
Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism
See of Rome
21st September (NS) — 8th September (OS) 2024
ÆTHELBURH (ETHELBURGH, ETHELBURGA) of KENT, St. Æthelburh was the daughter of King St. Ethelbert of Kent (25th February) and his Frankish wife Queen St. Bertha (1st May). Upon her betrothal to King St. Eadwine of Northumbria (12th October) St. Æthelburh travelled to her new home accompanied by St. Paulinus of York (10th October). There she and St. Paulinus converted her husband and were instrumental, in the conversion of Northumbria, and successfully brought the kingdoms of Kent and Northumbria closer together. Upon the repose of King St. Eadwine, St. Æthelburh and St. Paulinus returned to Kent. There St. Æthelburh founded a monastery at Lyminge where she served as abbess until her repose circa 647.
CORBINIAN, a native of Châtres (north-central France), who after living for fourteen years as a hermit, became widely acclaimed as a wonderworker and spiritual director. This resulted in many disciples gathering around him and the inevitable abbey being formed all of which took St. Corbinian from his solitude and life of prayer. He then went to Rome where he sought the blessing of Pope St. Gregory II (11th February) to continue life as a hermit. Pope St. Gregory recognising St. Corbinian's talents ordained him a missionary bishop to Bavaria (southern Germany). St. Corbinian based his See at Freising, and despite some difficulty with the local nobility, is said to have had a long and successful episcopacy. St. Corbinian reposed in 730.
DISIBOD (DISIBODE, DISEN) of DISENBERG, according to tradition, St. Disibode was an Irishman who, with several companions, worked as a missionary along the present-day border of France and Germany. After ten years he went to Odernheim in present-day Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany where he founded a monastery later known as Disibodenberg (Mount St. Disibod). St. Disibod reposed in 700.
Troparion of St. Kingsmark
Tone VII
Seeing that many were brought to Christ
by the radiant example of thy virtuous life
And thy missionary labours,
O holy Kingsmark, Pray that we too may follow thee
In the service of our Saviour, that our souls may be saved.
KINGSMARK (KINEMARK, CYNFARCH), (Fifth Century), a Scottish chieftain, our venerable and God-bearing Father Kingsmark is widely believed to have been married to a granddaughter of King St. Brychan of Brycheiniog (6th April). In later life, he lived in Wales as a monk and disciple of St. Dubricius of Caerleon (14th November). As a monk, St. Kingsmark grew to be renowned for his holiness of life, and soon after his repose was glorified by the Welsh faithful. The area of St. Kingsmark in Monmouthshire, Wales takes its name from him, and there are several churches dedicated to St. Kingsmark in the English West Country and Wales.
SERGIUS I, born in Palermo Sicily to a family originally from Antioch, he was Pope of Rome from 687 until his repose in 701. St. Sergius enjoyed close relations with the Church in England; baptising St. Cadwalla of Wessex (20th April), resolving the dispute over St. Wilfrid of York's (12th October) position as the Ordinary of the See of York, and encouraging St. Willibrord of Echternach's (7th November) evangelisation of the Frisians. St. Sergius is also credited with introducing the Agnus Dei to the Canon of the Latin Mass.
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ALEXANDER of the VIA CLAUDIA, (Second Century), a bishop in Greater Rome, St. Alexander was arrested and tortured after his wonderworking brought him to the notice of the authorities. He was beheaded on the Claudian Way, about 30 km / 20 mi from Rome. In the fourth century Pope St. Damasus (11th December) had his relics translated to Rome where they were enshrined.
GERULPH, a Flemish nobleman and heir to a vast estate. St. Gerulph was killed (circa 746) shortly after Chrismation by an avaricious relative in hopes of inheriting St. Gerulph's wealth and property. St. Gerulph pardoned his murderer with his dying breath.
MABYN, (Sixth Century), according to Cornish tradition, St. Mabyn was one of the many children of King St. Brychan of Brycheiniog (6th April). The village and civil parish of St. Mabyn is named for her, and St. Mabyn Parish Church located in St. Mabyn, Cornwall, England, is said to have been founded by her. The earliest mention of her is in a twelfth century Life of St. Nectan (17th June). The saints Mabon and Mabenna are often mentioned either together or, are conflated, and are generally associated with St. Teio of Llandaff (9th February). Church of England priest, hagiographer, and all round scholar Sabine Baring Baring-Gould (†1924) speculates that St. Mabon may have been male and St. Teio’s brother and the true founder of the parish church, as well as Llanvabon (a parish in South Wales), and that the attribution to a female St. Mabyn came about after the true history had been lost. The only certainty regarding these saints is that they have had a strong cultus in Wales and Cornwall, are associated with St. Teio, and have lent their names to some locations in Wales and Cornwall.
MAURA of TROYES, a young maiden in Troyes in Champagne (north-central France), who dedicated her brief life to prayer and good works. St. Maura reposed in 850, at the age of twenty-three.
PAMPHILUS of ROME, (Date Unknown), an early martyr in Rome of whom nothing further is known.
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.