“The blessing of God the Father in the grace and love of Christ and in the consolation of the Holy Spirit be with you and keep you in all good, my lords most holy, my fathers most worthy of honour, mindful of us for ever. Amen.”
That is a remarkable conclusion to a letter from a deacon in France to the Archbishops and Bishops of all England.
The following letter is written in a slightly humbler style. It was probably written towards the end of his life.
Ep. 230. A.D. 798-804.
“To the most holy and venerable fathers the Bishops Alchard [Elmham, 786-811] and Tifred [Dunwich, 798-816] Alchuin the levite sends greeting.
“I pray your most pious goodness that you take not this letter from so small a man to be presumptuous. It is in reliance on your regard that I have dared to write. Christian humility should despise none, but should receive benignantly all in the pious bosom of love. This love I trust will abundantly show itself forth in you by the Holy Spirit, that, as the Truth saith in the Gospel, out of your belly may be seen to flow rivers of living water, that is, of sacred doctrine.
“It is yours to preach to all the word of God, to all to shine clear in the house of God, that all may recognize through you the light of truth and may be led through the pastures of perpetual beatitude. Your mouth must be the trumpet of the God Christ, for the tongues of your authority are the keys of heaven, having power to open and to shut; to open to the penitent, to shut against those that resist the truth. Wherefore make yourselves by your good lives worthy of such excellence; knowing that assiduity in preaching is the praise of bishops. The episcopal honour is no secular play. The Christian bishop must exercise himself with great diligence in the commands of God, that by example and word together he may educate a Christian people.
“The venerable brother the abbat Lull[159] has spoken to me in praise of your good conversation. It is on this account that I have cared to commend myself as a suppliant to your sanctity, that you may order some slight memorial of my name to be made throughout your churches. Not for my own merits but for the love of Christ I have presumed to make this earnest request. Pray grant it, as I trust in your good piety.
“May the Lord God increase you by the grace of merits, and make you to advance in all holiness and in preaching the word of God, my most dear and longed-for fathers.”