Joseph Arimathea and the Priesthood in England

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

This post explores the start of the priesthood in England. It considers the historical, archaeological and anthropological data that suggests an early presence of Jewish priests in Roman Britain who were followers of Jesus Christ. These ruler-priests were members of the Sanhedrin and had authority to ordain priests for the Church. One of them was Joseph Arimathea, a mining expert whose excavated family sepulcher was where Jesus’ body was laid.

Hebrew ruler-priests were widely dispersed before the time of Abraham. As early as 4000 years ago they were in the Nile Valley, Arabia, Canaan, Sumer, northern Mesopotamia, and Anatolia in what is today southern Turkey. Horite Hebrew miners were excavating mines in Timna before ancient Egypt became an empire. Timna, the site of some of the world's oldest copper mines, is near Beersheba in modern day Israel. The Horite Hebrew were devotees of HR (Horus) and his mother Hathor. A temple dedicated to Hathor was discovered at the southwestern edge of Mt. Timna by Professor Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University.

Dispersal of Y-DNA Haplogroup R1B

Genetic studies indicate that a significant minority of Jewish males carry Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b, the same Haplogroup to which approximately 70% of native British men belong. The point of origin of this haplogroup is the Fertile Crescent.

The early Hebrew priests served as prophets, scribes, smiths, stone masons, miners, and physicians. They performed circumcisions, a practice that persisted among the royal Anglo-Celtic families. They offered sacrifices at temples and prayers at sacred shrines where people came for healing. They performed ceremonies at circles of standing stones, and they ordained their high priests in a succession extending back well before the time of Abraham.

Depending on who is telling the story, accounts differ as to when the priesthood came to the British Isles. This article focuses on the earliest known activity of priests in England who were followers of Jesus Christ.

Tin deposits in Spain, France and southwestern England

 

Hebrew followers of Jesus were in England as mining experts, metal workers, and merchants during Jesus’ earthly life. They traveled the ancient tin route between the metal-rich shores of Britain, France, Portugal, the Mediterranean and North Africa. Tin was essential for bronze production. Paul's desire to go to Spain suggests that he knew Jewish believers there who would be helpful in efforts to spread the Gospel. Spain was part of the tin trade route between the Mediterranean world and Britain.

A 2025 study has revealed that tin mined 3,300 years ago in south-west Britain was a key resource for the Bronze Age civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean. The study suggests that communities in Cornwall and Devon were part of a vast international trade system that supported ancient palaces and royal city-states of the Eastern Mediterranean.

These tin ingots were found off the coast of Israel. The tin came from Cornwall. Tin ingots from Cornwall dating to 2000 B.C. have been found in Israel and ingots from Cornwall dating to 1300 BC have been found at archaeological sites in Turkey and Greece. The tin trade brought together people from the Levant, the Nile Valley, Mesopotamia, and parts of Europe.

Joseph of Arimathea was a mining expert involved with the tin mined from the rich, alluvial deposits of Cornwall and Devon in the south of England. Mining in Cornwall and Devon began as early as 2150 B.C.

The Ding Dong mine is one of the oldest mines in Cornwall. An old miner told A. K. Hamilton Jenkin in the early 1940's: "Why, they do say there's only one mine in Cornwall older than Dolcoath, and that's Ding Dong, which was worked before the time of Jesus Christ." (Hamilton Jenkin, A. K. Cornwall and its People. London: J. M. Dent; p. 347) According to local legend, the Ding Dong mine was one of the places visited by Joseph Arimathea.

Note that I use the correct title for Joseph Arimathea, rather than “Joseph of Arimathea”. Arimathea is not a place. It indicates Joseph’s Hebrew lineage. The Ar prefix appears in the names of rulers and high-ranking priests. Examples include the Sumerian king Arwium of Kish, Artama, Archelaos, Artaxerxes, Ar-Shem, Artix, Areli, Araxes, Arviragus, a Jebusite named Araunah who sold a threshing floor to King David, and Arishen, a Horite Hebrew who ruled a territory in the central Zagros between 2400-2301 B.C. Ariaramnes was the great uncle of Cyrus the Great. The Ar prefix in Britain’s history is highlighted by King Arthur and Joseph Arimathea. Ar is likely a shortened Horus name, as Horus was regarded as the patron of ruler-priests and kings in the ancient world.

