. In 209 for some four months Severus went north leaving his son Geta Caesar in charge. It seems that Geta used that time to get a few Christian heads.
One head would be that of the host - the host who in the dead of night opened his front door to the strange Christian. Albanus was the name of the host. He was a respected and highborn native of Verulam [modern day St Albans].
Albanus wasn't a Christian when he opened that door. In fact he probably was aware that Christians weren't the flavour of the month with Geta Caesar. Yet Albanus was not one to passively toe the party line. Nor, as his military background suggests, was he one to deliberately flout the dictates of the authorities. What was it then that prompted his opening of the door that night? Was it an ethic of hospitality, particularly to one in such obvious need? Or was it an insatiable curiousity about who this man was and why he was on the run?
There is no doubt that Albanus was courageous. When the soldiers came to arrest the priest, Albanus donned his robe and went in his stead. At his trian Albanus, recognized by the judge, boldly and provocatively aligned himself with Christian cause. Even with a scourging, and the threat of cruel tortures, including the likely prospect of death Albanus was not deterred in his commitment to Christ.
That courage was with him on the night he admitted the stranger. Courage was a God-given virtue he had before he bowed his head to Christ. We Christians have no exclusive title to the attributes of courage or of hospitality to strangers. We simply need to practice them. In little ways and big ways. Repetitively. In season and out of season. For, amongst other things, our story is that in bravely welcoming strangers we welcome the grace of God.
Grace walked through the door of Albanus' house that night. God's grace came in the form of a man on the run. Not a big, tough, fearless fellow, but someone scared for his life. His name was Amphibalus. We don't know much about him, save that within three days a miracle had occurred.
It is hard to ascertain how much gloss has been added to the whole story of St. Alban. The account that informs most commentaries is the Venerable Bede's who wrote around 700. Bede used as his source Gildas who wrote about 540. We have no knowledge of gildas' sources. Albanus was killed probably in 209, some 300 years before Gildas wrote and 500 years before Bede. That's plenty of time for the odd embellishment or two to join a story!
Being 21st century types it's easy to spot the miraculous embellishments. For a saint to pass muster they must have a few miracles to their name,. Bearing in mind that Albanus was a Christian for at the most three days before his death, there wasn't much time for the miraculous. But, never fear, in Bede's account they are there.
Miracle one: As Albanus is led off to be executed the villagers destroy the bridge that leads to his Golgotha. Albanus is not deterred. With a wave of prayer the raging stream diminishes to a trickle. He steps over, leading his executioner to the bloody ground of Holmhurst Hill [where stands the Abbey today].
Well, actually, at this point the expectant executioner [like a certain Centurion of old] had second thoughts. He threw down his sword and begged to suffer in Alban's place. Evidently this was considered bad form by the military. So he too got the chop along with Alban. As did Amphibalus the priest. Amphibalus had come out of hiding to plead that albanus be spared. No such luck. Three would die that day, just like at Golgotha.
Miracle two; On Holmhurst hill Alban prayed for water. He was thirsty. Rain not exactly being a miracle in england wouldn't suffice. Instead a spring burst forth out of the ground.
Miracle three. I don't know who dreams these 'miracles' up but this last is a classic pieve of Monty Python. When the newfound executioner beheaded poor Albanus and his two companions, in recompense for his deed, the executioner's eyes then and there popped out and fell to the ground.
We can smile about miraculous embellishments, even gory ones, for we are smiling at our own storytelling traddition. Yet I would not like us to miss what I consider the truly miraculous things about this story. One of those is Amphibalus.
Bede tells us that Amphibalus,
after being welcomed into Albanus' House
'Then
began...forasmuch as he loved God,
To sing his office, and
fast strictly,
And day and night to praise his Lord.'
Well, I don't know about all that, and neither did Bede. But what we do know is that within a short space of time Amphibalus' holiness and commitment had so affected albanus that Albanus not only had renounced his gods and turned to Christ as his only Lord but was willing to die for this stranger Amphibalus.
