Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

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

            

Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome

EUSTOCHIUS of TOURS, succeeding St. Brice of Tours (13th November) in 444 as Bishop of Tours St. Eustochius served the See of Tours for seventeen years. He is listed as an attendee at the Council of Angers held in 453. St. Eustochius reposed in 461, St. Gregory of Tours (17th November) called him "a prelate of resplendent holiness".

Orthodox Icon of Italian Saint, Januarius (Gennaro) of Naples 285x375px

Icon of St. Januarius (Gennaro) of Naples

FELIX of NOCERA and CONSTANTIA of NOCERA, Martyrs of Rome, according to tradition SS. Felix and Constantia were martyred in Nocera, a town between Naples and Salerno (southern Italy), during the reign of the Emperor Nero (r. 54–68). No further information of their life or martyrdom is extant.

GOERIC (ABBO, GOERICUS, GURY) of METZ, the successor of St. Arnulf of Metz (18th July) as Bishop of Metz (north-eastern France). As bishop he transferred the relics of St. Arnulf to the Church of the Apostles in Metz, commenced construction of the Church of Great St. Peter, and founded a monastery at Epinal (north-eastern France). St. Goeric was also a personal friend of Dagobert I, King of Neustria and Burgundy (France) (r. 629–639). St. Goeric reposed in 647.

Troparion of Hieromartyr Januarius (Gennaro) of Naples, Bishop of Benevento, and His Companions — Tone III

Consecrated through anointing with oil,

You became pastors for your godly wise people.

You were slain as honourable lambs

And offered to the Word and First Shepherd,

Who was Himself slain as His sheep,

O most laudable Hieromartyrs Januarius and Theodore,

Beacons for all the world.

Therefore, we all honour your holy memory in love,

As you intercede for our souls.

Troparion of Hieromartyr Januarius (Gennaro) of Naples, Bishop of Benevento, and His Companions — Tone III

Naples has found you a champion in dangers,

O Januarius, our glorious father.

You delivered her from plague, famine and affliction,

And from the fire of Vesuvius.

With faith and love we venerate you and honour your holy relics!

JANUARIUS (GENNARO) of NAPLES, Hieromartyr Januarius the first Bishop of Benevento in Campania (southern Italy), along with SS. Festus, his deacon; Desiderius, a reader; Sosius, deacon of the Church of Misenum; Proculus, deacon of Puzzuoli; and two others were beheaded circa 305 at Pozzuoli, near Naples (southern Italy) during the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313). His relics were enshrined in Naples of which he became the patron saint. The annual liquefaction of St. Januarius’ blood, a well-known miracle, is credited with the conversion of countless sinners.

Kontakion of Hieromartyr Januarius (Gennaro) of Naples, Bishop of Benevento,and His Companions, at Pozzuoli
Tone III

You were adorned with the anointing of the priesthood

And the blood of martyrdom, O glorious Januarius and Theodore,

And you shine forth everywhere,

Rejoicing in the highest,

Looking down upon us who come to your temple

And cry out unceasingly:

Preserve us all, entreating God who loves mankind!

Kontakion of Hieromartyr Januarius (Gennaro) of Naples, Bishop of Benevento,and His Companions, at Pozzuoli
Tone IV

The Master has given you to Naples, O holy one,

As a precious treasure and fountain of healings.

You are a guardian and protector of the faithful,

And you avert the evils of Vesuvius’ fire.

Therefore, we cry to you in faith:

Rejoice, O Januarius,

Our father and protector!

POMPOSA of CÓRDOBA, a nun near Córdoba (southern Spain) who in 853 was beheaded by the Moors for refusing to renounce Christianity.

SEQUANUS (SEINE, SIGO), a native of Mesmont, in Burgundy (east-central France), St. Sequanus received monastic tonsure at the Abbey of Saint-Jean de Réome (abbaye de Saint-Jean de Réome) in the present-day village of Moutiers-Saint-Jean, near Dijon in eastern France. In 534 he founded a monastery in the heart of the Cestres forest, near the River Seine, where the present-day town of Saint-Seine-l'Abbaye in Burgundy (east-central France) is located. St. Sequanus reposed circa 580, and was buried at his abbey.

Orthodox Icon of English Saint, St. Theodore of Canterbury 224x375px

Icon of St. Theodore of Canterbury

THEODORE of CANTERBURY, one of the greatest figures in English history and one of England’s great saints, St. Theodore was a Greek from the Holy Apostle Paul’s (29th June) hometown of Tarsus who lived in a Greek monastery in Rome. A highly-educated monk, he rapidly advanced through the clerical ranks culminating in his enthronement as the eighth Archbishop of Canterbury in 668 at the age of sixty-five.

Initially Pope St. Vitalian (27th January) had offered the See of Canterbury to the future St. Adrian of Canterbury (9th January), who declined and recommended St. Theodore. While the Pope concurred, he feared St. Theodore’s orthodoxy had been compromised by his Greek traditions and so sent him to England in the company of SS. Adrian and Benedict Biscop (12th January).

Upon his arrival in England, St. Theodore embarked upon a visitation of the whole of England. He established a school at Canterbury where Greek was taught, commenced reforming the government of the English church, and filling vacant Sees. This was followed by the Synod of Hertford, which St. Theodore called in 672 or 673; the first Synod at which representatives of the entire English church were present. At Hertford, ten canons were promulgated concerning itinerant monks, the authority of bishops, the regular convening of subsequent synods, marriage, divorce, and prohibitions of consanguinity, and settling finally the adoption of the Roman practice for the calculation of the date of Easter. This was followed in 679 by the Synod of Hatfield at which a declaration of orthodoxy was drawn up and forwarded to Rome at the request of Pope Agatho (r. 678–681), and the heresy of Monothelitism was condemned. Through all of these acts, St. Theodore not only unified the English church, but also definitively established the metro-political authority of the See of Canterbury. He is therefore often called the ‘second founder of Canterbury’.

St. Theodore’s writings, some of which have only recently been definitely ascribed to him, comprise the Iudicia, which preserves his opinions on matters of ecclesiastical discipline and penance, the Laterculus Malalianus, a brief treatise which is partly chronological and partly exegetical, a Latin translation of the Greek Passio S. Anastasii, as well as a corpus of Biblical commentaries. There is also a ‘Penitential’ attributed to him. St. Theodore reposed in 690.

Troparion of St. Theodore of Canterbury — Tone VIII

As a compatriot of the pre-eminent Paul and a scion of Tarsus,

O Theodore, bestowed upon the West by God thou didst traverse afar,

proclaiming the peerless Gospel of Christ among the Angles and Saxons.

Wherefore, having received thee as a gift divine and great,

we cry out in thanksgiving to the Lord on high:

Truly wondrous art Thou, O Saviour, in Thy holy bishop and in all the saints!

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.