Ar-Mathea indicates that Joseph was a ruler-priest of the Hebrew clan of Mathea or Matthew. He was a relative of Jesus and the Virgin Mary and of the Evangelist Matthew.

The churches of the East acknowledge that Joseph Arimathea "traveled around the world, proclaiming the Gospel of Christ" and they belief that "he died peacefully in England."

Legends about Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin and a follower of Jesus, became elaborate in the Middle Ages. That was a time when the Roman Catholic Church funded parishes through the exhibition of relics and pilgrimages. Beyond the embroidered accounts, however, there is a kernel of verifiable historical truth. Joseph of Arimathea was in Cornwall, and probably in Devon also.

Anglicans maintain that the priesthood of the Church was well established in the British Isles before the Augustinian Mission arrived from Rome in 595 A.D

According to the Roman Catholic narrative, the only priesthood that has validity was planted in Britain by Augustine in AD 595. That narrative ignores the reality of Hebrew followers of Jesus who had authority to ordain priests in Britain in Jesus’ lifetime. The priesthood of the Church was well established in the British Isles before the Augustinian Mission arrived from Rome in 595 A.D.

The Roman Catholic Church claims to have brought the only legitimate priesthood to Britain. However, the priest disciples of Jesus Christ who came to Roman Britain were not Roman Catholics. They were Jewish believers whose rules for ordination align with the Anglican Church's rules for ordination, as will be demonstrated in this series.

Today resources are available that can help to construct a more accurate picture of how the Messianic Faith that we call "Christianity" came to thrive in Roman Britain before Augustine's arrival from Rome.

Related reading: The Ar Rulers; The Priesthood in England - Part 1; Hebrew Names and Titles; Horite and Sethite Mounds; The Hebrew Were a Caste; DNA Studies of Jews are Shallow; Solar Symbolism of the Ancient Near East

Rabbis and Priests

 

A member of the Facebook group The Bible and Anthropology has asked, "Could a priest be a rabbi and vice versa? Those are always mentioned as two distinct categories, or so it seemed to me."

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Many rabbis were also priests. The roles are different but could overlap. Rabbis taught and preached in the local synagogues. If their synagogue was in a town with a priestly division such as Nazareth, they also served for a term at the Temple in Jerusalem. 

During the Second Temple period (586 BC-70 AD) the twenty-four priestly divisions or "courses" served in the Temple in rotation. Each course served twice a year for a duration of two weeks. A list of priestly divisions is found in 1 Chronicles 24:7-18.

Nazareth was the home of the eighteenth priestly division, ha·pi·TSETS (Happizzez). In 1962 excavators discovered in the ruins of a synagogue at Caesarea a small piece of a list of the twenty-four priestly divisions. This third to fourth-century marble fragment is inscribed with the names of the places where four of the divisions resided, including Nazareth, the residence of Happizzez.

The priests lived in settlements throughout Israel. When it was "time for the division to go up [to Jerusalem]" (Mishnah, Ta'anit 4:2), the priests went up to Jerusalem to fulfill their obligations. When their appointed time of service in Jerusalem ended, the priests returned to their homes. When not functioning as a priest, these individuals went about their normal routines, tending to their various occupations: stone masons, miners, tomb builders, potters, tent makers, shepherds, goatherds, farmers, merchants, smiths, and carpenters. They also taught and preached in the local synagogues.

Deeper Roots

The point of origin of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste is the Nile Valley long before the time of Abraham. That caste had a moiety system, meaning that it was organized into two ritual groups, the Horite Hebrew and the Sethite Hebrew. Both groups built and maintained shrine and temples along the Nile. The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship is at Nekhen on the Nile (4200 BC). 

The Hebrew are probably the oldest known caste. They served at shrines, temples, and mortuary sites at least 1000 years before the caste system of India emerged. Their preserved their ethnic identity by marrying only within their caste (caste endogamy).

During the Old Kingdom (c. 2575-2130 BC) the Hebrew priests were organized in groups called "phyles." Each phyle served a two-week duration at the royal temple before returning home. The later organization of priests in Israel appears to have developed from the earlier Hebrew phyle system.

