Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

Eastern Orthodox Christian theologian, historian, philosopher, and cultural commentator.

            

Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome

COLUMBA of CÓRDOBA, a nun at a monastery in Tábanos near her native Córdoba (southern Spain). According to tradition she was beheaded by the Moors in 853, during the reign of Emir Muhammad I of Córdoba (r. 852–886), it is said her body was thrown into the river Guadalquiver. Fortunately, her body was recovered by pious Christians and her relics were enshrined at two churches in Old Castile.

FLOCELLUS, (Second Century), a young man in Autun, Burgundy (France), who was tortured almost to the point of death and then thrown to wild animals in the amphitheatre. It is known that his martyrdom took place during the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180), however, the exact date is unknown.

JUSTIN of ROME, a priest in Rome who dedicated himself to burying the bodies of martyrs. In 259 St. Justin was martyred as well. In the ninth century his relics were translated to Frisingen (south-western Germany).

LAMBERT of MAASTRICHT, six years after being consecrated Bishop of his native Maastricht (south-eastern Netherlands), palace intrigue led to his exile in 674 by Ebroin, the Mayor of the Palace in Neustria - Burgundy (c. 657–680). St. Lambert spent the next seven years as a monk at the Princely Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy (Fürstabtei Stablo-Malmedy) in present-day southern Belgium, before he was able to reclaim his See. After his return to Maastricht he provided a great deal of support to St. Willibrord of Echternach (7th November) and his mission to Frisia (present-day Netherlands), it seems even accompanying St. Willibrord as far as the lower stretches of the Meuse River. In 709 the continuing battles within the Palace caught up with St. Lambert again and he was murdered at his estate (present-day Liège, eastern Belgium). St. Lambert has been venerated as a martyr since his murder.

NARCISSUS of ROME and CRESCENDO of ROME, two saints in Rome who were martyred circa 260. St. Narcissus was the owner of a house in Rome that St. Laurence of Rome (10th August) used as his base for his work of distributing alms to the poor. Nothing is known of St. Crescendo other than he is listed in various martyrologies on this day.

RODINGUS (ROUIN), an Irish priest-monk who, shortly after ordination, left Ireland and entered the Abbey of St. Maurice (Abtei St. Mauritius) in Tholey, near Trier in the present-day German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. According to some sources, St. Rodingus may have even served as Abbot of Tholey at some point. Seeking solitude, St. Rodingus later moved to the Forest of Argonne (north-eastern France). St. Rodingus reposed circa 690.

SATYRUS of MILAN, the elder brother of St. Ambrose of Milan (7th December), who was baptised when he took ill on a trip from Rome. He re-joined his brother and their sister, St. Marcellina (17th July), at Milan; but unfortunately reposed shortly thereafter (circa 379–392). St. Ambrose wrote his essay, On the death of a brother, which he read as the homily at the funeral of St. Satyrus.

SOCRATES and STEPHEN, (Fourth Century), Saints Socrates and Stephen were British martyrs during the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313). Cæsar Constantius Chlorus (†306), who ruled with Imperial powers in the West, was less than vigorous in carrying out Diocletian’s edict of persecution, so most British Christians were spared. Hence, along with SS. Alban of Britain (22nd June), Julius of Caerleon, and Aaron of Caerleon (1st July), SS. Socrates and Stephen are the only British martyrs of that persecution listed in the ancient Martyrologies. Pious legends place the location of the martyrdom of SS. Socrates and Stephen as South Wales, but there is no evidence to support this.

THEODORA, a Roman noblewoman who devoted herself and her wealth to the care and support of the martyrs during the Diocletianic Persecution. It is most likely that she reposed, perhaps martyred, while the persecution was still on going, circa 305.

UNNI of BREMEN, a monk at the Imperial Abbey of Corvey (das kaiserliche und hochfürstliche Stift Corvey) in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia Germany. St. Unni was consecrated sixth Archbishop of Hamburg–Bremen (northern Germany) in 916. St. Unni continued St. Ansgar’s (3rd February) work of enlightening the Swedes and Danes, which earned him the title of ‘Third Apostle of the North’. St. Unni reposed at Birka in Sweden in 936. According to 11th century German Chronicler and author of the Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum Adam of Bremen, St. Unni’s body was buried at Birka, but his head was entombed in Bremen Cathedral.

Prior to the Schism the Patriarchate of Rome was Orthodox, and fully in communion with the Orthodox Church. As Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco +1966 said “The West was Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable Liturgy is far older than any of her heresies”.

Details of British Saints excerpted from Orthodox Saints of the British Isles.
Details of continental saints from these sources.

In many cases there are several spelling versions of the names of saints from the British Isles. I use the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography version as the primary version with the more prevalent version in parenthesis e.g. Ceadda (Chad) of Lichfield.