Holy Hierarch Felix of Dunwich, Enlightener of the East Angles

Saint Felix of Dunwich

The eighth of March in the Orthodox Church is the feast of Saint Felix of Burgundy, also known as Saint Felix of Dunwich, the first man to spread the Gospel effectively among the East Angles, who were then still steeped in heathenry. Here is Saint Bede’s description of Holy Hierarch Felix’s mission to East Anglia, its circumstances and conclusion:

So great was Éadwine’s zeal for the true Faith that he persuaded Eorpwald King, son of Rædwald, King of the East Angles, to abandon his superstitious idolatry, and accept the Faith and the Sacraments of Christ with his whole province. His father Rædwald had in fact long before this received Christian Baptism in Kent, but to no good purpose; for on his return home, his wife and certain perverse advisers persuaded him to apostatise from the true Faith. So his last state was worse than the first, for, like the ancient Samaritans, he tried to serve both Christ and the ancient gods, and he had in the same temple an altar for the holy Sacrifice of Christ side by side with an altar on which victims were offered to devils. Ealdwulf, king of that province, who lived in to our own times, testifies that this temple was still standing in his day, and that he had seen it when a boy. This Rædwald King was a man of noble descent but ignoble in his actions; he was son of Tyttla, and grandson of Wuffa, after whom all kings of the East Angles are called Wulfings.

Not long after Eorpwald’s acceptance of Christianity, he was killed by a pagan named Rícberht, and for three years the province relapsed into heathendom, until Eorpwald’s brother Sigeberht ascended to the throne. Sigeberht was a devout Christian and a man of learning, who had been an exile in France during his brother’s lifetime, and was there converted to the Christian Faith, so that when he began his reign, he laboured to bring about the conversion of his whole realm. In this enterprise he was nobly assisted by Bishop Felix, who came to Archbishop Honorius from Burgundy, where he had been brought up and ordained, and acquainted him with his desire to preach the word of life to the Angles. Nor did he fail in his purpose, for like a good farmer, he reaped a rich harvest of believers. He delivered the entire province from its age-old wickedness and sorrow, and brought it to the Christian Faith and way of life, and – as his own name signifies – guided it towards æternal happiness. His episcopal see was established at Dunwich, and after ruling the province as its bishop for seventeen years, he ended his days there in peace.

Apparently, Sigeberht King of the East Angles and the holy bishop laboured together in bringing the kingdom to Christ. In addition to preaching the Gospel, Sigeberht and Saint Felix together opened a school for boys – the first of its kind in East Anglia, pattered on the schools Sigeberht had seen during his exile in Gaul.

Felix of Burgundy, hierarch and teacher, preaching the Word of life,
You did gather a rich harvest of believers;
Together with Fursa of Ireland, pilgrim for the love of the Lord,
Outstanding in virtue, renowned in word and deed;
Enlighteners of East Anglia, we rightly praise you, holy and God-bearing fathers.