Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

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

            

Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome

BROTHEN and GWENDOLEN, (Sixth Century), beyond their names and records of the local cultus we know nothing of the Lives of SS. Brothen and Gwendolen. St. Brothen is patron saint of Llanfrothen, Gwynedd, Wales where the church is dedicated to him. Both Llanwyddelan, Powys and Dolwyddelan (Welsh for the meadow of Gwendolen), Clwyd, Wales derive their names from St. Gwendolen.

GWEN of TALGARTH, this St. Gwen was the daughter of King St. Brychan of Brycheiniog (6th April), and the sister of St. Cledwyn of Wales (1st November). She was martyred by pagan Saxons at Talgarth, Powys, Wales on 18th October, 492.

Troparion of St. Gwen of Talgarth
Tone IV

O Brychan’s jewel and holy daughter, most pious Gwena,

Thou didst defy the heathen Saxons, thereby winning a martyr’s crown.

Being, therefore, numbered among the saints,

Intercede for us before the Throne of Grace,

that we may be granted great mercy.

GWEN, (Fifth Century), the Lives of the two St. Gwens commemorated on this day are often intertwined, and there is little in the way of reliable information on this St. Gwen. It is believed she was the sister of St. Non (3rd March), which would make her the aunt of St. David of Wales (1st March), it has also been claimed she was the mother of SS. Cybi (8th November) and Cadfan (1st November).

JUSTUS of BEAUVAIS, a nine-year-old child from Auxerre in Burgundy (east-central France) traveling with his father to Amiens in northern France to ransom a family member during the height of the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313). When soldiers confronted them at Beauvais (northern France), St. Justus confessed to being a Christian and was beheaded on the spot. One legend states that St. Justus stood upright and picked up his head, at which sight the soldiers fled.

MONON (MUNO) of NASSOGNE, a hermit in the Ardennes Forest (south-eastern Belgium), originally from Scotland or Ireland. St. Monon was martyred by bandits circa 645 near Nassogne in present-day Belgium.

TRYPHONIA of ROME, (Third Century), a Roman widow and martyr. According to one tradition St. Tryphona may have been the widow of the Emperor Decius (r. 249–251), a persecutor of Christians, or possibly the widow of his son.

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.