Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

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

            

Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome

ADALBERT of EGMONT, a Northumbrian who became a monk at Rathmelgisi Abbey (later the site of Mellifont Abbey, Co. Louth) in Ireland. St. Adalbert was ordained to the Diaconate and joined St. Willibrord of Echternach (7th November) on his mission to Frisia (present-day Netherlands), where he worked in the area around Egmont. St. Adalbert reposed circa 740, and is the Patron-Saint of Egmont.

AMAND of COLY, (Sixth Century), according to the Vita sancti Sori and the Vita sancti Amandi St. Amand was a sixth century leader of a small hermetic community which worked to evangelise the area around present-day Saint-Amand-de-Coly, Dordogne, France. Following St. Amand’s repose, his disciples founded a community which later became the Abbey of St. Amand of Coly (abbaye de Saint-Amand-de-Coly), around which the village of Saint-Amand-de-Coly grew.

CYNEBURGA (KYNEBURGA) of GLOUCESTER, little is known about St. Cyneburga, it seems she was a princess who fled an arranged marriage to devote her life to serving God. She became a maid for a baker in Gloucester, whose wife became jealous of the young St. Cyneburga, killing her in 710, and then threw either her head, or entire body in a nearby well. Later the baker called for her and St. Cyneburga answered from the well. Her body was retrieved from the well and buried nearby. Several miracles were reported at her gravesite, and a chapel was erected over it which attracted many pilgrims.

EUROSIA (OROSIA) of JACA, the patron saint of Jaca on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees mountain range. She is said to have been a maiden of noble birth who fled an arranged marriage to a Moor. St. Eurosia hid in a cave, but the smoke from her fire soon revealed her hiding place and she was martyred by Moors in 714.

GALLICANUS of EMBRUN, the fifth (or seventh) Bishop of Embrun (present-day Roman Catholic Diocese of Gap, France). He reposed circa 541.

GALLICANUS of OSTIA, a senior officer in the army of St. Constantine the Great (21st May) and Roman consul. St. Gallicanus retired from the military and settled in Ostia (Metropolitan Rome) where he founded a hospital and ministered to the sick, reposing circa 362.

GOHARD of NANTES, a native of Angers (western France) and thirty-third Bishop of Nantes (also western France). St. Gohard who was beheaded by invading Normans in 843, along with his congregation, while celebrating the liturgy. According to legend, St. Gohard picked up his head, and walked to the Loire where he boarded a boat which took him to Angers where he was buried. His relics were translated to the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul of Nantes towards the end of the eleventh century.

LUCY and COMPANIONS, (Third Century), according to the Acts of Saint Lucy, which are said to be reliable by the Bollandists, St. Lucy along with 20 other Christians were taken as spoils of war and transported to Rome by the Emperor Probus (r. 276–282). Once there, all 21 were executed for their belief in Christ.

MAXIMUS of TURIN, the first recorded Bishop of Turin. St. Maximus served his See during the barbarian invasions of the northern Italy. He reposed circa 470, and is remembered for his homilies and other ascetic writings, which survive.

MOLOC (MOLLUOG, MURLACH, LUGAIDH) of MORTLACH, educated at Bangor Abbey in Co. Down, Ulster, St. Moloc was a disciple of St. Comgall of Bangor (10th May), though some sources say he was a disciple of St. Brendan the Voyager (16th May). St. Moloc worked to evangelise the Picts especially in the Hebrides Islands, off the west coast of Scotland, and was famous for his missionary zeal. He was consecrated a Bishop, though the particular See is unknown, and there is documentation from the mid-sixteenth century that states he was patron saint of Argyll. It is believed St. Moloc reposed circa 592.

MOLONACHUS of LISMORE, (Seventh Century), a disciple of St. Brendan the Voyager (16th May), St. Molonachus later served as Bishop of Lismore in Argyle, Scotland. Nothing further is known of his life.

PROSPER of REGGIO and PROSPER of AQUITAINE, the details of the lives of St. Prosper of Aquitaine and St. Prosper of Reggio have been so intertwined that is difficult to tell at this point if they were even separate individuals. St. Prosper of Aquitaine is well known for his homilies against Pelagianism, and his Epitoma Chronicon, he also wrote against the Nestorian and Eutychian heresies. There was a St. Prosper who was a Bishop of Reggio in Emilia in Italy for upwards of twenty-two years, and is the patron-saint of the city. However, little else is known of his life. Both saints are believed to have reposed circa 460–466.

SELYF (SELYR, LEVAN) of CORNWALL, (Sixth Century), St. Selyf was a hermit in Cornwall, England, who is sometimes identified with St. Solomon who flourished in Brittany (France) and shares the same feast date (vide infra).

SOLOMON I, a Cornish nobleman who was the husband of St. Gwen (18th October), and father of St. Cybi (8th November). He went to Brittany, which he ruled until murdered by heathens amongst his subjects circa 550. Many aspects of the lives of SS. Solomon I and Solomon III (vide infra) have become intertwined that it is quite difficult to be certain of various aspects of their lives.

SOLOMON III (SELYF) of BRETAGNE, King of Brittany (r. 857–874) who defended his people against both the Franks and Viking invaders. The Bretons count him a one of their national heroes. He repented for the crimes of his youth and when he was murdered in 874, King St. Solomon was proclaimed a martyr.

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.