Holy Hierarch Nóðhelm, Archbishop of Canterbury

Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London

Today in the Orthodox Church we commemorate another saintly Archbishop of Canterbury: a contemporary, friend and correspondent of both Bede and Boniface; Nóðhelm of Canterbury.

Very little appears to be known about Nóðhelm’s early life. He was a Middle Angle, and was a sæcular advisor to Æþelbald King of Mercia before becoming a priest. We do know, however, that prior to his consecration as Archbishop of Canterbury, he had served as the archpriest and rector of Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London. He was chosen to succeed Saint Tatwine, a Benedictine monk and author who was well known for his composition of riddles. Saint Nóðhelm, too, was an accomplished scholar, and the letters he wrote to and received from Saints Bede and Boniface attest to this, as well as the profound acknowledgement Nóðhelm receives from Bede in his History of the English Church and People. Nóðhelm had, by Bede’s account, done some significant research in the Roman archives on the history and gæography of Kent, which was of considerable use to Bede in his historiography of that kingdom. The capacity of Nóðhelm’s prodigious memory is attested in that one of Bede’s primary sources were the testimonies of Abbot Albinus of Saint Augustine’s (pupil of Saints Theodore and Hadrian), which he in turn had received from his letters and discussions with ‘our venerable brother Nóðhelm the priest’. Bede and Nóðhelm corresponded several more times: Bede addressed a commentary on the Biblical books of Kings to Nóðhelm. The disputed work De octo quæstionibus is also addressed to the Archbishop.

Nóðhelm appears also in the correspondence of Saint Boniface. Boniface, in his missionary work among the Frisians, was particularly appalled (as was, for example, Saint Frideric) by the penchant of Frankish nobles to engage in incestuous unions with their aunts, both out of perverted lust and out of a desire to hoard wealth within the family. These noblemen pointed to the Libellus responsionum, the series of pastoral admonitions issued from Saint Gregory Dialogos to Saint Augustine of Canterbury, to justify their liaisons. As Boniface (rightly) doubted that a sainted pope would ever condone sexual unions between aunts and nephews, he was led to question the authenticity of the document, and he asked Saint Nóðhelm to send him Canterbury’s copy of the Libellus as well as his own opinion on its true authorship.

Saint Nóðhelm’s tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury was primarily concerned with church administration. He successfully reorganised Mercia into two diocæses, Lichfield and Leicester. He also presided over a local synod in 737 which adjudicated an ownership dispute over the Abbey of Withington in Gloucester: a synod which was noteworthy in that it was not attended by any king and yet was still accepted as authoritative.

Nóðhelm reposed in the Lord on the 17^th of November, 739. Holy Hierarch Nóðhelm, worthy scholar and shepherd of the Kentish Church, pray unto Christ our God to save our souls!