If you knocked on my door one night and came to stay for three days, would the quality of your holiness and commitment convince me to turn to your God? would it convince me to renounce the gods of my culture and bow my head before one God? Especially when bowing my head might cause it to be lopped off?
A Christian in roman Britain was an atheist. Christians refused to pay due homage to the pint-size deities who allegedly made the world go round and determined the outcome of everything. Christians were unbelievers, debunkers and disdainful of the great insights of the Greco-Roman culture. They were counter-cultural.
In roman mythology gods or goddesses inhabited everything. Every gust of wind rippling across the water, every feeling of the human heart, every institution of society and state... had a god or goddess associated with them. Nothing happened by chance.
Probably the most important group of gods and goddesses were the household or family ones. There was the guardian spirit of the famiy and of the house's location. There was the spirit of the House Father, the gods of the storeroom, the spirits of the deceased, etcetera. These domestic deities were worshipped every day. The importance of this family cult was that it served as the model for the state cult. The Emperor was the father of all the family of Romans. The patriarchal family was the basic building block of the state: one father, one lord, one emperor over all.
The Romans were very eclectic when it came to other gods. Pre-Roman deities were adopted and worshipped. When conquering other lands the Romans would pay homage and sacrifice to foreign gods. They even encouraged temples to be built in rome to these gods. They were tolerant. Yet why were the Romans intolerant of Christians? Why were the Christians persecuted? why were they considered a threat to the religious and cultural status quo?
In Ephesians there is a verse that indicates the offence of Christianity. "[There is] one Lord, one faith... one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4.6) there is one patron, one paterfamilias. And it isn't the Emperor, and it isn't the patriarchal head of the family. It is the anarchic Christian God known in a simple carpenter.
The early Christian movement was highly political. Only God-in-Jesus was to be worshipped. Allegiance was not offered to the Emperor. Only god was the Father of the houseold, everyone else was a 'brother' and 'sister' to each other. It was that radical allegiance to God, to God's way of equality in Christ, to the disruption of family and state, which led Albanus to the gallows.
The question for us today is: who or what are we worshipping in our culture? Who or what is demanding our allegiance, taking us away from the radical path of God in Christ?
If I were to construct and Auckland pantheon it would include four gods and goddesses: Vogue, Obese, instantaneous, and Punch. Vogue iss the goddess of beauty, a fickle creature, worshipped on the altar of television and in nearly every glossy magazine. Obese is the god of acquisitions, who is never satisfied. The desire to acquire. He always wants more, even when he is bloated. Obesity is not just a medical problem; it's also a religious one. Instantaneous is the goddess of now. She cannot wait. She must have fast food, fast cars, fast money, and fast death. She calls it 'living to the full'. I calll it 'lying to the fool' She hasn't learnt to pause and savour the present. Punch is the god of violence. If violence can be escalated he will try. If they're not listening punch them. If they're different punch them. If they are noisy or disobedient, punch them. When in doubt, punch.
These are the sorts of 'gods' that should worry Christians. Not the gods of Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, or of other christian persuasions. In our culture, and across the Western world, it is the seductive gods like BVogue, Obese, instantaneous and Punch who take us away from the God of Jesus.
I think one needs to ask seriously why Christians aren't by and large, persecuted in the Western World today. I think it is largely because we haven't threatened the 'gods' We haven't threatened the basic belief systems of our culture. Rather we play a game of, on the one hand, criticizing, and on the other, courting. We cuddle up to our culture rather than counter it. We have cleaned up the cross.
St alban died for his faith. Amphibalus
died for his faith. In the brief snapshots we have they lived
courageously, opening their doors and their hearts to strangers,
giving of themselves for others, living compellingly different
lives. Their allegiance was to the Way of Christ. May we open
our doors to that Way and bravely live it.
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