Holy Hierarch Éadberht, Bishop of Lindisfarne

Saint Éadberht of Lindisfarne

On the sixth of May, the Holy Orthodox Church venerates another holy and righteous man of the Old English North, the saintly bishop Éadberht of Lindisfarne [i.e. Edbert], a worthy successor to Saint Cuðberht of the same Holy Isle. His tenure as Bishop of Lindisfarne overlapped somewhat with that of Saint Wilfrið, who served as the interim bishop after Cuðberht’s repose and before Bishop Éadberht was selected. Unlike Wilfrið, Éadberht seemed much more comfortable with the Celtic tradition that was then in favour on the Holy Isle, and he ruled the see with a fairly gentle hand. Saint Bede describes Saint Éadberht thus in his History of the English Church and People:

Subsequently [after Wilfrið left] Éadberht was consecrated, a man who was well known for his knowledge of the Scriptures, his obedience to God’s commandments, and especially for his generosity. For each year, in accordance with the Law, he used to give a tenth of all beasts, grain, fruit and clothing to the poor.

We know nothing about Éadberht’s life prior to his election as bishop. However, once he began his tenure at Lindisfarne he not only continued his ascetic, scholarly and charitable works – including his eremitical withdrawals into a remote cell on the Holy Isle, ‘alone at some distance from the church in a place surrounded by the sea’, twice each year for Lent and for the Nativity Fast – but he also undertook some much-needed projects for the churches on Lindisfarne. In particular, the church that was built by Saint Finan of Lindisfarne had a leaky roof, and so Éadberht renovated that church with a roof lined with lead.

Saint Éadberht also took up the task of translating Holy Father Cuðberht’s relics from their resting place on the Holy Isle into a reliquary at ground level, so that they could be better venerated by the monks. At Éadberht’s insistence, this translation took place on the eleventh anniversary of his burial. The monks dug up Saint Cuðberht, expecting to find little more than dust and weathered bones at his grave. Instead when they uncovered him, they found his body whole and completely incorrupt. Not only was his flesh intact, but even his joints moved freely as though he were merely asleep rather than dead. Even the vestments in which he had been buried were unsoiled, and looked as fresh and white as clouds. The monks were overcome with awe and terror, and when one of them found his tongue he rushed to Saint Éadberht’s Lenten cell to inform the bishop of what they had found, and also brought some of Saint Cuðberht’s vestments with them to show Éadberht and confirm their story.

When they had done so, Éadberht took the garments in his hands and kissed them with love, as though they were still upon Cuðberht’s living body. ‘Clothe the body in new garments, in place of those that you have removed, and place it in the coffin you have prepared,’ he directed them. ‘I have certain knowledge that the grave hallowed by so great and heavenly a miracle will not remain empty for long.’

As he said this he was overcome by emotion, and his deep voice quivered. The brethren, dumbstruck, withdrew themselves and at once obeyed his instructions: clothing Saint Cuðberht’s body with fresh vestments, laying it in the new coffin, and placing him within the sanctuary that he might be venerated by all. It was not long after this that Saint Éadberht was taken with a serious ailment that grew steadily worse, and he departed to his æternal reward on the sixth of May, 698. The brethren who had attended him, remembering what he had said, took up Saint Éadberht’s body and lay it in Saint Cuðberht’s lately-opened grave and in the coffin. There the relics of both saints worked great healing wonders for those among the brethren and also among the laity who suffered various illnesses and afflictions. Saint Éadberht was succeeded by Saint Æþelwold.

In 875, when the Danes attacked Lindisfarne, Saint Cuðberht’s and Saint Éadberht’s relics were both removed by the monks together and were also placed together wherever they went: to Melrose, to Chester-le-Street, to Ripon and at last to Durham. The reliquary was destroyed in the harrowing of the monasteries, but at least some of the relics of Cuðberht survived. Holy Father Éadberht, kind-hearted friend of the poor and witness to the holiness of the saints, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!’