Sanhedrin Members

The Great Sanhedrin (the highest Jewish court) met in the Hall of Hewn Stones in the Temple in Jerusalem. It convened every day except festivals and Shabbat. Its members included priests, high ranking rabbinical authorities (rabbis), and wealthy Jews whose pure Hebrew ancestral lineages could be verified. The daughters of Sanhedrin members only married priests and rabbis. Only Jewish men belonging to prominent families were members of the Great Sanhedrin (the Beth Din HaGadol). The lesser Sanhedrin courts had members who were priests and rabbis also, but these courts had less authority.

The New Testament reports that many priests became followers of Jesus (Acts 6:7). At least three of Jesus' followers were members of the Sanhedrin: Nicodemus, Joseph Arimathea, and James the Just. The first priests in the service of Christ in southern England were likely ordained by Joseph Arimathea with the written consent of 2 other Sanhedrin members who were followers of the Way.

Members of the Sanhedrin served under the presidency of the high priest much as priests today serve under the presidency of their bishop. The high priest bore the title nasi (ruler, king, prince) and retained this title even after the presidency was transferred to other hands. Similarly, in Anglican and Roman Catholic orders a bishop retains the title "bishop" even after he has stepped down from serving in that office.

Jewish ordination was called semichah and it was necessary for membership in the Great Sanhedrin (The Great Court). Ordination was also required to serve in the lesser courts. Ordination was required to be a member of the Sanhedrin and that was obtained by the imposition of hands by someone who himself had been properly ordained. This is the precedent for the concept of Apostolic Succession in the Church. 

The Sanhedrin members served under the presidency of the high priest much as priests today served under the presidency of their bishop. The high priest bore the title nasi (ruler, king, prince) and retained this even after the presidency was transferred to other hands. Similarly, in Anglican and Roman Catholic orders a bishop retains the title "bishop" even after he has stepped down from serving in that office.

As individuals within the Sanhedrin passed away, or became unfit for service, new members were ordained in what Jews describe as an "unbroken succession" from Moses to Yehoshua the priest of the two crowns (Zec. 6:11), to the elders of Israel, to the prophets (including Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi), to the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah or "Men of the Great Assembly" founded by Ezra c. 520 B.C., to the sages of the Sanhedrin of the Second Temple (c. 520 - A.D. 70).

The second in charge was a ruler-priest who was called ab bet din (father of the court). The role of the ab bet din appears to have been a combination of the roles of the bishop's chaplain and the chancellor of the diocese who serves as the chief legal consultant to the Diocesan bishop. The polity and ordination procedures of the Anglican Church seem to parallel the Sanhedrin. As priestly ordination in Judaism was abolished in 358 AD, Christian priests stand alone as the living succession of priests in the Messianic Faith that we call "Christianity."

The third century Rabbi Johanan enumerates the qualifications for members of the Sanhedrin as follows: they must be tall, of imposing appearance, of advanced age, and scholars. They were also required to be adept in the use of foreign languages. When testimony was given to the Sanhedrin in a foreign language, at least two members who spoke that language were required to examine the witness. There was also a third member who understood the language. These three members constituted a minor court of three, who then reported the testimony to the entire Sanhedrin.

Some High Priests lived in exile among foreign peoples. One example is Hyrcanus who was living among the Parthians. Members of the Sanhedrin did business in foreign parts and visited the local synagogues. Joseph Arimathea would have had Jewish contacts in Cornwall and Devon, places he visited as a mining consultant. Mining in Cornwall and Devon in England began as early as 2150 BC. The Ding Dong mine is one of the oldest mines in Cornwall. An old miner told A. K. Hamilton Jenkin in the early 1940's: "Why, they do say there's only one mine in Cornwall older than Dolcoath, and that's Ding Dong, which was worked before the time of Jesus Christ." (Hamilton Jenkin, A. K. Cornwall and its People. London: J. M. Dent; p. 347) 

Tin ingots from Cornwall dating to 2000 BC have been found in Israel and ingots from Cornwall dating to 1300 BC have been found at archaeological sites in Turkey and Greece. The tin trade brought people together from the Levant, the Nile Valley, Mesopotamia, and parts of Europe.

Local legend holds that the Din Dong mine was one of the places visited by Joseph Arimathea. According to the Sanhedrin rules of ordination Joseph could rightfully ordain the first "Christian" priests while in England. He needed the written consent of only 2 other ruler-priests, and it is inconceivable that he would have neglected to do so.

