Learnings: Bishops: A Divided Duty

St. Cuthbert meets King Ecgfrith of Northumbria and his escort, an illustration taken from Bede's Prose Vita S Cuthberti / 1175-1200

Christian bishops were responsible for guiding the faithful in their dioceses towards salvation. They ensured that the sacred rites were performed in their communities during marriages, funerals, and masses. Through the sacrements, bishops could channel the grace of God to every Christian. Christianity and the Church were considered on and the same, and the bishop held the Church's power in his domain.

However, a bishops reglious duties sometimes conflicted with his earthly ones. Anglo-Saxon bishops were members of the ruling elite, and it was in their interests to protect and preserve that elite. What was best for the elite was not always what was best for the common people, the faithful Christians in the dioceses.

Bishops were also representatives of the Roman Church, initially a foreign institution. At the same time, they were private counselors to Anglo-Saxon kings, expected to help enforce and expand their dominion. Bishops served multiple masters, and sometimes they could be caught between their duty to one and their duty to another.

However, kings also had a duty to God. In this illustration, a king visits Saint Cuthbert, who in life had been the Bishop of Lindisfarne. That the king comes to the saint, and not the other way around, suggests that the saint is the more powerful of the two, and is painted to emphasize the influence of the Church over secular authorities.