Venerable Lebuin of Deventer, Apostle to the Saxons

Saint Lebuin of Deventer

Today in the Holy Orthodox Church we commemorate another Northumbrian holy man, Saint Lebuin [also Wine, Leofwine, Lebuïnus or Livinus] of Deventer. Originally a monastic disciple and spiritual son of Saint Wilfrið of Ripon, he was called to become a missionary among the continental Saxons, keeping aloft the heavenly beacons of Saint Willibrord and Saint Boniface in those regions. He preached and taught among the Saxons who lived along the river IJssel and in Westphalia.

Apart from his association with Saint Wilfrið, we know very little indeed about Lebuin’s early life. However, we see from his Vita that he was called multiple times to serve the Lord on the Continent, among the Saxons of the IJssel. As seems to be typical of Orthodox saints (particularly the Desert Fathers, but also the later Russian monastics) Lebuin did not at once act on his visions, fearing that they might be delusions of pride and vainglory. It was only after the same vision came to him a second time, and then a third, and after he asked leave from the abbot at Ripon, that he was convinced to board a ship for the continent and present himself to Saint Gregory of Utrecht, who had been a disciple of Saint Boniface among the Germans in the southern regions of Hessen and Thüringen.

Saint Lebuin took counsel with the holy abbot as to whether these visions of his were true or delusional, and how he ought to act upon them. The holy man listened to him with care and weighed the young monk’s words. Being convinced that these visions had not come from the Evil One but instead from the Lord, Saint Gregory welcomed Lebuin and invited him to take up residence in the spot which had been mentioned to him in the vision. He also entrusted to Lebuin a spiritual companion and brother, a former disciple of Saint Willibrord named Markhelm. He was then commended to the care of a pious Frisian widow named Eberhild, who fed and housed the two monks for some time.

They made their way up the IJssel; and stayed at a chapel in Wilp (now part of the town of Voorst in Gelderland) on the western bank of that river which had been built by the Christians of that place. Later they built a larger kirk in Deventer on the eastern bank of the IJssel, with a hermitage that served as a residence for the two monks, and from which Saint Lebuin and Markhelm could venture into Saxon territory to preach the Gospel and do good works. One of the Saxons who early accepted baptism from Saint Lebuin were a man named Folcberti, and his son Helco. However, the Saxons were largely hostile to Lebuin’s preaching, accusing him of using evil magic to drive folk mad. They formed a mob, burned down his church and chased him and the converts he had made back over the IJssel.

At this time, the Saxons still held to a fairly democratic tribal system of government, which was centred on the þing, which holds the meaning of ‘meeting’ or ‘assembly’. (Indeed, the parliaments of the Nordic countries are still called, for example, ‘Folketinget’ or ‘Alþingi’.) At these yearly meetings, the Saxons of free or noble status would gather to uphold the customary laws, render judgement on civil and criminal cases, quarrel, fight, make peace, forge alliances, make marriages or prepare for war. As is mentioned in various anthropological treatments of the Teutonic peoples (including Tacitus and Jordanes), they were generally not ruled by kings during peacetime. The Saxons of the Continent were no exception. They would only call forth an army-leader, or heretug (the modern word for ‘duke’ in the Teutonic languages) in times of war or political crisis, usually at the þing. Folcberti’s son Helco was bound for one such þing at the settlement of Marklo (modern-day Hoya in Germany), together with some of his friends, but before Helco left his father took him aside, and said to him: ‘I feel anxious about [Lebuin], and I am afraid that if he meets with those who hate him they will either kill him or drag him to the þing and have him killed there.’

Just then who should show up but Lebuin? The dogs at the front of the hall had begun barking at the holy man, and he was warding them off with his walking-stick when Helco found him and called the hounds off. Helco brought Lebuin gladly before his father, who hugged Lebuin to him and greeted him warmly, and then they began to speak with each other. Lebuin told Folcberti of his intention to go to the þing at Marklo, and Folcberti answered him:

You are on friendly terms with many of us, dear Wine, and what you say gives pleasure even to me! But I hear that there are many insolent young fellows who insult and threaten you. Listen to me and be on your guard against them. Do not go to the meeting, but return home to your friends. Once the meeting is over you may go about with less danger. You can come here in safety and we shall listen to your words with very great pleasure!

But Lebuin answered his host:

I must not fail to make myself shown at the meeting, for Christ Himself has commanded me to make known His words to the Saxon folk.

‘You will not be able to flee,’ said Folcberti.

‘He who sent me shall help me,’ answered Lebuin.

When at last came the day of the þing, all of the high-born Saxons were there, including twelve of the leading landowners. Once they had gathered together, they offered up bedes and blót to the heathen gods – Wódan, Þunar and Frikko among them – and asked them to protect their land and guide them in making laws pleasing to them and useful to the folk. When they had made a ring, they began to talk.

Of a sudden, Lebuin showed himself in the midst of their ring, clad in his priestly garb with a cross in his hand and a copy of the Gospels under his arm. He raised his roust and cried out to them:

Listen! I am the messenger of Almighty God and to you Saxons I bring His command. The God of heaven and Ruler of the earth and His Son Jesus Christ, commands me to tell you that if you are willing to be and to do what His servants bid you He will confer life upon you such as you have never heard of before. As you have never had a king over you before this time, so no king will lord over you and enthrall you to his will. But if you are unwilling to accept God’s commands, a king nearby has been made ready who will beset your lands, despoil them and lay them waste, and sap your strength in war; he will lead you into exile, deprive you of your birthright, slay you with the sword, and hand over your belongings to whom he has a mind: and afterwards you will be thralls both to him and to his offspring.

The Saxons, who in bemusement had held their tongues until this point, at this last utterance began crying aloud against this ‘wild charlatan’ and his ‘fantastic nonsense’, and began to demand that he be bound and put to death. The wiser and elder of the Saxons, who held to the old ways of hospitality, tried to prevent it, but the hot-headed younger folk rooted up stakes from a nearby fence and flung them like javelins at Lebuin, to pin him down so that they might slay him. But just as suddenly as he had come, he vanished like smoke. Then all of the Saxons began to upbraid those who had thrown the stakes, saying they had gone too far. One of them, a man named Bodo, stood on the stump of a tree and cried out:

Heed me – all of you who have any sense of right! When the Northmen or the Wends or the Frisians or any other folk send messengers among us, we greet them in peace and listen with respect to their words. But now when a messenger of God comes to us, look what scorn we fling at him! The ease with which he fled us ought to show you beyond all doubt that he spoke truth, and that the threats he uttered will not be long in happening.

And so it went, that the Saxon þing decided, remorseful at what they had done, to allow Saint Lebuin to go his way unharmed if he should ever appear again. Once this decision had been reached, the þing continued with other business; and Saint Lebuin was thereafter able to travel throughout Saxony, preaching as the Holy Spirit led him. This he did until he met his repose, and he was buried at the kirk at Deventer which had been burned before. This kirk was again burned down by a Saxon war band, who looked for Saint Lebuin’s body for three days but were unable to find it. That church would later be rebuilt by Saint Liudgar, sent by Abbot Albric the successor of Venerable Gregory. Lebuin himself, appearing in a vision to Liudgar, told him where his bones might be found; and when the kirk was rebuilt, Saint Liudgar took pains that the foundations of the new kirk would be extended around his resting-place so as not to disturb them. Thereafter many healing wonders took place at this new kirk. Holy and venerable Lebuin, pray unto Christ our God for us sinners!

Lebuïnuskirk in Deventer, Netherlands