Related reading: The Priestly Divisions; The Hebrew Were a Caste; Horite and Sethite Mounds; The Priesthood in England

The Priesthood in England - Part 1

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

This four-part series on the priesthood in England explores the historical and anthropological data that suggests an early presence of Jewish priests in Roman Britain who were followers of Jesus Christ. These ruler-priests, members of the Sanhedrin, had authority to ordain priests for the Church. One of them was Joseph Arimathea, a mining expert who also excavated rock tombs.

To avoid drawing conclusions out of context, it is important to read the entire series. Links to Parts Two-Four are found at the bottom of each post.

Different Narratives Support Conflicting Claims

Depending on who is telling the story, accounts differ as to when the priesthood came to the British Isles. Anglicans tend to give this account:

Christianity was already established in the British Isles by A.D. 47 according to Gildas's De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae. Hebrew Christians likely entered as metal workers and traders traveling along the tin route between Spain and Ireland.

The preamble of a 1421 letter by Abbot Nicholas Frome to Henry V asserted that Joseph of Arimathea and his companions were sent to England in 63 A.D. by St. Philip, who was on a mission in Gaul (France). It was copied from materials found in William of Malmesbury’s interpolated De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesie. However, the date of 63 A.D. for the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea seems too late. 

Joseph of Arimathea was a mining expert involved with the tin mined from the rich, alluvial deposits of Cornwall and Devon in the south of England. Mining in Cornwall and Devon began as early as 2150 B.C. 

The Ding Dong mine is one of the oldest mines in Cornwall. An old miner told A. K. Hamilton Jenkin in the early 1940's: "Why, they do say there's only one mine in Cornwall older than Dolcoath, and that's Ding Dong, which was worked before the time of Jesus Christ." (Hamilton Jenkin, A. K. Cornwall and its People. London: J. M. Dent; p. 347) According to local legend, the Ding Dong mine was one of the places visited by Joseph of Arimathea (the Ar Rulers).

These tin ingots were found off the coast of Israel. The tin came from Cornwall.

Tin ingots from Cornwall dating to 2000 B.C. have been found in Israel and ingots from Cornwall dating to 1300 BC have been found at archaeological sites in Turkey and Greece. The tin trade brought together people from the Levant, the Nile Valley, Mesopotamia, and parts of Europe.

The earliest historical evidence of Christianity among the natives of Britain is found in the writings of the Africans Tertullian and Origen in the first years of the third century. Their awareness of Christians in Roman Britain suggests that they knew of traffic between England and North Africa. Evidence for that commercial traffic is presented in Parts 2 and 3.

Three Romano-British bishops, including Restitutus, are known to have been present at the Council of Arles in 314. Others attended the Council of Sardica in 347 and that of Ariminum in 360, and a number of references to the church in Roman Britain are found in the writings of 4th century Church Fathers.

In 595 A.D., Pope Gregory of Rome sent missionaries to the Kingdom of Kent under the direction of the Benedictine prior, Augustine. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury.


The Roman Catholic Church tells this story

According to tradition, the authority of Rome is anchored to the Apostle Peter who is claimed to be the first Pope. This is based on the Roman Catholic interpretation of Matthew 16:17-19: Jesus said, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

The Bible tells us very little about Peter in Rome. However, it does tell us a great deal about Paul's time in Rome. Rome ignores the fact that Ananias of Damascus was likely a Hebrew priest through whom the charism of the Holy Spirit was delivered to Paul. "Ananias laid hand on Paul to pray for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Once he laid hands on Paul, he was immediately filled with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 9:17)

According to the Roman account, Pope Gregory the Great chose a Benedictine monk named Augustine in 595 A.D. to lead a mission to Britain to convert King Æthelberht and his Kentish people from Anglo-Saxon paganism to Christianity. 

Kent was chosen because Æthelberht had married a Christian princess, Bertha, daughter of Charibert I, the King of Paris. It was expected that Bertha would exert some influence over her husband. This initiative of Pope Gregory is known as the Gregorian mission. Before reaching Kent Augustine and the missionaries who accompanied him considered turning back, but Gregory urged them on, and in 597 Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet and proceeded to Æthelberht's Canterbury.

Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597 and converted many of the king's subjects, including thousands during a mass baptism on Christmas Day in 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church.

King Æthelberht converted to Christianity and allowed the missionaries to preach freely, giving them land to found a monastery outside the city walls. Pope Gregory sent more missionaries in 601. Roman bishops were established at London and Rochester in 604, and a school was founded to train Anglo-Saxon priests and missionaries.

