Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

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

            

Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome

AGNES of POITIERS, St. Agnes was chosen by St. Radegund (13th August) to be Abbess of the Abbey of Holy Cross (abbaye Sainte-Croix de Poitiers) in the present-day village of Saint-Benoît just outside of Poitiers, France. Shortly thereafter, SS. Agnes and Radegund went to Arles (southern France), where St. Caesarius of Arles (27th August) gave them the Rule which St. Agnes and the two hundred nuns in her community would follow. St. Agnes reposed in 588.

ANNO (HANNO, ANNON) of VERONA, an eighth century Bishop of Verona (northern Italy) who is primarily remembered for his connexion with the translation of the relics of SS. Firmus and Rusticus (9th August) from Africa Proconsularis to Bergamo and Verona. St. Anno reposed in 780.

FORTIS GABRIELLI, a disciple of St. Ludolf (13th August) who lived as a hermit in the mountains near Scheggia in Umbria (central Italy). Later St. Fortis lived at the Hermitage of the Holy Cross (Fonte Avellana) in Serra Sant'Abbondio in the Italian Marches. St. Fortis reposed in 1040.

MAEL (MAHEL) of BARDSEY, (Sixth Century), St. Mael was a native of Brittany and a disciple of St. Cadfan (1st November), with whom he travelled to Wales. He lived there as a hermit on the Isle of Bardsey. Nothing further is known about him.

NATALIS of MILAN, the forty-fourth Bishop of Milan from circa 740 until his repose in 751. St. Natalis’ episcopate coincided with the trying period when the Arian Lombards were converting to orthodox Christianity.

ONESIMUS of SOISSONS, the fifth Bishop of Soissons, St. Onesimus reposed circa 361.

SERVATUS (SERVAIS) of TONGRES, a Bishop of Tongres in present-day Belgium for thirty-seven years. When St. Athanasius the Great was exiled by the Arians, he was hosted by St. Servatus for a while. St. Servatus possessed the gift of clairvoyance, prophesying the mid-fifth century invasion of Gaul by the Huns. In both Glory of the Confessors and History of the Franks. St. Gregory of Tours (17th November) provides detailed accounts of his life including numerous miracles. St. Servatus reposed in 384.

VALERIAN of AUXERRE, the third Bishop of Auxerre in Burgundy (France). St. Valerian was an indomitable protector of orthodoxy against the Arian heresy. St. Valerian reposed circa 350.

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.