Anglican orders were not declared null and void by Rome until 1896. When Reginald Pole was sent by Julius III as the Papal legate to England, one of his jobs was to review Anglican orders. According to Vatican records, the orders of the English clergy were deemed valid by Pole and Rome. The reconciliation was almost finished before Pole’s arrival, and no Presbyters were put out of office on account of defect of Order. One or two were reordained under him. Pole propagated the principles of Eugenius IV which were rejected by Leo XIII who declared Anglican orders invalid in the 1550's for political reasons. 

The Continuing Anglican priests have their orders from Bishop Chambers whose Apostolic Succession is via the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC). Rome recognizes the PNCC's sacraments and cannot logically deny the validity of the orders of Continuing Anglican clergy. (See more on Anglican Orders here.)


The Orthodox have another account

The early Christian writers Tertullian and Origen mention the existence of a British church in the third century AD and in the fourth century British bishops attended a number of councils, such as the Council of Arles in 314 and the Council of Rimini in 359.

The first member of the British church whom we know by name is St. Alban, who was martyred for his faith on the spot where St. Alban's Abbey now stands. The Orthodox tend to credit the spread of Christianity in Roman Britian to the influence of monks.

The British church was a missionary church with figures such as St. Illtud, St. Ninian and St. Patrick evangelizing in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, but the organization of the church suffered from the invasions by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in the fifth century. The monasteries were often raided by the invaders. In 597 a mission sent by St. Gregory the Dialogist and led by St. Augustine of Canterbury landed in Kent to begin the work of converting these pagan peoples.

What eventually became known as the "Church of England" was the result of a combination of three traditions, that of Augustine and his successors, the remnants of the old Romano-British traditions, and the Celtic tradition coming from Scotland and associated with people like St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert.

These three traditions came together as a result of increasing mutual contact and a number of local synods, of which the Synod of Whitby in 664 has traditionally been seen as the most important. The result was an English Church, led by the two Archbishops of Canterbury and York, that was fully assimilated into the mainstream Church. This meant that it was influenced by the wider development of the Christian tradition in matters such as theology, liturgy, church architecture, and the development of monasticism.

Summary

Anglicans maintain that the priesthood of the Church was well established in the British Isles before the Augustinian Mission arrived in 595 A.D. Legends about Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin and a follower of Jesus, became elaborate in the Middle Ages. That was a time when the Roman Catholic Church funded parishes through the exhibition of relics and pilgrimages. Beyond the embroidered accounts, however, there is a kernel of historical truth. Joseph of Arimathea was in Cornwall, and probably in Devon also. That evidence is considered in Parts 2 and 3.

According to the Roman Catholic narrative, the only priesthood that has validity was planted in Britain by Augustine in AD 595. This narrative ignores the reality of Hebrew followers of Jesus living in Britain or visiting there who had authority to ordain priests. Paul's desire to go to Spain suggests that he knew Jewish believers there who would be helpful in efforts to spread the Gospel. Spain was part of the tin trade route that continued north into Britain.

The Eastern Orthodox acknowledge the consecration streams of Augustine and his successors and the older Romano-British and the Celtic priest monks like St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert. Note that the Eastern Orthodox maintain (here) that Joseph of Arimathea "traveled around the world, proclaiming the Gospel of Christ" and that "he died peacefully in England."

On this point all three accounts agree: Augustine was the official representative of Rome and was based in Canterbury. By this historic event, the British were claimed as a Roman franchise. The Roman narrative is largely accepted, and the finer details of the other accounts are often neglected. This skewed understanding of the arrival of priests in England results in the Roman Catholic claim to universal authority. However, the priest disciples of Jesus Christ who came to Roman Britain were not Roman Catholics. They were Jewish believers whose rules for ordination align with the Church's rules for ordination, as is demonstrated in this series.

Today resources are available that can help to construct a more accurate picture of how the Messianic Faith that we call "Christianity" came to thrive in Roman Britain before Augustine's arrival from Rome. In this series we will trace historical events and the anthropological evidence that sheds light on how the priesthood came to be planted in England.

To continue this series, read The Priesthood in England, Part 2, The Priesthood in England, Part 3, The Priesthood in England - Conclusion


Related reading: Joseph of Arimathea; Rabbis and Priests; Response to Cory Byrum's Article on the Unity of the Church